Innholdsfortegnelse for 10-Jun-2017 i Amateur Gardening

HANGING baskets are a simple way of adding an extra dimension to the garden. Instead of everything being on a horizontal plane, they invite you to look up and look around. There are a few rules to adhere to when planting up your baskets. Firstly, think about where you want them to hang. For the flowers to be healthy and long-lasting, pick somewhere sunny and sheltered. You also need easy access for watering and feeding, and in case you need to take it down in a hurry in bad weather. Many baskets come as a metal frame with a separate coir lining that can be replaced each season. You can also buy baskets with plastic linings attached, or you can make your own using moss from the lawn. Before buying…

■ You can easily create a planter from an unwanted wooden palette. ■ Nail horticultural membrane to the back of the palette, securing it around three of the sides, leaving the top open. ■ Lie the palette flat and pour compost between the slats until it is full. Add plants between the slats, then stand the palette against a wall, the open side upwards. ■ Plants will grow down and cover the woodwork. Remember to water and feed regularly. ■ See page 26 for more ways to use palettes in the garden…

■ Lift your bedding tulips when their leaves have shrivelled and turned yellow. Named species of tulips can be left in situ. ■ Gently lift them from the ground with a fork, remove the soil and check the bulbs are healthy. ■ Remove any bulblets that have formed, as these will deplete the energy of the main bulbs. Place the bulbs in a tray and leave them to dry out. Store them somewhere cool and dry, and replant them in November.…

1 Help a hedgehog: Create a hole in wooden gravel boards under fences, so hedgehogs can travel from gardento- garden and return safely to their natural nesting places. 2 Boost butterflies: Butterflies love buddleja – they’ll smother flower spikes. Buddleja has a reputation for taking over, so if space is tight, plant ‘Buzz’ – a compact variety for containers. 3 Create a mini wildlife pond: An upturned bin lid sunk into soil will do. Fill with rainwater. Don’t introduce fish. Newts and frogs which enjoy shallow water will take up residence. 4 Feed birds: The RSPB advises feeding wild birds all year-round. It suggests black sunflower seeds, mild grated cheese, mealworms and soaked sultanas. Avoid peanuts in summer. 5 Love your long lawn: Leaving a patch of longer grass at…

Water well, and make sure the plant doesn’t dry out while it gets established. Mulch the soil to retain moisture. 1 Dig a hole for your new plant that is as deep as its rootball and slightly wider. Place it where it has room to grow well. 2 I added a handful of slow release fertiliser to the planting hole because the soil is quite thin and poor. 3 Slide the plant from its pot. Check the roots are healthy, and carefully tease out any that are circling the rootball. 4 Place the plant, and infill around it with soil and compost, firming down as you go, to remove air pockets.…

■ With the warm weather and – at last – some rain, my potatoes are coming on well. ■ Whether you are growing them in bags or in the ground, remember to keep earthing them up. ■ This helps support the plant stems, encourages production of more tubers, and prevents developing potatoes from turning green. ■ Don’t let your spuds dry out, especially if they are growing in patio bags. ■ Stick a finger in the compost, and water them if it feels dry.…

THE graceful, arching fronds of maidenhair fern make a luxuriant waterfall of lighter, newer pinnae (fern frondlets) against older, darker ones. They are easy to keep, but the roots of young plants in small pots dry out quickly and they don’t take kindly to being frazzled one minute and soaked the next. Should your fern be drying out almost every other day, the answer lies in moving it on to a slightly larger container. When plants reach their final pot size, usually 10-12in (25- 30cm) and have produced a mass of fronds measuring 2ft (60cm) tall and 3ft (1m) from one side to the other, they become more resilient and much easier to care for. There are 200 or more species of adiantum, yet only a handful are popular in…

JUNE heralds the month when tender veg can move outside and this week I’m focusing on courgettes, along with pumpkins and squashes. These quick-growing and oh-sogenerous crops will thrive in a sunny, sheltered spot. I always grow a selection of courgettes – deep green ‘Defender’, yellow ‘Jemmer’ and round-fruited ‘Tondo di Nizza’. They make such a nice display in a trug when you harvest them – and of course they look and taste great when cooked, too! Squashes by their very nature are very hungry (and thirsty) plants, but there are easy ways to satisfy their insatiable appetite. So let me show you in simple steps how to set them off on the right track this summer. TopTip The plastic bottle method (see right) is the best way to make…

Next week: Care for grapevines – indoors and out, look after chillies post potting-up, weed control tips, plant out runner beans (right) and sowing dates for year-round carrots I’ve been eagerly eyeing up my cherries, redcurrants, raspberries and strawberries over the past few days – they’re beginning to turn from green to red so it won’t be long before they make their way into my kitchen. They look and taste gorgeous topping a pavlova, scattered over my lunchtime yoghurt or just popped straight into my mouth – it really is such an exciting time in the fruit garden. The trouble is, I’m not the only one watching and waiting – garden songbirds like blackbirds and thrushes are poised, too. Annoyingly they also have the ability to stomach the fruits before…

AS a child I lived in London’s Regent’s Park (my father worked there) and it was here that I saw my first grey heron back in 1968. It was the first recorded sighting of a heron in central London, yet today there are hundreds of them. Although quite shy creatures herons are surprisingly on the increase in cities, choosing to inhabit large open spaces with tall trees – many making their nests in the top-most branches. The Regents Park lake was (and is) full of fish, the heron’s main diet. But away from such a concentrated source of food, herons will search far and wide for it. Wherever you live in the UK, if you have a fish-stocked garden pond, you should always protect it against herons. Do this by…

Top tip: Don’t allow black, red or white currants in pots to dry out during warm weather or yields will be hit hard. In summer give plants a soaking every other day or before the compost dries out. BRUNNERA macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring’ is a fabulous perennial that will brighten up a slightly shaded spot in spring with clouds of tiny white flowers, so I’m attempting to establish a colony in my current garden. From March until about mid May it looks fabulous, but as soon as the blooms start to fade it’s not worth a second glance. In the past I’ve diligently traced the spent stems to ground level and cut them off, leaving the foliage behind. However, these days I’m not so patient and prefer a more ruthless approach.…

Tool hire: There are nationwide chains and local stores. HSS (?hss.co.uk) has more than 200 locations in the UK. 1 Working from the middle of the pallet, prise up slats with a crowbar to loosen or remove nails. To remove the slat, apply more leverage by inserting the end of a long, stout timber batten under it. 2 If nails cannot be removed easily at the ends, saw slats off. Use a claw hammer to remove nails. If you can’t lever nails up, hammer them in, but be careful not to saw through a hidden nail.…

ARMCHAIR gardeners can look forward to more horticulture on TV after the Royal horticultural society struck a new deal with the BBC to televise events. From 2018 to 2021, BBC TV, radio and online will exclusively broadcast coverage of Rhs shows such as malvern, Chelsea and hampton Court. Coverage will be expanded to include the Rhs’s Chatsworth Flower show while a new daytime series, due next year, will follow Britain in Bloom – the UK’s biggest community gardening competition. BBC cameras will capture the creation of the Rhs’s fifth garden, Rhs Garden Bridgewater in salford, due to open in 2019. The BBC said it would use its Friday night series Gardeners’ World, hosted by monty don, to bring Rhs activities “to a wider audience”.…

BrItS are getting into gardening later in life, due to the cost of getting a foothold on the property ladder. A study by tool firm Fiskars found that 41 is the average age at which we start to take an interest in gardening. A spokesman said: “Getting into gardening at 41 may seem late, but with adults not getting on the property ladder, or living in flats until their late thirties, it’s becoming the norm.” TV gardener James Wong, (pictured) said: “the study shows there is a lack of engagement between the younger generation and gardening.” But James added that more people were learning to grow plants in small spaces. The study found that 23 per cent of Brits had never mown a lawn or raked-up leaves. One in 10…

Why won’t my wisteria flower? Q I have had my wisteria for three years and it hasn’t flowered. I am feeding and pruning at the right time, but the flower buds just shrivel up. What can I do? Irene Whitside, Preston, Lancs A It can take two years for wisteria to settle in to its new home after planting, so it may simply be a question of time. However, as the plant is producing flower buds that come to nothing, something else may be at work. Wisteria set their flower buds in late summer and early autumn, and if there is a dry spell it can have an adverse affect on flowering. Never let your plant dry out from July through to the end of September. Feed your plant potash…

Phlox paniculata I particularly like the varieties ‘Visions’, ‘Monica Lynden-Bell’ and ‘Rosa Pastell’. Blue and purple flowers I use Geranium ‘Orion’, Stachys ‘Superba’ and Tritelia laxa ‘Queen Fabiola’. Peonies My favourites are ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’, ‘Kansas’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’.…

‘Anastasia Green’ Double, quilled Chartreuse spider type, ideal for cutting. Disbudded plants produce 4-8in (10-20cm) blooms from September. ‘Cranbrae Red’ An early warm red whose flowers reach 9in (25cm) wide when disbudded, on plants 4ft (1.2m) tall. Blooms from September. ‘Chesapeake A Fantasy type to bloom in the greenhouse during November. A peachy centre of coiled petals unfurl into creamy-white tentacles. ‘Pompon Yellow’ Flowers are almost spherical and arranged in sprays on plants 30in (75cm) high, so great for smaller or windy gardens.…

Wall-to-wall colour In ‘Beneath a Mexican Sky’, designer Manoj Malde created colour-washed backdrop for drought-tolerant plants such as agaves. He used Valspar masonry paint available from B&Q, to create the look. “Be brave, be experimental,” he urges. Go crazy! Could crazy paving be making a comeback? Charlotte Harris used smooth, irregularly-shaped granite pieces teamed with a sleek wooden bridge to come up with a 21st Century take on a garden classic popular during the 1920s and 1970s. Give us a wave Many of us grow clematis horizontally or vertically, but Guernsey nurseryman Raymond Evison’s wave effect is a great way to show off these attractive flowers. Create a similar look by fitting mesh panels to an undulating metal frame. The conifer comeback The Jeremy Vine Texture garden was one of…

Wall Planter Kit with Seeds £19.99 + £4.99 delivery 0118 903 5210 primrose.co.uk Includes everything you need to start growing herbs – a wooden three-tiered planter, vermiculite soil growing medium and packs of basil, chive and parsley seeds. Can be either hung or leant against a wall, indoors or out. H. 251?2in (65cm), W. 12in (30cm), D. 7in (18cm). Jekka’s Complete Herb Book £19.99 +£4 P&P 01454 418878 jekkasherbfarm.com/books 40 new herbs covered, including daisy, ginger, castor oil and purslane. Advice on each herb includes history, cultivation, propagation and harvesting, as well as medicinal and culinary uses. More than 250 herb recipes. Updated and expanded edition has more than Herb Scissors £8.49 + £2.99 P&P or free click & collect 01539 488100 lakeland.co.uk for storefinder Multi-bladed scissors for chopping home…

Write to: Wendy Humphries, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Rd, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com Star letter Pretty perfect ‘Albertine’ HERE’S a photo of our ‘Albertine’ rose, which has been growing since 1973. I’m sure most people think ramblers only flower once but I give ours a heavy prune after flowering in July and then it grows and flowers all over again – not quite so prolifically but very welcome all the same. By October it needs another trim, filling the whole green bin and I have to wear my thickest anorak (even in July). It’s worth it though as the scent is really terrific and we do cut some for indoors. We’ve placed seating nearby so we can sit back and enjoy it. Ed Davis Chipping…

■ Baskets have similar problems to containers, not helped by the fact that remedying them usually involves standing on a ladder! ■ They soon dry out in sun and wind, so water them regularly (daily in prolonged dry spells). ■ After a month or so, feed with liquid tomato food fortnightly, and deadhead spent blooms regularly to encourage more flowers. ■ Baskets should be hard for most pests to reach, but check frequently and deal with any immediately. ■ Finally, always make sure there is someone steadying your ladder before you climb up to start any basket care!…

1 Put your basket on a bucket to raise it to a good height for working, and make it easier to turn during planting. 2 Fill the basket with compost to the level where you want your trailing plants to sit – around half-way up. 3 Use a sharp knife to cut slits a few inches long in the lining. I cut them in alternate sections all the way round. 4 Wrap the trailing plants’ rootballs in clingfilm so you can slide them through the slits without harm. 5 Then remove the clingfilm, add more compost and plant the top plants, with trailing varieties at the basket edge. 6 Water the basket. If stormy weather is forecast, keep it somewhere sheltered until conditions improve.…

1 Place crocks in the base of the container to help drainage and prevent the gladioli corms rotting in waterlogged compost. 2 Add fresh container compost up to 4in (10cm) below the rim. Place the pizza, making sure the corms are sitting pointy end up. 3 Cover the corms with a layer of fresh compost, leaving a 1in (2.5cm) gap at the top of the pot to allow for watering. 4 Water the container well, stand it on pot feet, and place it somewhere sunny and sheltered. Don’t let the compost dry out.…

Listen to Peter's free podcast every Thursday. Search for 'This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook' on iTunes PIPE in hand and sporting a neat waistcoat Percy Thrower was, for years, Britain’s head gardener. I remember fondly his time on BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World, which will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee next week. Percy, of course, was also a weekly contributor to Amateur Gardening. On the AG show stand at RHS Chelsea readers queued up to speak to him, seek advice and get his autograph. There were even life size cardboard cut outs of him in most pioneering garden centres. His status as a true gardening celebrity underlined when he officially opened the Van Hage Garden Centre at Ware in the 1960’s and in doing so caused traffic jams…

THIS week’s free seeds from Mr Fothergill’s are for a column of colour that will bring stunning structure to the garden – but not until next summer. Hollyhock ‘Giant Single Mixed’ is a traditional cottage garden staple producing spires of cup-shaped single flowers in a range of pretty colours. This hardy perennial can grow to 96in (almost 2.5m) and is a perfect focal plant for beds and borders. By sowing undercover now, you can grow on the young hollyhocks and plant them out in autumn. Protect them with a cloche during the worst of the winter weather. Alternatively, grow them on in pots and keep them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse over the winter, and plant them out next spring where you want them to flower. Hollyhocks usually…

■ Normal room temperatures suit adiantums, with a minimum of 7°C (45°F). Avoid hot, dry air or group with other plants on a wide saucer containing moist gravel. ■ Moderate, soft light is best – it keeps fronds growing strongly without them being scorched. ■ Water before the compost surface dries out. Little and often works best. ■ Add a general purpose liquid feed to the water every 4-6 weeks when plants are growing well. ■ When potting, prise a section of fronds and roots away from the parent to start a new one. Spores from mature plants often germinate in other plant’s pots.…

IMAGINE eating the perfectly soft, ripe flesh of a home-grown apricot, peach or nectarine. The aroma, the juice, the taste – just heavenly! While that is a few months away, if you tend to your trees now you’ll ensure a top quality harvest. Thinning out the developing fruitlets allows you to remove any that are damaged by frost, insects, wires or other blemishes while keeping the very best for yourself. Keep one every 4in (10cm) of stem for now, knowing that you’ll thin peaches and nectarines again at the end of the month to 8in (20cm) apart (apricots don’t need this second thin). If your trees are wall-trained, keep them well watered all summer. This allows the fruits to swell unhindered.…

■ 10-11 June: Bonsai Weekend, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr ■ 11 June: Rare Plant Fair, Hanham Court Gardens, Nr Keynsham, South Glocs. 11-4pm. Adults £5. ? rareplantfair.co.uk for details ■ 13 June: Alpine Specialists Nursery Tour, D’Arcey and Everett Ltd, St Ives, Cambs PE27 6ZA. 07715 374440, angela@darcyeverest.co.uk ■ 17-18 June: Rose Weekend, RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettenden Common, Chelmsford CM3 8ET; 0203 1765 830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall ■ 17 June: Pelargonium and Geranium Society Open National Show, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/ gardens/rosemoor ■ June 18 and 25: June 18 and 25: Cottingham Open Gardens (10am- 4pm), Cottingham, East Yorks HU16 5AY. 01482 875 129, jimstan471@gmail.com Please check that the event is…

Many us of have vacant spots in the garden that could be put to better use, so how about a few annual herbs? Coriander, dill and chervil will all do well. Even basil can be sown outdoors in early June directly into warm soil. Whatever you decide to grow will need a sunny position, so don’t try and squeeze anything into really tiny gaps. Before sowing it’s important to prepare the soil otherwise seeds are unlikely to germinate and plants will struggle to grow. Start by removing weeds and then fluff up the soil in your chosen area with a fork - use a spade to turn over the soil if the surface is overly firm. Break up any large lumps and roughly level the surface, remembering to remove any…

THE Upcycled Garden by Steven Wooster and Susan Berry is a practical guide to making 25 garden projects from recycled materials like pallets and bricks. the projects include furniture and accessories, structures and surfaces, screens and supports, and containers and raised beds. each project has a clear step by step, and the book also offers other handy practical information like where to source materials, and tips on working with pallet wood. ■ Amateur Gardening readers can buy a copy of the book for the discount price of £12.00 plus p&p (RRP). to order please call &01273 488005 or go to thegmcgroup.com and quote code: R5204 Closing date: 9th September 2017. Please note: p&p is £2.95 for the first item and £1.95 for each additional item.…

THE government has claimed that geneticallymodified (Gm) orange petunias do not pose a risk to human health or the environment – despite fears over Frankenstein flowers. Last week, AG told how Gm petunias had ‘illegally’ entered the UK supply chain, prompting campaign group Gm Freeze to brand the situation as a “horrifying disregard for regulation”. Now, the department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (dEFRa) has released a list of varieties that are being investigated after officials in Finland found evidence of Gm. They include Petunia ‘Pegasus Orange,’ ‘Pegasus Orange morn,’ ‘Pegasus Table Orange,’ ‘Potunia Plua Papaya,’ ‘Go! Tunia Orange,’ ‘Bonnie Orange,’ ‘african sunset,’ ‘sanguna Patio salmon’ and ‘sanguna salmon’. dEFRa says the plants are “not thought to be a risk”.…

Q My huge lavender which was once smothered in flowers and bees has become woody with little new growth. Should I prune it or dig it out and replace it with another large variety? Sid Lewis, Worthing A This is a common problem with lavender, unless plants are kept in young growth. The lifespan of lavenders depends on plants being well cared for and pruned. To prevent old, woody growth they should be pruned at least once a year. However, your lavender (circled, on main picture) looks to be too woody for successful pruning, so I suggest digging it out and replacing it. Once the site is clear, incorporate wellrotted compost or manure to the soil. Mushroom compost is ideal as it contains calcium. Lavenders transplant well but often fail…

“It was so healthy and vigorous” The rose is the nation’s favourite flower and I adore them, but as an organic gardener I have to select my roses really carefully so that they don’t get black spot (officially known as Diplocarpon rosae), because if they do I cannot spray with a fungicide! Luckily modern rose breeders are selecting for diseaseresistance now and these are my ‘Bombproof 10’ – grown in my Spring Cottage garden, and not a discoloured leaf in sight! German know-how Many simply-bred roses, such as gallicas, rugosas, and most ramblers are disease-free but I didn’t want to use these in the summer borders at Spring Cottage. I wanted repeat-flowering roses that had healthy, glossy foliage and a shorter stature that would allow me to weave them through…

Save 50% Bumper Chrysanthemums A combination of tall, half-hardy varieties with re-flexed and incurved petals, mixed with lower-growing, hardy chrysanths. Perfect perennials for autumn colour. Blooms make excellent cut flowers. Height: up to 36in (90cm), spread: 18in (45cm). Supplied as plug plants. Collection comprises: 1 Chrysanthemum ‘Hardy Patio Mixed’ 2 Chrysanthemum ‘Incurved Mixed’ and 3 Chrysanthemum ‘Decorative Mixed’. Buy 5 of any variety for £9.99 Buy 15 (5 of each) for £14.98 – Saving 50% To order, call direct on & 0844 573 2021 quoting AG787Z (lines open 9am-8pm weekdays, 9am-6pm weekends), OR order online today ??thompson-morgan.com/AG787Z OR complete the coupon below in BLOCK CAPITALS. all orders will be acknowledged by letter or email, advising you of the expected despatch date. this offer is subject to availability. offer enquiry line 0844 573 2021.…

Flat pack features Install a ‘flat pack’ mountain range in your garden, as Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins did in The Silk Road Garden. Gigantic wooden pieces were slotted together to recreate landscape features of Chengdu, China. Celebrate industrial artefacts The crane arm used in the ‘Walker’s Wharf Garden’ may be a bit much for most plots, but interesting old pieces of machinery look great as within borders, especially when their colours are picked out by the leaves of surrounding plants. Feel the throb ‘Smoke on the Water’ was one of the distinctive bass lines that caused ripples in tanks of water in the Zoe Ball Listening Garden. Speakers housed under rubber liners created the effect. The concept, from James Alexander- Sinclair, certainly rocked visitors.…

Water wise: Add water-retaining gel or granules to basket compost before planting to reduce the amount of watering necessary 1 Fuchsias come in a myriad colour combinations, and add a punch of exotic elegance to baskets. 2 Vibrant and variegated foliage is a stunning way to offset the vivid colours of plants, such as these begonias. 3 Hang purple trailing petunias near seating areas – their flowers give off a beautiful scent in the evening. 4 Make your display work for you. ‘Tumbling Tom’ is a trailing cherry tomato, perfect for baskets and snacks!…

MAKING our gardens wildlifefriendly can be fascinating, environmentally-beneficial and needn’t cost a fortune. As gardeners, I believe we have a duty to help pollinators, as many beneficial creatures are in decline. In 2015, a report claimed that hedgehogs, which are welcome in gardens as they eat slugs, could be extinct in a decade. In 2016, UK butterflies had their fourth worst year on record, with 40 of 57 species studied suffering falls (AG, 6 May). And honey bee decline across Europe has been well documented. So what can we do? Avoiding plants with double or multi-petalled flowers can help, as pollinators find it hard to enter the blooms and gather pollen. If you don’t have space for wildflowers, look out for the RHS’s Perfect for Pollinators logo when shopping at…

■ This is the deadline for cutting back early-flowering shrubs for a good show next year. ■ Leave it any later, and you risk a poorer display because the plant will produce blooms on growth put on this summer. ■ Shrubs in this group include forsythia, philadelphus, flowering currants and weigela. ■ Remove flowered stems, as well as any crossing or damaged branches. You can also cut back up to 20 per cent of old growth down to the base. ■ This helps open up the shrub, giving it an attractive goblet shape.…

THE ‘Basket of Fire’ and ‘Tropical Heat’ chillies I sowed earlier in the year are growing into healthy young plants. They have been developing on a warm, sunny windowsill, and have now outgrown their current pots so need moving to larger premises. I have potted them on into individual pots of loam-based John Innes No 2, which will feed them until they are ready to be potted on again. For now, I am keeping them in the greenhouse, but as it fills up with seedlings and cuttings through the summer, I will move them back into the kitchen, which is light and warm. Chillies can also be grown in a greenhouse, conservatory or polytunnel, and even in growbags in a warm and sheltered area of the garden. Pinch out the…

■ Hollyhocks are prone to a rust caused by the fungus Puccinia malvacearum. It weakens and stunts growth, and in the worst cases, plants should be removed and destroyed. ■ Symptoms include yellow or orange spots and blotches on leaves, and orange-brown pustules underneath. ■ Treat it with a chemical spray such as Bayer Fungus Fighter Concentrate or Scotts Fungus Clear Ultra. ■ Alternatively, remove and destroy affected foliage – don’t compost it. ■ Avoid dense planting that creates humid conditions. Feed plants and don’t under- or over-water them.…

DO you want more succulent fruit and vegetables, continual flushes of flowers, and healthier plants? Of course you do. D’you know, it’s often not complicated things that make a huge difference, but one of the simplest of all garden tasks: watering. Good watering, especially right now when the plants are growing strongly, is the key to success. You see it’s easy to forget just how much water plants need and so we may find we are not giving them enough. During the growing season, most crops and flowers need about an inch of rain every week. Now, if you’re on the west coast you may get this, but across the rest of the UK, the total rainfall over many weeks is much less. It may seem to be wet, but…

1 Choose a sunny, sheltered site for these tender veg. To lock in soil moisture and provide sufficient nutrients add lots of organic matter, such as well-rotted manure, garden compost or bagged compost. Then water the bed thoroughly. 2 Dig a hole large enough to easily fit your courgette (or pumpkin) plant. Position it at the correct level, then gently firm in the earth and compost mixture around it. Sink an upturned plastic bottle (with its base removed) alongside each plant. 3 Insert a bamboo cane into the neck of the bottle – this acts as a marker once your plant becomes a huge pile of leaves and the bottle is difficult to find. Fill the bottle regularly with water and dilute liquid feed to keep plants sustained.…

Some crops have unfairly been given the label of ‘tricky to grow’ but that’s only if you don’t know their secrets – so let me reveal them! Celery and celeriac aren’t fussy, they just like things to be consistently damp. We talked about sowing them back in February, so you can see that these two veg are both long-distance runners in the horticultural world, taking a slow and steady approach. Start them off early and then give them a patch of earth enriched with lots of compost which will lock on to any rain that falls. Supplement this with regular irrigation to ensure the soil never dries and you’ll be on your way to bumper autumn harvests.…

MY family devour countless strawberries during the warmer months of the year. Most are shop bought, but I supplement these with home grown fruit. Plug, pot grown or bare root strawberry plants are available for planting now in containers, growing bags or in the ground. They will establish quickly - even bare root ones will fruit within 60 days - to produce a flush of berries this year, with an average of 1lb of fruit per plant in subsequent years. There are masses of different varieties to grow, from summer fruiting types that tend to have one big flush of fruit, and everbearers, which will crop on and off lightly into autumn. I’ve just planted a new everbearer called ‘Just Add Cream’, boasting light pink flowers and ultra sweet berries.…

AS weather turns warmer and drier shrubs planted earlier in the year are vulnerable – it can take them a year or more to establish in the ground and look after themselves. Bare root plants need plenty of mollycoddling as they lose most of their root system when they are lifted from the ground for sale. Meanwhile younger shrubs in pots establish far more quickly than larger, instant impact type shrubs, whose root system is relatively small compared to the amount of top growth. By far the biggest cause of problems for newly planted shrubs is lack of moisture, especially during long, dry periods – the occasional drop of rain won’t make much of a difference, as this only tends to dampen the top centimetre of soil and doesn’t really…

Step 1 A found metal grid fitted the space between the pallet stuts. otherwise use sturdy wire mesh netting cut to size. Step 2 Mark some cross-pieces of the grid with tape and cut out using a hack saw (to make larger areas for planting). Step 3 Nail a couple of battens to the underside of the window box to support the weight of the box when it is filled. Step 4 Before attaching the metal grid, stain the timber to the chosen colour. Then attach the grid. Step 5 Line the front of window box with hessian or burlap (an old sack will do) – this makes an attractive lining. Step 6 Add a waterproof membrane to contain the compost; plastic carrier bags are a cheap option. Slit the…

Allotment milestone Colin Doughty, 80, who has tended the same allotment for 60 years, was presented with a certificate by the East Leake Allotment Association. Fuchsia for cancer charity New Fuchsia ‘Sarcoma UK’ will raise awareness of sarcoma (bone cancer). It’s a bush type with pink flowers. Go to ??roualeynfuchsias.co.uk for detailss. Clematis ‘Paulie’ Violet blooms from May to September. Grows to 4ft (1.25m). From Floyds Climbers and Clematis. floydsclimbers.co.uk or 01249) 823200. Hosta ‘Amalia’ Big leaves with gold stripes. Pale lavender-blue flowers. Height/ spread: 20in (50cm). £15. From Brookfield Plants: brookfieldplants.co.uk or (01233) 624934. Streptocarpus ‘Sweet Rosy’ Highly scented with pink and white flowers. Large flowers on a strong variety. Price: £4. Available from Dibleys. dibleys.com or call (01978) 790677. Epimedium ‘Rhubarb and Custard’ Shade-lover for a moist, north-facing…

Lavandula spica – all cultivars grow to 3ft (1m) or more in height with greygreen foliage when young, turning darker green with age. Spica relates to the shape of the flowers, which look like spikes. The variety ‘Hidcote’ is pictured (left). Lavandula dentata var. candicans – grows to 3ft (1m) tall. One of the commonest forms of lavender, and hardier than L. dentata var. dentata. It’s upright in habit with light blueviolet flowers. Lavandula angustifolia ‘Mitcham Gray’ – a medium height lavender, growing to a height of 2.5ft (75cm). Plants develop a bushy habit and grey-green leaves. Flowers are violet-blue.…

■ Don’t spray your aphids. Instead, allow time for the birds, ladybirds and other predatory insects to discover them. They will lay eggs close by, or predate them. Rub out aphids with your fingers if the problem bothers you. ■ Use roses in mixed planting rather than in dedicated rose borders, as this lessens the chance of black spot spores spreading. ■ Underplant your roses with noninvasive herbaceous perennials to prevent fungal spores from splashing up from the bare soil. ■ Use some late-flowering nectar plants to sustain hoverflies and lacewings. Both have predatory larvae which feed on aphids. Gaura lindheimeri, annual cosmos and penstemons can sustain insects and bees until late autumn. ■ Feed roses well – once in March and again after the first flush of flowers. Use…

We try before you buy L ong term test TO create good compost requires just the right conditions: heat and plenty of air. A humble compost heap can achieve this with a piece of old carpet to retain heat and frequent turning with a fork for aeration – but it’s hard work and takes more time than most people have. Compost tumblers aim to achieve the same result with much less effort, and many claim to be able to turn kitchen and garden waste into lovely organic matter in anything from 2-3 weeks. We tumbled kitchen waste and lawn mowings for four weeks in early spring, and while a cold snap slowed things down a bit the tumblers still gave good results. If not quite gardenready compost, it was well…

IF you have moisture-retentive soil, before planting vegetables, rake earth up into ridges so excess water drains away from roots. Raised beds a sure solution but there are plants that’ll grow in damp ground, drying out the earth for their neighbours. Dogwoods with brightly coloured malleable stems are the plant equivalent of sponges and make attractive pea-sticks, while leafy comfrey (circled) will cover the ground. When cut and bunged on a heap, it adds nutrients to the compost.…