Innholdsfortegnelse for 10 October 2015 i Amateur Gardening

IT’S BEEN a wonderful year for my lawn - the best I can remember in recent years. Regular summer showers (and the occasional downpour) have kept the soil moist and the grass growing steadily with none of the usual checks from summer drought. Even the weeds like creeping clovers and dandelions didn’t make an appearance this year, so I haven’t had to apply a weed-and-feed. I’m beginning to believe that the hard work of scarifying, spiking, and top dressing with John Innes No3 compost (best done October/November before hard frosts appear) is the key to this remarkable improvement. For the past couple of years I’ve been scrupulous about doing the job correctly (because I was photographing it for the magazine!). In the past I’ve tended to make the spiking holes…

“WHAT’S YOUR next project for Amateur Gardening?” asked my mum when I phoned her the other night. “Planting up a winter hanging basket,” I replied. “Really? But aren’t they just for the summer?” she exclaimed. And that is a simple assumption that is made by a lot of people. Of course, you will see the majority of hanging baskets out in the summer, but you can really lift your garden through the autumn and winter by creating a hanging basket using bedding plants. Cyclamen, violas, pansies and primulas will be as happy in a basket as they are in a border or container. You can also add interest by using ivies, small evergreen shrubs and grasses – I used a Juncus ‘Spiralis’ because I love its quirky spiralling blades. I…

IN THE early 1990s, a large national DIY retailer sold a meagre £5,000 to £9,000 worth of decking per year. Then in 1997, Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh burst onto TV screens with a revolutionary new programme called Ground Force . Just one year later, the same retailer’s annual sales of timber decking had risen to an astonishing eight million pounds. By 2001, that figure is reported to have hit £16million! In his talks, Alan often points out that he didn’t invent decking. It had been popular in America long before TV makeovers arrived in Britain. Ground Force was axed in 2005, but its legacy lives on. And in thousands of gardens across the UK, that legacy is weathered, dirty and rotten decking that’s in a sorry state.…

IT’S A gamble in my wet part of the country, but this weekend I’m planting overwintering onion sets. These mature in June, weeks before spring-planted sets, and fill the ‘onion gap’ after stored bulbs have all been used. I harvest mine even earlier, when they are still fresh and green – the tops are tasty in spring salads and the bulbs mild and sweet. The main threat to their survival is not the cold but wet feet, which will cause them to rot. They do best on raised beds or light, well-drained soils, and in places where onions or leeks have not recently been grown. Open up the soil by adding leafmould or a bagged soil conditioner if necessary, but not manure – feeding the plants now can produce soft,…

Q How should I protect my fuchsias against frost this winter? I have several and don’t want to lose them if the cold is severe. Jay Tomkinson, Bath A If your fuchsias are hardy and growing in a border, spread well-rotted garden compost or old manure over the root area and among stems. Leave the flowered shoots full length to protect plants from low temperatures. If they are half-hardy, a frost would kill them. Cut them back to 4in (10cm) from the base and set them in pots of multipurpose compost in a frost-free greenhouse. If you don’t have a greenhouse, move potted plants indoors and overwinter them on windowsills in a spare room. Alternatively, move them to a frost-free shed or garage, and tuck straw around them to protect…

THE RED hot poker Kniphofia caulescens has put on the best show ever this year, with the original plant boasting 18 flower spikes. Like most kniphofias, this species originates from South Africa and I like it because it is evergreen and adds good blue-green structure to the exotic border. We collected and sowed seeds from the original and dotted them through, because although they are hardy, they look like tender succulents. Even the youngsters have produced up to eight flower spikes each and look great when lower flowers open yellow and buds above glow orange. In the same border a large terracotta pot is home to an Olearia traversii. This New Zealand shrub withstands sea gales and the container disguises a manhole cover. I’m removing bedding pelargoniums (geraniums) from the…

THERE ARE many jobs in the garden that are best tackled with the protection of gloves for damp or wet conditions. In summer you might be lugging around the watering can, rolling out the hose pipe or want to use the pressure washer to spruce up the drive and patio. Then there’s washing out plant pots and dirty trays. Even pulling weeds after a shower of rain can be messy without the right gloves and, when it comes to tidying up the garden pond, you definitely need to be dressed for the occasion. The question is, do you reach for a pair of household Marigolds, more used to the washing-up bowl, or opt for something designed for garden use? Our test looks at six pairs of gloves that can be…

Gardening woodland-style ALL GARDENS, whether small or on a grand scale, are likely to have shady corners. It may be cast by man-made objects (buildings, walls or fences), or by plants (hedges, trees and shrubs). At ground level this may result in large shadowy areas with dry, impoverished soil, reason enough for most of us to wring our hands and gnash our teeth. It’s worth looking at how Mother Nature deals with similar circumstances and see what plants we can grow in our own gardens wherever shadows are cast. You’ll soon discover that far from presenting a problem, shade allows us to grow some of the most enchanting plants on the planet. Omphalodes cappadocica Although this low growing plant is only a few inches tall, it has great presence and…

BIENNIALS, PLANTS that grow one year to flower and die the next, are a group of ornamental plants I’d say we under-use. Perhaps this is because they take a year to flower, and then need to be replenished – though to be fair that’s not much different to annuals or bedding. Biennials store up their energy in a bulb or root during the first year, in order to make huge displays of flowers then masses of seeds the next. These towers of flowers are heaven for bees and other pollinators. Many, such as foxgloves and campanula are designed in both colour and shape just to suit bees, and their profusion of blooms saves the bees having to fly far. So biennials are often really good for bees, yet we seem…

Spot the difference Garden centre shelves are filling up with amaryllis bulbs (pictured here in bloom with alliums at a flower show). Amaryllis are wonderful autumn and winter-flowering bulbs, and their flower size always amazes children and helps interest kids in gardening. But can you spot the FOUR differences we’ve made to this picture of exhibition-quality blooms from a top grower? (Answers located at the bottom of the page) True or false? When Monty Don took over fromAlan Titchmarsh as presenter of Gardeners’ World in 2003,the programme came from a Warwickshire garden called Berryfields. (Answer at the bottom of page)…

IN THE borders I have a culinary cornucopia of coriander, parsley, French tarragon, lemon verbena and mint. Under glass, herbs are fooled into thinking that they’re still on summer holiday, and if the weather is kind they stay fresh and productive well into December. The thing is, my greenhouse is a bit of a walk from the house. And if I fancy a herb tea while watching the Ten O’clock News , going to get the ingredients can be like a scene from Indiana Jones . After years of practice, navigating the steps and gravel path in the dark have become second nature – even in my socks. But at night there are other perils to challenge those with only fabric on their feet. Slugs and snails congregate on the…

GIVE YOUR lawn a boost this autumn with award-winning Gro-Sure Smart Seed. It contains aqua-gel to combat erratic watering, and keeps working all season. We have five 25 sq/m boxes to give away. To enter the draw, send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Smart Seed Draw, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG. Or email your details to ag_  giveaway@timeinc.com, heading the email Smart Seed Draw. The closing date is: 14 October 2015.…

THE NEXT five months are the best time to get your soft fruit bushes in order. Once you have harvested your crop, you need to prune the plants, starting by getting rid of the three Ds – branches that are diseased, damaged or dead. This is a prerequisite, whether the shrub is bush-shaped or grown as single stemmed cordon. Most soft fruits crop on the previous season’s growth, so get rid of older wood leaving newer stems free to bear fruit. Here are my tips for dealing with the most popular soft fruits: BLACKCURRANTS Prune back the stems of newly planted bushes to their base. With older shrubs, remove stems that are three years old or more. GOOSEBERRIES For the first 3 years, just trim the plant into shape. After…

SEPT-OCT 1 Lighten soil by digging in leafmould or a bagged soil conditioner if necessary. SEPT-OCT 2 Plant sets 2in (5cm) apart in rows 12in (30cm) apart, or 5in (12.5cm) apart each way. FEB-MAR 3 Weed between plants, and add a fertiliser such as chicken manure pellets to boost growth. APRIL-MAY 4 Start harvesting green bulbs, taking alternate ones to make growing space. Remove any bolters. JUNE 5 Lift remaining bulbs once the tops bend over, and dry them in a warm, airy place. Use quickly.…

LOVE-IN-A-MIST, or nigella, is the subject of our free seed giveaway this week. It is one of the prettiest of cottage garden annuals, but it would be a shame to pigeonhole it as just being just for the cottage garden. It’s actually suitable for, and grows well in all gardens – as long as it is planted into free-draining soil, in a spot in the sun. You can sow the seed now, for overwintering plants and getting them to flower next summer; nigellas are hardy annuals, so seedlings survive outside over winter. Alternatively, you can wait until March, April or May, and sow them under cover for planting out after the frosts. The variety we are giving you is ‘Persian Jewels’, a perfect description of the flowers, which really do…

NOW WE are almost at the end of the growing season, it is time to look back and see how some of the more unusual crops performed. As well as the likes of peas, beans, potatoes and beetroot, I like to try something different every year. In general, this has taught me that some crops are ‘something different’ for a reason. At least half either don’t perform well or fail to produce crops we enjoy so much that we want to grow them every year. only managed 3ft (90cm) of growth and never flowered, whereas the lablabs (Dolichos lablab) looked good to start with but were floored by the cold, wet weather in late July and August and had withered by September before producing either purple flowers or chestnut-flavoured pods.…

ILLEGAL CANNABIS farms yielded an unusual harvest for gardeners in West Yorkshire. Police have been giving away plant pots seized in raids on criminals. Cannabis growers commonly use complex heating and lighting systems to raise plants in hidden locations. POLICE RAIDS The cannabis plants seized in police raids are destroyed by cops, but the pots that housed illegal crops have been piling up at the police station in Holmfirth. A police spokesman said they had hundreds of containers and plant pots in the garage. He said: “They are now gathering dust and spiders’ webs. “If gardeners can use some for community projects, in gardens and allotments (not for growing cannabis though) come down to Holmfirth Police Station to pick them up.” BAGS OF COMPOST The system operates on a first…

Spring has sprung at the Lost Gardens of Heligan – just as autumn shows its colours. As a crop of apples ripened on branches of Heligan’s apple arch, one branch burst into springtime blossom. WARM SUNSHINE Heligan’s productive gardens manager Nicola Bradley said: “It appears that a recent drop in night temperatures combined with the last blast of warm summer sunshine confused some of our plants into thinking it’s spring. “It was certainly a strange sight to see in September.” Plants were behaving oddly in Heligan’s vegetable garden, too. A strawberry plant stood out from the crowd as it was displaying a stem of flowers. “Some plants have been confused into thinking that it’s spring”…

SET OF WIRE TRUGS £46.95+ P&P £4.95 0333 400 1500 harrodhorticultural.com From picking to washing and draining produce – this set of three stainless steel wire trugs will see you through the process. Open wirework allows fresh air to circulate around crops, which can stay in the trug while you wash them down and leave to drain dry. Three sizes in the set make harvesting a breeze. POTATO HARVESTING SCOOP £14.95+ P&P £4.95 Burgon & Ball at garden centres 0114 233 8262 It’s a case of lift and separate with this simple stainless steel collection scoop. After loosening soil around plants the steel cradle can then go in and under potatoes to harvest without damage. A shake to dislodge clinging soil is all that’s needed. VEGETABLE HARVESTING KNIFE £12.95+ P&P…

Verdant boundaries WHEN WE look at the boundaries of our gardens – even when we do not demarcate them all with hedges – we notice they have much in common with hedgerows. A bed bordering a wall or fence that runs north to south will spend part of the day in full light and part of it in shadow. If prevailing weather is from the west, as it most certainly is here at Glebe cottage, then one side of the hedge will receive a lot more water than the other. Plants that survive in hedgerows have to be especially adaptable. Though we think of these areas as the edges, they have primary importance, as they occupy a huge area. And the smaller the garden, the more important they become. Ultimate…

Autumn meets spring! I HAD to do a double take when I saw this apple tree – boasting both blossom and fruit. It appeared to be confused about which season we were in. However, having the blossom next to the apple was actually very pretty, and reminded me of how precious our seasons are and how truly miraculous Nature is. This is something that we usually take for granted, so it was good to stop and appreciate the natural world in all its weird wonderfulness. Jennie Gardner, Bath Jenny says... Occasionally Nature will throw up oddities like this – shame that the apple was suffering from scab, as well as bird and/or wasp attack though. Revealed! Smallest ever ripe tom! Jenny says... We are often sent shots of the longest…

1 Old decks that have been painted tend to peel. Sweep and pressure-wash wood to remove flaking paint, and sand any timber deck balustrades (pictured) that are also peeling and weathered. Allow all deck timbers to dry thoroughly before doing anything else. 2 If a jet washer can’t remove multiple layers of old paint, use a deck stripper. Apply stripper with a brush when it’s above 10 o  C (50o F). Never let the stripper come into contact with plants or lawns. After 30 minutes, scrape loose paint away using a stiff brush – then give the deck another wash. Let wood dry for two days. 3 Now, treat the timbers to fresh paint. Ronseal makes Decking Rescue Paint especially for grey, weathered decks. Again, choose…

RUTH SAYS: If you don’t have a pond heater, help prevent the water freezing by placing a layer of bubblewrap over netting across the pond LAST MONTH we looked at preparing our ponds for winter months. I’m now suggesting ways to protect some of a pond’s most expensive and delicate inhabitants – ornamental fish. Fish are cold-blooded and, unlike mammals, don’t hibernate through the winter. They do become torpid however, and will seek shelter at the bottom of the pond among protective weed. They also lose their appetite and don’t need to be fed. Once the temperature drops to 8-10 ° C/46-50 ° F, you should stop feeding altogether, as the food will remain uneaten and may pollute the water. Don’t be tempted to re-start feeding during mid-winter milder spells…

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? • 10 October: Gardening From Scratch; RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH 0845 265 8072; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor • 10-11 October: Autumn Woodfest; RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH 0845 265 8072; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor • 11 October: Autumn Food and Country Fair; East of England Showground, Peterborough PE2 6XE 01733 363500; autumnfoodandcountryfair.co.uk • 11 October: Autumn Display of Orchids; Camborne Community Centre, South Terrace, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8SU 01209 717947 • 17-18 October: Countryside Live; Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, Yorkshire HG2 8NZ countrysidelive.co.uk • 18 October: Plant Hunting with Tom Hart-Dyke; The Roof Gardens, 99 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SA; 0207 368…

Caramelised Red Onion, Potato and Rosemary Pizza Enjoy some classic Italian fare with a caramelised red onion and potato pizza, topped with fresh rosemary. Prep time: 45 minutes Cooking time: 12 minutes Serves: 2–4 For the dough: For the topping: Method 1 Make the dough. Put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well in the centre of the flour, then pour in the water and the olive oil and mix together until you have a soft dough. 2 Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins until smooth. Cover with a tea towel and set aside for 30 minutes. 3 Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan…

Q How often should I fork over my compost bin? I am worried that if I do it too often in autumn and winter, the contents will get cold and the composting slow down. Ian Price, Redcar A This is a bit like asking ‘how long is a piece of string’! It very much depends on the mixture that is in the bin, and how quickly you need the material to break down. I find that with a very general mix of material, I will turn the heap once in late March and again in late July, turning the outside material into the middle of the heap, and ensuring that everything is damp enough. I use the results the following spring, when I either dig it into my vegetable garden,…

FACTFILE Nigella‘Persian Jewels’ SOW: August/September or March to May HEIGHT:15-16in (38-40cm) FLOWERS:June to August BEST FOR:Beds, borders and containers • Sow outdoors now where you want your plants to flower. Before you sow dig the area and remove all weeds. Then firm and level the soil, before raking it to form a fine tilth. • Take out shallow drills 12in (30cm) apart, and just ¼in (6mm) – or less – deep. Then go along the rows with a watering can fitted with a fine rose end, to moisten the soil. • Sow the seeds thinly along the drills, and lightly cover with soil. Germination should take around three weeks. • When the seedlings are large enough to handle, thin them out so that they are 9in (23cm) apart. Keep the…

THE BEECHGROVE GARDEN THIS WEEK AUTUMN CATALOGUE OUT Marshalls has launched its Autumn Catalogue 2016 with offers on raspberry collections, onions and garlic. marshalls-seeds.co.uk. PLANTING AUTUMN BEDDING AND BULBS JIM IS clearing and cleaning his greenhouse while Carole plants autumn bedding and spring bulbs. BBC2 Scotland, 7.30pm on Thursday 8 October (national repeat: BBC2, 11 October, times vary). MEET CHRIS BEARDSHAW TV’s Chris Beardshaw will speak at Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil on 29 October at 7pm as part of Yeovil Literary Festival. Tickets cost £10. Book by calling (01935) 422884. HELP A HEDGEHOG Holiday lettings site Holidaycottages.co.uk is urging holiday home owners and members of the public to create habitats for hedgehogs in their gardens. GARDEN SALES SOAR Garden centres had a good August, with sales up by 12.6 per…

GARDENING FOR many starts with just one plant – a pot of parsley perhaps from the supermarket to grow on the kitchen windowsill of a first time flat owner. Incidentally what good value these supermarket pots of herb seedlings are. One I purchased last spring held enough seedlings to transplant into 30 pots. A flowering or cropping pot for the balcony follows and then, for houses, a hanging basket for the front door, window boxes and pots on the patio. Many new builds have really small plots with little open soil so growing above ground becomes the answer. Using weed and disease free, sterile potting composts also makes the growing low maintenance and all we have to do is water, feed, dead head and harvest crops. Home owners with a…

OUR GARDENS may be cultivated places but each of them is comparable to a wild habitat. By looking at the wild environment that most closely resembles our own plots we can obtain much of the basic information we need to get gardening. I have kept the chapters in Making a garden to six broad categories: woodland, seaside, exposed, hedgerow, wetland and meadow. Many of our gardens contain elements of several of these within their boundaries. At Glebe Cottage, in north Devon, one side of my garden is open and sunny, there are terraced beds and borders and, for me, this area equates to a meadow with colonies of herbaceous plants and grasses happily mixing and mingling, cheek by jowl. On the east side of the track, conditions are different; from…

Nurturing the feeling MUST A planting be composed of wildflowers to qualify as a meadow? The simple answer is that is does not matter. How it feels and the atmosphere it creates establishes its credentials. Our garden equivalent of a meadow is a bed or border packed with herbaceous perennials, growing cheek by jowl with grasses. The major difference is that our borders are planned rather than dictated by an agricultural requirement (as with a traditional hay meadow), and our management of them is much more elaborate (dividing, sowing, cutting back etc). In modern ‘meadows’, plants are encourage to be themselves. Seedheads and dried stems are often left on until spring. Mini meadows By planting a circular area around a tree, the lawn becomes a path through a meadow leading…

The little guy’s greenhouse is starting to get tidied out until next year. Tanya Robertson I think cosmos and nigella make such a pretty colour combination. Diana Hudson Our Star Letterwins £40 in National Garden Gift Vouchers; tip of theweek, £10; other letters £5 (£10 ifwe use a photo you’ve sent). There will be no vouchers awarded for Facebook comments published on these pages. Vouchers can be bought and redeemed at over 2,000 UK outlets offering more than 90,000 garden plants and products. Visitthevouchergarden.co.uk for details. Letters are edited at AG’s discretion. Please enclose an SAE if you would like photos to be returned.…