Innholdsfortegnelse for 27-May-2017 i Amateur Gardening

I AM a great one for procrastination, and this is as evident in the garden as it is elsewhere. I have several jobs that have needed doing for a few weeks, but every time I walk past them I think ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’ and, of course, I never do. I suspect I’m not alone in this, and probably won’t be the only one using the extended weekend to catch up on neglected jobs. On these two pages I suggest some of the tasks that won’t take up too much precious holiday time. If you decide to repot a patio tree or shrub, don’t move the plant into a container that’s massively larger than its current one. Roots dislike wallowing in a large expanse of cold, empty compost, and too…

DOWN here in the south, we experienced a reasonably dry winter followed by a spring where hardly any rain fell. The result was dusty, bonedry soil, making life harder for border and container plants putting on tender new growth and getting established. Such early dryness can also jeopardize fruit and veg, as it will impair their flowering, leading to poor harvests, and make it easier for fungal diseases such as powdery mildew to take hold. Such a dry spring is pretty unusual, and with summer approaching, you should prepare a plan for keeping the garden irrigated as much as possible. Installing at least one water butt is a good start, especially if you are on a water meter. Then do your watering when conditions are cool, to reduce the rate…

1 Mix cuttings compost and perlite in a 4-5in (10-13cm) clay pot. Clay is ideal because it lets the roots breathe. 2 Cut around 4in (10cm) of robust, pest-free leafy growth from the plant using clean, sharp secateurs. 3 If you can’t pot up your cuttings immediately, put them in a clean plastic bag to stop them drying out. 4 Remove the lower leaves, and dip the cut end in hormone rooting powder or gel, tapping off any excess. 5 Insert the cuttings around the edge of the pot, lightly firming them in. Seal the pot in a clear plastic bag. 6 Place the cuttings somewhere light. They should strike in 4-6 weeks, and put on strong new growth.…

I T’S not too late to sow your own wild flower garden. With a little effort you can transform a tired corner into a beautiful, self sufficient collection of wild flowers. I created a path of stepping stones through our wild area and the children observed the progress of the plants as they grew. When the flowers formed buds we tried to guess which colours the blooms would be. We ended up with a display of white cornflowers, followed by a sea of blue and purple. It was beautiful, and this year we anticipate similar results as the perennials re-emerge and the annuals grow again from selfsown seeds. Growing peas is another favourite for my children, and they are always delighted to be able to shell and cook them straight…

IT’S not too late! You can still have more beans than you can shake a garden cane at, from a sowing or planting right now. As with many other warm-climate crops, these need warm soil to prosper, so getting them going too soon can give them a tough early start and a poorer crop later. Waiting ‘til the soil is warmer – like now – means the plants grow away quickly, put on a lot more growth then crop more heavily. There are two main sorts of climbing beans. First there are runner beans including show varieties that have ridiculously long, tough pods, to the more sensible and succulent types like the classic ‘Red Rum’. The old traditional ones with scarlet or white flowers have been much improved over the…

1 If you have a supply of strong sticks your peas can climb up these (canes work well, too). Find a few stout ones and use these to vertically mark the end of your row. I also add a few diagonal ones to reinforce the structure, plus a cane along the top. 2 You now need to add finer supports to fill in the gaps. You can buy pea netting (handy for long rows), or chicken wire. An alternative is to use twiggy sticks (above) like hazel or birch. Push them into the soil along the length of your row. 3 Your peas are now ready for planting! Ample moisture is essential, especially for late-season planting on light soils. Water the base of the row well, and your plants, too.…

SOME container displays need lots of attention, so I’ve decided to replace the spent flowers in my window box with some easygoing cacti and succulents. Sedum, echeveria, crassula, mammillaria, golden barrel cactus and a host of others are slow-growing, drought tolerant and require virtually no pruning. Many of us grow these plants in individual pots as houseplants, but there’s no reason they can’t rub shoulders and be shown off outside. Only move the container outdoors when there’s no danger from late frosts and move it back undercover in late summer to prevent damage from cooler temperatures over night. The great thing about cacti and succulents is their diversity. There are trailers, bushy ones, narrow columns, mound formers, stemless rosettes and a host of other shapes and sizes in all sorts…

1 Put drainage material such as crocks or pieces of broken up polystyrene in the bottom of pots to aid drainage. Create holes through the base of pots if they do not already have any. 2 Pick pots that offer some winter protection as your pots will be in place all year – frost-proof terracotta is a good choice, or fibreglass for something more lightweight. 3 Place large pots in position before planting as they’ll be too heavy to move once full of compost. Or, use a pot saucer on wheels or a sack trolley to move pots about with ease. 4 Add slow-release fertiliser granules to the compost when planting to save time on feeding later. For pots already planted up, make a hole with a pencil in the…

WHEN the sun’s out and all the garden chores have been done it’s nice to be able to sit back, relax and enjoy our endeavours. On a warm summer’s day there are few things better than being able to doze in the garden, read a book or enjoy a cooling glass of something refreshing. Sun loungers let you do just that, so we’ve looked at four different types to give you an idea how each performs when it comes to whisking you off to daydream land. Remember when making your choice that storing over winter will also be a necessity – folding types obviously take up far less room in this respect. ▪ In our test on digging forks (AG 25 February) we incorrectly stated the Silverline Fork came with…

Worth £27.98 HARDY perennial pinks (Dianthus) are the perfect low growers for the front of sunny borders where their mounds of silvery-green foliage remain evergreen throughout the year. They only reach a height of 1ft (30cm). These varieties are RHS Award of Garden Merit winners. Plus get a pair of snips, handy for cutting fresh flowers for indoor arrangements. You will receive 2 each of the varieties pictured. *just pay £5.65 for postage Other special offers: HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER OFFER 1 Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’ We just love Himalayan poppies with their clear blue petals contrasting against golden yellow stamens; once seen, never forgotten! This special perennial makes an unusual and stunning feature throughout early summer, planted en masse to delight you year after year. Height: 30in (75cm). Spread: 20in (50cm). Supplied…

Nurseryman and former Gardeners’ World host AT this time of year I can often be found staring down at the soil like a myopic man who’s lost his car keys. My son, never slow to mock, says I remind him of a Spice addict or a poor yoga instructor – the cheeky so and so! However, I haven’t lost or imbibed anything: I’m hunting for seedlings breaking into the sunshine. Even though I’ve planted thousands of seeds thousands of times, until they come up I always worry that they’ve been eaten or washed away. It’s irrational, but when I glimpse their tiny green heads emerging from the soil, I still get a genuine feeling of happiness and astonishment that they’ve survived. I’m not the only one though who has an…

Put it away! Get in the habit of keeping your shed tidy. It will help you to know where everything is in this busy season. 1 Keep on top of the ‘bread-and-butter’ chores such as weeding, feeding, pest control and watering. 2 Mulch container fruit trees. Water first, then add the mulch, keeping it out of contact with the trunk. 3 If the weather is fine, repair and preserve wood and metal features such as furniture, fences and ironwork. 4 Cut back the dead blooms of hardy geraniums, and give a slow-release feed, to encourage a second flowering. Prepare plants for outside temperatures ▪ Harden off the rest of your tender and bedding plants, so they can go out in the next few weeks. ▪ I’m using a mini greenhouse,…

1 Re-use ‘grey water’ used for washing up, hand washing and, if you can carry it downstairs, bathing. Never use water containing bleach. 2Help keep water around the roots of plants by creating little moats at their base. Once water has soaked in, add a layer of mulch. Choose plants to suit your soil ▪ Choose plants that suit your soil. Remember that some gardens have different soils in different areas. ▪ Drought-happy plants include sea holly (Eryngium), lavender, Euphorbia and Eschscholzia (this week’s free seeds). ▪ Damper soils suit Hostas, Gunnera, Irises, and willow. ▪ If soil is thin and loses water fast, dig in well-rotted organic matter to improve its structure and waterretaining properties. ▪ This also improves heavy clay soils, making them more workable and free-draining.…

AFTER growing plants for many years, it is possible to start taking some of the more common ones for granted and ivy is a good example. Common Hedera helix romps and seeds itself all over our garden and while some provides a great nectar, berry, nesting and roosting service for wildlife, we are constantly removing the clinging stems from the house and greenhouse walls. I’d forgotten what a good indoor plant it could be until our son started growing it in his room and was rooting stems for friends keen to bag easy trailing plants for free. There are plenty of small leaved varieties with shapely, variegated foliage and we already had an interesting container. Years ago we acquired a wire chicken with a trap door in the top, presumably…

1 Melon plants reluctant to flower need their shoot tips nipping. This encourages side shoots and more flowers, which need pollinating. 2 Greenhouse cucumbers are the opposite, needing neither their shoot tips nipping out nor flowers pollinating; destroy the male flowers. 3 Chances of hard frosts are slim so we can finally leave out tender plants such as citrus for the summer. 4 With so many garden tasks at this time of year your house plants may easily be overlooked, so remember to water and feed them.…

WHEN I moved to my house there were a number of large trees in the garden that were in decline, and needed felling. Rather than grub out the roots, we left the stumps and planted around them. Since then, the wood has been slowly rotting, and it is now the perfect place for stag beetles to breed. I count myself lucky to see quite a few every summer because as well as these beetles being one of our largest, they are also sadly one of our rarest – protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They live in gardens, hedgerows, woodland edges, parks and traditional orchards and, although not large in numbers, are fairly widespread in the south of England (apart from areas like the North and South Downs,…

Carex testacea This grass with copper coloured leaves makes a striking feature plant for a pot and is a useful partner for combining with perennials, especially those with hot orange or red flowers. Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’ This is a compact evergreen with attractive foliage – the leaves are wavy and purple and it forms a neat mound, making the perfect foil for flowering plants throughout the year. Hebe ‘Pink Elephant’ Hebe is a useful evergreen shrub that comes in many forms, with a variety of foliage colours and flowers. ‘Pink Elephant’ is a compact variety and perfect for a pot, providing attractive foliage year round and white flowers in early summer. Best pruned after flowering.…

Where’s best to grow tomatoes? QI’ve moved into a house which came with a greenhouse. Do I plant tomatoes in the greenhouse border soil, or in growing bags, or grow them in pots? Steve Corbin, Nottingham A Try a range of methods and see which performs best in your greenhouse. As long as tomatoes haven’t been grown in the greenhouse border soil before, grow a crop there this season. If you don’t know what the previous residents grew in the greenhouse borders, it may be best to change the soil. The drawback of growing tomatoes in the same soil year after year is that a build-up of pests and root infections can develop, which are impossible to control. So it’s best to dig out greenhouse border soil to at least…

Dianthus cruentus This species of pink produces stunning clusters of blood-red flowers atop slender stems; gorgeous at the front of the border, or dotted through a gravel garden. Height: 27in (70cm). ‘Tequila Sunrise’ One of the new floriferous Cocktail pinks bred by Whetman, this has fragrant peach-white single flowers with a redrimmed apricot eye, and can be grown in containers. H: 13in (35cm). ‘Devon Wizard’ This fragrant variety has shocking pink blooms above evergreen foliage all summer. It’s a great cut flower and combines well with blue scabious in front of roses. H: 11in (30cm). Dianthus carthusianorum A useful ‘see-through’ plant – it has clusters of small magenta flowers atop slender stems, allowing you to create layers in the border. Fabulous with Origanum ‘Rosenkuppel’. H: 15in (40cm). ‘Pink Kisses’ This…

Early summer is a good time to tackle weeds –it’s much easier to spot young weed shoots before other garden plants put on lots of growth, and then dig them out before they take over. young annual weeds like chickweed can usually be pulled out fairly easily, but perennial weeds present us gardeners with more of a problem. Bindweed, ground elder and horsetail will return every year, bigger and bolder, unless you deal with them. Going to war on them the organic way is harder work because you have to physically dig them out, but if you consistently remove every bit of root you will eventually see results. There are many chemical solutions on the market from spot treatments like glyphosate gel, which are useful if you want to target…

4ft x 6ft Greenhouse £269.99 free delivery 0121 321 6070 hallsgreenhouses.co.uk Smallest in the Halls Popular greenhouse range, this has an aluminium frame and horticultural glass for maximum light. There’s a sliding front door, integral gutters and an opening roof vent. A base plinth is recommended but the standard kit is equipped with corner spikes for concreting in place. Greenhouse Disinfectant £3.99 01530 510060 vitax.co.uk for stockists Keep your greenhouse free from germs, bacteria, moulds and mildew that might infect and kill or stunt plant growth. This concentrated cleaner and disinfectant with added orange oils can be used on glass, work surfaces and tools, staging and pots. It’s not formulated to kill unwanted bugs and pests, but disinfecting will help wash away many of them anyway. Greenhouse Gro-Beds x3 £11.99…

Write to: Wendy Humphries, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Rd, 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. Star letter I THOUGHT you’d like to see my succulent turtle. It’s just an inverted hanging basket, full of compost, tied in with chicken wire, with little pot feet tied on, a little head and tail made with wire and moss, and finished off with succulents (houseleeks) poked in around. I packed moss and mind-your-own-business into the wire casing. Oh, and his eyes…

1 Water the Musa basjoo before moving, to make it easier to remove from its container. Repot them every other year. 2 Place crocks in the base to help drainage, and stand it on feet before it gets weighed down by compost. 3 Add some John Innes No 3 and grit to the new pot. Ease the banana from its old pot, and check the roots are healthy 4 Place it in the new pot and infill around it. Firm the compost to remove air pockets and add support.…

Listen to Peter's free podcast every Thursday. Search for 'This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook' on iTunes ORNAMENTAL and fruit trees have flowered very well this spring, the short period of hard frost in January must have been just enough to encourage heavy fruit bud set. Apricots and plums were in full bloom very early and unusually high temperatures in April got the pollinators buzzing, so the set is heavy. Penning this column in April, I have fingers crossed that night frost will not damage the mass of developing fruitlets. Horticultural fleece will be kept to hand so some lower branches can be wrapped and the fleece held in place with clothes pegs on cold nights. I also have some tubes of fleece, which prove very useful to…

1Shingle in the belly of the container makes a firm base for the saucer, which just about fits through the trap door at the top. 2The ivy will have to continue living in a small pot, but in time I might find a long, narrow container to give roots more room. 3The long stems were arranged inside the chicken and shoot tips pulled through to the outside here and there. 4 For the ivy to flourish long-term in a small pot, a general purpose liquid feed diluted into the water every fortnight should do the trick.…

ONE of the highlights of any veg grower’s year is to wander onto their plot, pick a plump pea pod and devour its contents – usually in a manner of seconds! Fresh, home-grown peas are so utterly delicious that you just must have a row to enjoy. I already have an early batch of the shelling pea ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ settling in well, but am now ready for my mange tout ‘Kennedy’ to join it. Peas range hugely in their height and growth habit. You can get self-supporting ‘leafless’ peas (e.g. ‘Kenobi’) that cling onto each other in a tangle of tendrils, or opt for lofty heritage types like ‘Champion of England’ that depends on head-height wigwams. My two varieties are somewhere in the middle. See my stepby- step (right)…

▪ 27 May-4 June: Half Term Bugs and Slugs, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr ▪ 27 May: Willow Garden Structures, Waterperry Gardens, Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1JZ. 01844 337266, waterperrygardens.co.uk ▪27-28 May: Guided Tour of Cawdor Castle Gardens, Cawdor Castle, Nairn, Scotland IV12 5RD 01667 404401, cawdorcastle.com ▪ May 27-29: 90th anniversary weekend of the first gardens to open on behalf of the NGS scheme. Included in the 380 gardens opening to mark the occasion are 12 of the original 1927 gardens. For further information ngs.org.uk/90th ▪ 28 May: Rare Plant Fair, Kingston Bagpuize House, Nr. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 11am-4pm 0845 4681368 rareplantfair.co.uk ▪ 1-4 June: Family Gardening Show, RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisely…

Petunias Reliable summer tender bedding plants that will reward you with weeks of colour in a sunny spot and stand up well to bad weather. Varieties such as Surfinia and Million Bells have trailing growth which is useful for softening the edges of containers. Begonias Can be upright or trailing and are perfect for pots and hanging baskets – they flower all summer until the first frosts, are easy to look after and can cope with partial shade. Team up with strappy phormiums (pictured), cannas and musa for a subtropical look. Pansies Easy bedding plants that will flower for months if regularly fed, watered and deadheaded. They are a useful filler for pots, providing colour in a huge range of shades. Pick from single or bicolour varieties. They prefer cooler…

I’m concerned about lily leaves QSome of the leaves on my Lilium candidum plants are turning a bronze and dying. Why might this be? John Goodger, Wallington, Surrey A I think the problem is not a disease but a lack of nitrogen. Although most plants go pale green or yellow when there is not enough nitrogen available to them, the colouration is sometimes a bronzy-purple. Older leaves show symptoms first, which may be a result of prolonged wet winter weather leaching the nutrients away. Free-draining soils are particularly vulnerable to this. The quickest solution right now is to liquid feed the bulbs with a balanced fertiliser such as Miracle Gro – you should see an improvement within a very few days. It is worth feeding weekly for the remains of…