Tips on buying gardening gifts on this Father's Day - plus, find out what else needs doing in the garden this week.

By Hannah Stephenson


If your dad wants to make the most of the garden in so-called 'flaming June' and beyond, then you can make his Father's Day by buying him a gift which will make his job easier or simply make him smile.

Top of the list must be Hozelock's new Flexi Spray, the winning garden product of this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It's a terrific multi-purpose watering attachment which can be moulded into an array of shapes for different watering functions, from stretching to hanging baskets, to shaping to use as a lawn spray. Available from DIY stores, leading garden centres and specialist retailers, RRP £29.99.

Among the most practical presents for the keen, active gardener is the Bosch AMW 10 Multi-tool, an all-in-one device for tackling unruly lawn edges, dishevelled trees and unkempt hedges.

The 1000w motor will allow users to cut through thick twigs and branches, while the attachment heads can be changed easily, without the need for additional tools.

It will be a great help if your dad has trouble reaching high hedges, as it's capable of cutting overhead with the 180-degree-angle hedgecutter, trimming stubborn growth with the heavy-duty trimmer and pruning overhead branches with the pole pruner. The motor unit retails from £79.99, the hedgecutter attachment from £69.99, the pole pruner attachment from £69.99 and the heavy duty trimmer attachment from £59.99. The complete kit is available from £199.99 from selected retailers including Argos and Homebase. For details, visit www.bosch.co.uk

Those who are on a tight budget may prefer to go for more frivolous gifts which look great and do a fine job in the garden. House of Bath sells a delightful Robin Teapot Nester, an open nesting site made from a frost-resistant ceramic teapot with a lovely rustic finish that robins, flycatchers, wrens and wagtails will love. Priced £16.95 from www.houseofbath.co.uk or phone 0871 230 0867.

It was news last week that the Chelsea Flower Show was lifting its ban on gnomes, so if they're good enough for the RHS, they're good enough for Dad and there's some pretty funky gnomes on the market. My favourite is Woodland Wilf Born To Be Wild, a pint-sized figure sitting on a motorbike. It's frostproof, weather resistant and features a solar light as its headlamp. Every dad should have one. RRP £19.99. For stockists details, visit www.woodlandwilf.co.uk or phone 01905 791 984.

Outdoorsy dads will have a laugh flicking through a useful manual entitled Be Prepared: How To Light A Wet Match And 199 Other Useful Things To Know, drawn from the archives of the Scout Association, with a foreword by Bear Grylls. It offers advice on the right way to hold an eel, wield an axe or string a hammock and offers tips on how to survive in the wild, predict the weather or shine at a party. Published by Simon & Schuster, priced £14.99.

If the little ones want to buy something they can do with their dad, look no further than Seed Pantry's delightful new Dad And Me Veg Seeds starter pack, designed for allotments and containing a fantastic selection of 10 easy-to-grow summer season vegetable seeds, including two gourmet lettuce varieties, chard, spinach, tumbling tomatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, French beans, tasty courgettes and Italian beetroot.

Younger gardeners grow four varieties of vegetables and herbs - sweetcorn, cress, pumpkins and sunflowers - and the packs contain all the equipment you need to get started, including mini propagators, bio-degradable rice husk pots, coir coconut husk pots, seed tray, organic mini compost disks, dibblet and seedling markers. The seed varieties grow well in pots, containers and the garden veg patch in sheltered sunny positions. The starter pack is priced at £48.75 and available from www.seedpantry.co.uk.

Sharp tools can make or break a gardening task, so if he needs a new pruning tool, treat him to the newly launched Fiskars Quantum bypass pruner, which has a comfortable cork handle, superior blades and a smooth, light and strong aluminium body. The blade is made of hardened steel and anti-friction coating. Available nationwide in garden centres, DIY stores and online. RRP £54.99. For more information, go to www.fiskars.co.uk

We are all being told to encourage beneficial insects to our gardens and it is hoped the ChapelWood Bee Box will do just that. Made from FSC cedar, it provides an ideal and safe habitat for bees which will hopefully pollinate more of Dad's homegrown fruit and veg. Priced £12.99, stockists details on 01905 791 984 or visit www.chapelwoodwildlife.co.uk

Dads who want to add a little life and soul to their outdoor party may love the innovative Speaker Blanket from Spinning Hat, a fold-away picnic blanket which houses an AA battery-operated music system into a fold away picnic blanket so Dad will never be without his favourite songs on a hot summer's day. The gadget comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack connection, enabling users to plug in their portable music player or smartphone. When they're finished with the mat, it can be rolled up with the speakers attached and comes with a handle for carrying ease. RRP 34.99, from www.spinninghat.com and www.iwoot.com

Eco-friendly fathers may want to water their plants with rainwater and now they can with a hose attachment from Pure Rain, which adds millions of microscopic nano-bubbles to tap water to re-oxygenate it to emulate rain water. Tests show the extra oxygen helps plants absorb nutrients quickly, making them healthier. Available in three models - Handheld Gun (RRP £19.99), Handheld Gun Plus (£29.99) and Handheld Gun Pro (£34.99). For more information, visit www.purerain.co.uk


Best of the bunch - geum

This sizzling perennials provide a splash of colour before other early summer blooms have emerged, offering shades varying from fiery red to orange and zingy yellow.

Growing to around 60cm (2ft), they look good in the front of borders or in containers or as cut flowers. Some types look good in rockeries and others go well in wildflower gardens.

The popular clump-forming types, which grow to 30cm or more, produce flowers from late May until July and make easy border plants. Their bright colours, particularly the oranges, go well with deep purple plants or dark-leaved shrubs, such as smoke bush or purple berberis, and contrast well against lime green euphorbias.

For more subtle colours, go for new varieties such as 'Totally Tangerine'. Stick to single flower varieties if you want to attract bees and other pollinating insects.

Geums thrive in virtually any soil as long as it's not too dry or too waterlogged, in sun or partial shade. Cut back the old stems after the first flowers have finish to encourage a later display.


Good enough to eat - protect your strawberries

Your strawberries may be a little slow to ripen compared with previous years but be patient and they will make it worth your while, and when you see the high price of Dutch and Spanish imports in supermarkets, growing your own makes good economic sense too.

Now is the time to be taking particular care of your plants, while the fruits are still young. Weed regularly because strawberries are shallow-rooted and can be quickly over-run by weeds if you don't stay vigilant. When the small green fruits form, spread straw or lay synthetic strawberry mats down between the plants, tucking them under the leaves and around the plant collars to stop weeds and protect the fruit from mud splashes, damp and dirt. This is the time you need to water them carefully, watering between the plants as wet strawberries will often go mouldy.

You'll need to protect the plants from birds by either growing them in a fruit cage or using lightweight netting, draped over a framework of canes. Avoid putting nets straight over the strawberries because the birds will peck straight through them.


Three ways to... succeed with asparagus

1. Only plant it if you have room for 30 crowns, or you won't get a big enough crop.

2. Be patient. allow at least three years before you start cutting any spears, and longer if you're growing from seed.

3. Plant crowns in a warm place - avoid frost pockets - on well-drained, fertile soil, soaking them for an hour if they look dry and spreading the roots.


What to do this week

:: Check that containers and hanging baskets aren't drying out. They may need watering every day, even if the sun hasn't been shining.

:: Continue to harden off outdoor tomatoes and courgettes as temperatures rise.

:: Disbud border carnations for larger blooms.

:: Cut back alyssum and aubrieta in the rock garden after flowering.

:: Sow seeds of fast-maturing annuals directly into the ground and thin any seedlings sown earlier in the year.

:: Sow spring-flowering biennials such as forget-me-nots, sweet Williams and wallflowers.

:: Divide early-flowering perennials such as primulas.

:: Lift spring bulbs when the foliage has died down (after about six weeks) if you need the space and store the bulbs in boxes in a well-ventilated shed.

:: Hand weed carefully where seeds are sown directly into the ground, and use a hoe in larger spaces between blocks of plants.

:: Check for powdery mildew and other diseases on plants such as Michaelmas daisies, lilies and peonies.

:: Tie new canes of blackberries and hybrid berries loosely to supports to prevent them from blowing about and damaging the fruiting canes.

:: Take softwood or semi-ripe cuttings of chrysanthemums, fuchsias, herbs and many perennials, to root in the greenhouse.

:: Water peppers and aubergines in the greenhouse regularly and give them a liquid feed every two weeks. Watch out for red spider mite and whitefly.