Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Jun-2017 i Amateur Gardening

TopTip Always store all plant foods in their original containers. Keep them somewhere cool and dry and out of the reach of children. Don’t forget to wash your hands after using them. DO you ever walk into a garden centre to buy plant food and feel utterly bamboozled by the myriad varieties on offer? What (if any?) is the benefit of a liquid feed over a granular one? Should I start feeding now – or wait a bit? And is it possible to give my plants too much food? If it leaves you scratching your head in bewilderment you are not alone, and that is why we have devoted much of this edition of AG to feeding plants. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to plant…

1 Top dressing: Applied as a powder or granules around the roots, usually in late winter or spring, to stimulate new growth. 2 Base dressing: Adding fertiliser to planting holes, or to the soil before sowing, gives young plants an early boost. 3 Watering on: Liquid fertilisers or soluble feeds are given to greenhouse crops and container plants for improved results. 4 Foliar feeds: Diluted fertiliser or ready-to-use feed is sprayed onto leaves as an emergency treatment for nutrient deficiencies.…

TopTip Don’t be over-zealous when de-leafing. You only remove those leaves that are shading the fruit or you will weaken the plant I HONESTLY don’t know a veg gardener who doesn’t grow tomatoes. There’s something so satisfying about picking ripe, home-grown toms to plop straight into a salad. Marry them with home-grown basil, some mozzarella and a good glug of olive oil and you’ve created heaven on a plate! Right at the start of the month I was showing you how to plant your tomatoes. Well, mine are settling in nicely and now need a bit of maintenance to keep them in shape. If you’ve got hanging basket, bush or patio types – rest easy. They don’t need training. However, I’m growing ‘cordon’ or ‘indeterminate’ varieties where one stem is…

TopTip This Medinilla magnifica featured a few years ago in AG is growing well and producing lots of flower buds. I’ll give it a ‘houseplant strength’ feed of Phostrogen every two to three weeks. I AM often asked why an indoor plant given good light and temperature is failing to produce the lush leaves or exotic blooms it arrived with. “So how long have you had this plant? Oh, six years. Ok, it has ever been re-potted and do you feed it at all?’ At this point the owner looks bashful, admits not and we agree it is amazing the plant has carried on growing at all, given that the nutrients in the original compost would have been used up within the first six months. Unless a plant is potted-on…

1 Until young beans are ready to plant out, support fast-growing stems by inserting a plant stick into each pot. 2 Use canes to build a support structure or wigwam, secured with wire or string. Allow 18in (45cm) between rows of plants. 3 Water plants the day before planting. Using a trowel, insert one plant at the base of each cane, taking care not to damage stems or roots. 4 Runners climb their canes quickly, but if it’s windy, plant stems may need to be loosely tied-in, to give them an initial helping hand. 5 Water-in well after planting, and keep plants well-watered during hot spells, especially when they’re flowering. Mulching helps to retain soil moisture. 6 Slugs think Christmas has come early when young runner bean plants go in…

AS far as garden wildlife is concerned, the best way to feed plants is with homemade leaf-mould and compost. Add occasional amounts of well-rotted animal manure, and the plants and wildlife in your garden, will show their gratitude. But how many of us are able realistically to confine our plant-feeding to these heavy-duty products? With the best will in the world, it isn’t usually possible to make enough compost or leaf-mould to meet all of our gardening needs. So buying artificial plant foods is the norm but you need to choose and use the products wisely. Sustained use of granular, powdered and liquid fertilisers may increase plant health, prolong flowering and give bigger crops, but it can also alter the biodiversity of a garden. Bonemeal, for example, is one of…

1 In the morning, when the plant is ‘turgid’ or full of moisture, cut or pull off a healthy non-flowering shoot from a mature plant. 2 Trim the shoot below a leaf joint and strip away the lower leaves. Dip the cut end in hormone rooting gel or powder. 3 Insert the cuttings into a clay pot filled with a dampened mix of seed compost and perlite. Gently firm them in. 4 Seal the pot in a plastic bag and place it on a warm, light windowsill. Cuttings have taken when they start to grow.…

What’s wrong with my tomatoes? Q I’m having trouble with tomatoes. Some flowers dropped before fruit set. A few have split, while others have rotten bases. Should I increase feeding? Mandy Audley, Frinton-on-Sea A Growing tomatoes requires a little bit of experience, which is quickly gained over a couple of seasons. I’m assuming you are growing your tomatoes in a greenhouse. Common problems include blossom end rot, the symptoms of which you describe well. The base of the fruit develops a dark coloured patch that increases in size as fruit forms. The rest of the individual fruit may go on to ripen but it will be highly disfigured. This is a problem relating to calcium deficiency, caused by the compost being too wet and then too dry. Regular watering ensures…

Curtain shading £34.99 0333 5771926 gardenstreet.co.uk Don’t let a scorcher of a day get to your greenhouse plants. This Vitavia curtain can be fixed to the roof to stop sun damage and has the double benefit of helping to maintain heat. There’s around 50sq ft (4.6sqm) of coverage and a 12 month warranty. Coolaroo shade sail £89.99 01344 578 811 waitrosegarden.com Sail through a heatwave by blocking out 90 per cent of the sun’s dangerous UV rays with a polyesterweave fabric that also allows air to circulate. Easily set up and great for a patio or garden play area. Comes in three colours with a five year guarantee and measures 11ft 6in x 11ft 6in (3.6m x 3.6m). UV sun hat £26.95 + p&p £3.95 01733 765030 sun-togs.co.uk Ramp up…

Prize Draw For this summer plant feeding special issue of AG, we’ve got the perfect liquid feed to give your garden a boost. Gro- Sure All Purpose Plant Food is a great all-round feed for plants, veg and flowers. It’s seaweed-enriched and packed with nutrients. We have five, one-litre bottles (enough to make 50 watering cans of plant feed) to be won this week, worth £3.99 each. See below for details of how to enter. How to enter Send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Gro-Sure All Purpose Plant Food 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 Gro-Sure All Purpose Plant Food Draw. The closing date for entries is:…

V. bonariensis Clusters of lilac-purple flowers sway gracefully atop tall slender straight stems. Bees and butterflies flock to the blooms, which are produced throughout summer and autumn. This short-lived perennial self-sows around the garden. Grow in sheltered sun. H4½-6ft (1.5- 2m) x W19in (50cm). V. hastata f. rosea Wonderful pink candelabra flowers atop long slim upright stems, from June to October. This hardy clump-forming perennial attracts wildlife, and forms lightweight vertical accents in the border. The seedheads look good, and will set seed around the garden. H3½ft (1.2m) x W17in (45cm). V. macdougalii ‘Lavender Spires’ Butterflies really like this clumpforming hardy verbena – upright branching spires of plump heads are crowned with blue-purple flowers from Juneinto autumn. Plant in sheltered sun. H3-6ft (1-2m) x W17in (45cm). V. rigida A great…

IF I’m under the weather but can still find comfort in the cake tin, I have what my wife Lisa cruelly calls “man-flu”. However, if I can’t face even a crumb, then it’s off to bed to recuperate, hopefully before I develop the real thing. The same applies when plants are ill. If merely off colour with yellowing foliage and slower than normal growth, then feeding with liquid fertiliser is a pickme- up equivalent to a slice of Victoria sponge. Just what the doctor ordered! “It gives the rose a healthy glow” But when plants are really struggling, wilting when their soil is moist and dropping leaves, like some poor soul on a sickbed, a banquet is the last thing they want or need. Then there are the plants like…

▪ You can feed your plants all you want, but if your soil isn’t up to scratch they won’t do their best. ▪ Sandy and chalky soils are light and thin and poor at retaining water, which means that many of the nutrients they contain are easily washed away. ▪ Clay is heavy and claggy and slow to warm up in spring (unlike lighter soils), but is usually rich in plant nutrients. ▪ Improve soil by digging in lots of well-rotted organic material, such as compost or manure. You can also buy commercially-produced soil improvers from most garden centres. ▪ These bulk up light soils and improve their waterretaining properties, and makes clay easier to work. ▪ Organic matter such as compost, poultry manure and seaweed are good for the…

TopTip When testing nutrient levels in your soil, check different areas of the garden so you get an overall picture of the minerals available or those lacking FOR plants to perform their best they need a balanced mix of easily accessible nutrients. However, in our quest for horticultural perfection we are often tempted to feed more than is necessary and the affects can be as damaging as those of not feeding plants enough. On these pages I take a look at the main nutrients required for healthy growth and what can befall plants when they are absent. I also explain the dangers of over-enthusiastic feeding and suggest a ‘quick fix’ for when weakened plants need immediate help. Feeding your plants may seem confusing and scientific, but by following instructions and…

Listen to Peter's free podcast every Thursday. Search for 'This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook' on iTunes INTRODUCED to gardening towards the end of the Second World War, I recall the driving force was to grow more food from limited resources. We did have Growmore, the balanced 7 parts nitrogen, 7 parts phosphates and 7 of potash, general fertiliser, some dried blood and fish manure. The dried blood was a very swift way of delivering high nitrogen and the fish manure smelt really fishy. Both quickly turned leaves a healthy dark green. Today’s equivalents do not seem to have the kick – I’m not sure, but perhaps because of heat treatments to eliminate human diseases. “Tomatoes and cucumbers love it” Our main sources of plant foods, however, were…

1 Your main stem needs regular fastening in to its support. If using bamboo, secure the stem to the cane with a tight loop of twine around the cane then a looser loop around the stem. If using string instead, gently twist the string around the stem. 2 To focus your plant’s energies into the main stem, which gives strong trusses of fruit, remove any sideshoots that appear in the leaf joints. When small, these can simply be snapped off with your fingers – larger ones are cut off with a knife. 3 Once your tomatoes begin ripening you can ‘de-leaf’ them. This means removing any leaves that are shading the ripening trusses of fruit, so that maximum sunlight can get to them. Give the leaf base a firm snap…

1 Never feed a dry plant. The compost should be just-moist, so neither dry or saturated. This peperomia is way too dry. 2 Fertilisers are not a pick-me-up. A sickly plant with inactive roots will not be able to take up nutrients, which accumulate in the pot. 3 Ready-to-use foliar sprays like Orchid Myst are a convenient yet expensive way to feed, but great if all you have is a couple of moth orchids. 4 Slow release drip feeders deliver plant food with little effort. Some are general purpose and others are tailored for citrus, or orchids.…

TopTip Where possible, plant odd numbers of seedlings into a clump – for some reason they usually look better than an even number of plants! IF you want your garden to be a haven and larder for wildlife, this week’s free seeds from Mr Fothergill’s are an important addition. Echium vulgare ‘Blue Bedder’, also known as viper’s bugloss, is a member of the borage family. Its nectar-rich spires of brilliant blue flowers rise to 18in (45cm) and are a magnet for pollinating insects. In autumn, small garden birds will also flock to feast on its nutritious seeds. I sowed mine in a sunny border where they will flower in late summer. I have also saved some seeds to sow in the autumn, as they are hardy annuals and will lie…

▪ 24-25 June: Rose Weekend Celebrations, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor ▪ 24 June: Arley Garden Festival, Arley, Northwich CW9 6NA. 01565 777353; arleyhallandgardens.com ▪ 25 June: Rare Plant Fair, Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire. Open 10am-4pm. Admission £6 includes fair and gardens. For full details, including a list of the nurseries attending, visit rareplantfair.co.uk ▪ 24-25 June: Hemingford Abbots Flower Festival, Nr Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 9AN. 07919 573001, hemingford-abbots.org.uk ▪ 24-30 June: Surrey Sculpture Society present a Sculpture Trail, RHS Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8ET. Follow the trail to find affordable and original pieces designed to provide a focal point in any garden. 10am-6pm. For admission details 0845 2658071 rhs.org.uk ▪ 29 June: Comedy of Errors Outdoor Theatre, RHS Garden Rosemoor.…

MANY people think bamboos require very little attention. That’s partly true. Bamboos will spread happily to form a large stand if left to their own devices, but they make much better garden plants and certainly more attractive ones, if given some pruning. A dense clump of congested canes is fine if you want an impenetrable screen around a boundary, but in small gardens it tends to block out light and prevents the beauty of individual canes from being enjoyed. In order to make clumps a bit more light and airy, I like to remove a few of them. Start with anything that is really thin or damaged, and then move on to taking out a few larger canes - don’t go crazy as you still want an impressive stand. Cut…

What is wrong with my rose? Q My rose flowers are looking different after I sprayed them with insecticide. Should I be worried? Shannon Taylor(via email) A The flowers have probably been affected by the insecticide, as flower petals are made of a different and more delicate material to leaves and don’t have the same protective coating. This makes them more vulnerable to chemicals and to the weather. That doesn’t mean you can’t use chemicals to tackle pest problems, just be careful not to spray the flowers. They are much shorter-lived than the leaves, so any aphids on the petals will be removed when the plant is dead-headed. If you have to spray again, try and avoid getting chemicals on the open flowers. Most roses produce their flowers over a…

Loosen the soil: Fork over compacted ground before adding fertiliser to make it easier for plants to access the nutrients. As anyone who has seen greenery growing in between paving stones knows, if a plant is happy it will thrive, even in apparently inhospitable conditions. However, to ensure quality, we like to cosset and feed our plants to make sure a they perform at their best potential. Peak times for feeding are late winter and spring, as plants start back into growth, and in summer when they are flowering and producing fruit. In late winter/early spring, fork granular feed into the soil around plants and water it in. Many plants will happily grow through the summer with little or no feeding. The exception is container and basket displays, certain ‘greedy…

Root boost: Mycorrhizal fungi can be added to roots at planting. They work with the roots to exchange water in the plant for sugars and nutrients from the soil. 1 Nitrogen: Needed for healthy leaves, a lack produces stunted plants and yellowing foliage. It is easily washed away by rain, but can be replaced by organic mulch. Fertilisers such as chicken manure pellets also help. 2 Potassium: Helps photosynthesis, water uptake and healthy flowering and cropping. Shortage causes yellow or purple leaf tints and poor flowering etc. Remedy with high-potassium fertilisers such as potash and liquid tomato feed. 3 Phosphorus: This is essential for strong roots and shoots, and its absence causes slow growth and dull yellow foliage. Deficiency is rare, however and can be reversed by feeding with superphosphate…

TopTip Always dilute your feed (1 cup: 2 gallons is ideal). If it’s too strong it might burn. Better to apply more diluted feed, more often. WHENEVER you water your plants, you could be fertilising them for free by adding your own liquid plant food. This is surprisingly easy to make. Steeping fresh healthy foliage and soft stems under water for more than a week turns these into a nutritious smelly soup with stringy bits. The most often made is from comfrey (Symphytum species, tough herbaceous perennials with lots of big lush leaves). Nicknamed ‘comfrey tea’, it closely mimics the chemical analysis of conventional greenhouse tomato feed. Although intended for tomatoes, the high potash levels suits other plants such as roses, apples, gooseberries, potatoes, beet and onions. Comfrey tea is…

Next week: Watering your crops, looking after cucumbers (step by step), growing melons, harvesting and caring for strawberries and sow Florence fennel Fruit feeding relies on one thing and that is potassium. this essential element helps fruit trees, bushes and canes to initiate and form buds. it also boosts wood ripening and maturity. the effect is a profusion of blossom and fruit. You can apply potassium in a variety of ways, the most regularly quoted being sulphate of potash. this powdery formulation can be sprinkled over moist root zones in spring, where it’s broken down by soil organisms to eventually release its nutrients. it’s a great crop booster for all fruit trees, canes, bushes and berries. if you want a quicker-acting feed that can be applied during the summer months,…

TopTip If you don’t have space for a veg patch, plant half a dozen runner beans up a wigwam in flower beds. Their flowers look attractive while plants will add height and structure to your flower borders. RUNNER beans are usually planted out in early June (AG’s Bob Flowerdew and Lucy Chamberlain were quick off the mark) but mine are still in pots in the greenhouse, reaching for the sky! It’s okay to be a few weeks behind, as it means I’ll be able to harvest beans later in the season. But it’s vital to get plants in the ground now, so they have enough time to develop and crop. It may be warm, but young plants will still need to be acclimatised to outdoor conditions before being planted in…

1 Water the seedlings well to give their roots a soaking and make them easier to slide from their pots. 2 Carefully slip the plant from its pot into your hand, keeping as much soil attached to the rootball as possible. 3 Plant them as deep as their rootballs. Keep the plant steady by carefully holding a leaf, never the stem. 4 Tender seedlings are the slug and snail equivalent of a McDonald’s Happy Meal, so protect them.…

TopTip If there is a gap between taking cuttings and potting them up, place the cut material in a plastic bag in the fridge to keep the moisture in I USED to think that pinks and carnations were a bit fuddyduddy, but I have come to reassess this earlier opinion. There are so many Dianthus to choose from that there has to be one for every taste and garden situation. I now have two so far: a mat-forming dwarf ‘Class Act’ with red flowers and grey-green leaves, and a beautifully scented pink ‘Iced Gem’. I’d like more of the latter to sit at the edge of borders and use in patio containers, so I took some cuttings to grow on and then plant out in autumn. Dianthus are easy to…

LANDSCAPE GARDENER Stan Hitchen, believes that the properties of FX-Silica gel have made him pain free and independent once again. GEORGE TAYLOR investigates. At the age of 63 you’d think that Stan Hitchen would start to think about taking life a little easier. However he’s just finished a complete renovation of his new home and not content with that, he’s also designed and landscaped his garden to create ‘a little piece of heaven’. This is all quite amazing considering Stan has been suffering from crippling arthritis for the last eight years! “Arthritis runs in the family… we’ve all suffered with it” Stan tells me as we sit on the decking in his garden. “I knew I’d get it and after forty years of gardening everyday it finally struck!” “THE AGONY…

Jasminum officinale Jasmine oil is extracted from the starry flowers of this beloved climber, and used by aromatherapists to boost confidence and sensuality. A deciduous climber, it will cover a sunny wall and fill the garden with scent at dusk. Rosa ‘Jacques Cartier’ This is a relative of the Damask rose grown in Bulgaria for the rose oil that aromatherapists use to mend broken hearts. Unlike its cousin, this variety is repeat flowering and compact. Dianthus ‘Mrs Sinkins’ The delicious clove scent of pinks has powerful therapeutic properties. Carnation oil is said to bring comfort to shy, sensitive souls. ‘Mrs Sinkins’ is an old highly perfumed variety. Cistus ladanifer The musky, balsamic leaves of this rock rose are used in perfumery and have a powerful grounding effect on the emotions.…

WEEDING the borders or putting in new plants invariably means getting down on your hands and knees to be closer to the soil. Trouble is, as we get older our joints can creak and complain – especially when it comes to getting up again! And even the fittest can find kneeling for any length of time hard going. Garden kneelers and rolling seats allow you to sit and kneel in comfort – and the ones we’ve tested here all have the added benefit of providing some storage space for your garden hand tools too. Strata Kneeler, Seat and Tool Store £9.99 0345 640 3030 argos.co.uk for store finder Features Single polypropylene moulding with foam kneeler pad. Can be used as a seat and tool carrier with two deep storage compartments,…

Write to: Wendy Humphries, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Rd, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com Star letter Doorstep compost FURTHER to your news item (AG, 13 May), regarding availability of peat-free compost, I thought you’d be interested to know that my local doorstep milkman sells peat-free compost as well as groceries. I always buy mine from the milkman as it is a bit too heavy for me to carry, not having a car anymore. It’s dearer at £5 for a 40litre bag, as opposed to £4 for multi-purpose, but two bags of peatfree cost £9. Angela Stroud, Romsey, Hants Wendy says: You’re on to a good thing there, Angela, perhaps this will catch on around the country! Reply to well-wishers I’VE been overwhelmed with the kind comments…