For this very purpose you should always try to have some nice things waiting in the wings in pots . . . or ordered from your favourite nursery . . . ready to be plunged into the ground, either in or out of those pots, depending on whether they're to be permanent plantings or just temporary gap fillers.

A good example of this garden 'trick' is the treatment of lilies, as practised extensively by the late great English plantswoman and designer Gertrude Jekyll. For a good summer show of these beautiful flowers, she would mobilise her army of gardeners to plant her lilies, already growing well in large pots of compost enriched with lovely leaf mould, straight into any suitable gaps, pot and all.

These would be buried so that the rim of the pots became invisible. Not only does it create an instant sensation but it keeps slugs away from the stems. If you apply a good layer of horticultural grit on top of and around the buried pot, it will also keep larger, above-ground slugs at bay.

Bold, strikingly architectural leaves can do as much to enhance the mood of a border as any flower can. The castor oil plant, 'Ricinus', which grows to about six feet tall, is a good case in point. It has very handsome palmate leaves, about a foot wide and varying in colour from a bronze-red to dark green. Its stout stems are strong, so it shouldn't need any staking if planted in a sheltered position. They can be grown from seed or bought in from a good nursery.

Houseplants, particularly those with handsome leaves, can also be utilised for garden duty during the warmest summer months, rather than gathering dust indoors. In their native habitats, they are all outdoor plants and benefit from being out in the fresh air and summer sun, where they can make surprisingly good growth. Once again, there is no need to remove them from their pots.

To make room for a whole clutch of new gap fillers, you might need to dig out some plants that you think are in the wrong place. If you want to keep them, then take out a generous ball of soil with each one and then either re-plant in some other piece of ground, or pot them until you decide what to do with them.

Don't feel obliged to give a plant garden room just because it happens to be alive and growing. If you really don't like it, chuck it on the compost heap or give it to someone who does like it.

For those of you who don't have pots of fabulous lilies, Ricinus or other good things waiting in the wings or anywhere else, then look out for young plants of hardy annuals, such as Cosmos (check they are the tall white 'Purity' or mixed, but don't buy the dwarfed Cosmos, as in my experience they are not nearly so nice in habit or flower). Also the sweetly night-scented Nicotiana sylvestris, a tall tobacco plant that will tolerate dappled shade and keep flowering until felled by frost in autumn.

WHAT'S ON SATURDAY

15 and Sunday 16: Rose Festival at St Anne's Park, Raheny, Dublin 5. A popular annual event during which new roses are trialled and judged. There are various garden tours and other events for adults and children. Run by the Parks Department of Dublin City Council. Saturday 10.30am-6pm;

Sunday 1pm-6pm. Admission and car parking is free.

GARDEN WORK

>> Don't cut back the leaves and stems of peony roses that have flowered, just remove the dead flower head. The foliage needs to die back naturally as part of the ripening process to feed the plant for next year.

>> Keep on top of weeds by removing them before they flower.

>> Continue to sow seed of your favourite lettuces, radishes and scallions every fortnight or so, to ensure a steady supply for the kitchen until the end of the growing season.

>> Raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants are all ready for picking. To make new strawberry plants for cropping next year, peg down a runner into the soil with a bent piece of wire, leaving it attached to the parent plant.

This can be detached later in the year, when the new plant is rooted and able to fend for itself.

>> After what's known as 'the June drop', when all top fruits . . . apples, pears and plums . . .

are thinned-out naturally by the winds, heavily laden trees will need a further thinning, to guarantee fruits of good quality and size.