Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-Dec-2017 i Amateur Gardening

AS the weather has become colder, I’ve been moving more plants into the sanctuary of the greenhouse. The latest arrivals were an olive, a standard fuchsia and a tender banana (after I’d removed its leaves down to a stump). I know I have left it relatively late, but the really cold weather has yet to arrive here in the south, and as our garden is quite sheltered the plants have been enjoying life outside for longer than they usually do. It can be very easy to stow your tender plants away in the greenhouse for the winter and then forget all about them. In this instance, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is not a happy scenario. Left alone, plants will fall foul of a range of pests and problems,…

1 Add a layer of gravel to the bottom of a clean pot to help drainage and prevent waterlogging. 2 Add your first plant at the same depth as its rootball and remove any oversized, damaged or tatty leaves. 3 Add a variety of plants with differing foliage for interest– they will soon grow and fill empty gaps. 4 Water the plants well. This helps settle the compost around their roots and remove air pockets.…

I’M still finding plenty of things to prune in the garden, the latest being our Potentilla frutocosas that haven’t been touched since we moved in a few years ago. We have three varieties with white, butter-yellow and bright-yellow blooms, and they flower beautifully. However, they have been growing out of shape so needed cutting back to restore their form. Generally-, potentillas need very little maintenance and hardly any intricate chopping back, so I grabbed my shears and gave them a trim to remove any out-of-place branches. They look much better and should come back strongly in the spring. This is your last window for pruning sappy shrubs that are prone to bleeding when branches are removed. Acers and vines are the worst culprits. Vines grow rampantly and respond well to…

IF you want your tree fruits to be free of most of the moth caterpillars that prey upon them, this is your last chance to get greasing your tree trunks. I put mine in place in the autumn, but have been double-checking them this week and painting over any that have become clogged with debris, as this can potentially offer moths a bridge to the top of the tree. Grease bands and sticky strips prevent the wingless females of several species of moth climbing fruit trees and laying their eggs on the branches. They do this after emerging from their pupae in the soil at the base of the trees. In spring, the eggs hatch and the caterpillars eat leaves, blossom and developing fruitlets of many fruit and deciduous trees.…

1 House plants and those in cold frames and greenhouses need inspecting and then watering if needed as they’re likely to be overlooked during the next fortnight. 2 Buy potato and onion sets, and leek, onion and early tomato seeds as soon as possible as these are soonest needed. 3 Use stored apples before they go over: apple pieces or puree can be added to all sorts of festive sweet and savoury dishes. 4 Sow batches of mustard and cress in trays every three days for greens to go in all those post-Christmas turkey sandwiches!…

Test the pH level of your soil WHILE things are quiet on the plot, it’s good to give your soil a health check. Your soil offers the lifeblood to abundant, healthy growth, so if it’s out of kilter then your crops will suffer. Soil pH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline (chalky) your soil is. Some nutrients become ‘locked up’ in the soil at pH extremes, so they are unavailable for plant uptake and cause deficiencies within your crops. It is therefore very important to get the levels right. Most fruit and veg are happy with a neutral soil (pH 7), while slight acidity or alkalinity (pH 6-8) is fine. However, some fruit and veg, such as blueberries, need very specific levels Here’s how to check it (see…

Pruning an overgrown apple tree Q Should the tips of the branches on this apple tree be pruned and should the branches lower down be thinned? Mildred Hughes (via email) A The tips of the branches of your apple tree seem largely to be made up of water shoots – vigorous upright growths produced by hard pruning. These are generally unproductive, certainly in their first year, but can become productive by pruning. Remove about one third of these – those that are growing in the wrong direction, right through the middle of the tree, or straight up, those that are crossing or rubbing other branches, those that are potentially casting shade over productive branches, those that are weak or whippy take right back to their base. Of the remaining water…

Prize Draw The Peckish Winter Warmer Ready To Use Feeder is packed with high-energy seeds and grains to provide a variety of garden birds with the energy they need, when they need it most. Simply unscrew the base, tear off the seal and hang on a tree or dining station. No mess and no fuss! We have five 400g feeder packs to give away, each worth £4.99. See below for details of how to enter the prize draw. How to enter Send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Peckish Winter Warmer RTU Feeder Draw, Amateur Gardening, 2 Pinehurst, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7BF. Or you can email your details to ag_giveaway@timeinc.com, heading the email Peckish Winter Warmer RTU Feeder Draw. The closing date is…

IF you planted a patio container or hanging basket of spring bedding, the plants will be starting to slow down now. However, this doesn’t mean they can be ignored, because winter is a tough time for most plants and those growing in containers are especially vulnerable. These plants need protecting against bitterly cold conditions that can freeze their compost, causing pots to crack and roots to die off. The greatest dangers to containers at this time of year are waterlogging and freezing. Saturated compost will drown the roots, killing plants, while frozen, wet compost expands, cracking pots and damaging plants. Pot feet are a cheap solution, and once the container is raised water can escape and the risk of freezing and waterlogging reduces. Feet also help prevent pests from crawling…

“Plants in small pots will need extra care” INTEREST in tiny plants for “fairy gardens” and indoor decoration continues to grow, with Pentland Plants, near Edinburgh, now supplying Scottish Garden Centres with micro Cyclamen ‘Verano’ in tiny 6cm pots. The number of flowers from such a small root system is quite remarkable. These cyclamen will be good companions to the 6cm poinsettias now produced in the hundreds of thousands and shipped out in decorative pot covers to supermarkets around now. Each year The Sun works with the Stars for Europe Campaign to promote poinsettias, giving away plants this size to every pupil in six or so primary and junior schools across the country. Ideally, they are given out during the end-of-term Christmas musical event, when parents are in the audience.…

Dec 15-24: Stories with Santa: RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 01423 565418, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr Dec 15-24: Magic of Christmas: RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 01423 565418, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr Dec 26: Boxing Day Walk: RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8RA. 0845 265 8071, rhs.org.uk/gardens/hydehall 2018 Jan 4: Pruning Shrub Rose and Wisteria workshop, RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8RA. 0845 265 8071, rhs.org.uk/gardens/hydehall Jan 6-Feb 25: Women in Horticulture exhibition, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 01423 565418, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr Jan 8-Feb 25: Bath House Gallery Japanese Gardens exhibition, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 01423 565418, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr Send details of events to ruth.hayes@timeinc.com or address…

NOW is the perfect time to prune apple trees that need a little shaping, as they are devoid of leaves and the stems are bare. It’s not essential to prune your apple tree, though – we have a huge mature tree in our garden that was laden with fruit this year and I’ve never taken my secateurs to it. However, if you need to keep your tree to a certain size, or are in the initial stages of training it, grab the secateurs, loppers and saw, and follow this simple step-by-step guide (see below left). Grow kiwi fruit IT’S nice to dream of delicious fruits in the depths of winter, and sliced kiwis always make an appearance in our festive fruit salad. Exotic they may be, but tropical they’re not…

“We can’t see these blue halos” WORKING at home has its advantages, and one of them is escaping to the garden when the weather’s clement. I watch the bees at work while I have a cuppa, and I learn a lot about which flowers they visit and when they do it. There’s no doubt that bees like blues, and some blues, such as borage (Borago officinalis), are hardly ever without a bee. Flowers appear colourful to us because they contain light-absorbing pigments and these reflect light. Some are also iridescent, and iridescence is produced when light is reflected from structures or surfaces. I was therefore fascinated by some new research written up in Nature in October this year. A multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the University of Cambridge’s departments of…

IT’S said that patience is the secret to a great garden. This may be true, but in some cases time is not on our side. If you’re living in rented accommodation you’ll no doubt know the frustration of this only too well. There’s also the issue of cost to consider. Who wants to invest in a plot belonging to someone else that’s only short term? On the other hand, you might simply be a gardener who just can’t wait to see the results of your handiwork. In both cases, there are ways and means of creating an immediate effect. Tanya Batkin, of Vergette Garden Design tackled the instant garden with her 2017 RHS Chatsworth Flower Show garden. “With my eldest daughter now at university, it made me think about the…

Moving house… and garden IN May of this year we had to move house. My main concern was for my garden, which I had changed and added to quite considerably over four years, including adding a veg patch in a raised bed. I became quite distraught at the thought of leaving all this behind. “Can’t you dig everything up and take it with you, Mum?”, suggested one of my sons. I simply sighed and snorted at such a silly suggestion. But later, I was asking myself if this could work. On the Saturday prior to our house move, two of my sons and I made an early start on what must have been the worst weather in May. Fighting gusting winds and driving rain, and coping with frozen fingers, we…

SOME houseplant tool kits offer just the basics, while others add spray misters (essential for keeping the leaves of some indoor plants moist), secateurs for deadheading and removing faded foliage, and even colourful gardening twine. We’ve tested a range of six kits suitable to offer as Christmas presents, and put them through their paces on potted houseplants ranging from herbs in 7cm pots to large conservatory-style plants. The standard sized-hand tools are more suitable for use on large container plants that you might grow in a conservatory or greenhouse. 14-Piece Pathonor Set £17.56rrp (currently reduced to £8.99) p&p £3.99 amazon.co.uk Features A houseplant care toolkit designed for succulents that includes two trowels, a rake, two scoops, a dibber and pricker, two tweezers, mini snips, a leaf brush, an air dust…

IF time is running out and you are stumped for an idea of what to give certain people, look no further than what you have grown yourself. The garden can be an Aladdin’s treasure house of potential gifts after a bountiful year’s work – and there is nothing wrong with the judicious recycling of plants, so long as they still look good. I hate to see waste, so when one of my containers of mixed houseplants was past its best I decided to salvage the healthy ones and re-pot them as a gift. As I show you below, it is an easy task to complete and the resulting pot is an ideal prezzie, especially for someone who is housebound or doesn’t have a garden. Houseplant compost is, obviously, the best…

WINTER may give some respite from insect pests, but it is a prime time for an invasion by larger plant predators. When food becomes scarce in the wild, rabbits and deer happily wander into the garden to dine on greenery. Young trees may have their bark stripped if there is no other food available. This weakens the plant and can kill it if bark is completely removed around the trunk, a process known as “ringbarking”. Rabbits and deer will also strip plants of young shoots and foliage. The simplest form of deterrent is trunk guards around young trees. Fencing and hedging will work, but it needs to be tall enough so the deer can’t jump over and dense enough so they can’t squeeze through. Deterrent sprays are another option, although…

1 Where moisture is drawn up into compost by capillarity, it keeps the base of cyclamen stems dry and therefore reduces the chances of any soft rots developing. 2 The stems of poinsettias make good cut flowers. Either cauterize the cut end for a few seconds in hot water, or dust it with powdered charcoal to stop the flow of white sap. 3 Remove fading flowers from cyclamen by twisting stems through a half circle and tweeking out cleanly.…

“Winter-flowering evergreens carry delicious scents” I’LL warrant that in almost any garden you’ll find several evergreens, and that’s without counting conifers. This is a huge change as in Britain we have very few common natives of either group. That’s one reason the holly and the ivy – along with mistletoe – were traditionally so important for our winter decorations. Yew was taboo and, along with gorse, had other more important uses. Although evergreens such as bay laurel, sage and rosemary made their way from the Mediterranean early on, it wasn’t till the Victorian era that the huge variety of evergreens and conifers became really established. Their constant appearance, becoming somewhat funereal if overdone, really appealed to the times. Indeed, you sort of know you’re in an old Victorian garden by…

1 I always quote this as my first pruning step, and but it works! It’s essential to remove ‘the three ds’ – dead, diseased and damaged growth – before carrying out any other pruning. Cut well back into healthy wood when doing this. 2 Now make any major structural cuts. For example, take out crossing or congested growth, reducing the length of wayward shoots, or take out sappy shoots from the trunk of old trees. Young trees probably won’t need this step. 3 If you have a young plant, you’ll probably need to shape it and train in new shoots. As well as the freestanding orchard-style shape, apples can be trained as cordons, espaliers and stepovers, so it’s a case of building up the framework branches. 4 Apples are predominantly…

Will rose replant disease be a problem for new bushes? QI want to add some new roses, but part of the bed I plan to use was occupied by a few old rose bushes that we dug out a couple of months ago. I know replant disease can be a problem, and plan to treat the new roses with Rootgrow, but will this still work if it has been stored in the shed for a few years? June Beasley, Cumbria A You are right to be concerned about rose replant disease, or rose sickness as it is sometimes called. Although the causes are uncertain, it is a fact that new roses planted into soil recently vacated by old ones often fail to thrive. The dieback and poor root growth are…

PUT the winter blues behind you and look forward to a summer garden brimming with bright and cheerful blooms! This top-quality collection of herbaceous perennials will fill your garden with colour from June to September next summer and for many years to come. Collection includes the following: Liatris x 6 Gypsophila elegans ‘ Rosea’ x 4 Physalis x 4 Eryngium planum x 4 Alcea rosea x 2 *just pay £5.65 postage Other special offers: Rose ‘Lovestruck’ Attractive, bushy shrubs produce lightly fragrant, pink-dappled, double blooms from late spring into autumn. Pinnate leaves are divided into dark-green leaflets, creating a fabulous backdrop to the flowers which are yellow on their reverse. Supplied as bareroots. • Buy 1 for £12.99 • Buy 2 for £19.99 – Saving…

Two Large Easy Fleece Jackets £5.99 + £4.99 delivery 0118 903 5210 primrose.co.uk Protect your bigger exotic and tender plants from frost and harsh weather with these large-size polypropylene fleece jackets. A drawstring around the opening makes them easy to secure so they won’t blow off, and a natural green colour helps keep them unobtrusive. H. 5ft 11in (1.8m), W. 4ft (1.2m). Oase Pontec PondoPolar £9.99 + £2.99 delivery 01904 698800 bradshawsdirect.co.uk This polystyrene floating device keeps the area of pond beneath it ice-free, allowing oxygen in and poisonous pond gasses out, so fish remain healthier beneath a pond otherwise covered with ice. As well as vent slots the PondoPolar incorporates a ballast chamber, allowing it to be weighted with sand to keep it partly submerged and stop it blowing…

“One such gift was a gnome given by a friend” AS gardeners, golfers and owners of more than one cat know, people with interests are easy targets at Christmas for hobby-themed gifts that, not wishing to be rude, are frankly surplus to requirements. One such gift was a gnome given by a friend that I immediately put in pride of place behind the garden shed. That was until the friend’s family came to call and Norbert the Gnome was hastily dusted off and plonked where he couldn’t be missed, taking a tinkle on the lawn. Shortly after exposing him – quite literally – to the light, I was gripped with the worry that my duplicity would be mistaken for a sign that I liked gnomes and wanted more! So, before…