do it!

Easy Set traps to protect the newly-emerging shoots of herbaceous perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, lupins, hosta and dicentra from slugs and snails.

How to box cleverWRITE to Adrienne at Homes & Holidays, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP.Herb bed fully loadedSoak seeds of black-eyed susan or thunbergia before sowing them on a warm, shady windowsill to have climbing plants for decorating trellis screens and obelisks in flowerbeds this summer.TRANSFORM your borders by edging them with a neatly clipped, evergreen box hedge, which will also help to keep plants from flopping over on to paths and lawns.If forcing strawberries under glass, protect the open flowers from frost by covering them with layers of newspaper when severe cold weather is forecast.DIY itREVIVE your herb beds by taking cuttings now to have a ready supply of fresh young leaves to snip in early summer. Use the soft new shoots for cuttings, trimming them 3in long just below a leaf joint. Insert several around the rim of a five-inch pot of gritty compost. Cover them with a polythene bag and root them on a warm, shady windowsill. New growth indicates rooting - remove the bag, pot them up individually and harden them off before planting.Box hedges, especially dwarf variety Buxus Suffruticosa, which is just six to eight inches high, are easy to grow, coping with most situations, including shade.Good ideaOr you can send an email to homes@sundaymirror.co.ukBuy young seedlings of tender bedding plants such as geranium, salvia, busy lizzy and petunia and prick them out into trays of a quality potting compost.Design itEffort 2 Prevent frost pockets in low-lying areas of the garden by raising nearby fences slightly off the ground to allow trapped cold air to escape.Before planting, improve the soil with wellrotted garden compost then space about 10 inches apart to create a dense row. Mulch after planting and water daily for the first few weeks. For good looks, try to aim to keep the lines of the hedge razor sharp, by trimming them in May and again in August or September.

POP used teabags into a jug of water to feed lime-hating rhododendrons and camellias. - Johnny Bates, Cheltenham, Gloucs