Weekend work: Time to feed tomatoes

What to do

Tomatoes planted in containers and growbags need a regular fortnightly dose of some feed rich in potassium. Few gardeners will have succeeded with outdoor tomatoes in this wet season, but the bush variety 'Tumbler', set out at the beginning of May, may be producing fruit by now.

Under cover, tomatoes such as 'Super Marmande' are doing well. Nip out the tops of staked types such as this now. This will encourage the fruit that have already set to swell and ripen.

Over the next month, take cuttings of tender fuchsias and geraniums. Choose strong, healthy shoots for geraniums and crop off the top 10cm/4in. Trim the cutting immediately below a leaf joint, remove all mature leaves and any flower buds and pot the cuttings up in a sandy mixture of compost. Do not cover them.

Stem cuttings can be taken of hibiscus, hydrangea, kolkwitzia and perovskia or Russian sage.

What to see

Lupins, echinacea, and many maples first came to our gardens from the forests and prairies of the States. Lupins have made themselves very much at home, as you can see on many railway embankments in Britain. But to see them in their natural habitats, go to the British Museum in London which, in association with Kew, is celebrating the North American Landscape in an exhibition which continues to 25 November