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Q – We use a lot of recycled materials in our gardening (eg for raised beds) – can the panel describe the most striking ‘planter’ that they’ve seen?

Matthew – My two favourites – a really big metal tin with Greek lettering that contained jalapeno peppers (pinched from the pub) and a heavy old copper pan that I planted with Sempervivums.Ìý To avoid drilling the latter I filled the base with free-draining ‘Hydra leaker’ (expanded clay) and then mounded the Sempervivums on top so the water drains off.

Bunny – Straw bales.Ìý Season them for ten days with water and fertiliser and then plant in them.Ìý In a greenhouse especially they are great for cucumbers as it keeps the humidity up.Ìý Outside you can use them for potatoes and lettuces.

Anne – At Christmas I save chocolate tins, drill holes in their bottoms, and use them for cut-and-come-again mixtures.Ìý I can’t resist an old teapot, too.

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Q – I got a neglected bottlebrush tree from a garden centre – how can I restore it to its former glory?

Matthew – [the tree is a] red-flowered Callistemon – found in Greece but actually from Australia – soaking is a key thing to keep moist and put it in a nice large, terracotta pot.Ìý

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Q – Can you suggest some perennials with red flowers for a ‘hot’ border?

Anne – The Monarda didyma, the ‘Oswego tea’, or bergamot, one called ‘Cambridge Scarlet’… some of the Heleniums are red but they tend to be more of an orange/mahogany… then there is the Lobelia cardinalis (but that needs a moist soil)…some of the Cannas (but they’re not hardy perennials)… then you’ve also got Lychnis chalcedonica, sometimes known as ‘Maltese Cross’.

Bunny – There’s a brilliant Salvia which has a very bright orange/red flower (but you have to bring it in in winter). Some of the peonies and oriental poppies are lovely and red.

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Q – We’ve got a long (200yard/183m) gravel path through the allotments – what is the most effective, organic way of controlling the weeds?Ìý

Matthew – This is a Bob Flowerdew favourite – use boiling water from the kettle after you’ve made a cup of tea.Ìý

Bunny – Or use a little, manageable flame gun.Ìý

Matthew – Once you’ve cleared it you could then try putting down a much finer gravel which will help

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Q – For the past three years I’ve planted an Acer in different parts of the garden and every year it has died on me – suggestions please.

Anne – These are temperamental plants - they’ll need quite specific conditions.Ìý I’d recommend a ‘woodland’ environment, so preferably north-facing, slightly raised so they drain well in winter, put lots of compost in so you get good moisture retention for the summer, not too sunny, some shade, not too windy.Ìý That’s the sort of environment it would like.

Bunny – These picky plants are very susceptible to frost after their leaves have opened in the first few years.Ìý So you’ve really got to protect it from late frosts.Ìý And they like a more acid soil too.

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Q – I have two trellis areas on a north-facing wall, 2m x 1m, what flowering plants would the panel suggest that I grow?Ìý But not Pyracantha because it’s too prickly!

Bunny – On my north-facing walls I like to grow roses and they do really well.Ìý I’ve got Phyllis Bide, which is a repeat-flowering rambler, which is covered in apricot-pink blossom.Ìý ‘Madame Alfred Carrier’, or a Hydrangea seemanii if you want something evergreen.

Matthew – I grow Camellias on my north-facing wall and I grow them as wall shrubs, tightly pruned against the wall, so they’re almost like climbers.Ìý

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Q – Does lichen kill shrubs?Ìý

Bunny – I don’t think it does any harm whatsoever.Ìý It’s normally just a sign that other plants are slowing in growth and the lichen is making the most of it.

Matthew – I agree. More likely you’ve got a problem in the soil or another issue but presence of the lichen is just a coincidence

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Q – Lupins.Ìý My mother grew great swathes of them in Cambridgeshire and they are a favourite flower of mine.Ìý I have tried unsuccessfully to grow them in the clay soil near the river in Bedford, have you any tips?

Bunny – If they’re dying off in the first year I think you might have a slug problem – slugs and Lupins are like bread and butter!Ìý

Anne – Have you done a soil test?Ìý Because Lupins really like a neutral-to-acid soil.Ìý Also, don’t plant a Lupin out at anything under a 5 inch (12.7cm) pot size.Ìý You could try and make a slightly raised bed too to give a better growing medium away from the clay.

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Q – I have two pieces of garden paraphernalia that I couldn’t go without! I have my gardening utility belt and I have garden twine – I would like to know what the panel could get rid of from their own gardening paraphernalia?

Bunny – I’ve got lots of useless things!Ìý One is a ‘Spork’ (hybrid spade and fork), and the garden shredder is useless too.Ìý

Matthew – Every cheap bit of gardening stuff I’ve ever bought! There’s a reason they’re cheap; it’s such a false economy.Ìý

Anne – I just have a basic kit – comfortable forks and rakes.Ìý I have a bulb-planter I could happily ditch though!

Eric – I have one particular piece of machinery that I haven’t thrown away in order to warn me off bad purchases and that’s an Allen Scythe…

Other panellists (in unison) – No! We love Allen Scythes..