Welcome to my potting shed! This is the column where I’ll share all my gardening hints and tips – and I’ll try to answer any queries you may have. Why has the rose that I planted earlier this year not put on much growth? – Ewan Lockhart, Prestwick

It can take a couple of seasons for roses to become established, in the meantime weed it and water it and feed it next spring with rose fertiliser.

Help, even in this dry summer my garden is over-run with slugs. What can I do to save my plants? – Wendy Austin, Tarbet

The Royal Horticultural Society has stopped classing slugs as pests, and slug pellets have been withdrawn from sale, so encouraging birds into the garden and using beer traps and barrier methods, such as crushed eggshells, are your best options.

Is there an easy way to remove ferns? I’m trying to clear a patch of them that have overtaken one of my flower beds. – Ian Sutherland, Alexandria