MORE years ago than I like to think, when I was wondering where on earth to begin with making something of our London back garden, a 60ft by 40ft rectangle of moss rimmed with a scrappy strip of inert soil pretending to be a flowerbed, the writer and gardener Ursula Buchan gave me some advice I have always remembered. Making a garden, particularly a flowerbed, is one of the most difficult things you can do, she told me, and if someone offers to help you, say yes.
