The houses in my road are an eclectic mix, including Victorian terraces, thirties semi-detached, council houses, former council houses, detached houses and bungalows built in the fifties, sixties and seventies, with just a couple of new houses built in the last five years.

The gardens are equally diverse, which is what you would expect, since some of them are more than 100 years old while others are almost brand new.

In complete contrast, at the end of my road is a large housing estate, built over the last five years, in part of the grounds of a large, stately home. The front gardens were carefully turfed and planted by the developer and, because they were all planted at the same time and by the same company, all the gardens match and complement each other.

As this estate is on one of my dog-walking routes, I've been watching the progress of the gardens with interest.

I can't see the back gardens (apart from the conservatory roofs and a few climbers that spill over the walls and fences) but many of the front gardens are reaching a crisis point.

For full story see the Leisure section in the March 3 edition of The Westmorland Gazette.

Jobs for the gardener this week...

_ Prune winter jasmine, cutting last year's shoots back by half and removing one or two stems back to ground level.

_ Prune gooseberries and redcurrants if you've not already done so.

_ Finish planting bare-rooted trees, shrubs and fruit bushes this month.