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Q – I struggled to find seeds and tubers for sweet potatoes last year, should I try again this year?

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Bob – Seed is very hard to find.Ìý You can get started slips commercially but they arrive late.Ìý Take a sort you like from the supermarket and force it in the warm.Ìý You can’t plant it like a potato though, it will rot.Ìý Keep them away from slugs.

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Pippa – I grow from slips.Ìý Grow through a sheet of plastic to warm the soil.Ìý

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Anne – I dibble them in modules before putting them in pots

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Q – I have an olive tree in a pot in my walled garden that is bending. What can I do?

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Pippa – Rotate it.Ìý Erect a white or tin foil screen behind it to reflect light

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Anne – I’d grow figs against the wall and put the olive somewhere more open

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Bob – Also put reflective material underneath it to increase light

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Q – How can I propagate Agapanthus?

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Anne – Easily.Ìý Dig out in spring and cut them to divide.Ìý Keep clumps of two or three.

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Bob – Put the clump of bulbs and roots in warm water first to make it easier to divide

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Q – I live in a top floor flat with no outside space. Can I grow tomatoes in my well-lit hallway?

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Bob – You won’t get a bumper crop but give it a go. Spend some money on these new LED lights that are designed for growing. They’re great.Ìý ‘Subarctic Plenty’ is designed for difficult situations so try that variety.

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Anne – Tap the plants when flowering to pollinate.Ìý Try both cordon-trained and bush-trained varieties to see what works best

Eric – Grow them in hanging baskets – ‘Tumbling Tom’ variety

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Q – I have a Clematis ‘Winter Beauty’ (evergreen) which was full of buds until mid-December when two-thirds fell off. What’s happened?

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Pippa – A sudden change in weather eg lack of moisture can have this effect.Ìý

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Anne – There are degrees of hardiness to a plant so beware! ÌýI’d agree with drought over cold as the cause

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Q – I have a Kaffir lime tree.Ìý It’s about a foot (0.3m) tall.Ìý This winter, its second, it lost all its leaves.Ìý What can I do to help it?

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Pippa – Always worthy looking at the roots for pests like Vine Weevil.Ìý Also waterlogged roots.Ìý

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Anne – Stick the whole thing in tepid/warm water and rehydrate it

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Bob – You need an ericaceous mix with a little bit of soil compost.Ìý They don’t like lime in the soil. Get it wetted and then well-drained. Keep it warm and give it a high nitrogen feed.

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Q – In 2014 we planted 150 mixed Daffodil bulbs.Ìý This year they are all flowering late and they are all blind.Ìý Why? And will they always be blind from now on.

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Pippa – Flowering times are loose so don’t worry about that.Ìý Blindness doesn’t need to be permanent but what you need to do is feed them now.Ìý

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Anne – You might not have planted them deep enough so they might have suffered a drought

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Bob – Make sure you deadhead

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Q – What is the romantic plant in your gardens?

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Bob – It has to be the rose

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Pippa – Freesias

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Anne – There’s a Hoya called Hoya kerrii which has a heart-shaped leaf. That’s a good one.

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