Innholdsfortegnelse for 26-Aug-2017 i Amateur Gardening

TopTip If you are looking for garden inspiration, make the most of open stately homes and NGS gardens this weekend. Pay them a visit and borrow their planting ideas for your own patch in the future. THE last weekend in August is the last public holiday until Christmas and (weather permitting!) the perfect chance to make the most of your garden. This week we are devoting the front end of AG to bank holiday tasks and projects. I am looking at some ‘quick fixes’ that only take a few minutes, or a few hours at most, to complete. Then, on pages 6-9, we take you through a selection of projects that are practical but fun and will benefit your garden through the years. I will be using the long weekend…

1 Place four tree stakes firmly in the ground roughly 3ft (1m) apart and stretch a length of chicken wire around them. 2 Attach the wire to a post using staples, then wrap it tautly around the outside of the other posts, fastening it to each one. 3 Bring the wire back to the first post and fasten it. Leave a small gap between the bottom of the wire and the ground so hedgehogs can crawl under for winter hibernation. 4 When leaves start to fall, collect them up and add them to the bin. Leaves take around two years to rot down into crumbly leafmould.…

Equisetum hyemale (Water horsetail) A striking marginal plant with bamboo-like stems reaching 3ft (90cm). Set the crown of the plant 6in (15cm) below the water surface. Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’ (Heart-leaved houttuynia) Beautiful multicoloured foliage plant producing masses of white flowers in mid-summer. Set the crown of the plant 2in (5cm) below the surface. Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) A floating plant with distinctive early summer flower spikes. Great for reducing algae. Treat as an annual or overwinter in a bucket in the shed. Nymphaea ‘Pygmaea Helvola’ (dwarf waterlily) Miniature waterlilies are ideal for patio ponds. ‘Pygmaea Helvola’ spreads to just 12in (30cm) and needs only 8in (20cm) of water above its pot.…

▪ Saving seeds of favourite plants is extremely satisfying – as long as you remember to sow them next year! ▪ As soon as the seed pods of your chosen plant are ripe (the pods usually turn brown and rattle when shaken) cut them from the plant. ▪ Separate the pod from the seeds, which should be saved in a labelled envelope. If the pod has already split, shake any remaining seeds straight into a container or envelope. ▪ Keep this somewhere cool, dark and dry over winter and sow the seeds next spring. ▪ If you want plants identical to the parent you should take cuttings, as seeds are unlikely to grow true to the original.…

ACT now and you can save a shed load of money next summer by growing autumn-sown onions. The usual crops of onions, sown or grown from sets planted in spring, do not ripen until the middle of summer, when stored onions from the previous year have already run out. Indeed, most of us are lucky if our harvested crop keeps into late spring as they tend to sprout even if they’ve not rotted or withered. So there’s always a gap when we’re forced to buy onions from the shop until our new crop comes in. The shops know this, of course, and charge accordingly. Autumn-sown onions will bridge this gap so are worth much more than our usual crops. Of course there’s risk – really wet or viciously cold winters…

Preparing for Christmas flowering 1 By now, your plant will look dead, but don’t be discouraged. Start the process by moving it to a slightly larger pot. 2 Place the rootball on a layer of fresh compost – John Innes No 2 or container compost are ideal. Infill around the sides. 3 Water the pot well, letting the moisture soak right through before adding more. The plant has been dry all summer, so will take up quite a lot of water. 4 Place it somewhere warm and light and keep the compost damp, but not saturated. New leaves will soon appear, followed by flowers in a few months’ time.…

ONE of the most spectacular flower shows in Britain is the summer trial put on by the wholesale Ball Colegrave Company in the small village of West Adderbury, near Banbury. They have just one charity opening day to the public each year, usually the second Wednesday in July. Last month, over £7,000 was raised in four hours with £2,138 going to local Katherine House Hospice and £4,943 to the David Colegrave Foundation, offering scholarships and bursaries to train people in horticulture. The purpose of these trials is to show nursery staff, parks people, plant retailers and all those in the garden industry what is available, how to grow it well and what new plants are coming through. This year, with over 700 new plant varieties being grown in hanging baskets,…

WHETHER it’s apples or pears, medlars or quinces, keen fruit growers will soon have a bountiful harvest that’s ready to squirrel away over the next few weeks. Orchard fruits can often keep well into spring, allowing you to feast upon fresh fruit in the depths of winter – but only if they’re stored correctly. Rodents, strong-smelling paints and stagnant air can put paid to your hard work, limiting the storage life of precious crops. So now, before the orchard harvest season is in full swing, is the ideal time to ensure that where you’re going to store your fruit is in good working order. Here are my thoughts on storing fruit. You want your fruit store to be dark, dry and airy – a garden shed or garage is ideal.…

YOU can’t beat a good berry, whether it’s a tayberry, loganberry or trendy Japanese wineberry. There are plenty to choose from for jam-lovers out there, and most will be ready to pick now. Once the fruits are preserved or eaten, the time comes to prune your plants. Many of these brambles are incredibly vigorous, so it pays to take them in hand every year. Most also crop on last year’s canes, which makes pruning incredibly simple. Just cut the old canes out to the base once they’ve cropped, and tie the new canes produced this year in their place. A few new varieties (eg Blackberry ‘reuben’ – pictured, left) are now ‘primocane’, meaning they crop on the new canes. Therefore all their canes are cut back hard after harvest.…

DID you know that you can freeze honeysuckle flowers? I didn’t until my foraging friend, Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods, told me. She makes a mean honeysuckle and damson jam with hers. But before all you jam-makers get over enthusiastic, it’s only our native honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) that can be eaten – so please ensure you’ve identified your honeysuckle correctly before consuming. You can identify the native woodbine by its pale lemon-and-white flowers. To freeze them successfully Liz recommends picking perfect flowers in the morning on a dry day. Place them whole in sealed kilner jars or tubs to prevent freezer smells getting to them, and then freeze. You could freeze other honeysuckle flowers to display as floating flowers for the Christmas table. Why not give it a go?…

THE plant that’s guaranteed to get all the attention at Stockton Bury Gardens in August is Eucomis pole-evansii. Its pineapple-shaped, green flower heads reach my shoulder in height and the foliage sparkles in the late summer sun. You’ll find plants for sale now but the best way to grow them is from bulbs in spring, so pop a reminder into your gardening diary. When in a pot they’ll need winter protection and a very well-drained compost; it’s not the cold that kills them, it’s the wet. I’ll move our potted plant into the greenhouse in late September, but eucomis will overwinter in the ground in a sunny, very well-drained spot. Plant the bulbs a few inches deeper than recommended and they should make it through the winter in a sheltered…

THIS week’s free seeds are a traditional favourite that has brought statuesque colour to cottage gardens for generations. Mr Fothergill’s Larkspur ‘Giant Imperial Mixed’ grow to 3ft (90cm) tall and will provide a beautiful raft of midborder pinks, purples and blues. They’re hardy annuals: you can sow them now or next spring and they will flower from June through to September. Larkspur do best on light soils, so if you garden on dense clay you will get better results by digging in plenty of organic matter or grit. They thrive in sun and light shade and are beloved of bees and butterflies, making them worthwhile additions to every garden. Larkspur is also a popular plant with flower arrangers as their spires of densely pigmented flowers are held on sturdy stalks…

A utumn is around the corner and the first nip of frosts and harsh weather will soon stop most growth. You’ve spent months of care and labour nurturing seeds into little plants and then on to full-blown crops, so you’re finally getting to reap your rewards. “Move quickly as the season is running down” But move quickly as the season is running down, and you need to get in as much of your harvest as possible, so you can go on enjoying most of your vegetables for many months longer. Don’t dally – get a move on! Naturally, some crops need harvesting more urgently than others. Some, such as green French and runner beans, need picking quickly or they’ll rapidly go over. Pick them now, tomorrow or the next day…

Freezing Everything must be tender, uniformly chopped, then blanched in boiling water for a few minutes before draining and then freezing on trays before being repacked. Perfect for sliced French and runner beans, and baby carrots – though not worthwhile for bigger, otherwise more easily kept carrots. However it’s always worth freezing batches of your favourites. Drying In the UK most vegetables, other than haricot beans, can only be properly dried with a food dehydrator or kitchen stove. Veg needs slicing thinly and evenly and dried on wire trays (oven at 130°C with door ajar to allow air circulation) before being stored in sealed containers. Dried vegetables need reconstituting in water overnight before using in soups and stews. Storing Many vegetables store for months if kept cool, dark and nearly…

A. grandiflora ‘Ballerina’ This compact variety has large white flowers in April, sometimes with a hint of pink, followed by red-to-purple berries. Its bronze leaves turn to orange and purple in autumn. It has a height and spread of 13x13ft (4x4m). A. lamarckii A tough variety from North America that can cope in an exposed spot. White flowers appear at the same time as the bronze leaves in March to April, turning an orange-red in the autumn. RHS AGM. Height and spread: 32x20ft (10x6m). A. ‘La Paloma’ One of the smaller cultivars of amalanchier with a final height of just 13ft (4m), dangling clusters of white flowers that appear in April and brightred to orange foliage in autumn. Height and spread: 13x13ft (4x4m). A. ovalis ‘Edelweiss’ Perfect for small gardens.…

QI HAVE grown fuchsias for many years, but last year some were affected by what I think is fuchsia gall mite. I am loathed to destroy them all as many are several years old and favourites, but want to control this pest. What should I do? Jane Wraight (via email) AIt certainly looks as though your fuchsia is badly affected by fuchsia gall mite. Unfortunately, advice from the RHS is to destroy affected plants as there is little or no chance of controlling the pest. However, although I’m quite sure they are right, I’m all for having a go if it means keeping plants that you have been growing for several years. Firstly, cut off all the affected shoots and to destroy them, ideally by burning. Don’t compost and don’t…

‘Northern Star’ Recommended for colder gardens, this deciduous variety bears generous umbels of dark-blue flowers with purple stripes. Reaches 36in (90cm). ‘Queen Mum’ Striking, dense, rounded umbels of bicolored funnelshaped flowers in white, with purple-blue at the base. Rises to 4ft (1.2m) on semi-evergreen plants. ‘White Heaven’ This semi-evergreen produces massive heads (up to 9½in/24cm) of white flowers on plants 4ft (1.2m) tall, making impressive container specimens. ‘Castle of Mey’ A beautiful deciduous african lily reaching 27in (70cm) tall with umbels of lavender-blue flowers each petal marked with a darker blue midrib.…

HAVE you grown a dahlia that’s worthy of a medal? Then you could have it judged by royal Horticultural Society experts. The National Dahlia Society Annual Show will be a highlight of the rHS Wisley Flower Show, which celebrates its 25th year from 5-10 September. visitors to the dahlia show are being urged to get involved and enter their home-grown blooms into the ‘My Best Dahlia’ competition, which will take place on 9-10 September. AG readers can simply turn up on either day and bring a single stem of any type of dahlia that they have grown, to be judged by a panel of experts. Over 100 classes of dahlias will ensure a stunning spectacle. The Wisley Flower Show itself will feature more than 50 specialist nurseries, many of which…

TV series Poldark has reignited interest in scything – cutting grass with a blade. Helping Britain Blossom (HBB) says interest is on the up, with gardeners keen to learn how to scythe everything from small lawns to overgrown allotments. HBB’s Leeds project manager Alan Thornton said: “it is a great alternative to the Strimmer – quieter, cheaper and relaxing. For a country with unreliable weather, scythes can be used when wet.”…

We try before you buy A GARDEN bench can be a garden feature and a focal point as well as somewhere comfortable to sit. You can pay hundreds of pounds for a proper teak bench, but with teak increasingly hard to come by, manufacturers have been turning to alternative, sustainably-sourced woods and other materials to make garden furniture. Looking at the cheaper end of the market, we’ve picked a variety of benches ranging in price from below £50 to just over £100. All require self assembly – some being rather more involved than others. Wilko FSC Wooden Bench £50 08000 329 329 wilko.com Features Constructed of sustainably-sourced eucalyptus wood with a flat seat and sloping back. W. 47in (120cm), D. 22½in (57cm), H. 35½ in (90cm). Assembly took approximately 10…

Fill your garden with colour for years to come with 150 bulbs: they’ll burst into life in the spring, filling your borders, containers and patio pots with a gorgeous variety of colour in shades of yellows, blues, mauves, purples and whites. Your collection will include the following varieties ▪ 50 x Allium moly ▪ 40 x Brodiaea ▪ 36 x Chionodoxa ▪ 6 x Fritillaria ▪ 15 x Puschkinia ▪ 3 x Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’ *just pay £5.65 postage Other special offers: OFFER 1 Long lasting blooms Tulip ‘Red Impression’ Spectacularly large and long-lasting blooms on tall, sturdy stems make this tulip a border sensation! Easy to grow, with superb weather resistance, they will return reliably year after year. Height: 22in (56cm). Spread: 8in (20cm). Bulb size: 10/11. ▪Buy…

1 Using sharp, clean secateurs, remove healthy, non-flowering lengths of this year’s growth, approximately 4-5in (10-12cm) long. 2 Strip away the lower needles from the cutting stem and cut 1?2in (1cm) off the bottom of each cutting. Check them for pests and diseases. 3 Dip the cut end in hormone rooting gel or powder to promote strong and healthy root development. Tap off any excess. 4 Insert the cuttings into 3in (7cm) pots of dampened cuttings compost mixed with grit or perlite, which will boost drainage and airflow. 5 Place the cuttings in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse over winter. They will root and be ready to pot on or plant out next year.…

With the dramatic decline of UK hedgehog populations (less than a million compared to 30 million in the 1950s) we should all do our part to support these helpful slug-eaters. ▪ Make suitable gaps in fencing to give hedgehogs ready access to your garden. ▪ If possible, leave a secluded, out-of-the-way area of your garden naturally unkempt. ▪ Do not offer bread and milk to hedgehogs. Ideally give them a specialist hedgehog food instead. ▪ Avoid using slug pellets: hedgehogs will feed on the slugs with pellets inside them, and slowly become poisoned themselves. ▪ Check long grass before mowing, bonfires before lighting and compost heaps before turning. You can also do your bit for hedgehogs and other wildlife by signing up to the RSPB’s Wild Challenge and work towards…

If you have a whole afternoon… ▪ Lawn edging: defining the lawn with edging sharpens the look. Plastic, metal and wooden options are widely available. ▪ New shed/playhouse: provided you already have a level standing area, new sheds and playhouses can go up in a few hours. ▪ DIY fan trellis: make your own elegant custom climbing frames and finish them off with a quality stain or varnish. ▪ New decking: buy a complete decking kit – no cutting, all parts delivered ready for screwing and bolting together. If you have an hour.. ▪ DIY seeper hose: create easy irrigation by drilling small holes in an old hose pipe and spreading out on veg patches and borders. ▪ Late season colour: extend summer flower colour into autumn by planting late…

TopTip After harvesting onions use the softest ones and those with thicker necks first, as they don’t usually store as well as firmer ones and will spread rot to the whole crop if they start to go off. THIS summer’s combination of early heat and mid-season rain means it has been a good year for our onions and shallots. These members of the allium family are fairly low-maintenance crops to cultivate. Ours were grown in enriched soil in a raised bed and all I seemed to need to do was weed them regularly and remove a couple of early flower buds from plants that had ‘bolted’. Now, they have been harvested. Onions and shallots are ready when they have swelled to a good size and their foliage droops and starts…

TopTip Fuchsias with distorted foliage may have fallen prey to fuchsia gall mite, which are largely immune to pesticides. If plants are affected, remove damaged material but infestation is likely to re-occur. THERE are more varieties of fuchsia than you can shake a stick at, and they will add a splash of exotic glamour whatever the size and situation of your garden. We have a standard non-hardy plant that over-winters in the greenhouse, but I always worry about its survival during the coldest weeks. This year, to set my mind at rest, I took semi-ripe cuttings from it, which I will over-winter somewhere frost-free and plant out late next spring when the frosts are done with. Cuttings are easy to take and late summer is a prime time. Always choose…

TopTip Runners potted up now should be ready to go out by October, or next spring if your soil is heavy, waterlogged clay or frozen. Alternatively, plant them up in large containers and keep them in a greenhouse. OUR strawberries have had a prolific year and need tidying-up to ensure they do well in 2018. Next year will be their last year in their current spot as strawberry plants need replacing, with new ones planted elsewhere, after three years to prevent a build up of pests and diseases in the soil. Because they are staying put through another winter, they need sprucing-up now to remove damaged foliage and straw. Garden birds will thank you for doing this because as well as making plants look neater, it removes places where tasty…

Listen to Peter's free podcast every Thursday. Search for 'This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook' on iTunes 1 One colour trend for 2018 is forecast to be strawberries and cream, a mix of plants with red and cream, to yellow flowers. 2 The new Osteospermum 3D Series has semi-double flowers, which will give a longer garden life to each bloom. 3 Greater emphasis on longer plant stems is being introduced to suit gardeners who want to cut flowers. Pictured here is Dianthus ‘Rockin Red’.…

1 Individual summer raspberry canes have a two-year lifespan. They grow in their first year and crop in the next. You’ll clearly see the canes that cropped this summer – they’ll have brown, not green stems and often the leaves are turning yellow. 2 Cut the fruited canes out with secateurs to the base. Wear gloves as the stems are often prickly. As you work along the row you’ll see how many new canes you have. Cut out weaker or poorly placed ones, leaving one strong cane every 6-8in (15-20cm). 3 Now it’s just a case of tying in the new canes. Using twine or soft ties, cut lengths and secure them tightly to your supporting wires. Then tie these ends loosely to the canes so that they are secure…

Tip: Spring-flowering Anemone nemorosa is dormant now, so it’s a good time to lift and divide plants. A pot of anemones makes the perfect Easter gift – nothing like planning ahead I HAD a much-loved collection of cacti on my bedroom windowsill as a child. My 11 year-old son Herbie now has a few plants but he’s lost interest in them. To get him enthused about these fantastic plants I came up with a plan to plant them all in one shallow terracotta pot and create a desert scene. Into the pot we added cacti compost, which is slightly acidic and has a high grit content to ensure good drainage. Cacti enjoy a thorough watering when they are very dry, rather than little and often, and respond well to rain…

HIGHLIGHTS from the summer fruit frame were the strawberries in June. Two years ago I bought the Heritage Collection of strawberries from Marshalls, which includes the tasty ‘Cambridge Favourite’, ‘Royal Sovereign’ and ‘Red Gauntlet’. Buying a collection is wise as they all fruit at slightly different times so you’re not faced with a glut. Now their fruits are a distant memory the straw is raked out of the bed and put on the compost heap. This is the time to look for runners to create new plants. With strawberry plants only offering about four years of top performance it’s wise to nurture the next generation. Simply pin the runner into a pot of compost, wait for roots to form and then cut the new plant free from the parent. Plant…

▪ Growing plants from our weekly free seeds has been one of this year’s gardening highlights. ▪ Yes, it takes time and care, but the glorious mix of colours, shapes and heights now growing in our borders confirm that it has been well worth the effort. ▪ Many of the free seeds work beautifully together and if you sow them broadly, rather than in regimented rows, they will create a breath-taking display. ▪ The seeds we are giving away now will flower next year, so take time to look around you for inspiration – it can be found in unexpected places. ▪ This summer, a roundabout on a busy road close to the AG office has been a mass of poppies, cornflowers and ox-eye daisies. I will remember it and…

Beetroot Lift and brush off soil, but don’t cut off the roots. Twist off leafstalks then pack in layers of dryish sand in a box, kept in a cool shed. Or wash, boil them whole, skin when cool and slice into vinegar. Cabbages, kales & sprouts Most are best tidied up and kept in place in the soil. More tender cabbages are best pulled with roots, stored in a cool, frost-free place. Pickle white cabbage with salt; red with vinegar. Carrots and parsnips Leave half your carrots in the ground, covered with straw and plastic sheet. Lift the rest, twist off leafstalks and pack in dryish sand in a box kept in a cool shed. Leave parsnips in the ground. French & runner beans Green beans can be sliced, blanched…

Preparing the ground There’s no need to dig everything up immediately. You can leave half your carrots in the ground (covered in thick straw for frost protection). Parsnips, kales, Savoy cabbages, Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers, leeks and Jerusalem artichokes can all stay happily planted too until you need them. It will pay to dig out half your carrots for storage, along with all crop residues and roots, especially weedy perennials that’ll be back next year if you’re not rid of them. Spread lime where brassicas or legumes will be planted next season. Sow green manures On bare soil sow green manures both for fertility and to protect the soil against invasion by weeds. These green manures can later be dug straight into the soil or pulled up and composted.…

QI’d like to create a prairie-style border using tough grasses and perennials. What plants do you suggest, and how do I stop the border from looking tired in a few years’ time? Gareth Saunders, Chesterfield A I imagine that you’ve been inspired by the work of Piet Oudolf and other designers who are following the natural garden movement. Low maintenance perennials and grasses are planted in ribbons and swathes, knitting together to smother weeds. They reach a peak of interest from July to September and their seed heads and dying stems are left in place until late winter, when all is cut back. This is a wildlife-friendly style, using many plants descended from species native to North American prairies. Famous examples of Oudolf’s work include the Glasshouse Borders at RHS…

SAV E £14.98 this exquisite african lily is a real head turner throughout summer, bringing architectural stature to containers and the front of borders. Hardy, the foliage dies back during winter to return the following spring and steadily increases its spread. like all agapanthus, this cultivar also makes a showy cut flower. Height: 18in (45cm). spread: 20in (50cm). supplied as 3-litre potted plants. ▪ Buy 1 for £16.99 ▪ Buy 2 for £25.99 – Save £7.99 ▪ Buy 3 for £35.99 – Save £14.98 To order, call direct on 0844 573 2021 quoting AG798Z (lines open 9am-6pm, seven days a week OR order online today at ??thompson-morgan.com/AG798Z OR complete the coupon below in block caPitals. All orders will be acknowledged by letter or email, advising you of the expected despatch…

Gardening for wellbeing A survey of 1,650 people found that 72 per cent garden for more than three hours each week. The study, for Squires Garden Centres, linked gardening to wellbeing. Comma makes a comeback The Comma is the ‘comeback kid’ of the butterfly world, with a 140 per cent increase in population over the last 40 years. Many other species have declined. SOWING seeds, pruning and potting-up plants has been helping troops to cope with catastrophic injuries at Headley Court, the military rehabilitation centre in Surrey. But the scheme is under threat. Each session of horticultural therapy costs £92 and has been funded by charity HighGround. it has assisted over 1,000 servicemen and women over three years. The Ministry of Defence is declining to contribute to the scheme. it…

▪ 26 August: Plant Photography Masterclass, RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. & 0845 6121 253, hs.org.uk/gardens/wisley ▪ 31 August: What Now – September and October? RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. & 0845 6121 253, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisle Please check that the event is still going ahead before leaving home. if you have an event that you would like us to consider please email details to: amateurgardening@timeinc.com…

Next week: Light up a breezy night - we test six ‘hurricane’ candle lanterns Square Foldable Side Table £29.99 free delivery manomano.co.uk A great accompaniment to a garden bench, this Charles Bentley traditional-style small wooden side table is ideal for placing drinks, snacks and your favourite books next to where you’re sitting. Made from FSC certified hardwood and oil stained in a natural colour, it folds for compact storage. Size: 16in (40cm) square x 20in (50cm) tall. Hardwood Garden Furniture Oil £14.94 0114 2409 469 ronseal.co.uk for stockists This protective oil penetrates hardwood to revive colour and replace oils lost through weathering, protecting your furniture from greying and providing a water repellent and weather resistant finish. A rapid drying time of two hours means your furniture can be back in…

Write to: Wendy Humphries, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Rd, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com TWO years ago I moved into a mobile home with a tiny garden. I then became bitten by the gardening bug so I had to work out how to gain more space for plants. This is how I solved it: I bought a couple of fence posts and screwed them horizontally between the upright panel posts. I then built a long rectangular box out of fence boards and screwed it to the supporting posts. I sized them to take plastic windowbox-type containers so that I can ring the changes throughout the seasons. And not only does this bring the plants up closer to eye level, but being raised up means they receive…

SMEARING strawberries across sheets of kitchen roll might seem like a bizarre waste of good fruit. But what’s left, once the paper mops up the moisture and the rest dries, is crop of clean, fawn-coloured kernels ready for sowing into pots. While most strawberry varieties are sold as plants (they don’t come true from seed) there’s one particularly flavoursome type that’s always worth sowing, especially if seeds are gathered from a larger than normal fruit. “Tempting to eat from the plant” Fraises des bois are the best strawberries that most people have never… well, tasted. About the size of a podded pea, soft and often misshapen, it’d take an experienced picker half a day to fill a punnet, explaining why they’re not widely available in supermarkets. They’re also the most…

Feathered friends: Autumn can be dry and birds need somewhere to drink and wash their feathers, so keep bird baths clean and full of water. 1 Your compost heap will be filling up with grass clippings, spent plants and cut vegetation. Using a garden fork, turn it to boost its oxygen supply and help the composting process. 2 As weather gets damper, slugs and snails will become more prevalent. Instead of using slug pellets, drown them in a beer trap – set its lip slightly above the soil so beetles don’t fall in. 3 If we enjoy an Indian summer into October, many plants will display a ‘last hurrah’ of colour, so cut back spent blooms to encourage a late flush of secondary flowering. 4 Pay your local garden centre…

1 Site your mini-pond: the sunnier the location, the more wildlife it will attract. A cut down barrel is ideal, but any large, watertight container will do. Sit it on bricks or slabs and check the rim with a spirit level. 2 Smooth out a section of pond liner inside the container and three quarters fill with water, leaving room for the plants and their pots. Note the volume of water you’ve added (this’ll make life easier at step 4). 3 Get the pond liner as smooth as possible against the container sides and bottom, and staple or tack it in place very high up, just below the rim. Use a sharp knife to cut away the excess material. 4 Add a dechlorinator at the stated dose. This enables you…

TopTip Leave the flowers of some plants, such as wild roses, teasels and fennel, as their seed heads look attractive and provide an important food source for birds and other animals through the winter. LATE summer and early autumn can be a tricky time in the garden as summer’s plants come to their natural end and late-year varieties move to centre stage. Both are at risk from the vagaries of the season’s weather. If conditions take a turn for the worse, plants can be battered by rain and wind. Damaged foliage not only looks unattractive, but creates a weak spot that’s an ideal entry point for pests and diseases. If the opposite happens and the weather is hot, humid and dry, plants will be weakened by drought and prone to…

I CERTAINLY learned a lesson after a disastrous episode earlier this year when a mint I planted out spread through an entire border. Now I am resolved to only grow them in pots, where they belong. However, because they are such robust plants they soon become pot bound and need dividing to keep the plants healthy. Soak the pot in water first so the roots don’t cling to the sides, then gently slide the plant out. Lay it on the ground and either divide it with a sharp spade blade, or cut through the roots with a clean, sharp knife. Discard any pieces that look unhealthy or don’t have strong roots attached, and pot up healthy sections in containers of multi-purpose compost. Water well. I also cut back a flourishing…

▪ Choose a healthy, non-flowering length of shoot and cut it off using sharp, clean secateurs or scissors. ▪ Strip off the lower leaves and dip the cut end in hormone rooting gel or powder. Tap off any excess. ▪ Insert the cuttings into pots of fresh seed and cutting compost mixed with grit or perlite. ▪ Place the pots in a propagator or seal each one in a clean plastic bag to keep the compost damp. ▪ You can tell when the cuttings have taken root as they start to put on new growth.…

LAST year I visited the National Trust’s Corfe Castle in Dorset in late September and spotted a large English ivy, in full flower, covered in hundreds of wasps and bees, feeding on the musty-smelling flowers. The wasps were large social wasps and there are eight species in the UK. Two similar species are common. The common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) has a black anchor mark on the face and the German wasp (Vespula germanica) is slightly larger, generally with three dots on the face. The markings on the abdomens vary, too. The German wasp has black dots between the bands, but the dots on the common wasp are fused into the black bands. Vespa is Italian for wasp and the iconic scooter really does sound like a wasp on wheels. Every…

OUR row of summer raspberries has kept our breakfast muesli bowls topped-up with fruit from early-June until mid-August. Nothing is sweeter than walking outside in your pyjamas, bowl in hand, returning to the kitchen with home-grown berries. Gluts have worked their way into the freezer for winter compotes and preserves, and the abundance helped me to perfect my pavlova recipe, too. Our autumn raspberries will bear fruit into October. But with harvest over for the summer varieties, it’s time to prune back the old canes and tie in the new ones. This is a satisfying task: old canes look tired, so chopping them out feels like a horticultural detox. With new canes tied neatly in place, all that’s left to do is wait until next June, breakfast bowl in hand.…

Next week: How to harvest delicious sweetcorn cobs, pick spinach, sow autumn salads, control wasps and bulk-up alpine strawberries Powdery mildew is a widespread fungal disease that attacks a broad range of crops. As well as courgettes, pumpkins and squashes, you’ll often see the characteristic white powdery growth on the leaves of cucumbers and melons, too. If left alone, white fungus eventually dries out infected leaves completely, causing them to brown and crisp-up. yields are obviously affected, and it’s often at this time of year that attacks occur. On edibles, you can spray with Bayer Fungus Fighter if you’re not an organic gardener. If you’d prefer not to use chemicals then cut off badly affected leaves and ensure your plants are watered and fed well. To prevent problems next year,…

BACK at the beginning of April I revamped the herb bed – and I’m thrilled at how quickly the new plants have settled in and flourished. So it’s now time to make good use of the herbs in my cooking. You’ll be amazed at how impressed your friends will be if you add a little pizazz with freshly grown herbs to dishes. Pick your herbs and edible flowers just before you cook with them or serve them and you won’t be able to miss the incredible flavour they will instantly provide. For summer barbecues I’ve been making lamb kebabs and adding chopped rosemary to the marinade. A favourite of mine is salmon baked on the barbecue in foil with a knob of butter, a slice of lemon and some dill.…

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ Most alliums offer dramatic seed heads but I enjoy the perfect sphere that remains once the flowers have faded on ‘Purple Sensation’. Tulipa sprengeri Neat heads, low enough to the ground not to get too battered by the weather. Bulbs are pricey, so it’s tempting to pick the seed heads off to steal the seed! Nectaroscordum siculum When in bloom the flowers hang like bells. Once faded the seed pods face up to the sky giving the seed head a very different appearance to the flower.…

IN the cutting garden my attention has turned towards the graceful spires of gladiolus. These reliable flowers are certainly a colourful option to have. If you’re keen to grow gladiolus, then plant corms at intervals from May through to July so that you’ll get a succession of flowers during August and into September. They’re greedy plants so if yours are flagging, water them well. A comfrey feed just before flowering gives them a boost. Sweet peas are now at an end and the seed pods are changing colour. When they’re paper bag brown, and dry, I’ll collect them ready for sowing next year.…

1 Rake the ground clear of weeds and debris and create a fine tilth to help germination. Water the soil before sowing. of weeds and debris and create a fine tilth to help germination. Water the soil before sowing. Step by step 2 Sow seeds in curves and swathes rather than lines. Thin the seedlings as they grow for improved plant health and spacing. 3 Rake a thin layer of soil over the seeds and gently tamp it down using the back of a rake to help prevent the seeds being washed away. 4 Raked soil and seeds are a magnet for cats and birds. Protect seeds using a chemical deterrent or twigs laid across the ground.…

GET everything ready first – your digging fork, gloves, containers and dryish sand or used compost for packing. And make sure you’ve prepared somewhere to store them. Handle everything carefully: vegetables bruise easily and will rot soon after. Never try to store anything that’s already bruised or damaged – use it up straight away along with anything that’s undersized or less than perfect. And don’t bother trying to store or process anything that’s already gone over. It’ll never get any better. If you’re aiming to process your crops by pickling, drying or freezing, then it’s best to do so immediately after harvest as few vegetables improve with keeping.…

▪ Echinacea purpurea The sturdy pink coneflowers reach to 4ft (1.2m) and are easily raised from spring-sown seed. They thrive when cold winters allow proper dormancy, and prefer well-drained soil. ▪ Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ Purple-tinged, grey-green leaves make a wash of colour, joined by heads of pale-pink, starry flowers on stems 24in (60cm) high. Droughttolerant, easy from cuttings and tolerates improved clay. ▪ Lysimachia clethroides The name gooseneck loosestrife aptly describes long-lasting, arching spires of white flowers. Plants reach up to 3ft (90cm) and suit a moist soil. ▪ Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Album’ This culver’s root sends up ethereal spires (4ft/1.2m) of small white flowers and dies gracefully. Tolerates drought and improved clay soil.…

▪ Turning these large plants from their pots is no mean feat... then you’re faced with a mass of fleshy roots. ▪ Use an old, long-bladed kitchen knife to carve down between the individual sections. it doesn’t matter if you divide them into single or multiple crowns. ▪ Choose a pot large enough so you can firm compost around the roots gently and easily. use a 50:50 mix of John innes No.3 and a soilless multipurpose compost. ▪ Set in position and water in thoroughly using a rose on the watering can.…

GARDENS and zoos saw the most significant growth in visitors last year at UK attractions that open to the public. According to VisitEngland’s Annual Attractions Survey, gardens experienced growth of eight per cent during 2016, as gardeners flocked to grand estates. The survey of 1,545 English attractions, found that historic houses and castles experienced a seven per cent rise in visitor numbers, while parks witnessed a four per cent increase. Kew Gardens led the way, with visitor numbers rising from 1,622,821 in 2015 to 1,828,956 in 2016. The Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at wisley was a star performer, too, with attendance soaring from 1,087,927 to 1,135,976 during the same period. Cornwall’s Eden Project saw visitor numbers rise from 960,029 and break through the one million mark, with 1,000,363 people flocking…

Summer is the perfect time for alfresco dining and there’s no better place for a feast than your garden. Throw in a healthy, wholesome meal after a long day in the garden and you have a recipe for a well-earned ‘FitNic’ – a balance of outdoor exercise and eating! An afternoon tending flowers or mowing should be rewarded with delicious goodies and debbie&andrew’s sausages make the perfect centerpiece to alfresco meals. To enter visit amateurgardening.com/debbieandandrews Closing date: 29th August.…

PROPAGATE summer-fruiting strawberries now and they’ll be big enough to bear fruit next summer. Most cultivated strawberries propagate themselves from plantlets that grow from ground-hugging stems known as ‘runners’. You can leave to root where they are but they are best trowelled-up and replanted into their own rows to make picking easier and to keep them in a separate age group. This is important as each generation crops for just three years before becoming exhausted. The best plantlets are nearest to the parent as they are the biggest, but the next one along the runner is worth keeping, although it will be slower to reach fruiting size. Once moved, water in and mulch.…