There is no doubt that most people are too kind to figs and thus they don’t crop. They have been grown successfully in Great Britain since the time of Henry VIII. There are signs that the Romans may have brought the fig with them hundreds of years before.

The aim here is to produce a vine shaped like an open bush. The rods are allowed to grow naturally for the first year after planting. The rods are then cut back to within two buds of their base in January.

It is important never to summer prune the leaders or end growths of a branch. It is better to brutt than to cut with a knife, as neat pruning with a sharp blade may encourage secondary growths, which are just a waste of sap. Summer prunings may always be placed on the compost heap and be sprinkled with an activator like poultry droppings or fish manure. Winter prunings are too woody, so should be burnt, and the wood ashes sprinkled around the bushes afterwards.

The Douglas fir is a native of North America growing from California up to British Columbia. It was introduced in Europe in 1828 and is widely cultivated today in the woods and parks of western and central, Europe because of its rapid growth and high quality wood.

Having set up your greenhouse with the correct equipment and prepared it for orchids, use the central staging for the largest plants that need the most headroom. Above these, along the ridge board and elsewhere, suspend orchids, such as vandas and stanhopeas, that like to grow in hanging baskets. These can be attached by the clips that are supplied with aluminium greenhouses, or you can hang them from hooks in timber rafters.

Aphides will pucker and curl the leaves and cause the tips to be twisted. Spraying with a 5 per cent emulsion of a tar-oil wash in December kills the eggs.