Edible garden

Plant pumpkin (above), eggplant, chilli and tomato as soon as your soil has lost its chill to make sure they have plenty of warm-season growing time

Sow or plant out more basil than you need to provide an early harvest, then thin unwanted plants as they become more established

Liquid-feed salad greens once a fortnight, as doing this will keep them growing as quickly as possible

Install metal collars around trunks of pawpaw trees to prevent possums climbing up to reach the fruit

Hill soil and compost around potatoes to bury the lower stems and encourage more spuds to form

Sow two sweetcorn seeds in the same hole to double your chances of germination success, then remove the weaker seedling if both come up

Spread straw or sugarcane mulch around strawberry plants to support the fruit-bearing runners and keep them clear of the soil

Make night-time earwig traps by sitting empty tuna tins with a small residue of oil in the base next to susceptible plants

Re-pot mint, rosemary, tarragon, sage and lemon balm, and establish some new pots of parsley and dill

Clean out your fireplace and spread the ash sparingly around fruit trees