Bamboo is a popular, but you need to be sure what you buy and plant is not invasive.

Some varieties of bamboo, called runners, are highly invasive, difficult to contain and almost impossible to kill. The other type of bamboo, called clumpers, are not invasive and much more compact.

You cannot tell by looking at them, and not all retailers make the position clear. Check out non invasive bamboos for growing tips, ideas about which bamboos to plant  and which to avoid, and a complete list of invasive bamboos. 

It may be early in the year, but already gardening thoughts are turning to seed sowing. Some seeds, noteably Chillies, need a long growing season and are often started early in the year, usually when light levels are low and on a windowsel. The resultant leggy seedling is a common problem.

Leggy seedlings are caused by uneven light. Perfect plants purchased from garden centres are germinated and grown in ideal conditions, just the right amount of heat and humidity, and critically, all round light, that is 360°. As the plant grows it gets all round light and develops a straight study stem.

Most gardeners have less than perfect conditions and germinate seeds on window sills and warm spots in the house where the light is predominately from one side which causes the seedling to pull to the light. Combined with low light levels, as is often the case early in the year, and the seedling stretches to the light and looks "leggy", or weedy. The image below left are my tomato seedlings with just that problem.

You can reduce the chances of the seedling becoming leggy by germinating in the best light conditions. Also, turn the pot every couple of days so the light is not constantly  on one side of the seedling.

But what if you have done this and still got a weedy seedling? Solution below and also watch the short video The Sunday Gardener What To Do About a Leggy Seedling.

The solution lies in how you pot on the seedling.  To pot on, ease the plug out of the pot from the base, and pull the seedlings apart gently (as in image two.) Avoid touching the stems which are very delicate and if damaged the plant may not recover; handle carefully and hold by the leaves.

Select a suitable pot but not too large. It's tempting to put the seedling into a larger pot to save time. When potting on it is important to pot up only a slightly larger container. If  you put a small seedling (or any small plant ) into a large pot it will not thrive.

When you put the seedling into the pot sink it well below soil level, you are in effect burying part of the leggy stem under the soil. Instead of potting on at soil level, reduce the amount of leggy seedling above soil, and you will find it grows on as a much better seedling it's leggy past forgotten. Images  centre and right show the same tomato seedling  after it  has been potted on with several cms of (leggy) stem below soil level. As you can see from the image the seedling looks good and this  tip works well to compensate for the problem with all types of leggy seedlings.

More about leggy seedlings 

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We could learn from the honeybee. Researchers at UCL have evidence that honeybees increase social distancing when the hive is under threat from parasites.

They reduce the amount of foraging dancing and grooming increases, along with distancing . Clever bees, and very interesting research from UCL. 

It is a fascinating bit of research which involved studying the behaviour of two colonies of bees one with, and one without, the parasite threat to consider how their behaviour differed.

Co-author Dr Alessandro Cini (UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, UCL Biosciences) said: “Here we have provided the first evidence that honeybees modify their social interactions and how they move around their hive in response to a common parasite.

“Honeybees are a social animal, as they benefit from dividing up responsibilities and interactions such as mutual grooming, but when those social activities can increase the risk of infection, the bees appear to have evolved to balance the risks and benefits by adopting social distancing.”

Read more about the study.

Fallen autumn and winter leaves are not good for ponds and are best skimmed off and removed. .

This is because the leaves will rot down and add to the slurry at the bottom of the pond, but more importantly, decomposition will add nitrates to the pond water.  Nitrates enrich the water which process can upset the natural balance, which in turn will make algae more likely and increase the chances of having a green pond in the spring. 

If these are a problem for you with your pond, consider skimming off the leaves. Similarly, cut off any decaying vegetation which may die back at this time of year.

More information about Green ponds.