Innholdsfortegnelse for 10-dec-16 i Amateur Gardening

WHAT have cats got to do with greenhouses? Well, according to my wife, Kath, when faced with a household maintenance job my default position is to curl up and do nothing. Cats use this tactic to avoid wasting energy. So do I on DIY, except when it costs more to do nothing – that tends to stimulate rather greater effort. So when a window frame collapsed in my ageing and very rickety wooden greenhouse, Kath simply said: “Buy another one.” I was stunned. I had, of course, considered that option, but a small new greenhouse like mine costs around £1000. Last winter I bodged up the leaking roof by screwing clear corrugated plastic sheeting over the top. It doesn’t leak any more but it looks dreadful – I guessed that…

1 Stand your tree in water for as long as possible before potting up. Place crocks in the pot, to boost drainage. 2 Add some compost, and check the tree is going in at the right level. Remove pot if it’s not a root pot. 3 In-fill around the root pot, firming the compost as you go. I used nutrient-rich John Innes No 3. 4 Water the tree, and stand its pot on feet to allow rainwater run-off, and help prevent the roots rotting.…

1 Soak the roots well before planting. Leave them in the water for a minimum of 30 minutes, so they rehydrate. 2 Dig a hole deep enough to take the rose up to the graft union, the swollen area between the stem and the roots. 3 Roses are hungry, so to help them establish add well-rotted compost or manure to the hole, and dig it in. 4 Place the rose in the hole, and back fill with a mix of soil and compost. Firm it in well, then mulch soil surface.…

• You will get the best germination from berries if you ‘stratify’ them, and leave them in the cold through the winter. • Slit the skins of fleshy berries, such as cotoneaster, holly and sorbus. Place them in moist sharp sand/seed compost in a frost-proof pot or sealed plastic bag. • Leave the container outdoors (or even in the fridge if you live somewhere extremely mild, and the contents of the pot or bag are completely secure). The flesh will break down over winter, and the seeds can be sifted free of the sand or compost and sown in spring.…

I PLANTED some ‘Jazzy’ potatoes, which are second earlies, late in the season hoping to have a crop of gorgeous-tasting fresh spuds ready for Christmas dinner. I grew them in bags on the patio, and when the foliage died back in autumn, I simply cut it away, and left the potato tubers in their compost until I needed to harvest them. When I came to get them, I emptied their bags into a wheelbarrow, and picked out all the potatoes. I will store them somewhere cool and dark until Christmas. I spread the compost over the borders, making sure I removed every last tiny tuber – if you don’t you’ll have potatoes sprouting all around the garden. If you had good fruit and vegetable harvests this year, and managed to…

WINTER is a great time to get herbaceous perennials in the ground, and these unique collections have been created to provide colour in your garden from early to late summer. Supplied as fully hardened 9cm potted plants, they have strong, well-developed root balls that will tough out winter weather – but avoid planting them into very wet or frozen soil. Order any of these perennial collections and you will receive a FREE lavender collection (worth £13.90). Lavender collection The classic cottage garden favourite is beautifully scented and a magnet for bees. Both varieties, ‘Heavenly Scent’ and ‘Heavenly Angel’, have a neat, compact habit. • 2 x 9cm potted plants WORTH £13.90 Code 50552 FREE WITH ANY PERENNIAL COLLECTION ORDER White Garden collection Lovely varieties for a cool and calming display…

HOW can I jazz up this project? Cleaning pots and labels, washing down glass, servicing tools, disinfecting greenhouses – it’s not exactly rock ‘n’ roll, is it? Yet these activities are incredibly important for making your life easier and, more importantly, maintaining optimum plant health in the garden. Being head gardener at East Donyland Hall, I save up such jobs for rainy days – it’s amazing what the threat of a soak can do to a girl! It’s essential though, that I also practice what I preach in my own garden and tiresome as it may appear, I urge you to do the same. Rub dried-on dirt off hand tools, then sharpen any blades with a diamond sharpening stone before spraying joints and moving parts with WD40 or similar –…

“You need to create a barrier that weeds can’t grow through” WHILE gardening is an age-old pastime, modern techniques can make it a whole lot easier. Take weeding, for example. Rather than hoeing, digging and hand weeding as our predecessors had to, we can cut down the effort involved by using impermeable or semi-permeable barriers – some utilising recycled materials. The advent of cheap perforated plastic sheets and woven geo-textiles, the availability of huge quantities of cardboard packaging and newspaper, and the widespread ‘binning’ of quite usable pieces of carpet have all resulted in simpler weed control and a much easier way to incorporate green manures. The idea is to create a barrier that weeds, or the green manure, can’t grow through, that will still allow water and air to…

December 10, 11, 16 and 17: Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG. Meet Father Christmas in his secret folly. Booking essential, £8.50 online, £9 by phone. 01823 413923; hestercombe.com Now until January 4: Christmas display in The Glasshouse, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, GU23 6QB Enter into a magical Gingerbread House and garden filled with poinsettias and colourful seasonal plants, or peek at the Ten Christmas Trees from around the world exhibit, plus lots more.rhs.org.uk/wisley December 10-11, 17-18: RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, GU23 6QB. Decorate gingerbread plus stories and songs with Santa. Adults £4, children £12. 0845 260 9000; rhs.org.uk/wisley December 12: Festive Floral Workshops, Ston Easton Park, Bath, Somerset BA3 4DF from 11am. £59.50 includes two course lunch at the award-winning restaurant 01761 241631; stoneaston.co.uk Now to December…

YOU may recall that my polytunnel was given a new cover a few months ago. The doors had gone rotten so were replaced at the same time. I kept the old doors and am now using them as a protective screen for keeping the worst of the frost off our peach tree. It’s not the hardiness of the tree I’m worried about – it’s the blossom that will start to form in early spring. Peaches are early flowerers so should be planted in sheltered spots. We have a south-facing wall, which makes the perfect location for this new fan-trained tree. The old polytunnel door is ideal as the light can still get through. An alternative would be to cover plants with garden fleece.…

‘Mrs Oakley Fisher’ This apricot Hybrid Tea produces an abundance of big single flowers atop chocolate-brown stems. H2½ft (75cm). ‘Trumpeter’ A compact, bushy Floribunda rose that produces clusters of vermillion red flowers over a long period. H2ft (60cm). ‘Marie-Jeanne’ Generous clusters of small blush-cream rosettes adorn this romantic repeat-flowering Dwarf Polyantha. H3ft (90cm). ‘De Resht’ The purple-crimson blooms of this repeating Portland Damask exude delicious scent. H3ft (90cm). ‘Scarborough Fair’ This repeat-flowering David Austin shrub rose produces soft pink cups encasing golden stamens. H2½ft (75cm).…

GARDENS are heavenly, we all know that. Now a lucky few will be able to prove it by installing ancient pieces of Canterbury Cathedral in their own little Edens. The 1,000-year-old historic building sold off tonnes of intricately-carved masonry from its Great South Window. The stonework was removed during a £2.5 million structural repair following a partial collapse. A spokesman for the auctioneers said he envisaged most of the stones would go into gardens as features, ornaments or talking pieces. “The bidders wanted a piece of history,” he said. The 144 lots varied from small pieces of stone which fetched hundreds of pounds to 350kg pieces that went for thousands. Some of it dating back to 1428 made the highest prices. The money raised will go towards future conservation work.…

Q We bought hydrangeas at our local market. The label showed them as being pink, but as you can see this is not the case. Why is this? I Mitchell (via email) A Intriguingly, the reddish green-flowered hydrangea, which should have been pink, is similar to ‘Schloss Wackerbarth’, a relatively new variety. Genetically, Hydrangea macrophylla varieties are relatively unstable and liable to mutate, often producing blooms of several colours, principally red, green and pink. Your unusual plant may, indeed, be that of ‘Schloss Wackerbarth’. Q Is this a weed, or a ‘proper’ plant? S Whittaker, Camberley, Surrey A It is a native wildflower called corn marigold – Chrysanthemum segetum. It used to be one of the most prolific arable weeds, but has reduced considerably due to the use of herbicides.…

Winter Scene Bauble £3.50 + £3 delivery or free click & collect 0800 323 4050 tesco.com/direct/ A large 4in (10cm) diameter hand-finished iridescent glass bauble with a glitter finish winter tree scene. Includes a white organza ribbon for hanging on your Christmas tree. Snowshill Indented Flower Bauble £6 + £2 click & collect or £3.50 delivery 03456 049 049 johnlewis.com Hand-blown by skilled glassmakers in Bohemia in the Czech Republic – a region famous for its traditionally-made glass costume jewellery and Christmas decorations – these 3 1/4in (8cm) diameter baubles are indented with lily-like flowers decorated with glimmer (glass dust). Christmas 2016: Annual Snowcrystal Pierced Ornament £45 + p&p £3.95 01782 204141 waterford.co.uk One of Waterford’s annual Christmas snowflake tree decorations, this sparkling crystal…

1 M. ‘Atlas’ Fragrant lilac- pink blooms to 14in (35cm) across and reaches 22ft (7m). Hardy to -15o C (5o F) it needs shelter from winds and a neutral to acidic soil. 2 M. ‘Caerhays Surprise’ For smaller plots, this grows slowly to 13ft (4m) in 10 years. In March it has pink waterlily-shaped flowers 8-10in (20-25cm) across. 3 M. ‘Elizabeth’ A hardy magnolia that can reach 30ft (10m). Fragrant primrose yellow flowers 6in (15cm) across in April and May, which fade to cream. 4 M. wilsonii Lime-tolerant, so an option for gardeners on chalk. Fragrant cup-shaped white flowers with maroon stamens open in May and are rarely damaged by frost.…

“Your rooted tree may not survive after being indoors” NOTHING quite conjures up Christmas like the pine scents of a Norway spruce. These trees have been sidelined in recent years by the growing popularity of thick-needled Nordmann firs, which hold their needles well, but have no scent. So, for me, despite the clearing up involved, I will plump for a traditional spruce every time! This weekend is when the majority of Britain’s 6 million Christmas trees will be bought. If you are going for a ready-cut tree, always ask when they were chopped down, and buy one that was cut most recently. Check the ‘holding power’ of their needled by gently dropping the trunk stump against the ground from a couple of inches up. If needles don’t shower down, good…

THE period between November and the end of February is when bare-root trees, shrubs and ornamentals are available. These are smaller (and cheaper) than container-bought specimens, and should be planted as soon as possible. When I stepped down from helping run a Brownie pack for the past 10 years, one of my ‘farewell’ gifts was a bare-root ‘Brownie’ rose; a lightly scented, yellow rose cultivated to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Brownies. I had space in the garden for it, so only had to store it overnight. I kept it somewhere cool, in its plastic packaging, and soaked its roots in a bowl of water before planting. Hopefully it will thrive and grow, and look beautiful in its corner of the garden. Top Tip Mulch newly planted roses with…

WE all like to draw the curtains and crank up the heating to shut out winter, but this does not create good conditions for houseplants. Reduced light, cold draughts, and dry atmospheres created by central heating do nothing for plants’ welfare, and we should take steps to boost their health. Keeping your windows clean will let in more light, which plants desperately need during winter’s shorter days. Move them closer to windows to access more light, as it’s essential for photosynthesis and continued health. But don’t leave plants on windowsills on frosty nights – closed curtains can create frost pockets, which will damage or kill. Keep plants away from open doors, and out of draughts. They also don’t like being close to direct sources of heat such as open fires…

“I have a reluctance to throw out plants past their prime” THOSE of us brought up in the 1940s and 50s inherently avoid waste: I have five sheds and a garage full of things that will come in useful one day, and I find it difficult to pass a skip without looking for something to recycle! So it should come as no great surprise for you to learn that I also have a reluctance to throw out flowering houseplants that are past their prime. Poinsettias, for example. I grow them on outside through the summer and then house them on a windowsill, protected from artificial light from September, to form coloured bracts again in December. When pots of cyclamen have finished flowering they’re put on their sides and dried off…

FABULOUS, fragrant, voluptuous gardenias: so lovely and yet so difficult to grow. After I’ve watched another one slowly fade, its leaves ever smaller, the plant twiggy and blooms a distant memory, there is usually a year’s mourning before I buy another one. This will generally be in winter, when the double creamy-white blooms against a dense mass of shiny evergreen foliage are at their most alluring. I have just bought one now, so how am I going to keep it healthy indoors this time? In the past, I have just placed gardenias in the house and tried to get their light, temperature and water right but this time, I’m going further.…

MANY of us are guilty of neglecting our soil, but if you don’t have healthy ground how on earth are crops supposed to thrive in it? It’s timely in winter to check that all is OK, because adjustments can easily be made while plots are less full. Today I’m specifically thinking of checks of and adjustments to soil pH – which determines how acid or alkaline (chalky) your plot is. Most fruit and veg prefer a soil pH of 6.5 which is slightly acidic, but there are exceptions like blueberries which need very acid soil (pH 4.5) and brassicas – these are prone to clubroot disease, which can be deterred by adding lime. So, first things first check your pH level, then work out what your crop needs and adjust…

HAVE you got any fruit trees out-growing their allotted space in your garden? Either you’ve inherited a huge brute, or a tree is performing a lot better than you’d like! If you’ve got room for it to spread its branches that’s great, but many gardeners don’t have the luxury of space so what can they do? Well, at this time of year while the tree is dormant you can root-prune it. Severing through some of the roots won’t kill the tree, but it will slow down its rate of leaf and branch growth, often encouraging better fruiting, too. Use a garden spade to slice 6-8in (15-20cm) down into the earth, at the outer edge of the canopy. You can either completely encircle the tree, or just slice a semi-circle for…

1 On bright days, use long canes to knock off any mummified apples and other fruits to reduce the risk of infecting future crops. 2 For cool, light rooms and windowsills, pretty variegated and plain evergreens (like heucheras) in pots are cheaper than seasonal flowers. 3 When the weather is dry and frost-free, take advantage and finish off any fruit and ornamental pruning before rain and frosts set in. 4 Closely inspect your house and greenhouse plants, and carefully remove any dead and decaying leaves before these lead to mould.…

TWO years ago in spring we planted a couple of rows of gladiolus corms in the kitchen garden. On occasion my mother does the flowers for the village church so we grow blooms for her to cut. Gladioli may have a reputation of being old fashioned but they’re great value cut flowers with buckets of personality. They grow in a sheltered spot so we’ve never lifted the corms in autumn to keep them safe from frost. Instead they’ve been left in the garden over winter. This winter, however, I thought it time to investigate. It’s now that corms can be lifted and divided once the foliage has gone yellow – cut the foliage off before this and the corms will not have the energy they require for the following summer.…

I MADE a mistake last year and cut back Carex buchananii too hard. The grasses have never quite recovered and a year on you can still see where the cuts were made. Not all grasses benefit from being cut back in winter, but if you’re unsure which grass you have it’s hard to know what to do. The experts at knollgardens.co.uk offer great advice on their website about which grasses should be trimmed. As a guide, deciduous grasses need cutting back and evergreens just need a tidy up. However, if in doubt I suggest you give your grasses a comb-over instead. Wearing gloves run your hands through the blades and any old foliage will come free. If you have a border terrier you’ll know what I mean – it’s a…

KIND-hearted gardeners have rallied to help pensioner Ray Winsley after vandals wrecked his garden shortly after it won the Bath in Bloom award. AG’s 5 November issue told how thugs devastated Ray’s garden, pouring weedkiller over the 79 year-old’s borders, container plants and pots – killing thousands of plants and wrecking years of hard work. Vandals even poured weedkiller into his water butt. Horrified members of the public set up a crowd-funding page on justgiving.com to raise money to help Ray repair his garden. As AG went to press the fund stood at £302 –and has a target of reaching £1,000. In addition, mail-order firm Thompson & Morgan sent Ray £250 worth of its garden vouchers after tracking the pensioner down on social media, using the hashtag #findray. T&M horticultural…

PRISONERS have grown green fingers while spending time at Her Majesty’s pleasure. HMP Wymott in Preston won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Windlesham Trophy for the best prison garden in England and Wales. The category C slammer has 1,126 prisoners, 50 of whom work on the jail’s extensive gardens. Lead RHS judge Robert Haslam said: “A wide range of plants were used, displaying evidence of thoroughly-planned designs. Prisoners displayed good horticultural skills in commercial and protected cropping, in addition to ornamental areas.”…

Grandpa did it again! I WAS very interested to see AG’s News story (12 Nov issue) about Fred Lovatt’s labours to grow a pineapple. Some years ago, after watching an episode of Gardener’s World featuring Bob Flowerdew, I decided to have a go myself. And I’ve had a lot of success, as you can see from this year’s effort being held aloft by my grandson. All of the fruits I’ve grown have reached full size within about two years growing in our conservatory. Geoff Cooke, Cullompton, Devon Jenny says... I was pretty proud of the 12 full size peaches that grew on my small, container-grown peach tree on my deck this year, but your pineapple beats that! Playhouse protection MY daughter didn’t like her playhouse getting wet inside when it…

Norway spruce ( Picea abies ): The old stand-by with that traditional piney scent, but its thin needles are quick to drop. Nordmann fir ( Abies Nordmanniana ): These are popular as their thick needles rarely drop. They have little or no scent. Blue spruce ( Picea pungens ): Blue-green needles that last, but they are quite prickly to the touch. Korean fir ( Abies koreana ): Expect straight trunks, geometrically symmetrical branches and lush, fleshy needles. Fraser fir ( Abies fraseri ): This has the shape and wonderful smell of a Norway spruce, but it will hold on to its needles.…

• If you have bought a bare-root plant, get it in the ground as soon as possible. • On delivery, check that the roots are healthy and undamaged, and store the plant somewhere cool and dark, keeping its roots wrapped and damp in wet newspaper or plastic. • If you have to wait for longer than 48 hours to plant, because you are still preparing the ground, or it is frozen or waterlogged, you should ‘heel in’ the plants. • This involves temporarily planting them all together in a trench to keep the roots healthy until they can be moved to their final place.…

ALPINES such as saxifrage, Sempervivum, Lithodora diffusa and Phlox subulata are tough plants, capable of withstanding harsh conditions and poor soils. But wet winters, and the problems they cause, are not to their liking. Keep plants free from damp, fallen leaves that can carry fungal spores, or cause them to become soggy and rotten. Torrential rain will not help them either, so shield alpines if heavy weather is forecast. I placed my alpine trough under a wooden plank bench with a sheet of rigid plastic on the seat. This will let air and moisture in, but should prevent waterlogging. An alternative is to place wood or bricks on either side of your alpine container with a sheet of clear plastic on top. Use plastic or fleece to protect plants in…

STANDARD or freestanding apple and pear trees are pruned while dormant between leaf fall and bud burst (November to early March) to boost fruiting and maintain good shape. Pruning lets you create a well-shaped tree, with four or five main branches growing in a goblet shape, uncongested by old, unproductive wood. Most apple and pear trees are spur-bearing, making fruit on stubby side branches. There are tip-bearing types which make fruit on the tips of the previous year’s shoots. These should not be pruned, except to remove whole branches, or you’ll cut off the crop! Tip-bearers are rare. Most are spur bearing, but check what type you have before pruning. Espalier and fan trained trees require different pruning which I’ll deal with another time. The tree I’m pruning here is…

GARDENIA jasminioides has its origins in the humid subtropical forests of southern China. In its native habitat, it has single blooms and will make a shrub 6-40ft (2-12m) high, so it is hardly surprising that we have trouble keeping plants healthy in containers indoors, especially when 3-5 individuals have been rooted into the same pot and will compete with each other. It was a popular plant with Victorians and they also grew the slightly easier African gardenia Mitriostigma axillare now hard to track down. Stand gardenias in bright but not direct light and aim for a steady 65˚F (18˚C). They crave high humidity, so surround with other plants or stand on a wide saucer of shingle, kept moist by regular spraying. Water (using tepid rain water), when the surface of…

HARVESTING hot-pink stems of forced rhubarb in mid winter is invigorating! I plan to force some crowns, both indoors in a shed and outside on the plot. The techniques are slightly different but both start the same way. If you have established and sizeable clumps of rhubarb in your garden, try forcing them. Forced stems taste better, and you’ll have extra-early harvests, too. To kick-start plants into life, they must be exposed to a chill. Plants think they’ve experienced winter so when forcing begins they sprout strongly into growth. Simply lift healthy roots (crowns) from the earth and leave them on the soil surface. Half a dozen or so frosts will convince them winter has arrived!…

ROBUST, hearty winter stalwarts – that’s leeks. They are an essential crop during the chillier months. If, like us, your garden is sheltered, you may well have opted to sow a rust-resistant leek like F1 hybrid ‘Oarsman’. The fungal disease rust can reduce yields significantly and is encouraged by still, damp conditions. No fungicides are available to control it so varietal resistance is key. I sowed the seeds in a pot way back in April, and planted out the largest seedlings in July when they were knitting needle-thick. Leeks like a free-draining, open site into which you’ve added a dash of nitrogen fertiliser. Each seedling was dropped into a 4in. (10cm)-deep hole and watered in well (this deeper planting helps to develop long white shanks). Since then I’ve not done…

FOXES don’t really seem to have a quiet period in the year. They don’t hibernate in the way many other forms of garden wildlife do. In fact you’re just as likely to see them on a winter’s night as you are at any other time of year. There are several ways foxes have evolved and adapted to survive the winter cold without having to go into shutdown. First is the fur. Often referred to as red foxes, because they have a rusty reddish-brown fur, they also have white underparts, and the backs of the ears are black. By late autumn the fox will have grown a longer coat called – appropriately enough – its ‘winter fur’ which keeps it warm during the coldest weather. It sheds this fur in spring,…

MOST leaves will have fallen by the time you read this but at the moment I’m still thinking of ways to get the whole family involved with this endless task. Here’s a few tips on making leaf clearing effective and fun: Who can rake the largest pile of leaves? The winner gets a prize! Which member of the family can clear leaves and leave their initial on the lawn? Before collection get some great family photos of kids throwing leaves in the air. If the weather is dry use the lawnmower to hoover up leaves Work with the wind. Raking against the wind is a pointless task. If you’ve raked a pile of leaves and get called inside before you get a chance to move them, stomp on the pile.…

1 Bare root roses are best bought via mail order because they are dug up freshly to order. You can usually store bare roots somewhere cool (wrapped in their packaging) for up to 10 days before planting out if need be. 2 Before planting out place the roots in a bucket of water and allow to soak for an hour or two. Prepare the ground. Dig a large hole that’s wide and deep enough for the root system and fork in well-rotted manure. 3 Water the hole generously and wait for the water to sink in. Plant the rose so that the graft (where the branches join the rootstock) is at soil level. Use a cane or piece of wood to identify where the top of the planting hole is.…

GARDENS have been swallowed by a giant sinkhole – leaving terrified residents fleeing their homes. The crater opened up between two gardens behind a row of terraced houses in Ripon, North Yorkshire. Its depth is not yet known. Fran O’Neill lost her garden when it collapsed into the hole in the early hours of the morning. She said: “I woke up at 12.45am because there was a tremendous noise. I went out the back door and was going onto the garden when I realised the ground was moving underneath me. I grabbed a pole and pulled myself back up onto the patio.” Fran checked in to a hotel overnight, but when she went home in the morning much of her garden had disappeared. She added: “More than half my garden…

What’s best for winter interest? Q I’d like to create a border of late winter or early spring-flowering shrubs, and ideally I’d like most of them to have fragrant flowers. What are your top recommendations? If the soil isn’t workable I’ll grow them in big containers for now. Brian Hoole, Rochester, Kent A Winter flowering shrubs can be raised in containers but grow much better in the long term if planted in the border. Prepare your border by first removing all the weeds and then digging it over well incorporating large quantities of well rotted organic matter such as garden compost or leaf mould. Add some sharp washed grit if the soil is poorly drained. Here are my top six late-winter or early-spring flowering shrubs for the garden – they…

BREAK out the mince pies and carrots – Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer and his chums appear to be grazing in the garden! Delight the children and impress the neighbours and passers-by with one of Santa’s reindeer this Christmas. LED technology nowadays means festive outdoor illuminations consume very little power so can be left on for long periods without putting too serious a dent in the household electricity bill. Illuminated reindeer are available in all shapes and sizes, and we’ve tested four typical examples to see just how much they impress when the winter sun goes down. All the reindeer are mains-powered and rated for outdoor use, but in most cases the plug and/or transformer must only be connected indoors. Light Up LED Christmas Reindeer £55 + £3 p&p or free…

Prize draw ATTRACT friendly robins and many other soft-billed songbirds to your garden with Peckish Robin Seed & Insect Mix. The feed includes Calvita essential nutrients for birds and has insects, added for a more natural diet. We have five 1kg Peckish Robin Seed and Insect Mix packs to give away this week, worth £3.99 each. See below for details of how to enter. How to enter: Send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Peckish Robin Seed & Insect Mix Draw, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG. Or you can email your details to ag_giveaway@timeinc.com, heading the email Peckish Robin Seed & Insect Mix Draw. The closing date for entries is: 12 December 2016.…

“Like a store window it draws bees in” I‘VE just come back from my old stomping ground at Cambridge University Botanic Garden where I gave a lecture about wildlife gardening to the affable and aptly named Friends Group. The Botanics is an amazing place and I always come away inspired by their fascinating scientific discoveries. Ever since I was a student back in the 1990s, researchers at the garden have been studying the complex process by which bees and flowers communicate. And talk they do, as flowers tell the bees when they are prime for pollination and bees remember this information so they can seek out similar abundant blooms that are rich with nectar and pollen. A big part is played by colour – but not always the kind we…