A hosepipe ban is now in force in the North West and that could spell disaster for gardening enthusiasts. We’ve had some very dry weather of late so gardens have required a lot of attention, but from now on gardeners will have to be a little more resourceful when watering their gardens.

It’s always a good idea to have a couple of water butts to collect rainwater with which to water your garden. You can also collect bath and shower water for use in your borders and pots as soap rarely has any negative effect on your plants and flowers.

Window boxes and hanging baskets are a great way of giving your house a little extra visual appeal. If you have ever witnessed a little village life on the continent you’ll be aware of the incredible impact that colourful flowers and plants can have on the front and back of houses.

For full effect, select a few green creeping plants that will hang downwards beneath the basket and set these off with some thick, squat and colourful flowers. This will give maximum coverage on top and below the basket or window box.

Summer is the season when your window boxes and hanging baskets will flower at their best, so get down to the garden centre asap.

If you’re living in a house or flat with a small paved garden, you can still benefit from some effective gardening. The best way of decorating a small paved area is probably to place a bit of garden furniture in the centre and then invest in a number of plant pots of different sizes.

Place your pots around the edges of the patio and fill them with colourful plants and flowers. A couple of climbing plants on your fences is a good idea too. This will give the effect of foliage and bright flowering even though you have no borders or lawn.

You can also change the plants in your pots easily every season over the course of an hour or two.

With temperatures in the UK warming up its time to check your pots and do some thinning out on fruit trees and bushes.

Here are some things you need to do at the beginning of May.

• Feed and water plants as required
• Thin out plants and shoots as needed. Especially fruit trees and bushes.
• Check for pests or disease in your greenhouse
• Shade delicate plants from the mid day sun
• Don’t cut your lawn or water during the heat of the day
• Remove moss and weeds from paths
• Use mulch while you can still see between your plants

If you care for your garden now you will reap the rewards during the summer months.

If like me you have used loads of herbs over the last couple of months your plants could be looking a little wilted or even threadbare. If you have not been tempted to overuse them, then now can be a good time to take cuttings. Woody herbs like Rosemary, Thyme and Sage go mad in July and produce loads of great new shoots.

If you are new to taking cutting don’t worry because these herbs are really easy. Fill a pot with a good potting compost and take cuttings from the shot tips about 4 inches long. Remove the bottom leaves and dip the cut end into organic rooting powder. You can fit about 4 or five cuttings into a 5 inch pot, then water well. Place these cuttings in your cold frame or greenhouse and after about seven weeks the cuttings should have established themselves enough to be transplanted into individual pots.

These painful weeds can often be considered a nuisance amongst the lovely straight lines of vegetables at the allotment, however they can provide useful nutrients to other plants and yourself if used correctly!

For the plants - Nettles can produce a balanced, valuable fertiliser when utilised in liquid feed. If you gather the nettles in the spring, they have the peak mineral content. To produce the liquid feed, put the freshly picked nettles into a container and fill with water (2 gallons of water for every 2lbs of nettles). Cover the mixture and leave for a fortnight, stirring occasionally. After the 2 weeks, strain the nettle juice. Use one part of this smelly liquid with 10 parts water.

For you - Nettles contain iron, vitamins and natural histamine. They can make an excellent tonic to help improve circulation and detoxify your system. Use the young shoots as these are best for cooking.

It is ideal to eat your produce straight from the allotment, but inevitably you will end up with excess at times. It can also be great to enjoy your favourite things throughout the year. In addition to experimenting with successional sowing at the allotment, spending time in the kitchen can help to alleviate the classic dilemma of “too much” followed by “too little” of your crops.

Freezing is a fantastic way to preserve your excess, whilst retaining the flavour and vitamins. Some crops can be frozen straight from the plot. Blackberries, bagged into individual portions, can be a useful addition to your freezer, providing a year round supply of ripe berries.

Most vegetables benefit from blanching prior to freezing. Blanching kills enzymes and bacteria and also helps to maintain the colour, flavour and texture of the vegetables. This technique can also help retain vitamin C content.

The technique is easy. For every 1lb of produce you will need 6 pints of boiling water. A couple of minutes would be sufficient for most vegetables. Remove the vegetables from the boiling water, and plunge into cool water, then ice water to cool immediately. Once cool remove from the water and dry and place in portion size freezer bags.

With local governments reluctant to release any land for new allotment sites, the 100000 people in the UK who are currently on waiting lists may finally get a chance at growing their own veg.

The National Trust in collaboration with Landshare, who match land to prospective growers, has announced the release of land for up to 1000 allotments on some of its properties and country estates.

Landshare was the brain child of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who has achieved notoriety for his “Chicken Out” campaign and the famous “River Cottage” TV programme. He has recently been advocating for more people to grow their own veg and has been putting pressure on local and national government to help make more land available.

The National Trust is releasing land at 40 different locations that will be available from around 2012 and will feature small plots and large community areas. The scheme has the backing of celebrities and the general public alike.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stated:

“I’m completely thrilled with this fantastic pledge from the National Trust to offer 1,000 growing spaces to Landshare. This pledge alone has the potential to make a difference to many thousands of people – not just those who grow, but those with whom they share their wonderful produce. These kinds of initiatives offer immeasurable benefits to communities across a whole host of areas – from good health, to helping minimise our impact on the environment, to simply bringing people together”

Gardeners are known for their idiosyncrasies regarding the tools that they use. Whether it is the hoe that their grandfather gave them or a new gadget for turning the soil, every person has their own likes and dislikes.

As the growing season starts in earnest it is a good time to reevaluate the tools that you own, repair any broken items or search the garden centres or the internet for new shiny items will bolster your current collection. Any items that have become blunt can be sharpened with a metal file. Items that have rusted can be cleaned with a wire brush and then wire wool to achieve a polished finish. Knives, cutters or secateurs can be sharpened using a sharpening stone available from any DIY store. Raw wooden handles can be treated with linseed oil to protect their surface and give them a nice finish.

After the tools are clean and sharpened it is a good idea to give them a rub over with any general purpose oil, this will protect them from further rust during the coming season.

There are many good sharpening tools available to make these jobs easier for you; discounts can usually be had in stores or various internet sites with the help of promotional codes or vouchers. It is always handy to keep your sharpening equipment close at hand throughout the gardening season; this will let you touch up any blunt items to make your gardening experience easier and more enjoyable.

Rhubarb is back in fashion! Once a food staple, rhubarb became less fashionable during the late 70s and 80s due to the fad of pre-packed more exotic produce. This has all changed with the new culture of eating good quality ‘homely’ food that has gripped the nation and the positive press that rhubarb has received due to its health benefits.

A perennial vegetable, rhubarb is essential in every person’s allotment garden. Planting from seed can take a huge amount of time and effort to create a plant of adequate size and quality. So it is always advisable to buy established crowns or if you are lucky someone may split an established rhubarb plant for you. Always make sure that the root piece has one large crown bud so the rhubarb can establish itself mush more quickly.

Crowns should be planted in the spring about 5cm below the surface, you can use lots of organic matter on the crown, even creating a mound above the surface due to the plants requirement for lots of organic matter. Doing a pH test on the area where the rhubarb is to be planted is a good idea due to its natural tendency to like acid soils (pH 6-7).

Young plants should not be harvested frequently and not at all in the first year of planting. It is important to remember that only the stalks must be eaten, the leaves contain dangerous levels of oxalic acid which can cause severe illness.

Rhubarb can be pulled (not cut) from around April time in the UK unless it is forced.