Innholdsfortegnelse for 5 September 2015 i Amateur Gardening

I WAS sitting at my office desk when the call came. “Hello darling, it’s me. I’m at the garden centre. Should I buy the compost with water retaining granules, or the one with ‘Fibresmart technology’?” A couple of days earlier my wife, Kath, and I discussed improving the impoverished soil in one of the front garden flower beds before replanting it. We had to clear the bed of plants so the builder could sort out a damp problem in our front wall. “Either would do, but well-rotted farmyard manure would be better,” I suggested. Then I smirked. “….but you might not like driving it home in your car!” Kath is fastidious about keeping her little motor looking smart – she even washes it! All the mucky jobs get done in…

IN ONE of his early videos called Super Gardener, a young Alan Titchmarsh said: “They say that if the lawn looks good, then everything else in the garden looks good too.” Wise words Mr T, and it explains why the view from my back door is a far cry from the manicured appearance of a Royal Horticultural Society garden. It’s not the absence of bowling green lawn stripes that bothers me. It’s the profusion of moss, weeds and bare patches. However, this is no time for excuses, because September is the perfect month to give your lawn a little TLC before soil temperatures drop and the grass stops growing. You might say that the best course of action for dealing with a shoddy lawn is to rip it out and…

‘Little Carlow’ This Symphiotrichum is unbeatable for length and quality of flowering. Reaches 4ft (1.2m) across and high. How to use: At home in traditional borders but also blends well with grasses. ‘King George’ Aster amellus with showy, rich-purple blooms. 24in (60cm) x 14in (35cm). Very attractive to bees and butterflies. Goes well with: Late-flowering perennials like rubeckia, echinacea and achillea. ‘Andenken an Alma Potschke’ New England aster with strong sprays of cerise-pink flowers. Compact. 36in (90cm). Goes well with: Purple foliage plants like Cotinus ‘Grace’ and purple-flowered asters. ‘Wunder von Stafa’ More compact and self-supporting than its popular Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’ cousin. How to use: Give the plant lots of room so it can grow into its lovely…

DILL IS a popular herb in Sweden and Southern Europe, and you’ll soon see why if you grow your own. The delicate young leaves, with their sweet, slightly aniseed taste, are famous with fish. However, they also go well with many vegetables (dill potato salad is my favourite), and the aromatic flower heads and dried seeds have their own uses too. This feathery annual plant likes sunshine, shelter, and well-drained soil – one enriched with compost to hold moisture. I make an early sowing in modules inside in March but later, when the soil warms up, seeds are best sown directly in shallow drills outside. Thin the seedlings in stages to 8in (20cm) apart, making these thinnings your first leafy harvest. Keep the plants watered to prevent bolting and watch…

AUTUMN SOWING for a number of hardy annual and short lived perennial flowers is well worth doing. Seeds germinate more easily in the warmer temperatures, and steady growth through the winter and early spring helps to develop strong, well branched, deep rooted plants. This results in earlier and longer flowering, larger flowers, and far more of them. Winter wet is more often the cause of difficulties rather than cold, so in most parts of the country cloche cover is needed for young plants raised in the soil and either cold greenhouses or frames are advisable for pot and tray raised seedlings. Larkspur is a good example, sown in September they flower early next summer and the taller cultivars will produce spikes of flower to match delphiniums. The next two weeks…

I’M NOT impressed with myself this year, because I haven’t grown enough runner beans. I started well, by buying in some plants really early but there were only enough for a couple of wigwams. This might provide enough beans for an ordinary mortal but not for someone who likes to sit down to mounds of them. My first sowing made around the beginning of May did not germinate well because the weather was chilly and I didn’t give them extra heat. Less than half came up and of course were planted out, alongside squash and sweetcorn. They are flowering well but are hardly going to deliver trug loads of lovely beans. I meant to sow again soon after but was distracted by work then, in a frenzied last-ditch burst of…

LONDONERS ARE least likely to own a garden gnome, while residents of the east Midlands enjoy the biggest gardens. So says a study which highlighted regional differences in our garden habits. Gardeners in the south east are the biggest spenders, with three out of 10 forking out over £750 per year on plots. According to the research, by Tesco Bank, gardeners in Wales are the most sociable – with one in 10 spending up to 10 hours per week entertaining friends and family in their garden. Unsurprisingly, Londoners are most likely to have a small garden, but are the most style-conscious. Householders in the south west spend the most time in their gardens, with more than a third tending plots for over 11 hours per week. They also enjoy grow-your-own,…

GARDENERS ARE by nature an eco-friendly lot, and don’t like throwing anything away. Which is why no self-respecting gardener will be without a compost bin – not only does it soak up garden and green kitchen waste that would otherwise go to the tip, but given time all that waste will break down into valuable free compost that you can dig back into the soil to feed your plants. For effective composting your rotting waste needs moisture and air, and the ability to get a fork in to turn the mix over occasionally is useful. And you’ll need easy access to get the compost out when it’s good and ready. The bins tested here are all about the same height and take up largely the same footprint on the ground…

WE KNOW it can be a hard decision choosing which daffodils to add to your garden. So let us do the hard work for you! Our Citrus Sorbet selection supplies you with a random mix of our newest daffodils, making each pack unique to you. This mixed bag of daffodil bulbs includes everything from big, carnation-flowered doubles to pink-petalled varieties. You won’t be short of fragrance or colour. Plant the bulbs out as soon as possible in a warm, sunny spot, at a depth that’s two or three times their length. Water regularly when in active growth. • x25 Bulbs for £14.99 • x50 for £24.99 – SAVE £4.99 TELEPHONE ORDER LINE 0844 573 2021, please quote AG706 Subscribers quote AG707 and your subscriber number to claim your 10% discount…

Blackberry ‘Arom’arctic Systrar’ A ground-covering thornless bramble that produces pink-violet flowers in May followed by red berries with an intense fragrance in July and August. £15.90 for two plants in a pot (this blackberry is not self-fertile so each pot contains two plants). From Lubera 0845 527 1658); lubera.co.uk Blackberry ‘Little Black Prince’ Regarded as the world’s first compact autumn blackberry. It has been bred for small spaces and grows no taller than a metre. It is thornless, and produces medium-sized fruits, in August and September, that are sweet with a refreshing acidity. £7.90. From Lubera (see contact details above). Rubus fruticosus ‘Variegatus’ Cream-edged foliage gives added value. Young leaves are multicoloured and the unripe fruits are pink; the ripe fruits are delicious. Less vigorous than a wild…

This is Britain! I CAN never understand why people seem to want long, roasting-hot summers. They don't do our gardens any good. Hot weather just keeps me indoors and watering becomes a nightmare. Do we really want to see our gardens, countryside and wildlife fried for months, just so some of us can have a ‘barbie’? I remember the drought years and carting water about the garden in heavy watering cans. In the end we let the garden go until the rain arrived. This is a typical British summer. A few dull but warm days. A few cool, wet days but not cold. A few warm, sunny days at temperatures that you can work in, and an occasional thunderstorm. So no more, “when's summer going to start?” Let's enjoy our…

PERENNIALS ARE an important part of many gardens, a bright and varied carnival of colour and shape that helps return borders to life, year after year. Unlike annuals, which grow, flower and then die in the same season, these hardy plants fade away when the weather turns colder, then return the following spring. Herbaceous perennials come in almost every shape, colour and size, and early autumn is an excellent time to plant them, as soil will still be warm from the summer, and damp courtesy of the autumn rain. When planting perennials, don’t restrict yourself to traditional flowering plants. Try including herbs and grasses too, as they will add interest and top tip Established perennials need cutting back or lifting and dividing in autumn. But if we have a wet…

1 Dig a hole wider and slightly deeper than the plant’s pot. Add multipurpose compost or well-rotted organic manure. 2 Ease the plant from its pot, and loosen its roots. Place in the hole, so the top of its compost is level with the soil’s surface. 3 Back-fill around the plant. Gently firm in the roots, getting rid of air pockets without compacting the soil too much. 4 Water the plant and surrounding soil then mulch, leaving a gap around the stem. Label and stake the plant if needed.…

• Raise the height of your lawnmower’s blades for autumn mowing. As temperatures drop, don’t be tempted to cut the grass too low. • Carpets of fallen leaves smother a lawn and create a habitat for pests and diseases. Rake-up leaves on dry days, and compost them. • Worm casts can damage your grass if trodden in. Sweep them away promptly using a besom brush (witches’ broom). • Don’t use up leftover spring lawn treatments. Most spring feeds contain high levels of nitrogen to promote new leaf growth, and this could be damaged by frost. • Frosts are a reality across much of the UK from September onwards. Keep off frozen grass on icy days, to avoid damaging turf.…

IF YOU are at a loose end over the next week or so, why not visit one of these gardening events taking place around the country? • 5 September: Plant fair; Bodenham Arboretum, Nr Kidderminster, Worcs DY11 5SY 01270 811443; planthuntersfairs.co.uk • Until 6 Sept: Full of Spice Exhibition; RBG Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB 020 8332 5655 kew.org • 6 Sept: Plant Fair; University of Leicester Botanic Gardens, Glebe Road, Leicester LE2 2NE 01509 267061 • 8 Sept: Evening talk - Behind the Scenes at Chelsea Flower Show, by Jenny Noscoe; Cranborne Garden Centre, Cranborne, Dorset BH21 5PP 01725 517248; cranbornegardencentre.co.uk • 8-13 Sept: RHS Garden Wisley Flower Show; RHS Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB 0843 260 9000; rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 11-15 Sept: Pop-Up Garden Festival; Llanover, Nr Abergavenny 020…

APRIL-JULY 1 Choose a sunny, sheltered spot, fork in compost and sow seeds thinly in a shallow drill APRIL-SEPT 2 Keep seedlings moist; thin gradually to 8in (20cm) apart; resow at 4-6 week intervals MAY-SEPT 3 Pick individual leaves as you need them, or cut whole young plants across just above the base JUNE-JULY 4 Leave plants from early sowings to flower; support with canes as they can grow 3ft (90cm) high AUG-SEPT 5 Collect seeds when they turn brown, dry them in a warm airy place; store for kitchen use/sowing…

Q My seven-year-old lavender bushes have once again produced wonderful flowers this year. Should I prune them back hard when I deadhead them, or is it time to think about replacing the whole bush? Annie Browne, Carmarthen, Wales A Lavender is such a great plant, but if not kept trimmed to produce young growth, it will start to go woody. Then it won’t be productive of flowers. I find that the best treatment is to remove the flowers when they have started to lose their colour, and trim back the plant to where you can see the new growth being produced. But if you go into old, woody growth, the plants seldom sprout again, and you end up with a very weak or even dead plant. Lavender can live for…

THE BEECHGROVE GARDEN THIS WEEK CHARITY DONATION The RSPB has benefited to the tune of £19,182 from its retail seed range, which was launched in conjunction with Mr Fothergill’s in autumn 2014. THE BEECHGROVE GARDEN CAROLE AND George are putting the finishing touches to a community garden at Inverbervie. BBC2 Scotland at 7.30pm on 3 September (national repeat: BBC2, 6 September, times vary). WIN!  100 FREE PACKETS OF NEW T&M SEED VARIETIES ARE UP FOR GRABS AG has teamed up with T&M to offer 10 readers the chance to win a lucky dip selection of 10 packets of the latest flower and veg varieties. To enter the draw, send your name and address, by Friday 18 September 2015, to T&M New Varieties Seed Giveaway, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay…

WHEN IT comes to fear of blight, gardeners can rest easy – thanks to breeding innovation. T&M has named fully blight resistant tomato ‘Mountain Magic’ F1 as its Vegetable of the Year for 2016. Growing healthy toms outdoors has been tricky in the UK due to this hugely destructive fungus but gardeners growing T&M’s exclusive variety can rely on resistance to all UK strains of the disease, including Pink6 and Blue13. ‘Mountain Magic’ is a cordon variety that crops well outside in growing bags and pots, as well as in sunny borders. It bears bright-red, golf ball-sized fruits. A packet containing five seeds will retail at £3.99.…

Wasabi Rocket This exciting T&M exclusive adds a distinctive kick to salads and sushi. Pick as a baby leaf just 28 days after sowing. Peppery variety tastes like wasabi root but is easier to grow. 99p for 500 seeds. Pea ‘Terrain’ British-bred T&M exclusive. Shows high resistance to powdery and downy mildews, making it ideal for late-season sowings. Sow July for harvests into November. Price: 99p for 300 seeds. Pepper ‘Mini Bell Mixed’ F1 An American-bred blend of three hybrid peppers in orange, red and chocolate colours. Ideal for containers and great for children. Its ‘mini’ fruits are incredibly sweet. £1.99 for six seeds. Turnip ‘Salad Delight’ Ready in just 25 days Harvest this baby salad turnip at 10p-size. The pure white roots and hairless vitamin-packed leaves can both be…

ALCRO WOOD STAIN £22 1ltr FREE P&P UNTIL 30 NOVEMBER BY QUOTING FS01 01603 400777 alcropaints.co.uk Got a shed, pergola or fence that needs a facelift, and more importantly protecting before the winter sets in? Fasad wood stain, from Alcro, Sweden’s leading paint brand, has 72 stylish colours to choose from and provides rain and UV protection for up to five years. Incorporating a specially developed binder with linseed oil, it’s formulated to enhance the natural grain and texture of the wood. Even better, there’s no need to use a primer, so you’ll be saving time and money. DELUXE LOG FIRE PIT £950+ £75 DELIVERY 02380 643 402 deluxelogfirepit.co.uk Don’t be deceived by the name. This made-to-order steel fire pit with heat resistant paint finish is…

IF YOU have a reasonable soil and are growing undemanding plants then they usually do pretty well given no more than good weather, that is, enough sun and rain. But if you have a poorer soil and wish to grow hungry plants (like vegetable crops) then you really do have to feed. But this must be done carefully or things can go wrong. Some have learned the hard way and know how easy it is to accidentally over-feed, which if it doesn’t actually kill the plants, makes them susceptible to pests and diseases. Organic gardeners believe they avoid this danger by feeding the soil rather than the plants directly so use slower acting fertilisers, and most often this is farmyard manure. Even so they may apply too much, though as…

WITH MORE than 10 years of hosta collecting under her belt Stella Freeman’s Northamptonshire garden now boasts over 50 different varieties. So strong is Stella’s love of them that she’s even named her garden ‘Hostellarie’, combining her name with that of her favourite plant. “It’s the variety of leaf shapes and different shades of green that I love,” says Stella, who was first drawn to them through flower arranging. “The large hosta leaves look really good at the base of an arrangement,” she adds. However Stella’s hosta obsession has not been without its challenges. Initially large numbers of slugs that would otherwise have gorged themselves on the hostas, were contained by a similarly huge amount of frogs spawning from the pond. “When it rained heavily you could see them leaping…

BREATHING IN the satisfying neatness and scent of my freshly mown grass, I’ve decided to lavish the lawn with some much-deserved TLC. Although only small, the circular patch of green has really put in a shift this summer, doubling as a place to picnic and play, and as an alfresco workshop for DIY projects. This constant activity has taken its toll, and now there are threadbare desire-line paths that lead from one side to the other, and weak growth where the furniture was left for too long. Late summer into early autumn is the perfect time to remedy these faults, as the winning combination of warmth in the soil combined with moisture in the air means that grass quickly bounces back after repair. And it needs to, as lawn treatments…

IF YOUR lawn is looking patchy after summer, Aftercut Autumn All-in-One will help get it back on track before the winter. It helps feed the grass and eradicate moss. The Even-Flo spreader version also helps you apply it easily. We have five to give away. To enter the draw, send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Aftercut Autumn Draw, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG. Or email your details to ag_giveaway@timeinc.com , heading the email Aftercut Autumn. The closing date is: 9 September, 2015.…

WHILE YOU’RE busy thinking about preparing your garden for autumn and winter, don’t forget to bring in houseplants that have been stood outdoors through summer. The warm weather and better light will have done them a power of good, while occasional showers will have washed away any house dust that collected on the foliage. Now it’s time for them to rejoin more tender houseplants which will have been kept indoors, where they will have been watered (and fed) regularly over summer to keep them at their best. As with garden plants, it will pay you to keep indoor plants in good condition by removing dead, damaged and diseased leaves and branches, and by deadheading faded blooms. But with the shorter daylight lengths and cooler temperatures almost with us, their care…

A BIT OF BOTANY THE ASTER group has recently undergone reclassification by botanists, and the majority will now be known by the rather tongue twisting Latin name of Symphyotrichum . AG will still refer to them by their common names of Michaelmas daisies or asters where possible! ALTHOUGH A few asters bloom in spring and early summer, the vast majority are autumn flowering. They brave Mother Nature’s frosty winter fingers to bring the growing season to a close with a loud, vibrant tapestry of colour. But the large number of asters on offer make the job of choosing a few varieties to grow a sometimes confusing, albeit pleasurable, experience. Whether your planting style is traditional or more towards the current naturalistic style, it’s easy to find asters…

SITE & SOIL GIVE THEM an open, sunny position. Enrich the soil with lots of organic matter to improve moisture levels. Avoid New York asters if your soil is very free-draining. PLANTING GET THEM off to a good start by adding a general fertiliser to the planting area. They’re best planted in late spring so they can establish a good root system. SUPPORT MOST ASTERS over 3ft (90cm) will need support of some kind of support. With careful placing supports can become ‘invisible’ when the plants are in full growth. DISEASE POWDERY MILDEW is a problem that has haunted asters over the years. Water stress is often the culprit. Many are resistant to it, but the New York asters aren’t. DIVISION DIVIDE EVERY three to five years in the spring…

Mini Frittatas A colourful quick dish to whip up in a flash, and delicious served with salad. Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Total time: 35 minutes Serves: 3-4 Ingredients Method 1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 190°C /gas mark 5 Grease a 9 cup muffin pan with a little butter. 2 Whisk the eggs, salt and pepper together well. 3 Mix in the peas, dill, cheese, tomatoes and potatoes. Stir well. Fill the prepared muffin tin almost to the top with the egg mixture. 4 Bake for 8-10 minutes, until risen and golden. 5 Using a spatula, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide them onto a platter. Serve with a salad.…

Q I have a raised bed, about 10ft (3m) square, and I want to turn it into an alpine bed, with some rocks placed strategically. Which evergreen alpine plants can I use? Carol Endersley, Gosport, Hants A There are lots of really beautiful evergreen plants that are low-growing, and which should be ideal for this situation. They include: houseleek (sempervivum), sea thrift (armeria, above), gentian, stonecrop (Sedum acre), the donkey-tail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinities), alpine dianthus, saxifrage, aubrieta, thyme, arenaria, dionysia, alpine phlox, moss campion (Silene acaulis), Arabis caucasica, rock jasmine (androsace) and perennial candytuft (iberis). This is only a small selection of what is possible, and a visit to the website of an alpine nursery would give you many more choices. One such nursery, with a mail order facility, is…

SOME PLANTS are so good, we’ve almost done them to death. They’ve been the darlings of column writers, have waved from every shopping trolley at garden shows but then suddenly become victims of their own success and nobody wants to be seen planting them anymore. I think this has happened to Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ and John’s comment when he caught me buying one at a local garden open day is typical: “Oh no, not the old Bishop?” he said. Yet why not? The neat, semi-double bright red flowers with yellow centres contrasting with fern-like reddish bronze foliage on a bushy plant reaching 3ft (1m) high make it a winner. In the same category is Verbena bonariensis. This easy, hardy, drought tolerant perennial produces its heads of small purple blooms…

A WHOLE generation cannot identify lupins or sweet peas, because they have grown-up with supermarket flowers. So says gardener and farmer Gill Hodgson, of York, who set up a national organisation to get more locally-grown garden flowers into our vases. Supermarkets sell the same blooms: often chrysanths, roses, carnations, lilies and gerbera. You’re unlikely to see dahlias, cosmos, zinnias and foxgloves. SUPERMARKETS “Many young people have only seen supermarket flowers,” said Gill. “Because of constraints on what the stores sell, today’s generation hasn’t experienced the wealth of varieties known by their parents and grandparents.” Gill named her non profit-making organisation ‘Flowers from the Farm’ as she thought it would appeal to farmers willing to set aside the odd acre – but was inundated with demand from gardeners, with over 200…

WHY GROW IT? Because it’s easy to grow this traditionally lofty beacon of colour from seed. Sunflowers are hardy and will tolerate cold and almost any soil, but reward the gardener who offers one that’s rich, moist and free draining. The big daisy flowers, most with a dark central boss surrounded by a vibrant ring of yellow petals, can grow up to two feet (60cm) across depending on variety, while the stems on tall varieties like ‘Russian Giant’ and ‘Giraffe’ can reach 15ft (4.5m) tall. These big ones are generally single flowered, while others produce lots of smaller heads. But they’re not all yellow, and they’re not all tall….’Earthwalker’ (9ft/3m) and ‘Red Sun’ (5ft/1.5m) have deep red petals; ‘Ring of Fire’ (4ft/1.2m) has dark red petal bases and yellow tips.…

Blackberry ‘Black Satin’ IF PLEASANTLY sharp blackberries are to your taste, then go for this American-bred thornless variety. It has pinky-white flowers that are followed by very juicy rounded fruits. The plant is vigorous and self-fertile. £11.95 from Victoriana Nursery 01233 740529. victoriananursery.co.uk PICKING WILD blackberries is one of the rites of early autumn. For many people this glorious fruit is one of the few remaining links they have to the lives and traditions of their forefathers. Octogenarian farmer Eric Freeman, from Taynton in Gloucestershire, has harvested blackberries since he was a child, and has fond memories of picking expeditions. “Blackberrying was an important harvest during and immediately after the Second World War,” he says. “Sources of vitamin C were scarce, and country people were encouraged to pick wild…

Spot the difference It is coming up to the key time of year for most growers of fruit and vegetables: harvest time. And AG’s Peter Seabrook is no different. Here he is with a basket full of fine veggies, but can you spot the FOUR differences we’ve made to these two pictures? (Answers located at the bottom of the page) True or false? In a landmark event, astronauts on the International Space Station have eaten leaves of a crop that was sown and grown in space. And the crop wasrocket (pictured) (Answer at the bottom of page)…