Innholdsfortegnelse for 03-dec-16 i Amateur Gardening

LAST weekend I finally replaced the trellis that runs along the top of a low wall down one side of our back garden. I put it up 12 years ago to carry a Virginia creeper. Flimsy and not well supported, it’s staggering that it lasted so long. The creeper was rampant, frustrating my neighbour with it’s serpent-like vines smothering the 20ft (3m) run of trellis and finally dragging it off the wall as the trellis rotted. Three strong replacement trellis panels (posh ones to keep my wife, Kath happy) plus fixings cost me over £100 and took a day to put up. I drilled and screwed timber posts to the wall, and fixed the trellis to that. Kath was complimentary, and in appreciation of that, when she made less than…

ALTHOUGH the main time for sowing hardy perennials for ‘first year’ flowering is in late winter or early spring, I am trying to steal a march on the seasons by sowing some now. I will, in effect, be treating them as late-sown biennials (which are usually sown between May and July), so in theory they should produce blooms next summer. My plan is to sow perennial hollyhocks this week, and give them a strong start in a heated propagator. If you don’t have a heated propagator, you can place their seed trays on a warm, light windowsill. When sturdy seedlings have germinated and grown, I will gradually harden them off before moving them into a cold frame. Hopefully, this will give them the time to grow on and develop into…

1 Remove side shoots, and make an undercut roughly 1in (2.5cm) deep about 1ft (30cm) from the branch base. 2 Make a 2nd cut from the top of the branch, 1in (2.5cm) further out from the first. Saw until branch falls. 3 Make a small undercut by the branch collar (the curved bit where branch meets trunk) for fast healing. 4 Follow with an angled overcut to meet your first cut. The angle will produce a slope that sheds rain.…

THE first step to successful gardening is getting to know your soil, its pH level (acidity) and nutrients. Familiarity with these is especially important when growing veg, as certain types have specific requirements. Brassicas, for example, favour more alkaline conditions, and the disease clubroot is associated with insufficient lime levels in the soil. Potato scab can also reside in the soil, made worse by alkaline conditions, so avoid planting potatoes on ground that was limed the previous season. Learn about your soils using a simple chemical test, available through garden centres and online. With the results, you can plant crops with more confidence, and feed the ground accordingly. Top Tip To make acid soils more alkaline add lime. Rake it into the soil surface. Don’t add lime and manure at…

THERE are times when indoor plants are slow to take off, and others when they grow almost too quickly, as in the case of our Cretan brake fern, Pteris cretica ‘Albolineata’. These attractive evergreens, whose natural habitat is the forest floor in parts of Europe, Africa and Asia, can be prone to dry frond tips indoors. Two years ago, I decided to solve this problem by planting a tiny specimen in a tall terrarium kept on my office desk. This humid home has proved a des res for Cretan brakes and ours has done so well it is pushing against the sides. These elegant plants, also known as table or ribbon ferns, were popular in Victorian times. They were usually displayed in groups with other plants, or fronds were cut…

Lucy is a former AG gardening editor, and Edited a national Grow-Your-Own magazine. A BBC Essex radio gardening expert, RHS author and lecturer, she’s also Head Gardener at East Donyland Hall, Essex THE bulk of work in a kitchen garden once winter arrives revolves around harvesting winter vegetables and pruning various types of fruit – this week is no exception! I’m busy providing roots and leaves for melt-in-the-mouth velvety casseroles, but I’m also tending to my autumn raspberries. Theywere planted last November and have been impressively productive this year. Now cropping has stopped, and it is the perfect time to cut them back. Autumn varieties are distinctly different to summer ones. Aside from the obvious variation in cropping times, pruning treatments contrast, too. Autumn types yield fruit on the current…

HAVE you ever tried to dig up a parsnip or two for your Sunday roast, only to find that the soil is frozen solid? It’s not much fun! Winter root crops like parsnips, carrots, turnips and swedes lend themselves well to slow-cooked casseroles, or being mashed with plenty of pepper and butter, so it’s important that you can get them out of the ground when you need them. You’ve got a couple of options – insulating or lifting. If, like me, you garden on a light, free-draining soil then protect the roots in the ground with an insulating layer of straw. I’m adding a 6in layer to my overwintering carrots, and am keeping it in place using the Enviromesh that was already there to protect the crop against root fly.…

WHEN we have a cold winter, and our garden ponds freeze over, where do all of the frogs and toads go? And when we have a covering of snow, how do amphibians find their way around? Well, most of them get over these issues by lying dormant over winter. It is not a proper kind of hibernation, however, as they may take advantage of mild periods to come out and feed – so don’t worry if you see them around when working outside in winter, or if you accidentally disturb them. Normally, toads and frogs over-winter under decking or sheds, or in places like compost heaps or among bits of dead wood, under hedges or in ditches. Sometimes, however, frogs or newts (but not toads) choose to over-winter at the…

PONDS are at great risk from freezing over in winter. Expanding ice can damage some types of liner and cause the shell of container ponds to crack. If you keep fish, they can suffer as the narrow gap of air between the surface of the water and the ice is replaced by the noxious gases produced by decaying vegetation. Where fish are concerned the most effective action is to add an electric pool heater – these generally consist of a circular float with a heating element inside. Although they will not prevent the whole surface from freezing over, they will keep a small patch of water free from ice, allowing oxygen to enter and letting toxic gasses escape. If your garden generally remains frost-free then you could use a less…

I’M planning on experimenting with my cold frame over winter. I usually use these structures for keeping tender bulb pots on the dry side but am hoping that the protected environment will be fine for some succulents that I don’t have any room for indoors. Hard frosts are rare in Portsmouth, but anything beneath 5°C can harm succulents so I’m placing bubble wrap over the top and around the inside walls of the cold frame to keep them snug.…

Peaches (Prunus persica) Grow as a bush or an espalier either in the ground or containers. They prefer a slightly acidic soil and are self-fertile, although benefit from a little help with a paintbrush. Prune trained trees in summer removing old wood, and thin crops early on for quality rather than quantity. Harvest in July and August. Eat fresh or use in cooking. Fig (Ficus carica) Eat figs straight from the plant or use in jams. Keep roots in check by planting in a lined pit or a pot that can be moved around according to the time of year. Self-fertile, they grow well in most soils, but water during dry spells to prevent fruit drop. Enjoy sizable harvests during mid-summer and autumn when ripe. ‘Brown Turkey’ is the most…

GARDENERS have been evicted from their allotments after losing a last-ditch battle at the High Court to save plots from the bulldozers. The fight to save Farm Terrace Allotments in Watford became the UK’s highest-profile allotment dispute – but the historic plots, which date back to 1896, will be flattened to make way for a hospital and new housing. A Farm Terrace spokeswoman said it was the “end of a long, emotional battle” which had previously seen plot-holders go to the High Court in 2014 where they overturned a decision by Eric Pickles, secretary of state, to de-regulate the allotments. Developers’ charter The spokeswoman said: “This [latest] judgement is a developers’ charter for any allotment site and could wipe out urban allotments forever. We are worried about the ramifications for…

ALTHOUGH autumn and winter are quiet months for many garden plants, these dormant weeks offer more scope when it comes to deciduous trees and shrubs. As well as being able to prune the majority of plants that have lost their leaves, you can use this time to move specimens that you feel are in the wrong place. Two winters ago we planted a ‘Bramley Seedling’ apple in a border. It never really thrived, and looked cramped as perennials grew around it. We found the perfect new home for it in an empty corner of the garden. Planting things in the wrong place is a common mistake when you have a new garden, and if realised soon enough, it can be remedied without harming the plant. Transplanting specimens that have been…

BERRY nice to see you, to see you – nice! Apologies to Brucie for borrowing (and modifying) his classic catchphrase, but I wanted to draw attention to the role that berries play in bringing cheer to winter displays. Walking to the station the other day, I was saddened to see empty window boxes in many front gardens, while others housed nothing but spent compost and frost-blackened summer bedding plants. That’s a shame, because it’s simple to create a mid-winter window box display. Below, I’ve put together a list of my top six plants for winter window boxes. All should be available at garden centres now. And while they will outgrow a window box in the long-term, this is just a seasonal display, so the shrubs can moved into borders or…

IT’S time to brave the cold and tackle any badly placed stems, crossing or older growth and dying branches of deciduous trees and shrubs. Some species are more prone to bleeding sap from the pruning cut. To minimise this, prune as soon as they become dormant, after the leaves have fallen. Trees, shrubs and woody climbers that are prone to oozing sap prolifically include willow, acer, grape vine and laburnum. You are more likely to see them ‘bleed’ after pruning if it is done too late, from mid to late winter or spring. This is because the sap rises early in some species ready for the growing season ahead. This release of sap looks unsightly, and if left unchecked in some cases, the plant can be weakened. There is no…

“Foods would be released in a rush, damaging roots” SOME of today’s regulations and red tape defy logic. For example, why should health and safety stop youngsters under the age of 16 from helping parents to prepare for RHS shows? Surely adults can be trusted to see their children are kept safe? We can smoke cigarettes and inhale lethal nicotine, but not use it as a short-lived insecticide. Where’s the difference between natural nicotine and pyrethrum? Now the European Union has a draft criteria for biodegradable polymers which, if introduced next year as proposed, would eliminate all Controlled Release Fertilisers (CRFs). Their use in the UK has been significant over the past 50 years in growing container plants, amenity fields and crop production, as well as in gardens. They work…

• Vary veggie crops from area to area each year to prevent a build-up of pests and diseases, such as potato scab, clubroot and onion white rot. These can be deterred by rotation. • Crop rotation works well, even in small spaces. Keep a note of the position of each year’s crops. • Leave as large a period as possible between growing potatoes or brassicas in the same piece of ground. • Do not follow brassicas with potatoes and beans if the soil had been limed. Wait until the potato crop is lifted before liming. • Most veg crops apart from potatoes benefit from some lime in the soil, but bush fruits like blueberry do not.…

• Stand your plant in good but indirect light all year round. Harsh light causes scorched fronds. • Normal room temperatures are acceptable as long as the roots can stay moist, and humidity is raised by standing it with other plants. A minimum of 36˚ F (2˚C) is tolerated but at low temperatures, allow the compost surface to dry out between waterings. • Pot congested ferns into larger pots in spring, using 50:50 John Innes No 2 and a multipurpose compost. If too dense, open this up by adding a little leaf mould and grit. • Add a half strength general purpose liquid fertilizer to the water every month. • Propagate by division in spring and summer. Cut through the dense root mass using a knife. Each section must include…

THESE handsome brutes are ‘Traviata’ Savoy cabbages. They were sown way back in April, planted out in early July and have gently swelled their beautifully crumpled leaves to produce these good-sized heads. I’ve had to net them against rabbits, cabbage white butterflies and pigeons, but that has guaranteed success. The plants had hearted-up by mid October, but because they stand so well in the cold weather, I didn’t want to harvest them until the autumn vegetables were well and truly over. They’ll start to bolt once the weather warms slightly, but for the next three months this incredibly hardy veg will sit tight until needed.…

• 3-4 December: RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Ln, Chelmsford CM3 8ET. Christmas Sparkle Gift Fair. 10am-3pm. rhs.org.uk/hydehall • 3-4 December: Christmas Gift and Food Fair, National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas Staffordshire DE13 7AR. 9am-4pm. Free entry, suggested donation £1. 01283 245 100 thenma.org.uk • 3-4 December: Christmas Holly Wreath Making Workshop, National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas Staffordshire DE13 7AR. 10am-1.30pm. Workshop equipment provided. Includes mince pies and mulled wine. Tickets £28. Booking essential 01283 245 100 thenma.org.uk • 3 December-4 January 2017: 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. rhs.org.uk/wisely • 6, 7 and 12 December:…

MOST gardeners treat carrots as a warm season crop, sowing seeds outdoors during spring and summer. But by picking the right varieties, growing them in pots and providing protection from the elements, I’m planning to enjoy them in the depths of winter. To do this successfully you need to pick short, stumpy or round rooted carrots. Longer rooted varieties are perfect when you have a long, warm growing season, but compact ones will be ready for harvesting much sooner and are most suitable for sowing in containers. Don’t be too stingy about the size of container – anything from 8in-12in (20-30cm) is ideal. Fill with loam-based compost, like John Innes No.2, then sow in rows or scatter seeds thinly over the surface. Aim to spread them about 2in (5cm) apart…

• Soil must not be frozen or waterlogged. • Dig a 60cm/2ft hole for bare rooted trees, or for potted specimens, aim for three times the width of the container and roughly 5cm/2in more than its depth, and loosen surrounding soil. • Don’t add compost or fertiliser to the planting hole. • Water containers or soak bare roots in water for at least two hours, then place tree in hole, making sure any grafts are above the surface of the soil. • In-fill with soil, firming it in along the way. • Add support by securing it to a stake using flexible rubber ties.…

Why do my cyclamen die? Q Every December I buy an indoor cyclamen but within a few weeks it stops flowering and starts to lose leaves. Often, foliage dies back and goes mushy due to mould. What am I doing wrong? Mandy Billington, Truro, Cornwall A Cyclamen are one of the most popular of winter flowering house plants and are great value for money provided they’re properly looked after. Flowering can last for many weeks if deadheaded regularly. If the plant collapses with the tuber soft or rotting it’s generally caused by over-watering the crown of the plant – so it sounds to me like you’re keeping your plants too wet. The ideal growing conditions are a temperature of between 10-15°C in a bright place but away from direct light…

A POTTING bench is a vital workstation in any garden: a good one will improve efficiency so you can spend less time labouring and more time relaxing. Apart from the task of potting, a bench can also help keep your gardening sundries organised and easy to find when you need them. Most importantly a potting bench should provide a large work surface at a comfortable height and should obviously be sturdy enough to hold compost and pots. If you opt for a portable bench, consider where it will be stored – some are perfectly OK if left outdoors, but others may need a permanent space in the greenhouse or shed. Benches tend to be made of wood or aluminium. Wood can look rustic and might double up as an attractive…

HELLEBORES have a reputation for resenting disturbance but large old clumps eventually benefit from a sort-out. The divisions take off with renewed vigour and cover a wider area. The secret lies in timing: catch the plants before new roots are made. Helleborus niger remains dormant in winter. Divide in early-spring, after flowering. Helleborus x hybridus Lift and divide from late-August to early-September. Helleborus argutifolius is difficult to divide and is best raised from seed.…

Prize draw READY to use, the Peckish Winter Warmer Easy Feeder is a great way to attract birds to your garden. It’s pre-filled with Winter Warmer Seed Mix featuring a combination of high energy seeds and grains. We have five Peckish Winter Warmers to give away this week, worth £4.99 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 Winter Warmer Easy Feeder 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 Winter Warmer Easy Feeder Draw. The closing date is: 5 December 2016.…

“Marvelling at how nature survives in unlikely crannies” MY ladderaphobia started when I was a fruit picker and had to clamber up the things for living. And it worsens every year, along with the fear of falling and waking up clueless in hospital, like so many men-of-a-certain-age, with a vague memory of taking the ladders out of the garage. Teetering from the lofty heights of the house walls isn’t something that bothers plants though. And if there’s one positive about scraping out the gunk from the gutters it’s marvelling at how nature survives in the most unlikely nooks and crannies. My gutters over the years have proved to be an excellent seedbed for all sorts of greenery including birch trees, ash and the ubiquitous buddleia. As soon as I spot…

• If you must move a tree that’s well established, do so between November and February. A year before you want to move the tree dig a trench around it 12in (30cm) wide parallel to the spread of its branches. • Fill the trench with sharp sand to encourage the growth of fibrous roots. This will help the tree to re-establish. • Lightly cut away any old, spindly branches. Don’t remove too much, as you can shape the tree after planting. • Prepare the new hole in advance and water the tree the day before moving. Loosely tie in the branches beforehand to prevent damage to the tree – or you!…

1 Skimmia japonica ‘Pabella’: The star plant of my display, this Dutch-bred variety holds its dense clusters of vivid-orange berries above dark-green foliage. 2 Gaultheria mucronata: A spiky shade-loving evergreen, grown for attractive berries which range in colour from white (above) to rich-purple. 3 Hardy cyclamen: A winter container essential. Avoid overwatering which encourages grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) which wrecks leaves, stalks and flowers. 4 Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’: Grown for panicles of red buds, followed by fragrant white flowers in early-spring. Plants prefer a site in partial shade. 5 Solanum pseudocapsicum: (Christmas cherry or Jerusalem cherry) I didn’t have room for this plant, but it’s a worthy addition. Berries are bright-orange. 6 Variegated ivy: Available from garden centres for a couple of quid, trailing ivies soften the edges of window…

Acer trees (Japanese maples): Prune from now until January to reduce height or width. Laburnum, mulberry and grape vines: Prune after leaf fall, before the end of the year Birch, hornbeam, and walnut trees: Prune by January, if necessary. Prune lime trees from mid summer to January. • To prune next summer… Stone fruit and ornamental cherry trees will bleed even at the end of their dormant period; prune in summer after harvest, and paint the cut to prevent silver leaf disease. Magnolia: Prune the spring flowering types in midsummer, after flowering. Poplar: Wait until next autumn.…

1 CRF granules come in different colours and are sometimes erroneously confused with vine weevil eggs, which are in fact tiny and invisible to the naked eye. 2 Potting composts containing the appropriate CRF will not need repeated liquid feeding and plant growth is invariably better as a result. 3 Long life CRF’s applied to the soil under woody plants in September feed trees and shrubs in the autumn to give a spring boost to growth and then feed again in spring and summer. 4 Check CRF granules are still working by crushing one between finger and thumb: when spent they snap like an empty egg shell.…

Let the solution settle, then use the test’s colour chart to check the presence, or otherwise, of the relevant nutrients, or the pH of your soil. 1 Sieve a soil sample to remove stones and debris. Put it in a lidded jar, and add water as instructed. Shake and let it settle. 2 Siphon off a sample from the jar, into a test tube. Each nutrient test will have its own tube and solution kit. 3 Add the instructed amount of liquid nutrient or pH solution to the water in each colour-coded tube. 4 Scoop in the stated amount of nutrient powder. Screw on the test tube lid and shake well for 30 seconds.…

“Turn often and you can have good compost in months” WHILE it is possible to make good compost without ever turning your heap, it will take a lot longer – how long really depends on the size of your compost heap. Less heat is lost from bigger heaps, but the smallest bins tend to lose lots of heat, with the result that composting is arrested. Consequently, these need turning the most, which is fortunate as they are also the easiest to turn. Doing so introduces new air, restarting the composting process; more heat is produced and the material breaks down faster. In practice, one turning is usually sufficient, but turning more times – at, say, a month or so apart – will accelerate things even more. Indeed, frequent turning means…

AS a professional garden writer I’ve penned a number of pieces that advise homeowners to make the most of their front gardens. Well, I think I need to start taking some of my own advice. Having spent most of my free time nurturing my back garden, I’ve left my tiny front one seriously lacking any kerb appeal. The rectangular strip, which is no more than 20ft x 4ft, (6m x 1.2m) is looking a bit sorry for itself. A thin bed containing foxgloves, wall flowers and an assortment of perennials is overgrown, while weeds are colonising gaps in a bed of cyclamen and any empty patches where I have lifted plants to give them a new life in my back garden. There’s no excuse for it to be neglected, and…

AS far as I’m concerned, no other architectural plants are as dramatic as tree ferns. My garden was transformed instantly when I planted a pair of the beauties way back in early spring. That’s not to say they don’t have their faults. Tree ferns, such as Dicksonia antartica, are fussy so-and-sos that will sulk if you don’t plant them in the perfect position (somewhere shady and sheltered) and they require a bit of attention to make sure they make it through the winter unscathed. I’ve seen several different techniques used for protecting tree ferns. At RHS Wisley, gardeners stuff a handful of bracken into the top of the trunk to protect next year’s new fronds, then bend each existing frond inwards until they snap. These are then folded over several…

TASTY and ideal for home brewers, a grapevine is surprisingly easy to grow – though how you do it depends on where you live. Gardeners in the sunnier south of the UK can grow them outdoors on a sunny site with good, well-drained soil. They look particularly effective when trained up walls, on trellis or over arches and pergolas. In colder parts, you will need an unheated, well-ventilated greenhouse. Remove all flowers for the first two years and prune in early winter. ‘New York Muscat’ Produces reddish-blue grapes with a blackcurrant flavour that can be eaten fresh or used for wine. Will grow outside against a wall in a sunny spot. ‘Himrod’ One of the best white, seedless grapes to grow in colder areas, its flavoursome fruit can be eaten…

AS gardeners know all too well, money doesn’t grow on trees. But it does grow on sunflowers – if you’re skilled enough to cultivate a whopper! Richard Hope of Wigan banked £2,000 after he won a Thompson & Morgan competition to grow the UK’s tallest sunflower this year. Richard’s sunflower, at 26ft 5in (8.04m) was a “clear winner” – but his entry was 3ft 8in (1.1m) shy of the world record, which was set in 2014 by Hans-Peter Schiffer of Germany with a sunflower that grew to 30ft 1in (9.14m) tall. Richard’s sunflowers grew against a sunny wall of his house, with the tallest plant towering above the top of his roof! Complete dedication T&M had offered a prize of £1,000 for the UK’s tallest sunflower; doubling it to £2,000…

• Ideally keep the atmosphere moist by standing the plant on a pebble tray that you keep damp. Don’t allow the plant itself to stand in water – it’ll cause the roots to decay. • When deadheading faded flowers ensure you remove the whole flowering stem right to the base of the plant. Leaving any stem in place can result in it rotting back into the corm. • A common problem is yellowing of the foliage while the tuber remains firm and healthy. This may be caused by hot, dry air, under-watering or too much direct sunlight.…

Large Milan lantern £20 + £3.95 p&p 0116 326 0207 theorchardhomeandgifts.com For use indoors or out, the rustic styling makes this lantern ideal for gardens, though it’s best not left out in all weathers. Comes with integral hook ring and hinged canopy for easy insertion of a pillar candle up to 8in (20cm) tall. Measures: H. 15in x W. 9in x D. 9in (38cm x 23cm x 23cm). Whitewashed reclaimed style trug £ 39+ £5.95 p&p 01483 608611 alsohome.com Handcrafted and painted, this reclaimed wood multi-tasker doubles up as a garden trug and tray. Avintage-style metal carrying handle gives it a slightly industrial look. Measures: L. 15 3/4in x W. 28in x H. 4in (40cm x 28cm x 10.5cm) plus 3in (7.5cm) high handle. Reclaimed teak…