Innholdsfortegnelse for 30-Sep-2017 i Amateur Gardening

IT’S easy to feel a bit miserable at this time of year. The days are getting shorter, the weather is going downhill and no one is quite sure whether it’s permissible to turn on the central heating yet. If there doesn’t seem a lot to look forward to, take heart, because this is the perfect time to give your garden a bit of winter sparkle. Garden centres are packed with myriad different varieties of autumn and winter bedding plants. There are pansies and violas, bellis daisies, stocks, cyclamen, sweet Williams and many more. Some are large plants, some are smaller pack varieties and you can also buy bare-root plants that will develop strong roots over winter before growing and exploding into colour next spring. Autumn and winter bedding plants are…

THERE’S always something to buy for the garden, and autumn isn’t a time to hold back on necessary expenditure. Over the coming months it will need protecting from whatever the weather throws at it. However, the products you buy need not break the bank. It makes sense to do a stock take of items before you start spending, to avoid duplication. Many garden centres work hard to separate you from your money by selling gimmicks that look great but are superfluous to anyone’s requirements. So here is my list of a few essentials for the winter garden: Pot feet or a wheeled stand: Use these to raise containers off the ground and allow excess water to escape. This helps prevent it freezing and expanding in the container compost and cracking…

RAISED beds are an excellent way of gardening in a restricted area or on unproductive soil. They are relatively easy to build and if you are unable to do so, many readymade ones are widely available. If you are worried about the chemicals often used to treat wood used for raised beds, alternatives include hard wood that can last up to 20 years (though the initial financial outlay can be steep) or recycled plastic boards that also last for many years. Existing wooden beds should be preserved now for the winter. If they are used for food production I would use an organic product such as linseed oil or Eco-Wood Treatment, available from Harrod Horticultural. Keeping your bed productive ▪ The soil in raised beds has a finite source of…

THERE is no need to limit your bulb-buying to the garden. At this time of year you can also buy specially ‘prepared’ bulbs that will flower indoors in time for Christmas and the New Year. The bulbs have been readied for early flowering by being subjected to a period of intense cold that tricks them into thinking they have survived winter. As a result, they flower several weeks before they would do normally. The most popular plants for forcing are those with pretty flowers and strong scent, such as hyacinths and a delicate variety of Narcissus called ‘Paper White’. Plant them in a pot of loamy compost or, if their container has no holes, bulb fibre. This contains crushed shells and charcoal to absorb moisture and prevent the bulbs from…

1 The top-growth of these plants will get knocked back by frost, at which point tubers will stop growing. Insulate rows with straw and then lay rigid cloches (glass ones are ideal) or a double layer of extra-thick fleece over the straw to insulate the roots. 2 Now comes the gamble – how long do you leave your tubers in the earth before lifting them? You can leave them longer on light, sandy soils. A harsh frost (-3 or –4°C) will damage tubers and compromise their storage life, so follow local weather forecasts. 3 Once the tubers are lifted (usually in November) gently rub off any loose earth and store them somewhere dry, cool (but frost-free) until needed. Burying them in boxes of dry sand will prevent tubers withering and…

1 Prepare the ground well by removing any obvious weeds or debris. If the ground is dry, water well as it’s difficult to wet the soil once the mulch has been laid. 2 Spread the mulch thickly and evenly over the surface. A 2-3in (5-8cm) layer is ideal – any thinner and it won’t be thick enough to prevent weeds from germinating. 3 Don’t pile mulches up against the stems of woody plants. The retained moisture will lead to their bark softening, making plants vulnerable to rotting or diseases.…

1 Using a spade lift an area of turf from your lawn or wild patch of garden and dig it over using a hand fork to loosen the soil and create a fertile seedbed. 2 For the most attractive results, scatter the seeds randomly so they will grow in a natural formation. Sow them thinly. 3 Water in the seeds well. When they have germinated, thin them out to 6in (15cm) apart. Next spring, sow fresh batches every three weeks for a constant blaze of colour.…

Apples If you have apple trees in need of renovation or reducing in size, it’s tempting to start now. But it’s actually better to wait until November, when all growth has ceased for the season. Raspberries Cut shoots that have fruited this year down to the ground now, making space to tie in the new growth that will carry the fruits next season. With autumn-fruiting raspberries, cut all stems to the ground. Plums and cherries Leave pruning until the summer. The spores of the deadly silver leaf disease are especially active in winter and will infect pruning cuts and kill branches following autumn and winter pruning. Blackberries and hybrid berries Now’s the time to cut out all the shoots that have carried fruit this year. It’s often easier to untie…

Can I grow a rose in a half-bar rel? Q I would like to grow a standard rose in a wooden half-barrel with a 1in (2.5cm) drainage hole. What compost should I use and if I add mycorrhizal fungi, should I not mix it with bone meal as it could poison the plant? Richard Saberton, March, Cambs A I am delighted that you wish to grow a rose in a half-barrel. First, make more drainage holes, ideally around 1in (2.5cm) in diameter and 6in (15cm) apart. Sit the tub on pot feet to ensure that surplus moisture freely drains away and cover drainage holes with 4in (10cm) of crocks or small stones. Add 4in (10cm) of loam-based John Innes potting compost No 3. Fill in with more potting compost augmented…

1-20: discovering Victorian Gardens (course), RHS Lindley Library, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2Pe. & 02078 213050 or e-mail: library.london@rhs.org.uk 1-31: Sculpture trail, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, north Yorks HG3 1QB. & 0203 176 5830; ??rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr 2-3: autumn garden lunch, Belmond le manoir, Church Road, Great milton, oxford oX44 7Pd. & 01844 278881 or go to ??Belmond.com 3-4: RHS Harvest Festival Show, 80 Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2Pe. & 020 7821 3650. 4: What now autumn, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Rosemoor, Torrington, devon eX38 8PH. & 0203 176 5830 or ??rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor 6-8: Festival of Trees, RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. & 0845 6121 253 or ??rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley 6-19: orchard display – amazing apples, RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. & 0845 6121…

Write to: Wendy Humphries, Amateur Gardening, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com Star letter White for purity I LOVED seeing the white themed courtyard garden in Get the Look (AG, 9 Sept). The owner said she had chosen the colour white to create a sense of peace and calmness. I would agree that white is a restful colour. I too used blues and greys to complement pure white flowers and this ties in well with our white clad front porch. When my daughter got married in June, a painted ladder shelf gave guests a warm welcome with cut flower posies, potted herbs and trailing basket plants. Pots of white marguerites kept going all summer long, and we’ve successfully taken cuttings and given the young plants…

Nurseryman and former Gardeners’ World host FOR foodies ‘in-the-know,’ the finest salt is made in Anglesey, the most vanilla-ry vanilla grows in Madagascar and chocolate isn’t worth ripping from the wrapper unless it’s bitter enough to wipe the smile from a lottery-winner’s face What’s surprising in this age of food deification is that apples have been left so far behind. Supermarkets sell a wider range of coffee than they do of this diverse and flavoursome fruit. Just nine of the thousands of apple varieties available regularly appear on the shelves and while the cheerfully named ‘Katy’ and ‘Fiesta’ have good flavours, they are by no means the best. This lack of choice is lamentable but presents gardeners with an opportunity to plant something better and tastier. One of my favourite…

1 Create space by removing spent summer bedding. If any has set seed, save them for next year’s sowing. 2 Remove weeds. Don’t compost perennials and those with seedheads, as they will germinate in your heap. 3 This is a good opportunity to check for pests, especially slugs and snails that lurk among close-growing foliage. 4 Fork over the border. Squish any creamy snail eggs you unearth, or leave them out for the birds. 5 Dig a load of well-rotted organic matter into the bed to help new plants establish and feed the soil.…

1 Check your trees are securely staked before the first winter storms. Make sure they aren’t tied too tight and have room for movement 2 Place containers on feet or wheeled stands in anticipation of autumn and winter downpours. 3 Stock up on horticultural fleece and bubble wrap to swaddle outside pots and help prevent them cracking in freezing conditions. 4 Install a water butt. It will soon fill up and the water will keep until drier times. Rain is better for plants than tap water.…

1 Remove the top level of turf. An area 6ft (1.8m) by 4ft (1.2m) is ideal. Mark the corners with posts. 2 Cut the side planks to size and attach them to the posts. Use a spirit level to make sure they are horizontal. 3 Build the bed to the required depth, then cut down the corner and side posts so they are flush with the top. 4 Protect the flat tops of the cut posts with wood preservative, as lingering rain can cause them to rot. 5 Cover the base of the bed with rubble and lay the removed turf upside down to rot down and enrich the soil. 6 Fill the bed with topsoil, soil improver and well-rotted organic material. It will settle over the winter.…

Listen to Peter's free podcast every Thursday. Search for 'This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook' on iTunes ORNAMENTAL cabbages and kales have been around for many years but have remained just that – pretty, hardy brassicas to use in autumn and early winter bedding schemes. The more compact types are good for planting in mixed containers and the taller ones to cut and arrange in water with flowers. The cut ones last very well, but the water can go pretty smelly in warm conditions if not changed regularly. Lately things have been changing with recent introductions being both attractive and edible. In the case of kales they’re pretty fashionable too, as they’re considered by many to be a super food. Old cultivars were tough and winter weather hardy…

GARDEN snails (Cornu aspersum) cause almost as much heartbreak for the gardener as slugs do. In damp summers they graze throughout the day, generally sliding up and down linear foliage like that found on crocosmias, hemerocallis (daylilies), kniphofias (red hot pokers) and irises. I constantly frisk these plants during the growing season and remove them. I also have brown-lipped snails (Cepaea nemoralis), which prefer broadleaved plants, and a few white-lipped snails (Cepaea hortensis). Newly hatched snails look like tiny versions of the adult and grow by adding whorls to their shell. As the juvenile nears adulthood it lays down a lip around the mouth of the shell, often decorated with ridges and prominences, and ceases to add whorls. Adults have a final size and thankfully don’t continue to get any…

TREES and shrubs with berries and fantastic leaf colour, along with the odd late flowering bulbs or perennial, are the usual candidates for adding a splash of colour late in the year. But there’s another interesting choice if you fancy something a bit different – a hardy bromeliad known as Fascicularia bicolour. Native to the coastal forests of Chile, it’s related to a number of plants – the best known is Ananas comosus or pineapple – that herald from tropical rainforests and are generally raised as houseplants in this country. Fascicularia bicolor on the other hand is a tough as old boots, easily capable of putting up with temperatures down to -10°C. The plant forms a large rosette of toothed green leaves up to 18in (46cm) tall and 24in (60cm)…

Cut back hard Delphiniums Cut the hollow stems back to the ground to prevent slugs hiding inside and eating the crowns. Drop an organic slug pellet or two down the remains of each stem. Take the same approach with perennial lobelias and overwintered dahlias. Hellebores Cut off the foliage of lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) in October as black spot disease overwinters on the leaves to infect new flowers as they emerge. You can leave any prettily marbled leaves, but if black spots appear, remove those too. Verbascum Cut verbascums and foxgloves back hard to prevent self seeding and to encourage the rosettes of foliage to overwinter. It is from these rosettes that next year’s flowering stems will emerge in late spring. Cut back partially Chrysanthemums Some garden chrysanthemums are…

PLANTS have a few basic needs: they must receive light to photosynthesise and produce energy, they must have water, they must have nutrients and many must have soil to anchor their roots in. Within these boundaries there are vast planes of difference. a desert cactus comes from a completely different world to an understorey tropical plant, yet you can get both to grow in your house, possibly even next door to each other. a plant grown in a pot is almost entirely reliant on you for all its water and food needs, while an indoor plant also relies on you for how much and what kind of light it receives. and while you can play god with houseplants, endlessly taking them to the brink and reviving them at the last…

We try before you buy SPLITTING logs by hand for your fire or stove can be backbreaking work. So if this is a job you have to do regularly an electric-powered log splitter can save a lot of your energy – and be safer than wielding an axe, too. Machines were tested on good knot-free sliver birch branch wood, as well as much tougher knotted and twisted trunk wood. All was fairly green – it’s much easier to split unseasoned wood, and I generally stuck to the recommended maximum log length and diameter. All are heavy and feature bogey wheels and a lifting handle to make moving them easier. They also have four short legs to give stability when operating on a flat surface. In all cases a winged nut…

1 Start by placing larger plants on the soil in their pots until you get the right arrangements. The smaller plants will go around them. 2 Carefully tease out their roots and plant them as deep as their rootballs – they don’t like being too deep or shallow. 3 Firm in the soil around the plants and water them well, even if the ground is damp and rain is forecast. 4 Protect the tender young foliage from slugs and snails. I like to use a wool-based deterrent that also acts as a mulch.…

EVERYONE wants to save a bit of money, so what do you reckon are the most profitable crops you can easily grow for yourself? You certainly can’t leave garlic out of the equation – it’s a doddle to grow and few crops are easier. You simply stick individual cloves in the ground right now in autumn and next summer you dig up whole garlic bulbs of 10 or more. Garlic is virtually bombproof and can be grown almost anywhere, even under rose bushes (honest, I did this to discourage fungal diseases in the roses with some success). However, although garlic will taste good given tough conditions, it will probably grow rather small cloves. If you want really big cloves you must work a bit harder and make sure the soil…

IN the past couple of years mail order veg catalogues have been tempting us away from the humble potato. Sweet potato, oca, ulluco and yacon are the UK’s new kids on the block – but how do you grow them successfully? Like potatoes, all are tender but unlike spuds most require much warmer soil conditions to thrive and don’t start forming tubers until mid-September. If you’ve grown any yourself you’ll know to plant them in free-draining soil in full sun, so what now? The most crucial point is to keep the foliage growing for as long as possible, so I’m covering up my oca and ulluco plants with cloches packed out with straw (just insulate the tall yacon stems with straw). There are a few more secrets of success, which…

MULCHING the ground in autumn is essential for keeping our garden soil in great shape – helping to lock moisture into the soil, improving its structure, encouraging beneficial soil organisms and creating a layer that prevents weed seeds from germinating. Rain will wash a lot of the goodness out of soil, but mulches release new nutrients into it as they rot down. A lot of the plants in my garden are only borderline hardy, and mulching helps to insulate the roots of these vulnerable plants during a cold snap. In milder parts of the country material can be spread over the top of tender bulbs and herbaceous perennials to protect them from frost. But mulching also has an aesthetic benefit. Nothing looks more pleasing than a bed, border or similar…

ALTHOUGH wild poppies flower in summer, their symbolism is at its greatest in autumn, as our minds turn towards those who have fallen in war. This week’s free seeds from Mr Fothergill’s are for Wildflower Poppies. They will create a vivid splash of brilliance in your garden and once introduced will readily self-seed. Wild poppies are evocative not just of remembrance, but also of hot summer days with clear blue skies and ripening fields of wheat ‘bloodied’ by this popular flower. They are easy to grow and will tolerate hostile environments – they are often seen growing in roadside verges and other places with poor soil. Sow them now, in arcs and curves to create a natural, flowing display, or save them until next spring. You can also sow them…

Everyday use Bypass secateurs Spear & Jackson Razorsharp For most jobs, choose a pair of good quality bypass secateurs. The blades have a scissor action and pass one another on the cut to avoid bruising green stems. Ensure handles are comfortable in your grip and that they suit your left or right-handed operation. Make sure you can reach the blade locking catch with your thumb. Cutting hard stems Anvil secateurs Wolf-Garten Comfort Plus Pruning tough deciduous shrubs in winter, or cutting hard dead stems, may be easier with anvil secateurs. The top cutting blade chops down onto a flat lower surface. This model will suit left or right-handed use as the blade lock is on the top, and the neat handles could suit smaller hands. Very hard stems Geared bypass…

Ultimate all-rounder Cardoons are imposing, statuesque perennials with a huge mound of silver spring foliage and 3m (10ft) stems topped by fat purple summer thistles that produce masses of oil-rich autumn seeds. The heads can be sprayed gold or silver for Christmas. Unbeatable for looks Miscanthus tops the list of grasses for winter seed heads, fluttering in silvery white. ‘Kleine Silberspinner’, ‘Morning Light’ and ‘Silberfeder’, in particular, hold their heads well into winter. And you’ll rarely get self-sown seedlings. Best for birds Teasels (above) and sunflowers are both popular with birds such as goldfinches. The former look lovely rimed with frost, while the latter are more colourful. I cut the sunflower heads off as they dry and hang them on the fence, then compost the stems. What about the shrubs?…

Why are my Bramleys so small? Q The fruits on our Bramley are getting smaller year-after-year. It crops well but the apples are nothing like the lovely big fruits in the shops. Should I feed or prune it? Lynne Peckford, Holland-on-Sea A Those impressive, commerciallyproduced ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ apples don’t just look good but are easier to handle, too. A couple of large fruits suffice for a pie, crumble or peeling, while coring and slicing is less fiddly than coping with a dozen smaller ones. The route to larger fruits lies in the pruning and spur-thinning of trees in winter and the thinning of developing fruits in summer, to divert energy into fewer, larger apples. In commercial orchards, trees are pruned regularly to control shape and production but at home we…