Cotoneaster may seem commonplace, but this bog-standard plant is a very useful and attractive addition to the garden, finds GINA PARKINSON.

COTONEASTER is such a normal, bog-standard plant seen in many of our gardens that it grows almost unnoticed. It is, however, a most useful family of shrubs that ranges from low-growing Cotoneaster horizontalis to the tall Cotoneaster salicifolius, which can grow five metres or so with long arching stems.

Some members of the group are deciduous, while others may manage to keep their leaves in mild winter or in a sheltered spot, but what they all have in common are the spring flowers and winter berries.

The flowers start as pink buds that even before they open attract pollen-seeking insects. By the time the white flowers open in May and June, the bees are lining up ready to indulge and on a sunny day the garden is filled with their satisfying buzzing.

The flowers fade and the shrubs drop into the background, only to come to the fore again in October when the branches are laden with red berries.

We have a tall specimen in our garden which I think is Cotoneaster lacteus, which has grown to quite a height through the other trees and shrubs it is planted with.

In fact, there is such a tangle of stems and trunks that it is difficult to see exactly where this plant begins, but at this time of year we are only looking upwards to admire the red berries clustered on stems that arch above our heads.

Cotoneater lacteus is a particularly easy shrub to grow, tolerating most soils including heavy clay and cold, exposed sites. Although the cotoneaster family does best in full sun, this one will grow quite happily in partial shade, making it useful in dappled shade under taller, deciduous trees.

It can also be used for hedging or as a wall shrub. It attracts a range of wildlife, bees and other insects when in flower and birds when the berries appear. Birds may also nest in large, mature specimens or in densely grown hedges.

In the veg patch

WE DUG up the remains of cabbages and supposedly spring flowering broccoli at the weekend.

The cabbages had been attacked by cabbage white butterfly caterpillars in the summer and never recovered from their attentions, although we did get a few delicious small, sweet vegetables before their voracious appetites got the better of the crop.

The netting was put in place late and with too much haste, so the eggs were already laid and gaps, unseen by us, were soon spotted by further butterflies. How frustrating to take a look at the netted crop only to find yet another pair of insects dancing around each other within its confines.

The broccoli is more of a puzzle since the seedlings were bought as a spring-flowering variety. It very quickly put on a huge amount of growth and before we knew it had produced the loose clusters of purple buds we were expecting in March or April. Because we were tardy in spotting this, some flowered before we could cut it but we have managed to crop enough for a meal.

A new spot has been dug over with a barrow-load of garden compost and planted with purple and white sprouting broccoli, some small cavelo nero seedlings and a dozen pointed cabbages. The whole lot has been tightly netted as protection against pigeons who like to pick at the foliage and butterflies, which shouldn’t be a problem now but we aren’t taking any chances.

Weekend catch up

October is a good time to start planting garlic. It needs a fertile, well-drained soil and an open sunny spot to do its best and also requires a period of cold for the individual cloves to form. Otherwise it simply produces an undivided bulb which will be tasty enough, but difficult to use and hard to store.

Garlic is easy to plant. Make sure you choose a species that is hardy in this country. Solent Wight is a popular one, then break the bulb into its individual cloves. Plant each clove in well dug soil about 15cm apart, water in and label. It is a good idea to plant them in lines marked by the label as nothing will happen for a while and it is easier to remember where a neat row is rather than where an untidy scattering has fallen. Our garlic crop was poor this year; it was in sandy soil that dried out very quickly during the dry, hot spring. So I am experimenting this autumn by planting the cloves in well composted earth and also deeper than is usually recommended.

Gardening TV and Radio

Sunday October 23

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Peter Gibbs and his team of experts help gardeners in Newport, Pembroke-shire while Christine Walkden visits the national collection of hollies and Matthew Biggs advises plot holders at St Anne’s Allotments in Nottingham. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. This week the programme has a grow-your-own theme with chairman Eric Robson, Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson answering questions on edibles from member of Wheatfields Allotment group. (Repeated on Sunday at 2pm).

8pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. In the last of the series Monty Don carries out autumn maintenance in his garden, Carol Klein continues the work on her new raised beds and Joe Swift visits the gardens at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

Saturday October 29.

7am, BBC Radio York, Julia Booth. Julia and gardening expert Nigel Harrison hold their weekly plant surgery.