Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-Jun-2018 i Amateur Gardening

FOR many people, the arrival of the first swallows (not just one, obviously!) means that summer is here. But for gardeners, the season has finally turned when bedding plants become available to buy. Many varieties are tender and need decent temperatures to survive, so their annual return is truly a reason to celebrate. Containers – including hanging baskets and window boxes – are a wonderfully versatile form of gardening. They work for whatever space you have and can be used for plants that suit every situation and condition, from sunny rural patios to a shady, windy urban balcony. This issue of Amateur Gardening is dedicated to helping you create the best containers yet. I look at the practicalities and suggest the best composts to use, and a variety of plants…

Many edible plants grow well in containers and make attractive alternatives. Herbs are an obvious choice. They grow well and can be kept conveniently near the kitchen door. Many soft fruits do well too. If you have alkaline soil, the only way to grow healthy blueberry bushes is in pots of ericaceous compost. Dwarf fruit trees (look for M27, M9, M26 and MM106 for apples; Quince C for quince and pears; Pixy for plums and gages and Gisela 5/G5 for cherries) will also grow well in a pot. Turn to page 37 for Anne’s masterclass on crops in containers.…

A SUMMER garden isn’t complete without a few jolly hanging baskets. A great idea is to hang a basket of scented trailing petunias (such as Tumbelina ‘Most Fragrant Ever’ or Petunia ‘Frills and Spills Anna’) near a seating area and let them fill the air with fragrance. Other top basket plants include lobelia, pelargoniums, pansies, fuchsias and trailing brachyscome. When planting, the best growing medium is proprietary compost that’s moisture-retentive, free-draining, nutrient-rich and includes water-retaining ingredients. If you are using multi-purpose or a loam-based compost such as John Innes No2, add water-retaining granules so you have to water less frequently. Line your basket with a coir lining (or moss collected from the garden), as this will allow water to drain through. Wicker baskets often come ready-lined, but if you are…

Buy roses when in flower, so you can choose the colours you like and check their fragrance. If you want fragrance and masses of blooms, Rose ‘Charisma’ is worth seeking out. Rose flower colour will deepen and be richer as autumn approaches and the night temperatures start to drop. When rose petals begin to fall, it is a good time to apply a second dressing of rose fertiliser to boost the second and subsequent flushes of flowers. Clematis are good partners to climbing roses. Seek advice from specialists to get a clematis cultivar to suit your chosen rose cultivar. A visit to David Austin and/or Peter Beales Rose Gardens at this time is both entertaining and educational.…

1 Ladybird: There are more than 40 ladybird species in the UK and they are ferocious predators of aphids. One seven-spot ladybird can eat up to 5,000 aphids a year! 2 Ground and rove beetles: These large bugs eat slugs, leatherjackets and cutworms. Larvae live in the soil and eat invertebrates and their eggs. 3 Hoverfly: Not to be confused with bees or wasps, these little flies pollinate plants and lay their eggs near aphid colonies, which provide a ready source of food for their larvae. 4 Lacewing: These delicate beauties feast on aphids. The larvae suck their juices and may even hide under their drained skins awaiting more prey!…

June 15-24: Delphinium Week: Godinton House, Godinton Lane, Ashford, Kent TN23 3BP. 01233 643854, godintonhouse.co.uk 16: Where’s Best to Place That Plant: Crug Farm Plants, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1TU. 01248 670232, crug-farm.co.uk 16-17: Open Gardens: Cranborne, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 5QB. 01725 551242 16-17: Plant Society Show: RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley 16: Mill Dene Gardens talk: School Lane, Blockley, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos GL56 9HU. 01386 700457, milldenegarden.co.uk 16: Hens and gardens: Great Comp Garden, Comp Lane, St Mary’s Platt, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8QS. 01732 885094, greatcompgarden.co.uk 20-24: National Insect Week: RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley 22-24: Harlow Carr Flower Show: Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr 24: Little Waltham Open Gardens, (classic…

LAST week (AG 9 June) I told you about my short-lived stint on a question-and-answer radio programme called Dig It. I was conscientious, and I wrote down every question asked on the programme. Sometimes the gardener had chosen an extremely poor plant, and this is a good opportunity to bang on about the RHS Award of Garden Merit. This award is often shortened to AGM, or it’s shown as a trophy logo. These awards are normally the result of an extensive trial and this is something I’ve been involved with for 12 years now. Some of the best brains in horticulture (and I’m not including me in the list) judge these trials, so if you’re buying a plant it’s really worth checking whether it has an AGM. If it has,…

1 The way figs crop in the UK is slightly confusing, so let me lead you through it. Only fruitlets initiated in autumn ripen in our temperate climate. Now is the time to boost autumn fruitlet numbers. Cut back by half any new growth on your tree, using sharp secateurs. 2 This pruning will stimulate the fig tree to produce multiple side shoots. By pruning now, the side shoots will lengthen and develop an excess number of fruitlets come late October. At that point the tree will begin to lose its leaves, but the fruitlets will remain on the side shoots. 3 The vast majority of these fruitlets will pass through the winter unharmed. Come spring, they then have a head start, and successfully swell and ripen in our temperate…

Choose a site that gets sunshine for at least three-quarters of the day. Pinks are happy in most soils, so long as the drainage is good. Don’t plant pinks where they will be smothered by their neighbours. Mail-order plants are sometimes sent out as large plugs; these are best potted into 7cm pots and grown on in a cold greenhouse before planting out when the roots emerge from the base. Plant in spring and water in well, with liquid feed added to the water. Keep moist until established. ‘Devon Dove’ Set prettily against blue-grey foliage, the slightly flattish, clove-scented double flowers are pure-white with faint creamy tints and neat lacy serrations to the petal tips. Good for cutting, with noticeably rigid stems. H: 16in (40cm). ‘Doris’ Fully double pale-pink flowers…

ONE of the most exciting things about taking on a garden that’s a blank canvas is filling it with your favourite plants. I certainly couldn’t wait to start introducing some treasures when I acquired my first garden, a 9x4.5m (30x15ft) plot in East London. Once I’d stamped a structure on the space I set about planting up beds, adding climbers to fences and arranging numerous large pots on the patio. A couple of years later I’d run out of space, after squeezing more than 250 different plants into the garden. As a plantaholic I was determined to find other ways to shoehorn more plants in and hit upon the idea of utilising the redundant surface of compost beneath all the trees, shrubs and architectural plants that were displayed in containers.…

Q Our garden is tiny and I don’t have time for digging and weeding, but I would love to grow edible plants in containers. I tried a few salad leaves in a pot in the spring, but didn’t get much off them. What compost should I use and do the veg need feeding? Peter Howarth, via email A Raising veg in a collection of containers might be easier than managing a vast allotment, but this is a dynamic type of gardening and there is plenty to do. Small compost changes between crops, making sure there are seeds and plants at the ready to fill gaps, watering, feeding and regular harvesting are all important. I’m very fond of the old Chinese proverb ‘the best fertiliser is the shadow of the gardener’,…

Q What is this and how do I prune it? Trevor Bayes, via email A Your plant is probably Deutzia magnifica ‘Staphyleoides’. A beautiful shrub, it is best pruned after flowering. All you do is cut back a third of older flowered shoots to lower side shoots or to a node (stem joint), and new stems will appear from stumps to flower next year. Q Could you please tell me the name of this orange flower? Christine Boyd, via email A This is a globeflower. The Latin name is Trollius and it is in the same family as buttercups. I’m not quite sure which variety you have as it is difficult to get a true sense of the colour from a photograph, but I think it might be ‘Golden Queen’…

June jargon “June is bustin’ out all over” was sung by Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones in the musical Carousel (1956). And Flaming June is a classic painting (see right) by Sir Frederic Leighton (1895), the title of which has become a synonym for hot days during the month – or more often cries of derision and sarcasm when June days are cool and cloudy! But references to June are not confined to the arts – there are plenty of ‘Junes’ used in gardening parlance too, so let’s look at some of them… What is June drop? June drop is the name given to the natural phenomenon of apple trees shedding some of their young fruitlets. It is normal for up to a third of all fruit to fall from…

A host of June hostas These lovely leafy border perennials are generally regarded as plants for lightly or dappled shady borders. However, ‘June’ (see right) is a variegated British hosta with a blue-green outer edge to the leaves and a bright yellow centre. It needs plenty of sunlight, especially early in the season, to develop and retain its golden central colour. Other hostas with ‘June’ in the name include ‘June Fever’ (see left) with leaves of shiny gold and a thin blue-green margin; ‘June Spirit’, chartreuse with wide blue-green margins; ‘June Moon’, lime-green with a white margin; and ‘Frosted June’, yellow with a white margin. National fun ‘June’ days Where else but America can you have official days dedicated to such things as popcorn? Well, I’m pleased to say there…

‘Chartreuse Group’ This Barnhaven seed strain produces ruffled blooms of cream with pale green or white shading. ‘Elizabeth Killelay’ The double gold-laced blooms have good fragrance and a sumptuous Tudor tapestry appearance. ‘New Pinks’ This Barnhaven type has pretty, delicate pink shades described as raspberry and wild rose. Ideal for spring borders. ‘Reverie’ The blue flowers have a yellow or orange star centre. They would look great with narcissus or hyacinths. Reaches 6-8in (15-20cm).…

NOW don’t get me wrong… I think hyperbole is quite literally the best thing ever, but when overused it can be misleading. I once viewed a house encouragingly described in the estate agent’s blurb as being ‘in audible distance of the A10’. Thinking this meant it was in a nearby village I schlepped over to find that the lounge was right next to the slow lane, making the joy of listening to car radios and traffic a permanent fixture. A characteristic of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show brochure is that the garden descriptions are also embroidered with estate-agent spiel and don’t always match up with reality. ‘Water features represent sea views,’ is an example which, when translated, really means ‘garden with small pond’. However, once the superfluities have been stripped…

1 Standard trees are ideal for containers. Underplant them with colour that can be refreshed through the seasons. 2 Planting just one variety in a pot creates a blast of concentrated colour that catches the eye and creates drama. 3 Wellie boots, old cans, disused metal watering cans, even toilets and baths can all be adapted to make funky eye-catching planters. 4 If you prefer to use traditional bedding, give it some edge and height using grasses. Choose coloured and variegated varieties for extra drama. Ready for bedding? Don’t miss next week’s AG (in the shops 19 June) for everything you need to know about summer bedding.…

1 RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year: Hydrangea Runaway Bride Snow White. Masses of delicate white lacecap flowers and gently weeping habit. Tipped to become a firm favourite. (Available from T&M and Hayloft Plants). 2 Runner-up: Eryngium ‘Blue Waves’. ‘Blue Waves’ has the largest bracts of its type, with long-lasting flowers and repeat blooming. (Available from Hillier garden centres, Burford Plants, RHS plant centres). 3 Third place: Helianthus annuus SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl. Reputedly producing 1,000 dazzling golden flowers per plant, it blooms from May to October. It’s pollen-free, so ideal for cutting. (Available from T&M). 4 Dahlia Lubega Power Tricolour. A stunning plant that changes colour as the season progresses. Flowers from mid-summer…

THE garden that really had us scratching our heads was Skin Deep, which combined flowers and cement blocks ‘to represent people with varying skin conditions’. The promotional blurb explained how the plants and blocks image our skin and reflect our ‘joys, stresses and worries in the form of everything from wrinkles to birthmarks’. AG editor Garry Coward-Williams said: “When you have to explain what the garden is trying to communicate then clearly it has failed in its aim. Having read their description in the show guide I was none the wiser. “After you had been through the garden you would apparently realise that ‘We may feel weakened by our appearance, but when we see collectively we are not alone, we can be strong’. I wonder how many people grasped that…

1 Start by standing your basket on a bucket or large pot to raise it and keep it stable during planting. 2 Start filling until you reach the level where you want your trailing plants to grow from. 3 Using a sharp garden knife, carefully cut planting holes around the side of the basket. 4 Plants are easier to insert if you clingfilm their roots. Remove it once all the trailers are in place. 5 Add more compost and your top planters, such as fuchsias, petunias and violas. Top up the compost level. 6 Water well and leave to drain before hanging it. The plants will soon grow and fill any spaces.…

THIS is National Insect Week, a biennial event that encourages us to learn more about our six-legged friends (and enemies). Insects, good and ‘bad’, are more at threat than ever before from pesticides, urbanisation and intensive farming where many native wildflowers have disappeared. Our gardens are increasingly important for insects, so we need to help them where we can. Start by planting native plants instead of exotics and highly bred cultivars that have little pollen and nectar and are hard to access by bees and butterflies. Also, grow a succession of plants that provide food for insects all year, from crocuses in early spring to Michaelmas daisies and ivy in autumn. (Ivy also makes excellent hibernacula for overwintering creatures). Leave an area of garden to grow wild, sow some wildflowers…

ONE of the things that struck me most at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was the foxgloves. They were in gardens everywhere! Modernist cement-block gardens, large show gardens and (best of all) small, artisan plots all incorporated them in their designs to great effect. Their tall spires in white and shades of pink, cream, orange and blue never failed to give structure and traditional elegance. This week’s free seeds are for Mr Fothergill’s ‘Foxy Mixed’ foxgloves which, if sown now, will flower in mixed pastel colours. These cottage-garden favourites are biennials and will develop leaves this year and flower the next. Our garden is full of them as they seed freely in our light chalky soil. For the best results, sow thinly now in trays, modules or pots. Water,…

“Hens are pretty easy to care for” HAVE you ever considered keeping a few hens or a couple of ducks? Increasing numbers of people are doing so and finding them tremendously productive. They’re also pretty easy to care for – far less faff than a cat or dog. And you have a supply of fresh eggs on tap, which can never be a bad thing! Poultry has many other advantages for gardeners. Not only will the birds get much of their sustenance from your garden wastes and surpluses, but they can also be used to process your compost ingredients – just chuck it at their feet and let them get started. They will happily search out any edible foliage, fruit and most of the seeds, and while doing this they…

THERE aren’t many fruits that immediately make me salivate at the mere thought of them, but figs are an exception. Quartered, accompanied by Parma ham and mozzarella, then seasoned and drizzled with honey, it’s the food of gods. Or how about split open and baked in a frangipane tart? While the crop is a little while off ripening just yet (more’s the pity), there’s a task you can complete now that will ensure maximum numbers of fruits next summer. And if there’s anything at all that I can do to encourage that, then it gets my vote! Let me explain it, step by step (see right). Wield that hoe to prevent weeds! WEEDS are such a pain. They can zap the motivation of experienced and novice gardeners alike, marching forth…

RUNNER and French beans are stalwart crops for most grow your owners – they’re easy, prolific and taste delicious. Those of you in milder parts might well have got yours outside already, but for the rest of us mid-June is plenty early enough to get these tender veg into the ground. Hopefully, as directed by yours truly in late April, you sowed some in pots under cover – if not, don’t worry, because garden centres will sell seedlings. The leaves of beans are lush and delicate, so it’s essential to acclimatise them to life outside to prevent them becoming scorched. I harden mine off by planting them outside in their final positions and cloaking the plants in a vertical wall of horticultural fleece. Because I plant climbing varieties, I can…

It’s often said that these plants are called ‘pinks’ because so many varieties have pink flowers. In fact, the name for the colour may have come from the name of the plant. The most likely theory is that they were called pinks from the Celtic word pic (peak in modern English), referring to the serrated edge of the petals. This word also gave us the term ‘pinking shears’, special scissors used to cut a serrated edge. In the 17th century words such as ‘blush’ or ‘flesh’ were commonly used to describe pink flowers, and Shakespeare used the word ‘carnation’ for the colour pink. ‘Pink’ was not in common usage as an adjective for describing colour until the middle of the 18th century, when these plants were beginning to become more…

Chives Easy to start from seed, this perennial herb will spread to form a mat of grassy leaves and lilac flowers in summer Ipomoea ‘Lime’ A semi-trailing foliage plant with 3ft (90cm)-long stems and zingy, lime-green leaves. Drought and heat tolerant Vaccinium macrocarpon ‘Howes’ Introduced in 1843, this cranberry forms a trailing vine clothed with evergreen leaves and elongated, shiny-red fruit Nasturtium ‘Empress of India’ This trailing variety boasts dark-green leaves with a reddish tinge that is the perfect backdrop for the orange blooms Viola ‘Penny Yellow Jump Up’ Forming a compact mound 6-8in (15-20cm) tall, this viola boasts yellow and purple flowers with a delicate scent Mixed salad leaves Mixes containing mustards look good thanks to their colourful leaves, which will also provide…

Patio Peter Pan The hybrid tea-type blooms on this repeat-flowerer are dark red and are set off well by glossy leaves. Reliably floriferous, it will brighten a sunny spot on the patio from June to September. H&S: 1ft (30cm). Flower Power (‘Frycassia’) Plant this rose in a container positioned next to a bench or beside a path so you can enjoy the striking orange-pink blooms with their spicy fragrance. Repeat flowering from July to September. H&S: 1ft (30cm). Carefree Days In bright pink, the bold and beautiful double flowers will repeat flower throughout the summer (from June to September). They appear in clusters and really stand out from the glossy foliage. H&S: 16in (40cm). Miniature Robin Redbreast Excellent for ground cover, this miniature is low growing and repeat flowering from…

Buff tip An incredible moth that, when at rest, resembles a silver birch twig. Night-flying from May to June, it’s widespread across Britain. Likes hedgerows, open woodland and gardens. Caterpillars feed on the leaves of deciduous trees. Blood vein Buff-coloured, with a trademark reddish-brown line across the wings and pink-tinged wing edges. Seen during the day in low vegetation. Flies May to September, and is common in England and Wales, but less so in Scotland. Heart and dart The grey-brown wings are blotched with black and there’s a black V-shape across the collar. Males are generally paler. Two generations per year – April to May, and August. Common in England and Wales. Mint moth Small brown moth with distinctive golden-yellow spots. Flies both day and night, and can often be…

Am I pruning my wisteria right? Q This is our wisteria, which I trim every now and then. It thrives on it – but is this the right way to do it? And have you ever seen a better wisteria! Tony Wildey, Norwich, Norfolk A I wouldn’t like to say whether it is the best one ever as there are some stunning examples to be seen in gardens all over Britain, but yours is quite splendid. It must be a challenge when doing some pruning regularly, but the method obviously works for your plant. I’m wary of giving too much advice as your plant is so floriferous, but here is the recommended way to prune a wisteria, just for your interest. However, it takes no account of rampant growth that…

WEEDS grow at an alarming rate at this time of year. If you don’t keep on top of them, plants won’t grow as well as they should and your garden will look a mess. A long-handled hoe used regularly will keep areas of open soil clear of weeds, but in tightly planted flower and vegetable beds you need more control otherwise you risk damaging plants you want to keep. We looked at small hand tools with different designs of head, to see which does the best job of knocking out weeds while leaving your prized plants intact. None of them worked perfectly on all weeds, so for best results you will need more than one tool. Sophie Conran Weeder £16.99 0114 233 8262 for stockists or visit burgonandball.com…

12 June 1914 John Seymour, prolific early author in the self-sufficiency movement, was born. His seminal book, Self Sufficiency, was published in 1970. He died in 2004. 15 June 1621 The first greenhouse in Britain was erected in Oxford, in preparation for a predicted severe autumn and winter. It had no heating and, during the winter nights, a gardener had to wheel a charcoal fire around to keep the temperature up. 16 June 1975 American Randy Farland found a 14-leaved white clover (Trifolium repens) near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 17 June 1974 A tree, the Molucca albizia (Falcataria moluccana), was planted in Sabah, Malaysia. In its later life it was recorded as having the fastest rate of growth for any tree, at 35ft 3in (10.74m) in 13 months – that’s…

Flower power I LOVE wildflowers and my first memories of them were seeing them growing on London bombsites in the 1950s. I was born in North London in 1948 and my mother would take me by train to Liverpool Street Station and then by bus to the West End shops. Many of the city’s bomb sites had not been redeveloped until years after the war had ended, and I still have vivid memories of the bombed-out basements of huge buildings covered with wildflowers growing in the rubble and up the walls. There was rosebay willow herb (called fireweed during the war), ox-eye daisies, buddleja, poppies, ragwort, forget-me-nots and foxgloves. These wild plants were joined by cultivated plants whose roots and seeds survived the carnage of Hitler’s bombs. Nature will always…

DESIGNERS at Chelsea use three basic layouts on their rectilinear plots and all are useful, especially when setting out new gardens. The ‘diagonal’ design with an entrance at one corner and a pavilion that draws the eye on the opposite side, makes the garden seem bigger and distracts from the boundary. ‘Barcode’ designs divided into a series of rectangles make a narrow garden feel wider, while designs with a central serpentine path are perfect for plant lovers as borders are big and create areas to hide out of view from overlooking neighbours.…

1 Water your plants and stand them in water so the rootball is soaked and is easy to slide from its pot. 2 Dig an angled hole for your pot so the opening is higher than its base. Pack soil around it so it is secured. 3 Add crocks and some gritty soil to help drainage, then fill the pot with container compost. 4 Place the plants (still in their pots) on the compost until you create an arrangement you are happy with. 5 Add the plants with the tallest ones at the top, grading down. Intersperse them with training varieties. 6 Water the pot well and replace any compost that is washed down. Add slug-deterrent pellets too.…

AG COLUMNIST Peter Seabrook had a very successful Chelsea 2018. His stand, which was a four-sided pyramid celebrating container growing, was awarded a prestigious Silver-Gilt medal. It contained 24 new varieties of plants and featured the show’s Plant of the Year, Hydrangea Runaway Bride Snow White and third-placed Helianthus annuus SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl. It also included several of this year’s short-listed plants, including Dahlia Lubega Power Tricolour, and Isotoma axillaris Fizz n’ Pop Glowing Purple. Peter said: “Our aim throughout was to show what a wide range of plants can be grown in containers and to include plants grown by schoolchildren. “It is of note that people talk about attracting young people into gardening, but we were the only exhibitor to bring to the show, and onto an exhibit,…

All in a week’s work THE work that goes into keeping the Great Pavilion’s cut-flower displays looking fresh throughout Chelsea week was explained by daffodil expert Johnny Walkers. Johnny, who has 22 Chelsea Gold medals, forces his bulbs, then cuts the flowers 10 days before the show when they are perfect and keeps them in cold storage. The first batch of flowers start to droop after a couple of days, so Johnny and his team make the six-hour round trip back to base in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, to replenish the display. They do this twice during Chelsea Flower Show week! Optigrow is Product of 2018 THE winner of the RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year 2018 is Mr Fothergill’s Optigrow seeds, which AG is trialling successfully. Optigrow is a revolutionary…

MEETING AG readers from behind the rope at national flower shows like Chelsea is a great way to hear your views, listen to your successes and hopefully help with gardening problems. The visitor profile is now changing, and we see a greater percentage of younger people these days, with folk more interested in an entertaining day out rather than being on a shopping mission to furnish their gardens with new plants. “Support this Prettiest Rose Competition” Internet trading with prompt delivery to your door is having a dramatic effect, not just on small specialist family nurseries, but also on big chains, with Homebase/Bunnings and Wyevale, among others, facing difficulties. Horticulture has commonly been cyclical, with small businesses amalgamating into large groups that come under pressure when, for example, snow over…

Each year sees more plants added to our borders and each spring finds me puzzling over an emerging shoot wondering ‘what on earth is that – and when did I put it there?’ In a bid to be more organised, I have started keeping a diary with diagrams of what’s going on in the garden. This will hopefully stop me digging up dormant bulbs and buying plants I already have. I will also keep notes on which plants failed, and why, so I can either avoid replacing them with the same varieties or take the right steps to treat any problems.…

Advertising your event for free on our ‘What’s on’ pages certainly pays dividends. We received a lovely email from the organisers of last month’s Clavering Open Gardens, who advertised their event in ‘What’s on’. As a result, it was very busy and received lots of visitors who donated generously to the open gardens’ chosen charity. They wrote: “Thank you so much for putting our Clavering Open Gardens event in your magazine. “It was fantastic – we got more visitors than ever before on a fab sunny day, and raised £2,850 for our local MENCAP. We are all most grateful for everyone’s support.”…

1 Remove (with gloves or scissors) flowers and (poisonous) green tomato-like seed pods from potato plants for a bigger crop. 2 Lay wet newspapers either side of rows of potatoes to trap slugs underneath. It makes them far easier to find and remove, so there’s less slug damage to the leaves and tubers of potatoes. 3 When watering, be very careful not to splash the flowers of courgettes, pumpkins, marrows and squashes as this may start the rotting process. 4 It’s Father’s Day on 17 June, so why not offer to do any gardening job your dad requires? Weeding, watering, hoeing – his wish is your command!…

IF you live in a mild part of the country, I envy you, because you could be tucking into the very first cherries of the season. Early varieties such as ‘Celeste’ and ‘Early Rivers’ ripen in mid-June, whereas others such as the jet-black ‘Penny’ won’t colour up until August. That’s far too long to wait! As cherry fruits ripen, their skin becomes softer. It also becomes more porous, and if the fruits get rained on the skin can absorb water causing splitting to occur. For commercial cherry growers this spells disaster because split fruits quickly rot – and it’s not much good for us gardeners, either! Luckily, splitting can easily be prevented. You may well have seen row upon row of small trees covered in polythene tunnels while driving around…

GARDEN pinks have been popular since Elizabethan times, when their perfume was especially valued. Back in the 17th century domestic life was, shall we say, less fragrant than it is today, making any flower or herb with a strong scent particularly welcome. By the early 19th century the focus had shifted from that clove-like fragrance to the flowers, and pinks were favoured by florists. They were also popular with exhibition growers: while Lancashire cotton workers championed the auricula and the miners of Yorkshire grew pansies, the weavers of Paisley in Scotland developed pinks. Favourite varieties tended to be those with intricate patterns of dark and light colours, and a smooth rather then toothed edge to the petals – so much so, that by 1840 more than 100 different “laced pinks”,…

Feed plants grown on poor soils in spring, using a general fertiliser. Just don’t overdo it as this will make growth soft and floppy. Deadhead when the last flowers in each cluster fade – cut out the whole stem at the base. Cut for the house as colour starts to show in the buds. Keep away from fruit as the ethylene gas it gives off will shorten the vase life of your flowers. Pinks are not long-lived perennials so propagate your favourite varieties by taking cuttings of non-flowering shoots in summer. Most problems are caused by soggy soil, or the plants getting old. However, aphids can also be troublesome.…

Mixed salad leaves are the perfect choice for growing under other plants in containers, as they are shallow rooted and compact. These tender leaves are ideal for sowing any time from late April until the end of August. For an informal crop, scatter seeds thinly across the surface of the pot and cover with a ½in (1cm) layer of finely sieved compost. If you prefer a neater display, use a garden cane to make short rows, ½in (1cm) deep, and sow seeds along its length. Carefully cover with soil. Water well, and thin out overcrowded seedlings when they’re about 1in (2.5cm) tall – the distance will depend on the variety, so check the information on the back of the seed packet. Leaves will be ready for picking about three weeks…

BLACK SPOT A fungal infection that affects leaves, which will eventually drop off. Destroy all fallen leaves and spray with a product containing fungicide – these will be clearly labelled for tackling black spot. There are both organic and chemical options available. APHIDS Small green insects on your rose buds and shoots. Organic solutions include simply squashing them or using either a spray containing fatty acids or a homemade soapy spray. Insecticides are available, but these should be avoided once roses are in flower. POWDERY MILDEW This fungus is easy to spot: leaves are covered in a white powder. Prune any affected stems and leaves; water regularly and mulch around the base of the rose. In spring, apply a fungicide before the problem develops.…

Moth traps consist of a wooden box, Perspex sheets and a lightbulb. You can make your own, but if you’re not experienced with electrics it’s best to purchase one as a kit (visit angleps.com ). There are two types of bulb to choose from: mercury vapour (MV), which are very bright and best used only in places where you won’t annoy the neighbours; or actinic, which give off less light. Place your moth trap on an old white bedsheet as this will also help attract moths. Collect some egg boxes and put these inside and outside the box, to give the moths somewhere to settle. You’ll also need something to help you identify them – try the Field Guide to Moths of Great Britain and…

Q One of my tomato plants has developed some kind of disease and I am not sure how to tackle it. Can you help? Derek Ward, via email A The tomato leaves are showing signs of a disorder called oedema. This occurs when a plant contains more water than it can use, resulting in swollen water-filled areas on the leaves. After a time the swollen areas are likely to cause some cell death with brown or corky patches developing. It is not a serious problem in that it is unlikely to have a significant effect on plant growth, but it does indicate that the growing regime might not be quite suitable. Oedema results when a plant is growing in excess humidity and/or has too much moisture at the roots. The…

Kew Collection Midi Onion Hoe £14.49 0114 281 4242 for stockists or visit spear-and-jackson.com Features Polished stainless-steel head, long 12in (30cm) handle in FSC hardwood. Leather hanging loop. Sales support the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Overall length 19 3/4in (50cm), head width 3 1/8in (8cm). Performance Looks great. Light to handle and well balanced. Classic half-moon onion-hoe head chops easily into soil, and is then used push-pull to scour small weeds from the soil surface, cutting their heads off. It was easy to work up close to plants and control the depth of action, so avoiding damage to shallow roots. Covered large areas quickly, and long handle offers excellent reach. Won’t tackle deep roots of dandelions or similar, but ideal for clearing annual weeds in flower and veg…

Westland Gro-Sure Smart Patch mix is designed to repair any patch in any lawn quickly and easily. It can be used in high-traffic areas where the lawn is worn away, in patches caused by pet urine damage, in shady conditions such as under trees, and in and around children’s play areas. The 1.2kg pack will treat 15 patches of 45cm diameter using approximately 75g per patch. We have two 1.2kg packs to give away, each worth around £10. 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 Westland Gro-Sure Smart Patch Mix Draw (16 June), Amateur Gardening, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7BF. Or you can email your details to ag_giveaway@timeinc.com,…

OWNER: Alison Napier ADDRESS: 9 Main Street, Horsley Woodhouse, Derbyshire, DE7 6AU GARDEN SIZE: 1/3 acre ASPECT: South facing (slightly west of) SOIL: Well-worked clay. Slightly alkaline VISITED: July SPECIAL FEATURES: Hilltop garden overlooking farmland, with terracing and planting designed for colour effects. Pergola, large wildlife pond, bog garden, gravel and scree gardens. OPEN FOR THE NGS: Saturday and Sunday 4 and 5 August, 1.30pm to 4.30pm. Private visits by arrangement – see ngs.org.uk for more details.…