Gardening jobs for the weekend with Brian Kidd... whatever the weather

• Take cuttings from aubrietias – three inches long. Remove the bottom two inches of leaves. Put them in a 50/50 mix of sharp sand and seed compost. Keep shaded, protect the box from cats and they should root in four weeks.

• Put greenhouse ferns in the shade. Many end up with scorched leaves if left in direct sun.

• Use fingers and thumbs to see if early potatoes are ready. Don’t dig the whole plant. Give it a liquid feed.

• Check tall flowers in borders. They may need support if you didn’t use hazel sprays in March.?????????????????????????????????????????????????

• Feed greenhouse cucumbers by top dressing the compost’s surface with a little Vitax Q4 fertiliser. Water afterwards with a rose on the can. In a few days, new white roots will appear on the surface. When they do, top dress the surface with John Innes No3 compost. This will increase the number of fruits. Repeat several times at weekly intervals.

•??????? Thin grapes again and blow sulphur dust into the centre of bunches to prevent powdery mildew.