FLORIST

Gardening conditions are also affected by geographical location. A high altitude garden, or one surrounded by wide-open countryside, is likely to be very windy. If it's on a cliff top, or close to the sea, the odds are that the garden will also be exposed to the abrasive action of blown sand, or the burning action of salt spray.

Arches, pergolas, pillars and gazebos are particularly spectacular ways of supporting climbers. If you choose plants that don't cling naturally, you'll need to tie them into the structure. Large structures, such as gazebos, are best built with trellis panels for the sides - you can get arches of the same type of construction - so that climbers can really spread themselves out.

Most garden shrubs don't need regular pruning but, once they are approaching middle age, they may need a little cosmetic surgery to keep them looking good, and if you have really elderly or overgrown shrubs, then a drastic face-lift may be called for.

Moles burrow beneath lawns in search of their favorite food - earthworms. Years ago, pesticides were used to kill the worms in the hope that the moles would leave too, but those toxic products are no longer available, even if you wanted to use them. You can often deter moles by flooding new runs with water, by placing prickly holly leaves inside, or filling the runs with something smelly, such as the contents of the cat's litter tray.

The way most people make a garden is very hit-and-miss. You know the sort of thing - first-time buyers move into a starter home, put up a whirligig washing line and park dustbins where they won't be bumped into, plonk some paving down outside the patio doors, put in a patch of grass for the kids to play on, and a path down to the shed. The rest slowly fills up with whatever takes their fancy at the garden centre. They'll probably move on before the lot gets overgrown, leaving the result for somebody else to sort out. Well, it doesn't have to be like that.

If you want a rectangular lawn, there's nothing to say that it has to run parallel with the garden fences. Try laying it diagonally across the garden, but instead of putting it right through the middle, offset it slightly to leave different-sized shapes in the corners.

If your plan is to work, the information needs to be accurate in the first place, so measure up very carefully. Landscapers normally use a 30m (100ft) tape that recoils into its own round carrying case, but there's no need to buy one specially. You can make do with an ordinary retractable handyman's tape measure.

If you inherit an old hedge that is in bad condition, don't despair - with a bit of care and attention, you can restore it to its original glory. Don't be too hasty to write it off: restoration may take some time, but it will be less time than growing a new hedge from scratch.

Walls are solid and permanent. They cost a lot more than fences and take skill to build - anything over about lm (3ft) high is really a job for a professional. It shouldn't be higher than that if it's next to a public road, and, if you want one more than 2m (6ft) high, you may need planning consent.

The soil is not all that brilliant at the foot of a wall, thanks to the builders' rubble and footings down there, but when it's also hot and sunny, then conditions are particularly tough for plants.

These are bravest of all our garden plants, and therefore the most welcome. The real heralds of spring, everyone should grow them.

You'll see ready-made plastic or fibreglass ponds on sale in garden centres, but it's a lot cheaper and easier to do it yourself by digging a hole the shape and size that you want, and then lining it with flexible, butyl rubber or plastic sheeting to make it hold water.

'Bog plants' is simply a term for herbaceous perennials that are happy growing in permanently wet or damp soil.You can often get away with growing the sort of marginal pond plants that will put up with growing in mud - which is what the plant labels mean when they say Ocm/Oin of water - as long as you reserve the very wettest spots for them. But most damp-loving perennials can be grown in both a proper bog garden and a damp border, just as long as the ground doesn't dry out badly in summer.

Cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers occupy their pots all summer, but it's also worth considering shorter-term crops for the patio. Dwarf beans can be planted out from mid-May until late July - purple-podded ones are particularly attractive. They're about 30cm (1ft) high, and you'll fit a dozen in a 30cm (12in) pot, or fifteen in a 38cm (15in) tub. Feed and water them like bedding plants.

Think of annual herbs as culinary bedding plants - they'll do best in richer soil, with a degree of shelter and plenty of food and water. If you want to produce industrial quantities for drying or freezing, then grow them in rows in the veg patch.

while gathering information you will also be getting all sorts of ideas on what you want to see in the garden. Designers have a simple checklist of all the possible features that can be incorporated in any composition. We run through this with our customers and make a note of all their preferences. At this stage, it helps to think about what you want in general terms and if you start making a list this can be refined later on.

While formal design is rooted in history and can trace its roots back to the Romans, Greeks and beyond, there came a time towards the beginning of the twentieth century when artists, architects and designers generally started to question its validity. They found it too rigid: it stultified original thought.

Gardens are for everyone and outdoor play is one way to get children out of the house and into fresh air. However, most mass-produced play equipment tends to be dire, only available in a range of garish colours that children are supposed to like which stick out in the garden like a sore thumb_ A successful swing, slide or climbing frame should depend on its usability rather than its trendy colour scheme.

One word of advice about plant reference books and nursery catalogues_ Wade these usually accurately describe species characteristics_ they are less accurate on eventual size. The reason for this comes back to microclimate and soil conditions. A shrub that may grow to 2m (6ft) in one garden might only reach 1.5m (5ft) in an exposed position or as much as 2.5m (8ft) in a sheltered garden. Use reference books as a guide rather than the exact truth.

These plants are not difficult to grow, nor is there any great skill in the arrangement, just a little knowledge built up by observation. I could fill the book with these sorts of combinations, but I'm not going to - it is far more fun finding out for yourself.