GARDENING / Update: Weekend work

CUT out flower stems from mock orange (philadelphus), leaving the new shoots to flower next season. Weigela needs the same treatment. Gather herbs such as rosemary and thyme and hang them in bundles to dry in a cool, airy place.

Transplant leeks from seed bed to vegetable plot. With a dibber, make holes at least 9in deep and drop a leek into each hole. Water them in well. You do not need to fill in the holes.

Mulch runner beans when the soil is damp, to conserve moisture. Thin kohlrabi plants so that they are not less than 6in apart. Thin young beetroot. The thinnings are delicious steamed whole with butter and a scatter of shredded orange peel.

Sow more radish and lettuce to keep the supply going through the summer. In dry weather, such as we have been having, water the seed drill thoroughly before you sow seed. Transplant purple sprouting broccoli plants, making a deep hole with a trowel and setting the young plants deeper in the ground than they have been growing in the seed bed. Water them liberally into the holes and then firm down the earth hard around them.

Keep deadheading violas to encourage new flowers. Leggy clumps can be sheared down close to the ground to encourage new growth.

Keep an eye on strawberry runners, which quickly play havoc with a neatly laid-out strawberry bed. Leave the two strongest on each plant and nip out the rest. Pick whitecurrants and redcurrants regularly.

Take cuttings of the climbing hydrangea, H. petiolaris. Use vigorous young side-shoots about 3in long and stick them into pots of peat/sand mixture. Firm the soil down well around them.