Flowerdew on new seedlings and weed-killing

Gardeners worried about weeds or protecting young seedlings should have a look at the Daily Mail as it follows the advice of aptly-named organic gardening and greenhouse expert Bob Flowerdew.

As a regular contributor to Radio 4s Gardeners Question Time, Flowerdew is ideally positioned to impart useful advice.

For those who often struggle to remember what they have planted, he advises using the winter down time to write out small labels for each bag of seeds you intend to plant and to insert the labels into the soil next to their respective seedlings.

Those seedlings also need protection if they are planted outside.

But Flowerdew insists there is no need to buy expensive cloches as savvy gardeners can save cash and the environment by making their own by halving a plastic bottle to place over the soil like the seeds own personal greenhouse.

While Flowerdew advises that hot water left over from making a cup of tea can be used to kill weeds, the Royal Horticultural Society recommends that aerobic mulch is used as this helps seeds maintain heat energy and keeps weeds at bay.