Visit this
Gardens have long provided fertile ground for artists and a new exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London explores this theme with a display of more than 120 works. Painting The Modern Garden: Monet To Matisse runs until 20 April.
Rip this
If your house is awash with corrugated cardboard boxes (the plain brown kind, not the ones with a shiny skin), don’t chuck them in your recycling bin, but put them to work in the garden. Put a layer down in your shed to soak up winter mud and wet, then, once it’s sodden, rip it into small pieces and add to the compost heap in thin layers to soak up moisture, or lay it on vegetable beds as a weed-suppressant mulch.
Plant this
Pretty ground cover for full shade isn’t easy to find, but the white-flowered periwinkle, Vinca minor ‘Gertrude Jekyll’, is perfect. It flowers from April to September, smothers weeds and is evergreen, too, so there’s no bare soil come winter. Height and spread: 20cm x 50cm. Buy one 9cm potted plant for £9.99, or two for £16.99 (prices include free UK mainland p&p). To order, call 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GU476, or shop online at shop.theguardian.com/GU476. Dispatched in four to six weeks.
