Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-Apr-2017 i Amateur Gardening

I WAS making tabbouleh the other day, that delicious eastern salad of bulgar wheat tomato and onion with lashings of parsley and mint. My parsley plants are not productive at the moment, but mint in the greenhouse is giving respectable pickings. Anyway, I’d picked the leaves off several long stalks of mint and was about to bin them when it occurred to me (am I mean, or just obsessed with growing things?) that the bare stalks might root if stood (the right way up!) in a glass of water. In three days roots were showing. I’ll pot up stems individually in moist compost, and they should make strong new plants to pick from early summer. I pull a similar mean stunt with supermarket-bought parsley growing in a pot. The pots…

I CURSED my clumsiness when an old planted-up container slipped through my fingers, and smashed to smithereens on the patio. Having said that, the pot had already been cracked by the winter’s frosts and, looking on the bright side, the broken bits of container should keep me supplied with excellent drainage crocks for some months! The pot cracked because I hadn’t stood it on pot feet nor wrapped it in fleece through the colder months. Next year I will remember to raise pots, and check they are protected from frost! Luckily the plants could be salvaged and planted elsewhere. I used a small green Cordyline from the container to give height and texture to a new pot of spring colour. Here’s how I did it: Top Tip   Don’t throw…

• To start pelargoniums back into growth, resume watering once the threat of frosts has passed. You can also start feeding them one a fortnight with a balanced liquid fertiliser such as tomato feed. • Waiting until the temperature rises reduces the risk of new growth being damaged, or killed off completely, by the cold. • Check over your plants and remove dead, diseased or damaged foliage. Don’t be afraid to cut them back hard, as this will prompt healthy new growth. • Look for signs of pests, and treat accordingly.…

“There promises to be much cooking and freezing” OUR family has been for the most part self-sufficient when it comes to jam – a good way to preserve surplus fruits in summer. Gooseberries and currants come in abundance, even from a few bushes and with a new planting along a north-facing fence there promises to be much cooking and freezing here in future. I am reminded of the late Alan Bloom’s efforts in this direction. As a young man he jammed a glut of strawberries and in the dead of night an almighty crash was heard as his trestle table holding stacks of full jars broke and hours of work were lost. A story always in mind as shelves in our kitchen are stacked! Gooseberries, especially mildew resistant ‘Invicta’, Red…

To find a woodland near you, search the database at: woodlandtrust.org.uk. There’s a 2 - 3 week window of opportunity to visit a bluebell wood, dependant on weather conditions, so keep checking the website for up to date information on flowering times. • Always stick to the paths in a flowering woodland to preserve the setting for others. • If you are looking for items on a nature trail, only collect things from the woodland floor.…

1 These three self-seeded foxgloves are growing too close together and need to be separated so they can all grow well. 2 Carefully lift each plant with a spade or trowel, keeping as much soil around the roots as possible. 3 Place each plant in a pre-dug hole that is as deep as its rootball. Infill around it with a mix of compost and soil. 4 Water the plant well, and mulch with well-rotted compost or farmyard manure if your soil is thin.…

“Sets planted close together give a bigger crop” THE optimum growing method for potatoes varies with soil and variety, so it’s worth determining the best for your own conditions rather than going ‘by the book’. Much has been written on the varied approaches to growing such as 'no-dig', 'lazy bed', 'on the flat', surface mulching and container growing. I’ve tried most, and each has its benefits and drawbacks. The ridge and furrow method that’s often recommended is really more suited to farmers. So it’s worth doing your own trials, say with one end of a row planted one way, and the other end another way. Try different spacing, as sets planted close together give a bigger crop if your soil is rich and moist enough. However, you may end up…

1 Pull stems of forced rhubarb at 12-14in (30-40cm) tall. Run thumb or index finger down to the base, then gently twist and pull. Pick unforced clumps every 7-10 days. 2 Heavy picking weakens crowns. Remove forcing pots two weeks after harvest begins. Stop pulling and don’t force the same crown next year. Pick unforced rhubarb to end of June. 3 Water well in summer, give high-nitrogen liquid feed every two weeks. Cut off flower spikes (pictured). Divide congested crowns November. Mulch crowns in autumn.…

REGULAR AG readers (and of course, that’s all of you!) will recall that way back in May 2016 I urged you to sow Witloof chicory for forcing. This gourmet leaf adds crunch and bite to spring salads via its forced ‘chicons’. From a May sowing plants grow a little like a cos lettuce, and they’re then cut down to the ground in autumn. The fleshy parsnip-like roots are dug up and kept in boxes of sand. Potted up in late winter/early spring and brought into gentle warmth in the dark (I used large upturned pots), the roots produce plump blanched ‘chicon’ buds in two to three weeks. In winter they make a salad that’s fit for a queen!…

• 15 April Beginner’s Gardening (lawns and seedling care): RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor • 15-16 April: Scotland Daffodil Festival, Backhouse at Rossie Estate, Ladybank, Cupar, Fife KY15 7UZ. 0844 414 5803, booking@backhouserossie.co.uk • 18 April: Understanding Your Soil: RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 18 April: Compost and Mulching: RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 19 April: The Curator’s Spring Garden Walk: RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor • 19 April: Willow Bird Feeders: RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 20 April: Creating a Mediterranean Garden: RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettenden Common,…

 NATURAL looking fences have their place, but I’m a big fan of painting them a different shade. A coloured fence becomes part of the overall garden design, makes an impressive backdrop to planting schemes and has the ability to make a smaller space seem larger. Even if your garden lacks flowers over winter, a painted fence means that the space remains bright at the dreariest time of year. “You will have to live with the colour for many years” Saying that, I’ve visited some gardens where the owners have clearly not given much thought to the colour they’ve painted their fences. It might be too bright, too dark or a colour that clashes with their house, plants or other features. I really can’t understand this approach. Surely nobody would radically…

1 Change your compost – fresh is best if you want plants to grow well as old composts lose their structure and can’t hold nutrients. 2 Mix container plants with interesting finds from your garden, such as budding twigs or handfuls of moss raked from the lawn. 3 Just like summer bedding, spring bedding will flower for longer if you dead-head regularly by pinching off spent stalks or using snips. 4 To make your money go further, carefully split potted bulbs into two clumps after flowering, gently pulling roots apart; plant in the garden. 5 Transfer viola and primroses to a shady spot for summer where viola will continue to flower and, if happy, primroses will naturalise.…

‘The Sutton’ (pictured) is an excellent cultivar for small or exposed gardens, yielding good crops of tender beans. ‘De Monica,’ a disease-resistant variety, is fast-growing with two to three stems per plant. Pods contain five or six large white beans. ‘Giant Exhibition Longpod’ this is one of the best ‘long-pod’ types, yielding up to 10 beans per pod. Great for kitchen and exhibiting. And ‘Express’ (RHS AGM) is a white-seeded type; one of the quickest to mature. Beans do not discolour when frozen.…

‘Jack of All Trades’ With its flat base and deep, rounded shape, the 4kg (9lb) fruits of this pumpkin are perfect for carving Jack O’Lanterns, while the sweet, orange flesh is a great ingredient for pies and soup. ‘Summer Ball’ Try a squash that can be grown small and picked as a courgette, or left to mature to form a 1kg (2lb) pumpkin. This variety produces yellow fruits on compact and bushy plants – great if space is limited. ‘Uchiki Kuri’ This teardrop-shaped squash has a sweet, nutty flavour, and each drought-tolerant plant sets around four 1.5kg (3lb) fruits. It’s early to mature, stores well and great for baking and roasting. ‘Musquee de Provence’ Grown by top chef Raymond Blanc, this French favourite is heavily lobed and ribbed and has…

Westland SafeLawn £12.98 01480 443789 gardenhealth.com  for stockists An organic fertiliser with added lawn seed, made using only natural ingredients. Designed to create a healthier and stronger lawn it prevents weeds and moss and has added grass seed to thicken and fill in patches. Features a built-in applicator. Roller Moss Removal Rake £24 0208 829 8850 worldofwolf.co.uk With oscillating operation and smooth-running wheels this scarifier is perfect for thoroughly cleaning moss and thatch from small areas of lawn. With a working width of 12in (30cm) its hardened, barbed blades don’t require resharpening. Requires a Wolf click-in multi-star handle too (£21.99). Smartedge Lawn Edging £28.99 free delivery 01494 532335 lawnedge.coms Manufactured from tough, flexible 2mm-thick non-toxic polypropylene, this 5m roll has a unique A-frame system…

At the end of a season’s flowering, trim long stems back by a third to half in autumn to tidy the plant up and prevent wind rock. Do a further thorough pruning in February or when buds begin to swell on the stems. Cut off most of last year’s stems, leaving a few buds behind to re-grow. Take cuttings in spring or summer. Pull side shoots away with a ‘heel’ of older wood, or take non-flowering stem tips. Cover with polythene and keep out of harsh sun.…

Mint ‘Tashkent’ Jekka grows this special mint outside her back door and describes it as “robust, with a slightly cleaner flavour.” It’s fantastic for mint sauce and mojitos. Buy as a plant and grow in a pot sunk into the soil to keep it in check. Cut back after flowering for a second flush. Broad leaf thyme Pick off leaves of this versatile thyme (Thymus pulegioides) for cooking or infusing in water with sage and honey to make a beneficial winter tea. Alternatively, use a bunch to wash down kitchen surfaces. Buy as a small plant and cut back after flowering. French tarragon Aniseed-flavoured leaves that are delicious with fish or chicken. This perennial thrives in well-drained soils and should cope well with colder temperatures, but hates getting wet. Gardeners…

Cartoon cast! HERE I am having my picture taken whilst visiting a garden show recently. Phew, that basket was heavy! Carole Fletcher, Clyst Hydon, Devon Jenny says: Looks like a fun day out. Readers Quick Tips I ASK my local greengrocer for the onion nets he throws away so I can use them in the autumn to store mine! Then in the summer I use them to store my tulips and daffodils in the dry after they’ve finished flowering. Rose Janes, Monmouth Drumroll please THIS is a photo of one of the many primulas in our garden. We call them Scottish primulas as they’re grown from seed collected there five years ago. I was attending a dear friend’s funeral and by a strange twist of fate I stayed at a…

I ALWAYS think of the long Easter weekend as the gateway to the summer, the start of better weather, and flowers and fruitfulness in the garden. Although spring is officially here, your garden may still be looking a bit battered and forlorn after the winter. The next few days offer the perfect opportunity to get outside and prepare it for the busy time ahead. Make repairs – replace fences that have blown down, check guttering that needs unblocking, stake trees that need better supports, and give plants that are awaking from winter slumber a lift. On the following page I’ve suggested a selection of relatively simple jobs that can easily be carried out over the course of a long weekend to help get the garden ready for summer. None should…

• When buying plants, check foliage is healthy, and that there are no signs of pests or disease. • Choose plants with lots of buds. Those in flower look lovely now, but buds mean flowers in the future! • Use a specific container compost, or a mix of multi-purpose and John Innes No 2. In summer, add moisture-retaining granules to the compost, to reduce the amount you need to water. • Keep containers watered, watch for pests, and feed with liquid fertiliser once a fortnight to promote growth.…

1 Fill 3in (7cm) pots with a mix of seed compost and perlite, to provide nutrients and aeration for growing roots. 2 Select long, robust shoots with plenty of developing leaf shoots, and cut them from the plant just above a bud. 3 Remove lower leaves, and cut the base to a slant so there is a greater surface area for roots to develop. 4 Dip the cut end in rooting powder or gel to help root development, and insert into the pots of compost.…

MY friend recently showed me some beautiful pictures of her two little daughters sitting amongst bluebells in a woodland. I immediately had photo envy and wanted to recreate the idyllic scene with my own children. I did some research online and found a woodland that was local and planned a Sunday walk for us all. Off we went for a peaceful stroll, eagerly anticipating the splendid photo opportunities that awaited. However, my angelic looking children were grumpy and they did NOT want to go for a walk, especially among flowers. No amount of explanation would persuade them to look cheerful for a picture: not that the bluebells could be over by next weekend, or that it was a lovely day. My family photo was doomed. Then it occurred to me…

I HAD to smile when I saw this week’s free seeds from Mr Fothergill’s, because foxgloves already grow abundantly, and self-seed freely, in our chalky soil. Most of ours are various shades of pink, so I am looking forward to adding creamy white Foxglove ‘Alba’ to the garden. They’re hardy biennials. Sow them now in trays, prick out seedlings into pots of multi-purpose compost, then set out young plants in early summer to grow on and flower next spring and summer (you have to be patient!). ‘Alba’ grows to 4ft (120cm), and makes a stunning centrepiece for sunny borders. As well as sowing the seeds, I separated a clump of closely self-seeded foxgloves. The three plants were growing on top of each other, swamping an emerging lupin and anemone growing…

KNOWN as pebble plants, or living stones, these succulents from the rocky, pebble-strewn semi-deserts of Namibia and Southern Africa have bags of character. They are easy to keep on a bright, south facing windowsill and ideal for lazy indoor gardeners, because they need no water or attention of any kind from the end of October right through to May. The body of a lithops consists of a pair of fleshy leaves coloured and patterned so they almost disappear among the stones of their native habitat; A useful ploy to hide them from grazing animals. Fused at the base, these leaves are separated by a gap at the top, below which are the growth and flower buds. Lithops were discovered by explorer and naturalist William Burchell in 1811, noting in his…

1 Put French marigold plants in your greenhouse, ideally by doors and ventilation, as their smell will discourage whitefly coming in. 2 Ruthlessly thin out fruitlets on peach, apricot and fig trees, as soon as you can see you have a set. 3 Thin shoots on undercover grapevines removing congested ones, and rubbing off all those from wood older than last year’s. 4 If cats’ toilet habits are a problem give them a tray of litter to use instead, it’s a better alternative.…

HAVE you noticed seed companies pushing ‘grafted’ tomatoes in their catalogues in recent years? These plants promise better disease resistance, superior vigour, earlier crops and – most importantly – hugely improved yields. Some savvy companies (Dobies) have even grafted four stems onto one plant, pledging four times the crop – surely they deserve a try?! The secret lies in the strength and genetics of the roots, which then transfer into the varieties grafted onto them. A ‘rootstock’ seedling is grown and then a chosen variety is expertly fused or ‘grafted’ onto it. Tomato grafting has been around for over 50 years, but gardeners are only just latching on to the benefits. Get postal orders in now, or find grafted toms in good garden centres.…

I WOULDN’T be without squashes on the veg plot. This group of veg comes from the Cucurbit family, which also includes melons, cucumbers, marrows, courgettes, pumpkins and squashes, and now is the ideal time to sow them. All cucurbits are tender so I start mine off under glass around six weeks before I plan to plant them out (in this case, late May). Sow these large seeded veg one seed per 3in (7cm) pot, water well and place in a heated propagator or warm spot at 18°C. Germination is usually rapid. Grow on in warmth, ensuring plants are well watered (add liquid feed after a fortnight). There are hundreds of varieties to choose from. Courgettes can be long (e.g. ‘Defender’), round (e.g. ‘De Nice a Fruit Rond’,), yellow (e.g. ‘Jemmer’)…

“I was tempted to leave it wrapped up for longer” LAST autumn I treated my Musa basjoo, or hardy Japanese banana, to full protective treatment to ensure that it wouldn’t suffer during the colder months of the year. I surrounded it with a cage of chicken wire held together with cable ties, and packed the void with straw. A plastic bag was slipped over the top of the structure to protect the growing tip from rain. Well, the temperature in my south coast garden didn’t stray beyond 0°C over winter and the top of the banana has been pushing its way out of the bag for several weeks. I was tempted to leave it wrapped up for longer (most books suggest waiting until the end of spring) but have gambled…

“Roses traditionally topped favourite flower polls” AMATEUR Gardening readers have responded to Monty Don’s call to identify the plant that has had the biggest impact on British gardening over the last 50 years. BBC Gardeners’ World host Monty wants to celebrate the programme’s 50th birthday this summer by inviting viewers to suggest a ‘Golden Jubilee’ flower – a revolutionary plant that’s shaped the way the nation gardens. The winning variety will be announced at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live at Birmingham’s NEC (15-18 June). Monty kicked off the debate by voting for bedding plants. And AG readers were keen to air their views on AG’s Facebook page, with many voting for the rose, which has traditionally topped the nation’s favourite flower polls. Versatile flowers reader Howard Drury voted for begonias,…

Ranunculus A cultivated form of the buttercup, R. asiaticus comes in bright lollipop shades, flowers for just a few weeks and hates damp weather, but is too tempting to miss. No need to partner with anything else: mix yellow, orange red and pink for that sweetie jar look. Bellis The dainty ruffs of white, pink and red daisies look charming in troughs and baskets. Daisies marry well with golden narcissus like ‘Tete-a-Tete’ thanks to their yellow centres, or dot pink and reds with mossy saxifrage and trailing green ivy in pots. Cowslips The essence of spring, cowslips are increasingly rare in wild meadows but they happily grow in borders or even grass provided you don’t cut the grass short till after seed sets. Choose an open spot that doesn’t get…

Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’ is a long-flowering, easy variety that will flower in its first year from a plug-sized plant. Stays compact so ideal for both pots and the front of a border. Drought-tolerant thanks to its leathery leaves, and good for butterflies. Scented pinks Dianthus grow fast and furious from plugs now and will bloom in pots or borders by early summer, perfuming your garden with their delicious clove fragrance. The Scent First range bred by Devon nursery Whetmans, widely available in garden centres, are real winners as they flower from May to September. Trailing begonias If you haven’t tried them yet, the trailing Million Kisses and Apricot Shades begonias are a far cry from the old-fashioned tuberous begonias, delicate and cascading and best of all flowering in rainy summers…

Feed them up Pumpkins are hungry plants, so enrich growing areas with well-rotted manure or compost. Alternatively grow on a rotting compost heap. Feed with a nitrogen-rich feed during the first weeks then switch to a high-potash feed once they form fruits. Water them well Watering is key, especially when the first female flowers appear, and must be consistent: water stress can cause skins to harden and split. Use a soaker hose, or direct water onto roots through a cut off plastic flower pot or bottle sunk into the ground.…

L . x clementii ‘Burgundy Wine’ Flowers are deepest-pink, marked with darker veins and show up well against the greyish foliage. Looks good planted with gold or silvery-leaved plants. L . x clementii ‘Mary Hope’ Soft-green leaves make a fine backdrop for white flowers with pink eyes. Similar to ‘Barnsley’ but less vigorous. L . x clementii ‘Kew Rose’ Possibly a better mid-pink than the parent L. x c ‘Rosea’ which, before the advent of ‘Barnsley’, was the most widely planted. Works well with gold or silvery-leaved plants. L . x clementii ‘Red Rum’ A new, slightly more compact variety whose rich pinkish-purple flowers have a slightly ruffled look to…

Sow basil seeds indoors and only water in the mornings: “Never send basil to bed wet because it sulks and damps off,” says Jekka. Sow Chinese chives (Allium tuberosum), chervil and dill in pots or direct to the ground. Mix the tiny seed with flour to see where they’ve been sown. Harden off young plants before planting outside. Prune damaged or dead stems from thyme, rosemary and oregano. Give lemon verbena kept undercover a hard prune Wait until later for outdoor-grown plants. Divide clumps of chives, sweet marjoram, oregano, mint and thyme to keep them vigorous.…

“In spring, reduce long grass gradually” HAVE you ever fallen out with a lawn mower? I have. A break after weeks of rain was the ideal window to fire up the rotary for the first cut of the season. However, the machine had other ideas and although I pulled and pulled on the cord, the engine wouldn’t start. Petrol can lose its oomph if left in the tank over winter, making tools that were reliable last autumn reluctant to wake-up. Sure enough, after draining the tank and driving a five-mile round-trip to the garage, the old Briggs and Stratton motor rattled to life. But this was when things really started to go wrong. To make up time, I ploughed onto the lawn before checking the height of the blades. In…

1 Have fun shopping for perennials to fill border gaps. Mulch well after planting them to retain moisture, feed roots and suppress weeds. 2 If the weather’s wet, stay indoors and re-pot any houseplants that have outgrown their container. Resume feeding and watering indoor plants. 3 Check seedlings and prick out those that are ready. These French lavender seedlings are from the free seeds that came with AG on February 11. 4 Keep your lawn looking good. Mow with the blade kept fairly high, treat grass with a combined feed and moss-killer, and patch-sow bare areas. 5 Plant up a spring container (see P6 for ideas and a guide to planting). There are plenty of wonderful flowers available to brighten up your patio. 6 Lay a simple path where grass…

ANY tender pelargoniums lifted lasts autumn, will hopefully have over wintered happily in your greenhouse. Mine have survived the colder months with minimal watering, and this week I gave them a once-over to make sure they are in good health. Apart from a couple of yellowing leaves and signs of whitefly, which I cut away and treated with pesticide, they look healthy, and I will plant them outside when the weather warms up again. I have two zonal pelargoniums, which are the most common variety seen in containers and as bedding plants, and one with scented foliage. I took softwood cuttings from one of the zonal plants. There is enough time between now and the summer for the new plants to take root and grow to a size where they…

I’M using the Bank Holiday weekend to catch up with veggie patch jobs. This will include clearing away damaged plant matter that could leave healthy plants vulnerable to pests and disease if left in situ, and tackling on-going jobs such as weeding, mulching, and pest control. I will feed my ever-hungry rhubarb plants with a thick mulch of well-rotted manure. I have not forced them this year as they are only a couple of years old, and forcing will weaken young plants. However, they are growing robustly, so I should get a good crop, and then force them next year. It is worth checking any broad beans planted last autumn. Although they are hardy, they will probably have taken a battering through the winter. I sowed mine in October, and…

For a delightful alternative to a chocolate gift this Easter, try Cosmos atrosanguineus ‘Chocolate’ (right). It has an amazing scent of chocolate. Unlike most other cosmos flowers, chocolate cosmos are propagated by their tuberous roots so you need to buy this as a plant, rather than seed. The delicate white flowers of Nemesia Wisley Vanilla (left) have a beautiful vanilla fragrance. Both plants are available to order from SarahRaven.com or find them in garden centres now.…

• Foxgloves are hardy biennials, and can be successfully sown under cover, or in the soil where you want them to grow. • If using trays, sow on sieved, damp, seed compost. Either leave uncovered, or just cover with a sprinkling of vermiculite. • Cover the seed tray, and place it in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. Remove the lid once the seeds have germinated. • If sowing direct, weed and rake the soil, to remove debris and create a fine tilth, and water with a fine spray. • Sow seeds thinly (they can be pricked-out later) but don’t cover them. Label, water in dry weather.…

From late summer to November, daisy-like flowers usually of white or yellow push up between the leaves (pictured). Some are scented. They open in the sun and are often wider than the plant itself. Keep lithops frost free during winter, aiming for a minimum of 40°F (4°C). After the first soak in May, allow the compost to dry out between waterings, usually applied weekly throughout summer. Add a liquid cactus fertilizer every six weeks. Pot up new plants while dormant in a pan using one part John Innes no 2 to one part of grit. Top dress with shingle and stones. Leave dry until May. Repot existing plants about a month before their first watering.…

THIS easy-to-grow perennial crop is invaluable for providing deliciously tart stems when other fresh fruit is scarce, so it pays to keep it in good health. Hopefully you followed my lead and forced a crown by covering it with a bin or forcing pot in late winter, and you’re now pulling hot pink stems for pies and crumbles. Even if you haven’t forced any plants, spring warmth should be starting to reward you with harvests. It raises two questions: what should you do to keep plants healthy, and can you put the leaves on the compost heap? The answer to the second question is most definitely ‘yes’, and the answer to the first lies in my step-by-step sequence to your right: Top Tip   New rhubarb varieties such as ‘Livingstone’…

GRASS snakes are always welcome in my garden, despite the fact that they are not especially beneficial to me. In fact, they’ll eat small frogs and toads, as well as worms, but I am prepared to accept this, because a grass snake improves the wildlife diversity in my small corner of the world. Grass snakes also eat ants and grubs if other, more substantial, food is scarce – using sight and a very keen sense of smell to find it. However, they only eat live prey, their favourite places to search for it being damp spots, particularly at the edges of water. Home for them is mainly woodland and field edges, so if you have a garden close by, especially with some water in it, then you are more likely…

1 Remove the bag on top of the wrapped up banana that protects it from rain. Cut the twine that holds it in place and carefully lift off to avoid damaging emerging growth. 2 Get rid of the straw that is packed around the stem. If compacted, it should come away in big chunks. Keep the wire cage in place to stop any loose material making a mess. 3 Now unclip the cable ties holding the wire cage together and lift it carefully out of the way to avoid damaging the stem. Tidy up by cutting back any decaying material.…

Air pollution from burning fossil fuels and agriculture is allowing ‘thuggish’ weeds to overpower the UK’s rare and endangered wild plants. Charity Plantlife says nitrogen deposited from air may present a “far more immediate” threat than climate change to wild plants, lichens, and fungi. The report, backed by the National Trust, Woodland Trust and rSPB, claims that 90 per cent of all nitrogen-sensitive habitats in England and Wales, such as heathlands, are receiving higher levels of nitrogen than they can tolerate. Over a third of our flowering plants prefer low nutrient conditions and are therefore threatened. Plantlife’s Dr Trevor Dines said: “it is hard to exaggerate what a destructive impact nitrogen deposition is having on wild flowers and other flora and ecosystems. As the first flush of warm weather sees…

THIS collection of impressive annuals will create a rich display of pretty colours making an amazing scene in any garden, giving you all the plants you need this summer for a colourful and long-lasting display. Height: Up to 60cm (24”). Spread: Up to 45cm (18”). Please note below varieties subject to change. Other special offers: OFFER 1 Petunia Frills & Spills The fragrant double blooms of Petunia ‘Frills & Spills’ look fantastic tumbling from baskets, flower pouches and pots. Their colourful, resilient flowers are completely weather tolerant - a boon in our changeable English weather Trails to: 45cm (18”). Supplied as plug plants • Buy 5 for £8.99 • Buy 10 for £12.99 – Saving £4.99 • Buy 20 for £19.99 – Saving £15.98 OFFER 2 Gazania ‘Tiger Stripes Mixed’…

How should I grow broad beans? QI plan to grow broad beans for the first time on my allotment this year. What are the rules for success? Hattie Sherbourne, Holbeach A Broad beans are one of the oldest-known crops and they’re very easy to grow. They are hardy and can be sown in autumn as well as spring. It’s often said that white-seeded Windsor types have more flavour than green-seeded long-pod types, but ‘whites’ are not so hardy. In cold regions, long-pod cultivars are more reliable. Three weeks before spring sowing, during April, dig well-rotted manure or compost into the ground to a spade’s depth at the rate of one large bucket full per square metre. Apply Growmore at 50 grams per square metre. Three weeks later take out a…

• Soak seeds in water for an hour and then sow, pointy ends down, at a depth of 2.5cm (1in) – deeper if sowing for larger varieties - in pots of free-draining but moist compost mixed with grit. Place them on a sunny windowsill or in a propagator to encourage good germination. • Sowing can start under cover as early as mid-April. Remove the weakest seedlings. Transfer the rest to bigger pots when you see the roots showing through the bottom of the pot. Plant out in final growing spot once all danger of frost has passed.…

WHEN the local farmer has just delivered a trailer load of manure at the end of your drive, or the builder’s merchant has tipped gravel at the side of the road, you need to shift it fast. Or perhaps you have lots of weeds and clippings to run from the beds and borders to the compost heap? Maybe you need to transport your spade, rake, hoe, marking line and seed box down to the vegetable patch? A wheelbarrow is a gardener’s best friend when it comes to moving materials, tools and equipment like this When choosing a new barrow, always look for a strong, rigid construction with a capacity to match the volume and weight of materials and items you are likely to need to move. Skids on the bottom…

When plug or small potted plants are received through the post, unpack immediately and pot the plant on into a 5in (13cm) pot of good, well-draining potting compost (you might need to add a little grit or vermiculite to your regular brand). Allow roots to fill this pot before moving the plant to a larger container, or planting out. Choose a sunny border of good but light, well-draining soil. Dig a generous hole for the plant. In colder regions, plant against sheltered, sunny walls. Water well.…