Crossword

Put down your trowel, pick up a pen and exercise those brain muscles instead…

ACROSS

1 Cover these plot staples with netting to deter pigeons (9) 7 These useful long-handled tools would benefit from cleaning and sharpening (4) 8 Cover crowns of these edible stems to force tender growth (7) 9 It’s a good time to plant bare-root fruit __ into enriched soil (6) 10 Succisa pratensis is better known as devil’s __ scabious (3) 11 ‘__ Harkness’ is a fragrant tea rose with rich-red blooms (3) 12 Use lime to treat a soil that is too __ (4) 13 Common name for Coreopsis verticillata (8) 17 ‘__ Pearmain’ was a popular Victorian dessert apple (5) 20 Salix cinerea is also known as grey __ (6) 22 A name for various plants with curative properties (3-4) 23 Relating to leaves (6) 24 Water __ is a name for Geum rivale (5)

DOWN

1 Keep these wildlife amenities free of ice (4,5) 2 Term for plants that grow in water (7) 3 The male organs of a flower (7) 4 ‘Holland Winter White’ is a well-known variety of __ (7) 5 __ daisy is a name for Leucanthemum x superbum (6) 6 American plant with daisy-like blooms, known as sneezeweed (8) 14 Mountain laurel is a name for __ latifolia (6) 15 ‘King __’ is a tasty and reliable maincrop potato (6) 16 Ensure tubers of this garden favourite do not dry out in storage (6) 18 Geranium ‘Katherine __’ has small, pale-pink blooms (5) 19 Epsom __ are a good remedy for magnesium deficiency (5) 21 Succulent plant with a rosette of thick, tapering leaves (4)