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Gardening tips: plant garlic chives - the herb that keeps on giving

<span>Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo</span>
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Plant this Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are the plant that keeps on giving. Harvest the mildly garlicky leaves, then enjoy the white flowers in late summer through to autumn (they are also edible). This perennial herb needs full sun, and will only die back in harsh winters. Height and spread 30cm x 25cm.

Split this If your rhubarb is huge but not very productive, it’s time to split the clump. Dig out the crown and use a pruning saw to cut it into pieces, each bit with a visible growing point; chuck away anything dead or mushy (be brutal). Replant with the top of the crown on the surface of the soil.

Read this Celebrate orchards this weekend by finding your local apple day event at ptes.org. If you can’t make it in person, Caroline Ball’s new book Heritage Apples (£25, Bodleian Library) tells the story of Britain’s love affair with this fruit in lush detail.