Nothing will make a newcomer to gardening an outcast of society quicker than to be continually borrowing tools. There is no need, however, to rush into buying one of everything and a good collection can be built up slowly as required ; some being needed immediately while others can wait for a birthday.

The tools described will make up a modest collection and they will certainly be adequate to maintain the largest shrub border. To the basic outfit could be added a manure fork and shovel which would make the annual mulching of the border with manure or compost rather less of a labour.

At long last the gardener can don heavy boots and take a spade in hand to make a start on preparing the soil to receive the chosen shrubs. Newly planted shrubs will establish rapidly if they are provided with a soil. which has been worked some fifteen inches deep. First take out a trench across one end 15 in. wide, placing the soil to one side for filling up the final trench when the work is completed.

The cambium is a thin layer of tissue composed during the growing season of actively dividing cells. Only these cells of both the scion and rootstock are capable of joining one to the other into an indissoluble whole.

Prepare the stocks for budding by clearing the soil away from around the base of the stem and wipe the exposed area clean with a moist cloth. Make a cross cut on the prepared surface, then an upward cut to meet it, drawing with the knife blade a letter T. The bark should lift easily with the knife handle if the stock is fit to bud. Remove the bud by starting a slanting cut one inch below the chosen bud and coming at the same distance above. The shield can be trimmed to size after insertion.

Where the T-shaped cut is made depends on what type of tree is required. If a bush form is wanted then the cut is made 4 in. above soil level but with half or full standards from three to six feet of clean stern must be left. The bark is lifted, the bud inserted and bound exactly in the manner described for roses.

A polythene sleeve, made by slitting a suitably sized bag along the bottom, is then slipped over to enclose the wound and firmly bound at the base with electricians’ tape. Pack moist sphagnum around the wound then seal the top of the bag. By moist I mean that a handful of the moss when squeezed just oozes water. To make certain the weakened stem does not break I tie the whole contraption firmly to a cane.

Not all are so obliging and must be helped in a small way. This process is known as layering and the main requirements are patience and a soil in good physical condition. A few weeks prior to layering work in a liberal quantity of peat and sharp sand around the selected plant.

Eventually the keen gardener will want to try a few buds or grafts, and these arc no more difficult than many other garden tasks. My first attempts at grafting resulted in one of my father’s treasured James Grieve apple trees producing not only typical fruit but several branches of Laxtons as well. A sharp knife is of the utmost importance, indeed, the ability to maintain a keen edge on the blade makes the difference between success and failure.

The owners of small gardens need to utilise every scrap of space and they, therefore, must be more selective in their choice of plants. Climbers and wall plants will provide the answer to many problems for they will add both space and height to congested sites and will bring colour to every available wall.

However, enthusiasm should be tempered with discreet understanding for there are climbers which love to be baked into brilliance of flower by hot sun, whereas others must be soothed by moist shade. Some climbers, of which ,,Actinidia chinensis and Polygonum baldschuanicum are prime examples, will swallow a house completely so quickly do they grow. Others like wisteria or clematis must be carefully pruned and trained, or the gardener is left to contemplate a naked expanse of stem.

Some climbers like ivy need no support other than that provided by their aerial roots whereas others, as for example the climbing roses, need tying in with string, plastic ribbon, webbing or a similar artificial aid. I always use a soft string which will not chafe even the most tender bark and, which is perhaps more important, it will rot after a year or two.

Whatever the type of pot, it is usually better to place it in a more decorative outer pot cover to improve the general appearance.

Growing plants in a group. These to my mind are by far the best purchase, as there is little doubt that plants do very much better if grown in the company of other plants. When taking my first steps, as it were, into the mysteries of growing pot plants a hardened old nurseryman once informed me t hat his plants did very much better when grown in a group. At the time I suppose an amused smile creased my face, but since then the sight of poorly plants making an indifferent job of growing in splendid isolation has given me cause to recall his remark with less amusement.

Grouped together plants create a certain amount of humidity and feeling around one another, and this is a very important requirement in hot and dry room conditions. In the greenhouse we can combat the dry atmosphere created by the heating pipes by frequent damping of the area around the plants, and by wetting the ground beneath the staging and the pathways as frequently as possible.