A further salad crop to those Rachel suggests (see links left) is claytonia (miner’s lettuce or winter purslane), which you can sow until late summer to provide mild-tasting leaves into winter. In a sheltered, sunny (or lightly shaded) spot with a well-drained soil, scatter seeds in ¼ in-deep drills. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, thin to 4in-6in apart.

Buy from Kings Seeds (01376 570000, kingsseeds.com).

Gather lavender for drying when the flowers show colour, but are not fully open. Cut them with long stalks, tie into loose bundles and dry by hanging them upside down in a well-ventilated shed.

To prevent wall-trained figs dropping their developing fruits, keep the soil consistently moist, especially in warm, dry spells. Container-grown figs should be checked for watering every day.

If you have newly planted trees, examine the tree ties to ensure they are not too tight and digging into the bark. Loosen them if necessary.

Readers’ questions

Some of my recently harvested potatoes are almost completely green. What’s gone wrong?

L Ireland, by e-mail

These parts have been exposed to sunlight and are inedible, so the tubers should be discarded. To prevent this, “earth up” the plants as they grow taller in late spring and early summer, drawing a small, flat-topped ridge of loose soil up and around the stem bases. If potatoes are raised in containers, sprinkle fresh compost round the plants whenever tubers start to poke out of the soil.

What is eating the seeds of my strawberries and damaging the fruits at the same time?

D Higgins, Whitstable

This is the work of the strawberry seed beetle. Most of the damage is done at night, so finding and removing them by hand is not easy, but if you clear away all surface stones, old leaves and debris from the surrounding area, the beetles won’t be able to hide there during the day and will be more vulnerable to predators. All weeds should also be removed, as the beetles use them as a secondary source of food.

gardenexpert@sunday-times.co.uk

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