Alan Titchmarsh is a very skilled gardener and has built up his knowledge of gardening over years of hard work in the garden. Using his wealth of knowledge and experience, Alan has created his top 50 gardening tips, spanning 5 areas of the garden. For your reference we have reproduced this top 50 list, as featured in the Radio Times :

1. Don't do anything to a new garden before living with it for at least three months. That way, you can work out where the sunniest spot for the patio is, for example, and what you really need in the way of practical features.	2. Choose the right plant for the right place, be it dry soil, shade, wet soil or a scorching spot, needed by sun lovers such as the day liliy (Hemerocallis). There are plants to suit all conditions.
3. If you're buying plants for a particular bedding scheme, stand them in a group at the garden centre to see how they look together.	4. Make a list before you go to the garden centre. Then you stand a chance of coming back with what you need, rather than what catches your eye.
5. When you're planning to plant something, look at other gardens in your area first, to see if it does well in the local soil.	6. For a tree taller than your house that needs surgery, call in a member of the Arboricultural Association - www.trees.org.uk.
7. Go garden visiting to broaden your plant knowledge, and aim to learn at least one new plant name every week.	8. When children ask for a patch in which to sow seeds, give them the best spot in the garden - not the worst.
9. Before you plant a tree or shrub, work out its likely spread as well as its ultimate height. A wide-spreading canopy can cut out light and hinder access to other plants or hedges.	10. A sunny spot is essential for a healthy pond, so avoid siting it under overhanging trees.

11. Find out the pH (acidity) of your soil by using a simple soil-testing kit. It will save you hundreds of pounds in lost plants.	12. never do anything strenuous in the garden without warming up your muscles first.
13. Never dig unless you have to. If you do, take a five-minute break every 15 minutes, and never dig for more than two hours in one day.	14. Make paths wider than at first you think you need to - 5ft is a suitably sociable width for walking side by side.
15. Start a new compost heap every year, but remember it's not a dustbin. The secrets of composting are:- a) mix it, b) firm it, and c) moisten it.	16. Before planting out pot-grown plants or bedding-plant seedlings from trays, give the plants a good soak.
17. Pick plants that encourage wildlife - butterflies, bees and birds bring a garden to life.	18. Incorporate water wherever you can - it brings light by way of reflections, attracts wildlife and adds movement and sound.
19. if your garden is tiny, forget about a lawn and go for paving, gravel or decking instead. Tiny lawns are impossible to mow and the clippings are an embarassment.	20. If you have a large garden, make sure there's plenty of lawn - it's nature's best ground-cover and provides a feeding ground for all kinds of wildlife.

21. Whenever you plant anything, prepare the hole well, enrich the soil and take your time to do the job properly.	22. Don't plant anything big too close to the house - not only do you risk the roots damaging your foundations, but you'll alsoend up living in a dimly lit cave.
23. Don't plant pampas grass in a round bed in the middle of your front garden; it will look like an umbrella stand full of feather dusters.	24. Never plant variegated ground elder of feverfew, or you'll have them forever.
25. Plants look best when grouped in odd numbers or triangular shapes.	26. Choose plants that are naturally resistant to pests and diseases - there are even thick-leaved hostas less prone to slug attack.
27. When planting a pot-grown tree or shrub, tease out the roots from the rootball to encourage them to spread out. However, don't do this with magnolias, as these have fleshy roots that can be easily damaged.	28. Never plant one climber where you can plant two. Variegated ivy and clematis are good together - ivy has leaves all the way through winter, and clematis produces summer flowers.
29. The best way to get a good show of pot-grown bulbs is to pack in as many as possible, planting them in several layers.	30. Grow your own vegetables. They really do taste better - especially carrots and salads.

31.  To make sure hanging baskets last, water them everyday in summer and feed them once a week.	32. Mulch any bare soil. It seals in moisture so that plant roots don't dry out so quickly. It also keeps down weeds, saves you hours of back-breaking toil and shows off plants a treat. Not least, it keeps you from mud-splashes.
33. Don't use chemical sprays. You'll wipe out the "goodies" as well as the "baddies", and once you start, you'll never stop. In any case, the way the legislation is going, all these sprays will be banned in a few years.	34. When pruning, the rule is always: think twice and cut once.
35. If you have a Leyland cypress hedge, be prepared to clip it every year and it will make a wonderful evergreen boundary.	36. Wear gloves when you're pruning roses, but not for other jobs unless you're fastidious about your manicure - otherwise you'll miss out on the true "feel" of gardening.
37. Never let newly sited plants go short of water, but don't drown them. Fifty per cent of the newly planted trees that die do so as a result of too much water at the roots. They're thirsty, but they're not aquatic.	38. Don't use slug pellets - they can harm other forms of life and, anyway, if they were effective, you wouldn't have to keep using them.
39. Give nutrient-starved patio pot-plants a top-dressing every spring of new compost mixed with organic fertiliser.	40. Try to cut your lawn twice a week during the summer months, rather than just once. It will thicken up better and weeds will prove less of a problem.

41. Talk to your plants. If you talk to them, you'll look at them, and if you look at them, you'll begin to understand how they grow.	42. Don't put goldfish in your pond. Without them, you won't have the bother of herons, but you will have frogs, toads and newts, which are far more use in keeping down garden pests.
43. Stop thinking of your garden as a place for sterile perfection, and start looking at it as a living, breathing piece of countryside.	44. Make the space for at least one seat in your garden, so you can take time out to admire the view, read - or just smell the roses!
45. Decking looks great, but it doesn't stay pristine for long. To keep the surface free of slippery slime, twice each year take the chairs inside, move the pots and clean the decking with the jet from a powerful hose.	46. Forty per cent of woodland wildlife lives in rotting timber, so set aside a pile of logs to encourage them. If everybody did their bit, Britain would be a greener and healthier place.
47. With one season's tasks rolling into the next, its easy to forget your garden isn't all about effort. Set aside at least an hour each week when you do not work, but simply be in it for fun.	48. Provide food and water for garden birds - especially in winter. But be careful to buy quality bird seed - rancid nuts can kill.
49. Getting your garden into shape requires a great deal of time and work, so plant to please yourself, and not to impress the neighbours.	50. And remember that gardening can be the most rewarding thing in life - next to having children.