It’s a great advantage to work in the garden here at home. It runs alongside the road and there’s always a neighbour, a friend or even people I don’t know walking along it. It’s nice when they stop for a gardening chat.

Most people have gardens, whether big or small, so we always have lots to discuss and garden tips to exchange. There’s always something to learn, no matter how long one has been gardening.

There’s also a great advantage to having a garden beside the dwelling house. If a few scallions or leaves of lettuce or handful of herbs are needed in a hurry, they are easily picked.

As I write this, it is still raining but everything in the garden is thriving. Cabbage, cauliflower, peas, beans and potatoes are all being used now. The fruit is good as well, with most of the strawberries and blackcurrants picked and turned into jam. We have an oversupply this year, and we are selling the surplus for a very deserving charity.

We must start thinking about winter, as it’s time to start sowing spring cabbage. I like “wheelers imperial”, but it needs to be sown in seed form straight away to get some strong plants for transplanting at the end of September. This variety stands up to frost well and comes in for using in early spring.

Lettuce

Lettuce can be sown now as well. Iceberg and butterhead are sown in separate containers and left out to harden up. The plants will hopefully be strong enough to plant out in raised beds around the end of September.

When the weather gets very cold, tunnels will be erected over the whole bed and secured from strong winds. So get sowing, as the growth begins to wane after mid-August. If you do, you will have a supply of salad leaves all winter and into spring.

In the flower borders, seeds are ripe for saving. These include foxglove, delphinium, cosmos, candytuff and poppy, to name just a few. Store the seeds in separate envelopes and keep in a dry box for sowing next spring.

Nowadays, there is a large variety of bulbs to choose from. Bulbs are a great way to give colour to a drab border in spring. We sow a few new bulbs in our borders every year as sometimes the slugs take our tulip bulbs in winter.

Everyone has their own favourites, but mine include iris, lily, Arum lily and grape hyacinth. All can be sown outdoors from now on. Remember that hyacinths come in many colours and produce an amazing scent.

We are looking forward to our local Tullamore show on 14 August, a great day out. Hope to see you there. CL