I need to talk to you about fertilisers. As a general rule, I would not be encouraging you to chuck fertilisers about the place but the heavy rains that we have had will have washed away (leached) some nutrients from the soil.

Nitrogen (N) is an easily leached nutrient. It is important for leaf growth so if you are a cabbage-grower or similar, the amount of nitrogen in the soil will be important to you and it is often applied as a ‘straight’ fertiliser, that is to say that it is not mixed with any other nutrients.

The most common ‘straight’ high in nitrogen is sulphate of ammonia or if you are an organic grower you can use ‘hoof and horn’, which is a slow-release type, or dried blood, which is a fast-release.

On to phosphorus (P) which is important for good root growth and is most commonly used in the form of bonemeal.

Most soil types contain a lot of phosphorus and the addition of bonemeal when planting is a personal choice. Again there are ‘straights’ in the form of superphosphate but it should not be used on a soil with a high chalk content as it becomes insoluble and therefore a waste of time and money.

Potassium (K) is important for fruit and flowers and is most commonly applied in the form of tomato feed.

It is very important not to chuck too much of this around as it can lead to magnesium becoming unavailable to plants – you often see this in tomatoes in growbags with yellowing of the leaves from overfeeding – this can be rectified by using sulphate of magnesium – i.e. Epsom salts.

If you are growing fruit, then you can apply the recommended amount of sulphate of potash around the base of trees and bushes now, rake in and then mulch.

So – N:P:K are the three major nutrients. It is very important to look on the sides of packets of fertiliser to see what ratio they are in – no good buying one high in nitrogen if you want a better fruit crop.

The message about using fertilisers is not to be heavy-handed with any of them.

You can do more harm than good. If you unsure what to use and the whole thing is just a ball of confusion, then stick with a good seaweed feed and use it for everything. And remember that no amount of fertiliser will take the place of a well-cultivated soil that is high in organic matter – ie muck!

To the practicalities: you can cut down such shrubs as Buddleia davidii and Lavatera now – quite hard as they flower on new growth and can get very woody and leggy.

Hydrangea paniculata can also be cut back to the lowest pair of strong buds showing and Hydrangea macrophylla (mop-heads and lace-caps) can have the old flower heads removed down to the first pair of strong buds – you can also take some old stems out to the ground.