Paraic Horkan gives us a rundown of jobs to do in the garden this week.

Compost your kitchen and garden waste, chopping up and mixing the contents to speed up decomposition - July is an excellent time to create a new composting project

Cut lavender for drying, choosing newly opened flowers for the best fragrance, then hang up in a cool, dark place - your plants will reflower in autumn

Give dahlias a liquid feed, keep them well watered, and tie the shoots of tall varieties to sturdy stakes as they grow - dahlias will flower from july to November

Hoe borders often, ( i use the Wolf garden hoe ) to control small weeds

Water and feed sweet peas regularly, pick the flowers every few days, and remove seed pods to prolong flowering - liquid feed with blooming magic liquid feed