My pear tree, which is planted in my lawn, has never done very well. What can I do to pep it up?

First, check that the lawn does not grow right up to the trunk. Grass will take food and water from the tree and affect its growth rate.

There should be a circle of bare earth about 1 metre in diameter at the base of the tree until it becomes established, after this you may grass right up to the trunk if the tree is growing strongly. Always feed and water a young or semi-mature tree regularly in summer.

Add Phostrogen to the water once a week to give a quick-acting feed, and fertilizer with a dry feed such as Vitax Q4 each spring for slow-release fertilising.

I love asparagus, but I have no vegetable garden. Is there another way to grow my own?

Certainly! Asparagus can be grown quite successfully in a flower border. Buy 1 or 2 year-old crowns of a dependable variety such as F1 Franklim in spring and plant them in a block 15cm deep, 30cm apart, in a deeply dug, well manured space in the border. 

Keep them well watered and regularly fed with a balanced liquid feed such as Phostrogen, but do not cut any spears the first year. Uncut asparagus will produce handsome, ferny foliage which looks most attractive in an ornamental border. The following year, you can cut one or two spears, and the third season you should be able to pick a good amount. 

Do not cut the spears after mid-July so the plants can recover, and always leave some earlier spears uncut so they will look decorative.   Asparagus fern can be used in flower arrangements providing you do not pick too much at a time. It should be cut down in autumn or early winter.

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