e-mail Jane Owen with your gardening questions: jane.owen1@timesonline.co.uk

Why haven’t my sweet peas sprouted? I planted them three weeks ago and when I scratched into the soil last weekend I found that the seeds hadn’t done anything. Trish Hine, Worcester

It may be that the seeds are dead for some reason – they may be too old for instance. What is more likely is that they need a little encouragement. Soaking overnight or chipping them by rubbing one spot with fine sandpaper will usually do the trick. It may still be worth trying with your seeds – or you could buy a new batch. Or cheat and buy some seedlings. Either way the young plants will need a rich, moisture-retaining soil and a sunny site in order to flower well. And remember to keep dead heading.

I am hoping to make a patch of wild flowers amongst a small lawn. Can you recommend seeds that can be sown amongst grass (have to be a fairly big bag) and how to sow them in the grass? Gill Eakins

It’s a lovely idea both aesthetically and ecologically but it’s going to take a lot more work and preparation than sowing seed into your existing grass. In theory all suitable seed can be sown in grass from oxlips to vetch but this method does not have a high success rate because conditions are rarely ideal. Wildflowers are sensitive and can take a while to establish although, once they have, they can spread like wildfire. It’s best to sow wildflowers in trays and plant them out once they’re a decent size. One of the most important guarantors of success is soil preparation. For wildflowers that usually means scraping away the topsoil from the site. Most wildflowers need poor soil in order to survive and that will certainly mean getting rid of a lot of your rich lawn soil. You’ll have to choose your wildflowers according to your soil type and situation (soil testing kits are easy to use and can be bought from any garden centre, on or offline). The following websites, especially Scotts, give excellent information about making wildflower areas and some sell seed. www.scottswildflowers.co.uk www.nickys-nursery.co.uk ww.hdra.org.uk, www.kew.org. You might also be interested in contacting The Wildflower Society www.rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/wfsoc/. Finally it’s worth remembering that wildflowers dictate how and when you mow grass – so you can forget stripy or formal lawns.

I've read that the scent from the Eucalyptus tree can be a deterrent to flies. We have a conservatory that becomes a haven to flies in the summer months. What variety of Eucalyptus tree would be effective for the purpose and suitable to put in a bright, warm conservatory? Tracey Beard

Eucalyptus oil is a regular part of many fly deterrents and, although there’s no guarantee that it will keep flies at bay, a eucalyptus or gum tree certainly won’t encourage them. The following gums are good for conservatories so long as they get plenty of light without any direct southern light: E. coccifera E. crenulata E. glaucescens E. nicholii E. perriniana E. pulverulenta and E. vernicosa. They need to be cut back hard – down to six inches above the soil - every two years and given a balanced liquid feed every month or so. They’ll look good even if they don’t dent your fly problem.

May I suggest to the lady who would like to nominate her neighbour for the YellowBook Charity, that she instead contacts a glossy magazine (like homes & gardens/Times mag!?)and asks them to do a feature in their mag on her garden. I'm sure that would be a better idea ( I agree about the battering) and her neighbour would have all of her hard work put into print/pictures that she could always keep and show to others. Lorraine Reece-Farren

What a great idea – thanks. She’ll need to send in pictures and I’m afraid there’s no certainty that she’ll get them back.

Last year we tried several new varieties of vegetables recommended by a certain seed large company. They didn't look much like the pictures we saw in the catalogue. I accept that we may not be able to give the time to gardening that the seed company does but we are good gardeners and would have planted the vegetables out differently if we’d know what the end result was going to be. What I was wondering was, is there way that we could get to see some of these new vegetables as they are being grown? Bob Deakin, Peterborough

As it happens one of the big vegetables growers, Thompson & Morgan, holds an annual public open day. This year it’s on July 28th and 29th at the Ipswich HQ which is not so far from you. Various experts will be on hand but, more to the point, all their latest crops will be on show in the trial grounds.

Last night I saw a programme about a talented horticulturalist called Tom who has made a world garden in Kent. I would like to visit it – where is it please? Sandra Wilkins, East Sussex

This is by Tom Hart Dyke who appeared on the BBC 2 series I made a couple of years ago when he was starting to build his world garden at his family home, Lullingstone Castle. Today He has his own series and his own extensive and remarkable garden. He is very talented and his garden is an extraordinary achievement – you’ll find all you need to know here .

Where can I find a decent collection of clematis, preferably with someone who knows about the plant? I used to grow a lot of climbing roses and now I have become increasingly interested in clematis both as a climber and a border plant and, if possible a year round plant. Tommy Baulk, Arundel

They are stunning plants with a lot to recommend them apart from their tendency to invade roof space and take over whole areas of wall space. Burford Garden Company has one of the national collections and several more can be found via the National Council for the Preservation of Plants & Gardens website which lists all collection holders. Many of the holders have devoted their lives to their collections and they are a mine of knowledge and, in some cases, plants and seeds for sale.

I have just seen a wisteria on an old house with exceptionally long bunches of flowers. The owner doesn’t know which plant this is – can you tell me please? It was blue. Name and address witheld

Tricky without more information. You could try looking on this website and then Googling for images or go to your local library for the latest issue (May) of the Royal Horticultural Society’s magazine, The Garden, which has a picture gallery of various wisterias. Alternatively you could take basal cuttings now or take the lazy way out and persuade the plant’s owner to let you make layers this winter.

e-mail Jane Owen with your gardening questions: jane.owen1@timesonline.co.uk

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