The summer season is now upon us, but it’s not too late to spruce up your garden in time for a fun summer barbecue. There’s only so much you can do with your rusty old gardening tools, however, so you might want to think about getting a landscape gardener in.

However, hiring a professional garden designer can be more expensive than you realise, especially if your outside space is in a right old state. This means that if you want a lush, perfectly contoured (and weed-free) lawn, bright and blooming flowerbeds and maybe even a soothing water feature, you’re going to have to find a way to boost your funds.

One idea is to try playing online bingo games, such as those at cheeky bingo. In all cheeky bingo reviews you’re likely to come across, you’ll find mention after mention of happy players, lively chat rooms, fun games, huge jackpots and hundreds if not thousands of daily winners.

Online bingo is a fun and fast way to make some extra cash, so why not give it a bash? You might find that you win enough to get your garden in tip-top shape, and maybe even throw in a gazebo or two!

It becomes impossible to keep some of the more delicate herbs going in the garden through winter - but there IS a way to have access to fresh home-grown herbs throughout the winter. By investing in a special low-wattage CFL (Compact Fluorescent) light bulb you can keep the plants INDOORS and still provide them with all the light they need.

Place the herbs near a window to take full advantage of the natural light and set the CFL bulb on a timer to come on for a couple of hours a night after it goes dark.

You’ll be able to enjoy fresh home-grown herbs all winter using this method and the lights cost very little to run.

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”