Garden: Weekend Work

CUT BACK broom when it has finished flowering, shortening the shoots that have flowered to within a couple of inches of the old wood. Do not cut into this older wood.

DEAD HEAD lilacs and trim back Clematis montana if it is getting too greedy and filling up space.

WATCH FOR suckers on roses. They always spring from the base of the shrub and the foliage usually looks different from that of the parent. The sucker's leaves look more like a wild dog rose's. Pull the suckers out if you can, or trace them back underground to their junction with the rootstock and cut them off there.

CUT BACK the foliage of early-flowering Iris unguicularis to let the sun bake the rhizomes. This will increase flower power early next year. Trim off dead flower spikes of early-flowering bearded iris.

KEEP ON top of bindweed (counsel of perfection), especially where it threatens to join up with climbers such as clematis. It is particularly difficult to extricate from situations such as these once it has got a hold.

TAKE CUTTINGS from pinks by pulling out non-flowering side shoots. Trim them just under a stem joint, so that they are about 4in long. Then root the cuttings in pots of sandy compost, or

in a narrow trench in a

side border.