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Q – I’ve just bought tubers of Japanese Wonder Flower – are they easy to grow and are they hardy enough to leave in the ground during winter?

James – What you’ve actually got here is frequently called Marvel of Peru – Mirabilis jalapa – perfectly hardy in the UK.Ìý Grow really well in climates with warm summers.Ìý They need a long, warm season.

Matt – sometimes known as ‘the four o’ clock plant’ because they only flower for a short time every day

Bob – Do be careful because the seeds look rather attractive/unusual but they are poisonous – so keep out of reach of children

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Q – I have a 100m (109yard)-long Hawthorn hedge backing onto farmland… the local cutting regime means that we have a neat hedge all year round but never blossom or berries.Ìý What can we grow through the hedge to give seasonal interest and to make it more wildlife friendly?

James – Honeysuckle

Matt – ‘Graham Thomas’ Honeysuckle or Clematis montana

Bob – Blackberries – they’d grow perfectly but they wouldn’t be very neat or if you really want to irk the farmer you plant a wild rose like a Kiftsgate which will spread over a large area.Ìý At the base you could put ferns as well as Lords and Ladies – the native Arums.Ìý

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Q – Are there any Kiwis that the panel would recommend for growing outdoors?

James – Yes! Most kiwis - apart from Actinidia deliciosa the hairy one you get in a supermarket - are perfectly happy in [a mild] environment.Ìý Probably 20-30 varieties.Ìý I’d go for species like Actinidia arguta issai – probably the hardiest and it’s self-fertile – I counted 400 berries on this.Ìý Or ‘Ken’s Red’, produces a smaller, red fruit.Ìý Kolomikta, ‘The Painted Vine’, known as an ornamental.

They are vigorous, jungle vines but if you spur prune them (cut them back to half when they send out a 30cm (12inch) branch, once every month over summer) they will work really well.

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Q – I’ve had a cherry tree in my back garden for 15 years and the roots are coming up through the lawn.Ìý I don’t want to cut it down, what can I do?

Bob – The simplest thing to do would be buy in topsoil and resurface the lawn 4inches (10cm) higher.Ìý That will solve the problem for the next 10-15years.Ìý

Matt – My inclination would be to accept them and cover the area with forest bark or something like that.Ìý

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Q – I am having difficulty with our silver wedding anniversary rosebush.Ìý It has grown tall and has produced some lovely flowers and is about four-years old.Ìý Our garden is quite windy and I’m wondering if I should prune it back severely?

There’s very little foliage apart from at the top and I want to encourage growth elsewhere.Ìý I cut it back each year but it’s not working. It’s four-years-old.Ìý It’s next to a Leylandii hedge.

Bob – Unless it’s likely to be blown over I’d leave it alone.Ìý Cut it back really hard in the winter – a young plant like that will come back… go down to where there are nice, strong, young shoots and cut it right back to there and you’ll get a nice bush again.

James – It’s in the wrong place – the Leylandii will be overshadowing it and it’s in an aggressive race to the light.Ìý So it will only flower at the top.Ìý Move one of them.

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Q – What is the best way to cool a greenhouse during the warm, summer months?

Bob – Seriously, take some the windowpanes out.

James – if you are growing in a very hot greenhouse there are two things that have been proven to have improved flavour:Ìý chilli and the other is basil.

Tomatoes have worse flavour in a hot greenhouse

Eric – The ventilation should be equal to the square footage of the floor of the greenhouse

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Q – I have got a family pear tree – had it for three or four years – some of it blooms some of it doesn’t – the bit that doesn’t flower is growing much quicker than the flowering part – it’s not producing any fruit. What can I do?

Bob – They’re not the easiest things to grow in Northern Ireland – they’d prefer Belgium or Northern France.Ìý To get more flowers try not to give it too much feed.Ìý Pears don’t like grass but they do like potash.Ìý You could buy another one as a pollenating partner.

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Q – I’ve started my tomatoes a bit early and the cold weather has curled the leaves and they’ve gone a bit purple.Ìý Are they going to be okay or should I start again?

Bob – If they’re in small pots and you keep them potted up and plant them later they should be fine.

The first plants that I grow I use as a source of material – I take of the side shoots and I take off the tips and I root those – and those plants are stockier and flower sooner and they make much better plants for putting out than the earlier ones.

Every bit of a tomato plant will root if you pop it into a little pot.

James – I agree – tomato seeds, especially F1 tomato seed, can be very expensive – and this is a way to get loads more out of each plant

Or you can spray them with aspirin solution which stops them getting plagued by diseases.Ìý A quarter to half an aspirin tablet dissolved in a litre of water, a week or two before you’re about to plant.