Right now in the garden

Fionnuala Fallon’s tips for this week’s tasks

Keep picking sweet pea to encourage further flowering
Keep picking sweet pea to encourage further flowering
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There’s still time to sow seed of kohlrabi, a colourful, fast-growing vegetable whose swollen root stems are delicious when steamed, sautéed or grated into a salad. Sow seed into modules now, to transplant out in mid-July, spacing 30cm apart. Seed is available from Klaus Laitenberger’s Green Vegetable Seed (greenvegetableseeds.com)

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Keep picking sweet pea flowers to encourage the plant to produce more.

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Shaken, not stirred . . . Use a handful of juicy home-grown strawberries and fresh mint leaves from the garden to make a mouth-wateringly fruity strawberry martini. See jamieoliver.com

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In the mixed border, smaller plants can quickly become smothered by their more vigorous neighbours. Stake large sprawling plants, using a secateurs to gently prune back unwanted growth.

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At this time of year garden ponds can quickly become infested by blanket weed, a slimy looking plant that floats on the top of the water and smothers other growth. Remove it by twisting it around a bamboo cane, then leave it by the side of the pond overnight to allow any pond wildlife to escape back into the water.