Stefan Buczacki

buying a propane gas heater. Replacement propane gas cylinders can be obtained readily from garden centres and many other outlets.

Nonetheless, whatever system of heating you have, you must insulate the greenhouse to ensure the heat for which you have paid doesn’t, quite literally, all go out of the window. Proper UV-stable bubble plastic (not packaging material) is inexpensive and clips are available for attaching it to an aluminium greenhouse structure.

Stefan says:

Stefan says: You planted the bulbs during the last week in September, which is more or less an ideal time. However, some of them have produced plants that are now about 5cm (2in) high. You wonder if they’ll survive the winter. To which the answer is yes.

Daffodils are incredibly tough, even if they become covered with frost and snow. It will stop their ambition certainly but will do them no long-term harm and, come the warmer weather, they’ll pick up where they left off.

Although you planted your bulbs in good time, I'm often asked how late daffodils can be planted and if they’ll survive

It’s not unusual to see daffodils sprouting now if they have already started to sprout. Again, it’s a cautious yes, but the later you leave

it, the less likely they are to produce a decent display.

Stefan says: This plant seems to be causing a problem everywhere; in your lawns and in your beds and borders. It has fibrous roots with sharp, pointed ends. The sharp roots are, in fact, rhizomes that creep everywhere and the plant is related to true grasses but is, in fact, a species of sedge. Your problem plant is almost certainly Carex pendula, the pendulous sedge.

Control isn’t easy, however. In beds and borders it may be possible to spot-treat it with a weedkiller containing glyphosate. In lawns, nonetheless, it’s too closely related to the grass for selective weed killers to work and the best option is to mow regularly, improve the drainage if possible and use a high nitrogen fertiliser to help the grass to compete.