Monthly Q&A – December 2022

Our expert's answers to your December questions:

As part of your Premium access, you can send your gardening questions to our horticultural experts each month. They will then answer a selection of the questions they receive, and share the advice at the end of the month.

The deadline for submitting a question this month has now passed. Come back later in the month to see if yours is one of the questions that has been answered by BBC Gardeners' World Magazine's Associate Editor David Hurrion. You'll also find answers to a host of other gardening problems, below.

You'll get another chance to ask a question next month. In the first email newsletter of each month, we'll remind you to submit your questions. Please note, you will not receive an individual response.

Our expert's answers to your December questions:

• My water butt smells, can I still use this water for vegetables and other plants?
• How do I look after my banana plant in winter?
• How can I help my amaryllis flower again?
• My beech hedge is infested with woolly aphid, what can I do?
• Hardly any of my beetroot plugs have grown, what has happened?

Our expert's answers to your November questions:

Watch the answers to the November questions, which were

• What can I use my greenhouse for over winter? I'm a novice gardener.
• How do I winter mulch a block of perennials in a border without burying the crowns? Or is it OK to do that?
• How can I improve the flowering of an old climbing rose?
• Do I need to remove a variegated alder that has coral spots on the bark?
• How do I get rid of worm casts in my lawn?

Our expert's answers to your October questions:

Watch the answers to the October questions, which were:

• How can I get my peat free compost to retain water?
• My raspberries got muddled when planting. Can I prune without knowing if they’re summer or autumn-fruiting?
• Should I remove the large figs on my tree, as they have reached the correct size but aren’t ripening?
• What can I do to get rid of fuchsia gall mite?
• I bought some 9cm potted perennials in an autumn sale. Should I pot them on and let them establish in pots until spring or should I put them straight into the borders?

Our expert's answers to your September questions:

Watch the answers to the September questions, which were:

• How can I reuse old compost?
• Should I put pot feet or saucers under my containers?
• My lawn looks terrible after summer, and crows are pecking it. What can I do?
• My wisteria has died, but is shooting from the base. Will those new shoots flower?
• My plum tree has brown rot. What should I do?

Our expert's answers to your August questions:

Watch the answers to the August questions, which were:

• What is the best way to revive badly dehydrated potted hydrangeas?
• I often read about adding ‘loam’ to compost, but what is ‘loam’?
• My roses are covered in black spot. I don't want to spray them. Are there any other methods to control it?
• Why have my runner beans failed?
• Lots of my brassicas have grown with no centre – cauliflowers with no curds, cabbages with no heart, calabrese with no heads. What is the cause?

Our expert's answers to your July questions:

Watch the answers to the July questions, which were:

• How often should I water my dahlias and sweet peas?
• Lots of my plants have powdery mildew. What should I do about it?
• My pinks have grown very leggy. When is a good time to take cuttings?
• Why are my vegetable plants all leaves and no fruit?
• My summer-fruiting raspberries have several very long, non-fruiting stems. Are they for next year’s harvest or do they need cutting back?

• My water butt smells, can I still use this water for vegetables and other plants?
• How do I look after my banana plant in winter?
• How can I help my amaryllis flower again?
• My beech hedge is infested with woolly aphid, what can I do?
• Hardly any of my beetroot plugs have grown, what has happened?

Our expert's answers to your November questions:

Watch the answers to the November questions, which were

• What can I use my greenhouse for over winter? I'm a novice gardener.
• How do I winter mulch a block of perennials in a border without burying the crowns? Or is it OK to do that?
• How can I improve the flowering of an old climbing rose?
• Do I need to remove a variegated alder that has coral spots on the bark?
• How do I get rid of worm casts in my lawn?

Our expert's answers to your October questions:

Watch the answers to the October questions, which were:

• How can I get my peat free compost to retain water?
• My raspberries got muddled when planting. Can I prune without knowing if they’re summer or autumn-fruiting?
• Should I remove the large figs on my tree, as they have reached the correct size but aren’t ripening?
• What can I do to get rid of fuchsia gall mite?
• I bought some 9cm potted perennials in an autumn sale. Should I pot them on and let them establish in pots until spring or should I put them straight into the borders?

Our expert's answers to your September questions:

Watch the answers to the September questions, which were:

• How can I reuse old compost?
• Should I put pot feet or saucers under my containers?
• My lawn looks terrible after summer, and crows are pecking it. What can I do?
• My wisteria has died, but is shooting from the base. Will those new shoots flower?
• My plum tree has brown rot. What should I do?

Our expert's answers to your August questions:

Watch the answers to the August questions, which were:

• What is the best way to revive badly dehydrated potted hydrangeas?
• I often read about adding ‘loam’ to compost, but what is ‘loam’?
• My roses are covered in black spot. I don't want to spray them. Are there any other methods to control it?
• Why have my runner beans failed?
• Lots of my brassicas have grown with no centre – cauliflowers with no curds, cabbages with no heart, calabrese with no heads. What is the cause?

Our expert's answers to your July questions:

Watch the answers to the July questions, which were:

• How often should I water my dahlias and sweet peas?
• Lots of my plants have powdery mildew. What should I do about it?
• My pinks have grown very leggy. When is a good time to take cuttings?
• Why are my vegetable plants all leaves and no fruit?
• My summer-fruiting raspberries have several very long, non-fruiting stems. Are they for next year’s harvest or do they need cutting back?