How to make grass a green to envy...

Can I make my grass look greener? ann, via email daVid: Yes – having healthier grass will help through regular feeding. Apply one lawn feed in spring (which focuses on foliage) and one in autumn (focusing on root stability). Fertiliser that contains iron doesn’t actually feed grass (like nitrogen-based feed) but will darken the greenery, making it appear lusher. that the foliage remains as vibrant as the day you bought it.

Trachycarpus palms are hardy and take longer to grow, so they tend to be more expensive to buy – but look amazing.

The hairy trunk is covered in fibres so they’re striking to see and reminiscent of being abroad.

Mix in the sound of a trickling water feature and you’ve got a space fit for ultimate tranquillity.

For something exotic-looking and palm-like, but that isn’t a palm, look to Fatsia japonica, which looks tropical but is hardier and has a bushy habit – making it perfect for achieving a striking visual effect.

Med terrain

Sun-baked Mediterranean soils are often blessed with the sights of lavender, rosemary, olive trees and even outstanding cypress trees.

These are hardy in most parts of the UK and suited to gardens of all sizes.

With their columnar upwardgrowing habit, cypress trees are lowmaintenance and help achieve an architectural display to take you back to dreamy vacations away.

Just add in some grit to the soil for these plants to replicate the freedraining soil they’re adapted to.

Of course, no Italian terrace would be complete without the familiar warm hue of terracotta pots. Mix in with pastel purple and blue painted pots too, and you convert tiredlooking features into those which sing of vibrant villas and sunny siestas.

Perfect for pots, jasmine is an absolute favourite of mine. You get it all – decorative flowers, creeping growth and that distinctive scent of summer.

It will happily climb up walls, pergolas and fences, so if you’ve got