Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-apr-16 i Amateur Gardening

THE first salad leaves of the year are like buses, you get nowt for the first few weeks, then everything comes at once. On 30 March I took the first cut from my earliest sowings (20 February) raised in the greenhouse. That was a cut-and-come-again salad leaf mix from Suttons. It’s not the classic weather for salad, but my wife, Kath, and I enjoy salad in our work lunch boxes, and it’s great in wraps with chilli con carne. I followed the first sowing two weeks later with my own leaf mix of strongly flavoured mustard, chervil (delicious – I was told about it by Charles Dowding) and rocket (all Simpsons seeds). I also started some little gem lettuce which I’ll prick out and grow to mature size to harvest…

• Compost: Make your own from garden waste and fruit and veggie peelings. • Seeds: Collect seeds from your favourite plants, and swap seeds with friends and neighbours. • The right plants: Test your soil, and only buy plants you know will thrive in it. • Seedlings: Raise plants from seed – it’s slow, but cheaper and more satisfying. • Cuttings: Strike tip cuttings of plants in early summer in seed & cuttings compost. • Fertiliser: Make your own by soaking nettle or comfrey leaves in water for 3 days. • Mini cloches: Use old clear plastic drinks bottles cut in half to make mini colches. • Plant labels: Cut plant labels out of old plastic food tubs. Write names with felt pen. • Protect crops: Use old white sheets/net…

WHETHER you had the time, space and patience to nurture sweet pea seedlings over the winter, or simply want to sow them from seed, this is the time to get them in the ground. The soil is starting to warm up, and spring showers will ensure it isn’t too dry. Just enrich where you want them to grow with some well-rotted manure or organic compost, then plant or sow, and watch them romp away. Sweet peas are the quintessential cottage garden plant, and one of our most popular hardy annuals, and it is easy to see why. Wonderfully scented, they come in a jewellery box of colours, have growing habits to suit most locations, and the more you deadhead them, the more they will reward you with a proliferation of…

WE should deadhead regularly, not just to keep the garden looking tidy, but to encourage more flowers, and to strengthen perennial plants and bulbs for the following year. Daffodils, hyacinths and other spring bulbs should have fading flowers snapped off, leaving the stalk behind. This prevents the plant wasting energy producing seeds. Winter pansies are valued for their ability to survive the coldest weather, and to bloom for months and months. They’re not grown as perennials but, like many annuals, will flower for longer if deadheaded. With pansies, you just have to pinch off the flowers (once they begin to fade) using your index or middle finger and your thumb. Pinch at the stem, just above a leaf. If you have stiff fingers, you can use a pair of sharp…

WHILE our native crops should be romping away by now, more tender vegetables need a bit more care to get them growing strong and healthy. Tomatoes, squashes, pumpkins, courgettes, cucumbers and aubergines all need warmth to help them germinate. They also require extra heat in the early stages, or they will stop growing and become more susceptible to problems such as damping off disease. I sowed courgettes, cucumbers and aubergines, which are all starting off on warm, light windowsills. The aubergines will stay in the greenhouse, but I will plant the cucumbers and courgettes in a warm, sheltered spot outdoors, in full sun. TopTip Although the risk of heavy frosts has passed, place a propagator lid over the emerging seedlings at night for extra insulation if they are in an…

“Some recommend tearing the lower leaves off” WHETHER you’ve grown your own tomato plants from seed or bought them in it’s so exciting when you get that first ripe fruit. Now unless you do something really dumb any tomato plant will eventually ripen some fruit – but the sooner the better, I reckon. To get the very earliest fruits you need an early variety, not a late cropper. Then you need to keep it growing well – that means plenty of warmth and light in a pot or tub of good compost. Do not over- feed or water as plants that are growing well do not crop so soon, but eventually give much more. Now we come to my personal twist. I scare the plants into swelling fruit sooner. As…

GRANNY’S bonnets or columbines are hardy perennials in the same plant family as buttercups. There are several species in cultivation but most of our garden varieties descend from European Aquilegia vulgaris. In spring, a froth of new grey-green foliage erupts from the dormant plants, rising up to bloom in May and June. We love aquilegias because they are so good at filling the gap between spring and summer flowers. The blooms of ‘Lime Sorbet’ are fully double and spurless. Opening from glistening lime green buds, flowers nod from the tops of their stems with white petals flaring out like the layered skirts of a fairy’s tutu. In full bloom, plants reach a stately 30in (75cm) tall and add a semi-wild charm and elegance to late-spring borders. They are also great…

NOW that the weather has warmed up I’ve cleaned my wood burner out for the year. The ash is put into a bucket and used to sprinkle around, though never on my prize delphiniums. Wood ash adds valuable potash to the soil and acts as a barrier to slugs and snails. Being so dry it is a desiccant, which the slippery little suckers don’t like to cross. Any slugs and snails I spot are collected up and fed to the hens and ducks – they adore this meaty feast. Alternatively, if you have an army of keen children, set them to work on a night hunt – my son is always keen to go into the garden at dusk with a torch and hunt down these nocturnal munchers. Look out…

CLIMBERS in our garden here have put on incredible growth in the last few weeks. Our clematis tend to be trained through shrubs, but in order to guide the shorter new stems in the right direction I use knobbly hazel sticks. These are quickly hidden by the enthusiastic clematis stems, so go unnoticed. The yew hedging is decorated with Eccremocarpus scaber in summer and this is now starting to hook itself into the hedge. However, I give longer stems a hand to weave in. In the fruit frame loganberries need tying into the galvanised wires on the wall. For this I use raffia to hold stems in place. I’m of the mind that if a plant can be hooked to another plant, rather than be tied in, the garden will…

BBC Gardeners’ World host Monty Don is to pen a book about his four-legged co-presenter, Nigel. The TV star’s golden retriever has a huge fan base. Nigel regularly appears on camera, trotting around Monty’s garden called Longmeadow, in Herefordshire. Nigel has his own Twitter and Facebook profiles, run by fans, and “gets more mail and Christmas cards than the rest of the Don family put together,” according to publishers. Monty said: “I have always had a dog, or dogs. I cannot imagine life without them. I am just as much a fan of Nigel as any besotted viewer. “In the book I explore why we love dogs and what they mean to us emotionally and domestically. I look back on all the dogs in my life. “So this is the…

KING of contemporary gardens Diarmuid Gavin plans to ditch his modern approach at Chelsea next month. The former Home Front presenter has vowed to let go of his architectural style of planting when he creates the Harrods British Eccentrics Garden. A spokeswoman said: “Diarmuid is waving goodbye to his usual pared-back colour palette of greens and russet tones. “He has chosen to tell a story; a pastiche of a quintessential British garden from days gone by, inspired by Heath Robinson.” The main trees will be Carpinus betulus. Conical and dome-shaped bay trees sourced from Belgium will “twirl and bob as if performing their own symphony.” Instead of Diarmuid’s trademark steel and glass gardens, flowering plants, ferns, grasses and shrubs are being grown by nurseries in the UK and Italy –…

IN September 2015, 2kg of salad rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they spent six months in space in microgravity, before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds were sent as part of ‘Rocket Science’, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency. Schools and educational groups were invited to apply to grow some of the space seeds as part of an experiment. It was too good an opportunity to miss, I applied on behalf of a local school, and was thrilled to be accepted. Rocket Science is a nationwide project headed up by British ESA astronaut Tim Peake. It aims to enable children to think more about how we could preserve human…

Grow crops on a rooftop Check the sturdiness of the roof and reinforce if necessary first. Adam has used lightweight plywood and a ladder to climb high enough to pick his fruit. Build a tomato totem pole Adam used old lengths of pipe with a perforated second tube running through the compost to ensure water and nutrients reach the tomatoes and marigolds. Create extra warmth Pieces of corrugated plastic sheets are great for providing a warmer environment for tender plants such as French beans. Adam also uses old secondary glazing for cold frames. Make a slimline carrot trough This space-saving structure made of wood off-cuts can be placed over a raised bed or area of soil and, standing just over three foot above ground, should be high enough to keep…

Why did tulips put on a poor show? QI planted 100 tulip bulbs over the last two autumns but had no flowers. The leaves look as if they have been attacked. When forking over the soil, I noticed a whitish mould. What’s going wrong? Val Moody, Little Smeaton, Pontefract AI’m going to make the assumption that you bought flowering-sized bulbs. Sometimes catalogues offer nonflowering sized bulbs for a cheaper price. These need to be grown on for a year or so, before they will flower. The bulbs could be suffering from a disease called tulip fire, which is caused by a fungus known as Botrytis tulipae. Common symptoms include twisted leaves appearing soon after coming through the soil, which wither or fail to develop. A fuzzy grey mould may appear…

UNUSUAL FLOWERS ‘Schneekissen’ Produces arching sprays of white flowers tinged with pink above shiny, deep green leaves that are flushed with red in the winter months. PALE PINK ‘Baby Doll’ An abundance of shell pink flowers in April and May (and sometimes again in summer) atop floppy green foliage. This one can be grown in containers. REPEAT FLOWERING ‘Morgenröte’ Translated as ‘morning red’, this bergenia has carmine pink flowers atop red stems in spring, and again in summer. Reliably good. WHITE FLOWERS ‘Silberlicht’ Translates as ‘silverlight’. White bell flowers with pink sepals on burgundy stems in spring; the gorgeous blooms flush pink as they age. WINTER COLOUR ‘Bressingham Ruby’ Widely grown, this has clusters of hot pink flowers in spring, and the glossy foliage burns wonderful shades of cherry maroon…

‘Green Star’ Lily-flowered viridiflora; combines well with cool colours and white tulips; 17in (45cm). ‘Blue Diamond’ Peony-flowered tulip in silvery lilac; looks good with soft blue pansies; 15in (40cm). ‘Angelique’ Peony-flowered tulip in shades of pale to mid pink; underplant with pink forget-me-nots; 17in (45cm). ‘Infinity’ Classic cupped tulip with pink blushing on the edge of the petals; underplant with pink forget-me-nots 17in (45cm). ‘Roulette’ Blood-red multi-flowered tulip; good in a border amongst emerging herbaceous plants; 17in (45cm). ‘Maja’ Fringed tulip in shades of lemon yellow; eye-catching with Fritillaria imperialis ‘Lutea’; 25in (65cm).…

EVERYONE loves a bargain, and gardeners are often at the front of the queue. Once you tot up the cost of tools you need, plus the bags of compost, boxes of fertiliser, and pest and disease controls, gardening can be a phenomenally expensive hobby – and this is before you even start buying plants! So where can you start making savings? You could start by tidying up your shed to see what you have already got and don’t need to buy again!. Then shop around – if you have the Internet, use it as a money-saving tool by comparing prices on different websites. If you don’t have the Internet, look around, visit garden centres, and see what’s out there. Don’t be afraid to buy plants and equipment from the supermarkets…

APRIL is the main month for sowing crops and ornamental seeds. If you’re a compulsive sower – like me – you can soon run out of seed trays. Replacing like-with-like can be expensive, so this year I have turned to fruit containers and even a coffee pouch. Once washed (and you should always wash them to get rid of traces of food that can spread germs) and drain holes punched in the base, they have a lot going for them. For a start they are free, and using them means you don’t need to bin or recycle them. They are also good for the seeds, because they are deeper than most seed trays. This will give vigorous seedlings plenty of depth to develop strong root systems before planting out. I…

1 Weed the sowing area, remove big stones and add compost or well rotted manure. Rake to create a fine tilth. 2 Draw drills 1in (3cm) deep and 3in (7cm) apart for ground cover sweet peas, or about 1ft (30cm) for climbers. 3 Sow the seeds4in (10cm) apart in the drills. If they roll together you can thin them out after germination. 4 Water well, and cover with twigs to deter cats and birds. Protect tender seedlings from mice, slugs and snails.…

• Lawns should be growing well now, and need to be kept in good shape. Mow regularly (adding the clippings to the compost heap), and trim around borders with a half-moon edger to stop grass encroaching. However, don’t mow a newly-sown lawn until it is 2-3in (5-7.5cm) high. • April is the best month to apply lawn weedkiller, but always follow instructions to the letter. • If you have room, lightly rake the lawn to remove debris, and sow a wildflower patch.…

BORDER penstemons are easy to grow in any reasonably fertile, moist, free-draining soil – apart from in heavy shade. They can become woody and leggy if they are not pruned annually – and now that the coldest weather is over, you can do it. Start by checking plants for new shoots at the base, or along the stems. Where such shoots are seen, cut out all the old stems, above the shoots but as low down as possible. Plants with few or no new shoots growing from ground level should just have their stems shortened, making the cuts just above the lowest set of healthy leaves. After pruning, remove weeds and any other plants that are starting to encroach on them. Then, encourage strong, healthy growth, by applying a general…

• Look after tomato seedlings so you don’t lose any to damping off. Water from below, give them plenty of natural light, and check they have good air circulation. • Dig lots of well-rotted manure or compost into vegetable beds before setting out young plants. Carrots don’t like freshly manured soil, and grow best in beds enriched the previous year. • Feed cane fruit and fruit bushes with a slow-release fertiliser, and mulch around fruit trees (making sure the mulch doesn’t touch the trunk). Top dress fruit trees in patio containers.…

IN recent years cucumber breeding has come on in leaps and bounds – all-female varieties such as ‘Femspot’ cured the problem of male blooms pollinating female ones (this causes bitter-tasting fruits). Now, you can also buy all-female snack-sized varieties such as ‘Mini Munch’, which produce lots of fruits 4-5in (10-12cm) long. Both types grow best in a greenhouse, but you may have luck with mini varieties in a sunny, sheltered spot outside. I’ve also tried outdoor ‘ridge’ cucumbers and heritage types like ‘Crystal Apple’, but the all-female varieties offer the best quality and taste. I’m sowing ‘Louisa’, an all-female long-fruited hybrid, now, into 4in (9cm) pots of multipurpose compost .…

AS gardeners, we should all be aware that we rely on bees heavily to pollinate a range of garden crops. Without them we’d have no raspberries, apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries and many other fruits. In short, we owe bees a lot. So this is just a quick nudge to remind you to stick to one crucial golden rule – don’t spray flowering plants with insecticide while they are in bloom. This goes for any flowering plant, not just the ones that we need bees to visit. Busy bees will visit numerous blooms to access the nectar and pollen they contain, so if your cherries have blackfly, your clematis has greenfly or your bergenias show signs of vine weevil damage, please don’t spray them with chemicals harmful to bees. Many…

IF you keep chickens, ducks or rabbits running loose, having a fox visit your garden could be a disaster. Otherwise, foxes don’t generally cause a problem. Yes, they come and go, and when they leave their calling card you’ll certainly know it: the smell is horrible, though it soon dissipates. And yes, they can make a night-time racket, but it’s usually over quickly and fortunately doesn’t occur throughout the year. A fox cry in the dead of night can certainly wake you up, and instantly send a shiver down your spine. It is an almost unearthly sound – a hollow scream, usually followed by a few short, yapping barks. The sound most often comes from the female (vixen), especially in mid-winter when she is looking for a mate. When a…

1 Fill a shallow pot with good, well-draining seed compost and press the surface gently to make it smooth. Water, using a fine rose (sprinkler) on the can and leave to drain. 2 Sow the small seeds thinly and evenly over the surface of the compost. You can tap the packet, use the crease of your hand as a guide or take pinches of seed to sprinkle. 3 Scatter a thin layer of compost around the seeds and then a thin layer of grit so the seeds are just covered. Label, and stand in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame.…

STRAWBERRY plants are only productive for about three years. Therefore we have replaced ours and hope for a bumper crop this June. I have grown on some runners to create new plants and also bought a selection from marshalls-seeds.co.uk. With so many varieties to choose from I stuck to the heritage collection, which included ‘Cambridge Favourite, ‘Royal Sovereign’ and ‘Red Gauntlet’. Plant in a sunny spot in a well-drained soil. A fruit frame is ideal to keep the birds off but in smaller gardens grow in pots and cover with netting.…

GARDEN Bargains owner Peter McDermott is ‘head gardener’ at YouGarden (above) and sells plants by mail order on the Ideal World shopping channel. He says that retailers who sell Christmas trees at £9.99, or a Groupon deal for 24 lavenders at £7.99, or a “bucket load of plants for six pounds” aren’t doing anyone any favours. Peter says: “If you’re going to buy one Christmas tree at £9.99 you would probably buy one at £20 because it’s still cheaper than the market price. “There is a desire to sell cheaper than the market level just to get PR. The consumer is king, but if they only ever buy cheap stuff, when it gets to last few growers standing, prices will go up.”…

Houseplant sales Shoppers went houseplant crazy at garden centres in February, with sales up by 30 per cent, compared to February 2015. Knowing your onions Gardeners are being urged to grow onions after food experts predicted that prices will rise by 60 per cent due to European crop shortages. Anti-peat campaigners Industry figures show that use of peat rose by 10 per cent during 2015, despite pressure being put on gardeners to use alternatives. Bedgebury arboretum Several trees at Bedgebury in Kent were damaged by Storm Katie at Easter, including an Abies grandis which may have to be felled.…

A LOCAL authority has voted to stop using weedkillers containing glyphosate. Brighton and Hove City Council voted to ditch the spray and look at non-chemical ways of controlling weeds as well as pests. The motion, on 24 March, was proposed by Louisa Greenbaum, a Green Party councilor – but supported by all parties. Greens cited a 2015 World Health Organisation report which listed glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen”. Policy officer at Pesticide Action Network UK, Nick Mole, said of Brighton and Hove’s decision: “This measure will reduce human exposure as well as protecting bees and other wildlife from harmful, unnecessary chemicals.” In Brussels, the EU is trying to decide whether to renew approval for glyphosate for another 15 years.…

I recently presented the ‘Rocket Science’ experiment to all the children at Lilliput C. E. V. C. Infant School, Poole and they are really excited about it. Introducing them to topics such as gravity and space travel has helped the children think about gardening in a new way. They’ve come up with some interesting ideas about differences in the way our space seedlings might grow compared to the ordinary, earth-bound rocket seeds. Their expectations are high: theories of floating, exploding salad leaves have been bantered around the playground! Having the opportunity to sow seeds that have been in orbit is a really exciting prospect - not just for the pupils, it’s caught the imaginations of the parents, the teachers... and me! Involving the whole school To get the whole school…

Save rain water Channel the contents of roof gutters into a water butt. Rain water is better for plants than tap water and, if you’re on a water meter, it saves money too. Grow carrots in old pipes For perfectly straight show-standard roots Adam grows carrots in lengths of pipes Strong-smelling marigolds nearby help to deter pests. Save seeds from beans Beans are a particularly easy plant from which to save seeds. Find pods that have dried up while still on the plant. Bring them indoors to dry further. Propagate strawberries Plants are past their best after three years, so peg the runners into the soil or pots of compost from mid summer to make new plants for future years. Make use of old wood Such as old pallets, by…

Traditional advice suggests not planting bulbs until November, as at this stage the chance of infection is greatly reduced. However, I have planted tulips in October on numerous occasions with no ill effects, but my soil has not been infected with disease. When buying bulbs, check carefully and discard any with signs of sclerotia in the outer scales, or any bulbs that are showing signs of decay. Above shows good bulbs (right) and poor ones (left). Do not plant tulips for at least three years in situations where tulip fire has occurred. If a site must be replanted, dig the ground deeply to bury the contaminated upper layers deep enough to be below the planting depth.…

GROWING a climber up an obelisk support makes an elegant feature – one that’s more attractive than a wigwam of canes any day! It’s a good idea to match the design of obelisk with your climber and consider how the plant grows – self supporting soft tendrils or hard stems to tie in – and how tall it will become. We looked at six ranging in height from 5ft (1.5m) to 6ft 3in (1.9m), though larger and smaller sizes are available in some models. Remember you’ll lose some overall height when the legs are buried. Three we tested require assembly with a screwdriver or an electric drill. The wooden styles are made of softwood that is treated for a longer life and could be painted for a different look. •…

Best for patio pots Pieris japonica ‘Little Heath’: Great foliage accent plant in mixed containers and a useful underplanting for larger acid loving shrubs. Vibrant pink flower buds and white edged foliage lifts shady spots. 2x3ft (60x90cm). Suitable for large borders Pieris floribunda ‘Forest Flame’ is the largest pieris, with vibrant cream-green foliage and masses of white flowers in spring, followed by vibrant red new shoots. Good partner for larger rhododendrons. Best variety for drier soils. 13x8ft (4x2.5m). Best for flowers Pieris japonica ‘Debutante’ has upright flower racemes and larger blooms hanging on bright yellow stalks. These offer a really different look compared to other varieties. Looks great surrounded by winter/spring heather. 3x3ft (1x1m).…

Write to: Jenny Bagshaw, Amateur Gardening Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com Our Star Letter wins £40 in National Garden Gift Vouchers; tip of the week, £10; other letters £5 (£10 if we use a photo you’ve sent). Vouchers can be bought and redeemed at over 2,000 UK outlets offering more than 90,000 garden plants and products. Visit thevouchergarden.co.uk for details. C’est la vie! I’VE just been reading your news article (AG 19 March) about longer opening hours for garden centres. The argument is that it will give the public a longer time to shop and allow competition with internet businesses, but is it really necessary to open for longer hours? The internet will be there no matter how long shops are open. I…

SOMETIMES plants simply disappear. Once a whole row of newly-planted cabbages was stolen from my allotment by a green-fingered thief who bizarrely dug them up and then took the time to fill the holes! Thankfully I’ve not been the victim of cabbage-crime since, but a day spent tidying the borders recently revealed that plants that went in the ground just last year are conspicuous by their absence. Once again it’s due to thieves, but this time they are of the furry variety. Mice and squirrels go for spring bulbs in a big way so if the sheets of crocus and daffs you planted in the autumn haven’t shown up then most likely these rodents are to blame. And if you can bear to plant again, plant deeply to make the…

• When it comes to gardening it doesn’t always pay to cut corners. • Treat garden centre bargain bins with caution. Yes, you can pick up some plants that will revive, but pot-bound plants or ones with sad, yellowing leaves are best left alone. • Gardeners’ gift kits look pretty, but are very often a waste of money once you look past the fancy packaging. • Avoid gimmicky tools advertised for gardening jobs, when your humble hand fork, hoe or spade will do the task just as well.…

1 As with traditional seed trays, I made drain holes, filled containers with seed compost then watered it. 2 I sowed Echinacea seeds, which are reasonably large, in this fruit tub and covered lightly with Vermiculite. 3 Ragged-Robin seeds are tiny. I picked them up on a fingertip and sowed them as thinly as possible. 4 I labelled and sealed the seeds in plastic bags, and put them on warm windowsills to await germination.…

1 A week or so before planting your sweet peas, enrich the ground by digging in some well-rotted manure or organic compost. 2 Firmly press the support into the ground. I’m using a willow obelisk, which will suit the sweet peas’ cottage garden characteristics. 3 Dig holes deep enough for the plants’ lengthy roots, remove them from their pots and plant. If you need to split large clumps of plants, do so carefully. 4 I sprinkled Vital Slug Rid pellets around the tender young plants, as I don’t want to lose them to slugs and snails.…

“Nasturtiums are a feature in the Monet garden” THE Exhibition ‘Painting the Modern Garden from Monet to Matisse’ at the Royal Academy (which closes this week) has been so well attended and reported it must now have some influence on the plants in our gardens. Painting after painting features dahlias and there are lovely examples of beautifully grown azaleas, conservatory grown chrysanthemums, climbing nasturtiums and even zonal geraniums bedded out under standard roses. Nasturtiums are a feature in the Monet garden at Giverny each summer, with their long trailing stems growing out from twin borders on each side of a broad, arch covered pathway. A few seeds popped into the soil at this time of year is all it takes to create such a stunning summer display. At the exhibition…

1 Box caterpillar. This is the RHS’s Public Enemy No 1, 2016. The caterpillars can defoliate whole hedges, and will swathe plants in webbing. Where practical, remove caterpillars by hand, or treat with insecticide such as Resolva Bug Killer or Bayer Provado Ultimate Bug Killer. 2 Cabbage caterpillars: These devastate brassicas, and some ornamentals. Large cabbage white butterfly caterpillars are hairy, yellow and black (right); small cabbage white caterpillars are pale green; and cabbage moth caterpillars are yellowish or brownish green. Net crops to stop eggs being laid. Squish caterpillars, or use Westland Resolva Bug Killer or Defenders Bug Killer. 3 Slugs and snails: They can devastate whole plants, and leave trails of slime, plus clusters of round, pale eggs buried in the soil. Pick off slugs and snails by…

1 Take clean 3in (7.5cm) or 4in (10cm) pots and fill them with fresh seed compost. Water with warm tap water. 2 Sow 2-3 aubergine seeds on the surface of the damp compost, and cover with 1/2in (1cm) of vermiculite. 3Tosowcucumberseeds,make 1/2in (1cm) deep holes in the compost, and drop a seed into each hole. Cover. 4 Label, and keep the cucumber seeds with the aubergine seeds, on a warm, bright windowsill.…

1 Runner beans are large-seeded so easy to handle. Sow them individually into large modules or pots filled with good multipurpose compost, to give roots room to develop. 2 In a propagator at 18-20°C, or on a warm and sunny windowsill, they’ll quickly germinate. Once fully emerged, move them to a slightly cooler spot, but still keep them frost-free under glass. 3 After 2-3 weeks, harden off robust seedlings. Move them outside into a shady, sheltered spot in the day, but bring them back under glass at night. Plant outside after a week of this.…

IF you’ve ever grown corn and eaten it boiled, five or six minutes after picking, you’ll know why I always grow a large patch at home. This crop is utterly delicious – shop-bought cobs are poor in comparison. Sow sweetcorn seeds into large modules. You need quite a lot of plants – think in multiples of four or five (I’m sowing 30) as sweetcorn is best grown in block. This ensures the wind pollinates cobs properly, and they are filled right to the tips. If you’ve got the space sow early, mid and late-season varieties for picking from late August right through till the end of September. Growing different types together is said to impair eating quality, but I’ve never noticed any problems when I do this. If you aren’t…

• 16 April: Plant Hunters’ Fair (11am-4pm), Bodenham Arboretum, near Kidderminster, Worcs DY11 5SY planthuntersfairs.co.uk • 16 April: Planting Design Workshop, Barnsdale Gardens, The Avenue, Exton, Oakham, Rutland LE15 8AH 01572 813 200; barnsdalegardens.co.uk • 16-17 April: The Daffodil Society National Show, Coughton Court, Alcester, Warks B49 5JA 01438 222040; thedaffodilsociety.com • 17 April: Plant Hunters’ Fair (11am-4pm), Consall Gardens, Wetley Rocks, Staffordshire ST9 0AG planthuntersfairs.co.uk • 17-22 April: Cherry Blossom Festival, Doddington Hall, Doddington, Lincolnshire LN6 4RU 01522 694 308; doddingtonhall.com • 21-24 April: Harrogate Spring Flower Show, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate HG2 8NZ 01423 546158, flowershow.org.uk • 23 April: Garden Museum Plant Fair, Lambeth Palace Gardens, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB 0207 401 8865; gardenmuseum.org.uk • 23 April: Plant Hunters’ Fair (10am-4pm), Sugnall Walled Garden, Eccleshall, Staffs…

EVERY country garden needs a few foxgloves, particularly as they make the perfect addition to the foot of a native, mixed hedge. Last year I sowed collected Digitalis purpurea seed in autumn. The fresh seed was placed on a bed of seed compost and left to germinate in the polytunnel. This seed has now produced a healthy tray of plants ready for planting over the next few weeks. Foxgloves are biennials, so plants will not flower until the summer of 2017. As a bit of an experiment I have just sown a few Digitalis ‘Primrose Carousel’ (available from Thompson and Morgan). This foxglove is a soft primrose yellow with claret speckles on the inside of the flowers. They’re shorter than the native foxglove, only reaching 30in (75cm). It’ll be interesting…

STAR of The Great British Bake-Off, Mary Berry, is the new president of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS). The NGS runs the Yellow Book scheme which will see 3,800 gardens open for charity this year. Mary takes over from BBC Gardeners’ World co-presenter Joe Swift, who has been NGS president for the last six years. Mary said: “We have opened our garden for over 20 years for the NGS. I know it gives pleasure to so many. I am honoured to be the new president.”…

Can I transplant my small wisteria? QI have a small wisteria that has grown as a runner off a larger one. How should I transplant it elsewhere, and when should I do it? Sue Langridge (via email) A The best time to transplant wisteria is in autumn when leaves are turning yellow. Lift it with as much soil as possible around the root system. If the ground is dry, water liberally to ensure that soil sticks to the roots. If your plant is more than 6ft (1.8m) and has been established for some years, you will need to prepare it for transplanting. In autumn, dig a trench about 12in (60cm) deep around the roots, and fill it with gritty soil. Fresh feeding roots will fill the trench over the following…

Lightweight Hand Push Lawnmower £38 in store 0333 014 3357 diy.com  for stock check Got a small lawn? Don’t pay a fortune to buy, run and maintain a petrol or electric mower: get pushing with a manual hand mower like this – and keep fit into the bargain. Features a 12in (30cm) cutting width, four cutting heights and weighs just 6.5kg. Small Stick Solar Light £0.79 01484 441817 poundstretcher.co.uk  for stockists Lead yourself up the garden path at night – at just 79p each you can’t go far wrong with a few of these solar-powered lights. Weather resistant and with a bright low-wattage LED bulb giving off a warm light, stick them in the ground or locate them on a pole for low-cost illumination. Slimline Water Butt 100 litre…

EVER fancied a designer garden but baulked at the likely cost? Designer Antony Henn has created the answer – a Garden on a Roll. It’s as easy as planting by numbers: you choose your ideal style, width and length online, then everything you need arrives at your door, ready to plant! The wildlife garden border collection we’re giving away is a beautiful blend of flowering perennials combined with hardy flowering and berrying shrubs to attract bees, butterflies and birds. Included in the box is a lettered planting guide on biodegradable paper (with impregnated organic feed), 16 premium quality plants, compost, trowel, gloves and full instructions on CD. Simply prepare the ground, plant the appropriate variety through the marked paper, cover with compost and water. Then sit back and wait for…

Pashley Manor Festival, East Sussex In late spring 30,000 tulips create dazzling displays of colour in every flower bed, pot and border. 22nd April every day to 7th May, 11am-5pm. Chenies Manor, Buckinghamshire A Bloms Bulb’s Show Garden with more than 7000 tulips arranged in colour-themes. April until the end of May, Weds/Thurs, 2-5pm. Keukenhof, Holland If you fancy a trip to Holland, this famous garden that displays over 800 tulip varieties is well worth a visit. 24 March-16 May, 8.30am-7.30pm Constable Burton Hall, Yorkshire A Tulip Festival with Bloms Bulbs. Over 6000 tulips planted in the gardens and a cut flower display in the Hall. 30th April-2nd May, 10am to 5pm.…

“Our garden gives us so much pleasure...it truly was a labour of love” HELLO Amateur Gardening! I’m Jan Green, and this is my husband Paul. We’re both in our 60s and got married four years ago. We bought this house in Pershall together, chosen because of the garden which was in a rural location and full of promise. Recently retired and able to give the garden our full attention, we read gardening magazines, watched TV programmes and visited shows. We knew basically what we wanted and drew up a plan on graph paper, but that didn’t work for us! It was hard to visualise the end result, so we decided to make it a three stage project and began near the house with a seating area and water feature, The…