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Q. I have a tall, single-stemmed Cordyline known as a Torbay Palm, I would like it to be multi-stemmed, do I dare cut the top off?

A. Matthew – I’d take the axe to the lot of them frankly! If you want to get multi-stem it depends where you want the break to happen.  So if you want the break at five feet (1.5m) tall, chop it at five feet.  They are very resilient to being chopped so it won’t die.

Anne – Just go for it. Now is a good time to do it because it’s got the whole of the growing year to sort itself out.

Q. We have an orchard here, very well established, it’s on a north-facing, quite steep slope, the trees are tended and pruned regularly but the grass underneath is mown twice a year. Is this enough?

A. Anne – I have a north-facing orchard as well and because we use a sit-down mower we can’t easily get under the branches so we don’t mow under there we just cut it about once a year or even once every two years.  You can get away with it if they are mature trees and the soil underneath is good soil.  If they are young trees you should maintain a well-kept circle around them.

Bunny – during the first four years after a tree is planted the grass and the roots of the tree compete for moisture, beyond that the tree becomes more established.  If any of your trees are ailing though there is a lot to be said for putting down a jolly good mulch right out to the canopy edge to aerate the soil and to protect against noxious fungi – a deciduous mulch, not a coniferous mulch.

Q. How do I get rid of Cuckoo Pint that’s growing in the garden and has been a pest for 35 years? I have dug it out, pulled the leaves off the emerging young plants, and I have swamped it with Glyphosate but it’s still as vigorous as ever.

A. Bunny – It dies down in the spring so I think the glyphocate has killed the main plant but the little seedlings are still sprouting.  Attack the plants as they are dying down so the chemical is taken down and then keep an eye out for the newly sprouting plants

Matthew – you’re going to struggle to get rid of it completely so it’s going to be a continuing battle I’m afraid

Q. Please could you give me suggestions for planting behind and between railway sleepers which edge the drive to a modern barn – this is a predominantly modern garden, the soil is mainly shillet and we brace ourselves regularly for south westerly gales and we’re at the top of a hill.

A. Matthew – Shillet is a mixture of stone and clay and junk which is hard to plant into. I would go with something like a Californian Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) which will seed happily around there or the Mexican Daisy.  Some of the Artemisias, the low-growing ones, one called Schmidtiana, could be really stunning.

Bunny – do you want the sleeper to disappear? In that case something like Euphoria robbiae that grows in anything and just spreads and is evergreen. If you put that along the edge it would flop over with its lime green and cover it up.

Q. I have an allotment that faces east on a very steep slope even in the summer its in the shade shortly after midday – does the panel have any suggestions for growing vegetables in shady steep places?

A. Bunny – I think your problem will be down to drainage; it will be too sharp. What I would do is line them with black polythene with holes in them – make sure I had a really good depth (400ml) of top soil, add things like biochar and bulk into the soil to retain the water. I don’t think it’s the light levels per se.

You could do straw bail gardening - it’s not aesthetically as pleasing but your yields will be better.

Q. As I get older I find that shrubs appeal to me for lower maintenance garden. Which three shrubs would you recommend for a small garden and why?

A. Matthew – One would be Camellias – invaluable for winter colour but they also have magnificent foliage – and you can prune them quite hard so they are good for a small garden.  Also try Euonymous alatus compactus for its intense autumn colour.  And, any of innumerable shrub roses – if I had to choose one it would be a Gertrude Jeykll for the smell.

Bunny – Hydrangeas like the Hydrangea aspera villosa, or the Hydrangea marveille sanguine. You could also try a Phillyrea (green olive) or Daphne eternal fragrance would work too.

Anne – Pittosporum tenuifolium – or ‘Irene Paterson’.

A Dwarf lilac called ‘red elf’ which is really hardy.

Daphne odora – little bit bigger than the eternal with a better smell.

Q. Our new neighbours have erected an 8-foot high wooden fence on our southern boundary leaving us with a cold north-facing area which only gets the sun during summer afternoons. Can the panel suggest plants to grow in front of the fence?

A. Bunny – It looks [from the photograph] like the fence is about 20 metres in length so I would try and break up the length a bit with some Yew buttresses or another evergreen hedge.  Hydrangea seemanii is a very good evergreen climber that would form a green wall across the fence. In the meantime you could paint the fence with a dark green colour to make it less new and brown.  Or you put wire wool in vinegar and water and then you paint it on and it gives it that nice faded oak look.

Matthew – if it’s wet you could try three or four willows (not the trees) and if you keep them tight to the fence they would grow higher than the height of the fence and break up its linearity.

Anne – Drimys winteri is a tall evergreen shrub – or Zantedeschia might grow quite nicely too.