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Before we come to the best time to use horse manure, two important points need to be made. First, the manure should be ‘well rotted’, and that means that it should have been composted, turned and aerated sufficiently to enable the decomposition processes to have progressed to a point where it is no longer possible to identify what it was to start with. By this time, it will have the consistency and colour of peat.

These are among the strangest of orchids, with their unusual habit of producing downward flower spikes that carry large, unwieldy flowers with fantastic fragrances and amazing shapes. To some, their appeal is irresistible, and they are worthy of interest.

Affectionately known as kite orchids for the long “tails” of some of the flowers in this vast natural genus, the masdevallias are small- to medium-size plants that have single-leafed, short stems on a creeping rhizome. The leaves are oval to long, and mid- to dark green in colour. The slender flower spikes come from the base and may be single-flowered or have several on a stem. The flowers are very variable in shape and colour.

Although it is invariably categorized Hybrid Teas, this variety is so vigorous that it would be better and more appropriately transferred to the shrub types. It has been grown widely as a windbreak hedge, and some years ago, when visiting a customer at Angmering in Sussex, I found a hedge backing directly on to the beach that was every bit of 10ft (3m) high, covered in bloom, and obviously cocking a snook at the salt-laden breezes! As you are asking for a barrier, this is how I suggest that you deal with this hedge from now on. As soon as the growth buds begin to swell next spring, I would prune back all the older stems very hard to sideways-pointing buds, ideally no more than 1 ft (0.3m) from ground level, leaving no more than three or four stems, and these reduce by about a half. The result of this will be most vigorous reaction, with strong stems being thrown up from low down. What you do with them depends on the kind and height of hedge you are looking for. You want a barrier, and presumably one with lots of blooms, so, as the vigorous stems grow tall and while they are still soft and pliable, bend them down and tie them together with stems from the adjacent plant so that they lay horizontal and looped.

The Chinese chestnut is a fast-growing tree that eventually becomes 30 to 50 feet tall with an equal spread. It not only produces great quantities of delicious nuts but also has handsome glossy foliage that provides dense shade. Its slender, shiny leaves are 4 to 7 inches long and have toothed edges. They are reddish when they first unfold and turn shades of yellow and bronze in the fall. Young leaves are instantly identifiable by the dense, soft hairs on their surface. In early summer the trees bear masses of tiny fragrant white flowers in 8- to 10-inch upright clusters set among the leaves.

The familiar apricot, believed to have originated in China, has been cultivated for many thousands of years. A standard tree grows about 20 feet tall, spreading in a vase shape to a diameter of 25 to 30 feet; dwarf varieties grow about 8 feet tall, spreading to 10 feet. Apricots have attractive pink flowers that open so early in the spring that they are sometimes nipped by frost. They are followed in late summer by 11/2- to 2-inch fruit with orange, very sweet flesh. The fruit are most tasty when allowed to ripen on the tree; when ripe they are plump, fairly firm and a uniform golden-yellow color.