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QÌý - When will we know when sweet potatoes are ready to harvest?

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Bob - I tend to leave them in the containers of dry compost and use them usually by the beginning of the New Year.

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Q - I have a difficult patch of ground – it’s semi-shaded, lots of tree roots and very dry light sandy soil. Can you recommend a corm or bulb that will tolerate these conditions and give me lots of colour?

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Pippa – I would try some hardy Cyclamen from about July – August. They do well in a really miserable spot.

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Bunny – I love Lilium Martagon. They look very exotic but dead easy to grow.

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Bob – Herb Robert. There is a white flowered version you can get which is less aggressive. I have it mixed in with lily of the valley in a shady place.

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Q – My garden has suffered from an infection of Phytophthora kernoviae so a lot of evergreen shrubs had to be removed. What is more resilient that could be planted there?

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Pippa – Regularly check the forestry commissions website - there is an overlap between gardens, parks, and forest and they can draw up seemingly resistant plants.

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Bunny – Hydrangeas but they are not evergreen, but they work well in that climate

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Bob – Have a 10-year plan.Ìý Put in things like hydrangeas and cardoons and other herbaceous plants to give you bulk. Even Pampas Grass. Find out what will work.

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Q - Next door to my tiny garden are two 20ft (6.1m) evergreen trees. My flower beds are in full shade and dry as a bone. Advice?

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Bunny - Have a chat to your neighbours. Maybe they hate them. I would go round with a big bottle of champagne.

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Pippa – Invite them round to see what the problem is in your garden.

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Bob – Diplomacy before chainsaw.

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Q – I have piles of homemade compost made since we moved to a house with a large garden. How else can we use it?

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Bob - Make compost tea – when you are watering put a whole handful of compost into an old stocking and put that into a watering can. As a mulch put it round trees and shrubs – you can’t have too much compost.

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Pippa - Offer it to struggling neighbour gardeners. Cut down on what you are buying in dramatically.

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Bob – You can’t give away your compost; it’s like giving away your children

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Q - I have a back alley and its got filled with coal ash from the fireplaces over the years and I would like to grow some plants and encourage some wildlife.

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Bob – Go for containers so you can control what you put in them. And hanging baskets.

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Bunny – Hazel (Corylus Avellana) and Holly (Ilex Aquifolium) and some flowers.

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Eric - What I have done is turned it into a pathway for birds. ÌýI made a foliage tunnel out of it and its amazing how many birds are attracted by that.

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Bunny Ìý– Put some water then tooÌý - like a winding rill.

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Bob – and then all you need is an ocean wave machine.

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ÌýPippa – Herbaceous Germania grow well in miserable conditions

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Q – What would you recommend a new allotment holder grow first after clearing the plot of brambles?

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Bob – Start with just 2 or 3 packet of seeds the first year and see how they go. Then the following year and get rid of the ones you didn’t like and try a new 2-3 packets.

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Bunny – I disagree there totally. I would grow everything I love. Deal with those brambles. When you have sorted them - The easy ones are courgettes, climbing French beans, cut-and-come-again lettuce and parsley – you can never have too much parsley.

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Pippa – A Mattock is the most amazing piece of kit when you are trying to clear ground. It’s not easy but it will hugely increase your chances are properly clearing an area.

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Q – I’ve had a bucket of little black bits in my shed for 15 years. No-one knows what they are. I’ve brought them with me. I would love to know what use they might have.

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Bunny –They have had their day. Maybe if you had sown them 15 years ago.

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BobÌý - when you don’t know what something is its best not to spread it around.

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