Innholdsfortegnelse for 17-Aug-2019 i Amateur Gardening

IN summer, it is easy to devote all our time to getting the best from flowering plants and edibles. But do make time to look after trees and shrubs, especially those growing in confined spaces. Although most established ones growing in the ground can largely be left to their own devices, those planted within the past five years and any growing in containers will need help to stay healthy and productive. They also need regular checking for pests, especially vine weevil grubs that kill container plants by eating their roots. We have a potted willow that was growing fantastically until, literally overnight, its leaves shrivelled and it started to look very sickly. Watering and feeding did nothing to revive it so I treated the soil with a vine weevil drench.…

1 Fill a 4in (10cm) pot (ideally clay) with cuttings compost and perlite and water well. 2 Remove 4in (10cm) pieces of this year’s healthy, non-flowering growth using sharp secateurs. 3 Strip away all the large leaves from the length of the stem, leaving just the top tuft of foliage. 4 Dip the cut ends in hormone rooting compound, gently tapping off any excess. 5 Insert the cuttings around the edge of the pot so they don’t touch each other. 6 Seal the pot in a clear plastic bag or half a plastic bottle and place in warmth and light out of direct sun.…

17: Beekeeping Demonstration: RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/ gardens/harlow-carr 17: Introduction to Dry Stone Walling: RHS Harlow Carr 18: Classic Car Day: RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8ET. 0845 265 8071, rhs.org.uk/ gardens/hydehall 19: RHS Members Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr 21: Walkies at Wisley (dog-friendly evening): RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. 0845 6121 253, rhs.org.uk/ gardens/wisley 23: RHS Members Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr 23: Wisley Live Lates: RHS Wisley 23-26: Contemporary Craft and Design Fair: RHS Garden Hyde Hall 24: Beekeeping Demonstration: RHS Harlow Carr 26: Really Wild Learning: RHS Rosemoor 26: RHS Members Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr 29: Falconry Display: RHS Rosemoor 30: RHS Members Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow…

1 Place crocks in the base and fill the trough with a mix of loamy John Innes No3 and gravel or grit to improve drainage. 2 Place plants on the compost in their pots until you get the right arrangement. Then slide them out and plant. 3 Once they are all planted, water them well. In future, they will need little water unless we have a period of prolonged drought. 4 Cover the compost with a layer of gravel. This helps drainage, looks attractive and deters weeds, slugs and snails.…

When your seedlings have germinated, you need to remove the lid from their container and make sure the compost is kept moist. Opening the container to the atmosphere means there will be good airflow between each plant, lessening the risk of fungal problems. If seeds have been sown too close together, this is a good time to thin the seedlings, giving the most robust room for proper growth. Seedlings are extremely vulnerable to dehydration, so keep their compost damp, avoiding wetting the leaves if possible. I find a water spray works well, as long as you direct the nozzle at the compost and don’t spray too vigorously!…

VOU might have noticed black spot on your roses this month, and nothing looks worse than a defoliated rose. However, there’s no reason to put up with black spot any more, because there’s been a green revolution in rose growing since the 1970s. It all began in Germany, nearly 40 years ago, when the German rose breeder Kordes found itself on the brink of collapse. German gardeners, who are extremely ecofriendly, would not buy roses because they suffered from disease. Something had to be done, so Kordes allowed thousands of seedling roses to take their chance and stood back and waited. Six were finally selected and a new breeding programme started, and the company has produced healthy roses ever since. Some British breeders have also adopted a no-spray regime on…

CAN you imagine Mexican, Indian and Italian dishes without these summer staples? The collective void left in the world’s kitchen would be huge! Being the daughter of commercial tomato growers, I’ve spent hours with my head in a tomato plan and to not grow these on my plot each year would be impossible. Chilli growing can be addictive, too, with nurseries such as Sea Spring Seeds, Simpson’s Seeds and the South Devon Chilli Farm devoting a huge amount of energy to the breeding and cultivation of these frequently piquant peppers. To grow successfully, your tomato and chilli peppers require ample warmth (both are tender, so begin to falter once temperatures fall below 16ºC/61ºF). Assuming this has been provided via a greenhouse or sunny, sheltered position outside, your harvests should now…

PLANTED out as tiny seedlings in June or July, your leeks should now be starting to thicken their shanks and look slightly more robust. So keep their growth rate on a steady incline by paying attention to what they (and other alliums such as onions) really hate: weeds! With no ability to create a smothering canopy of foliage in their lifetime, leeks are especially vulnerable to competition from nuisance plants, so the likes of chickweed, fat hen, annual nettle and shepherd’s purse can quickly check their growth. Research gives an alarming statistic: for every day that weeding a bed is delayed, allium yields are reduced by four per cent. If you procrastinate for just under a fortnight, your overall leek yield could be reduced by half! Seize the day and…

1 Chop back summer strawberries to remove all the old, tired foliage . With a dilute balanced liquid feed, they’ll soon spring back into life . 2 Sweetcorn cobs up and down the country are ripening now . Look for plump sheaths, a brown tassel and lemon-yellow k ernels. 3 While leaves are the general name of the game , allow some plants of fennel, coriander and dill to run to seed – the seeds are delicious, too! 4 Check your melons for ripeness. Watch out for small crack s on the fruit shoulder around the stalk and, more obviously , a truly delicious perfume . Lovely! 5 Pumpkins and winter squashes need sunlight to reach the fruits in order to set the skins well. L eap in with secateurs…

Order tubers, rooted cuttings, young plants or garden ready plants in winter. Start tubers off in 12½cm pots of fresh compost, in a light, frost-free greenhouse. Pot up rooted cuttings and young plants, and grow them on in a bright, frost-free place. Harden off the developing plants carefully before planting out. Prepare planting sites by working in weed-free organic matter. Plant out in a sunny place after all danger of frost has passed, or be prepared to protect new plants against frost damage. Leave a low depression around each plant – this will facilitate watering.…

THERE are three different approaches to using dark-leaved dahlias in displays. First, you can grow them as specimens against a background of the neutral foliage of spring-flowering shrubs, and surrounded by low ground cover. Or you can contrast the more intense dahlia flowers with pastel colours – try silver Teucrium fruticans or Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’ in the background, or pale blue Michaelmas daisies around the base. Dark-leaved, dark-flowered, dahlias can also be grouped with similarly rich, sultry colours, such as ‘Chile Black’ scabious, dark ‘Bressingham Spire’ aconitums and hardy garden chrysanthemums such as ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’. For foliage try ‘Bronze Beauty’ heucheras and reddish-bronze-leaved ‘Impala’ castor oil plants. To really amp up the heat, team fiery-flowered dahlias with cannas, crocosmia ‘Star of The East’, annual sunflowers and Kniphofia rooperi.…

Blechnum spicant The evergreen hard fern is native to forests and damp moors across large swathes of the temperate world, including the UK. Ladder-shaped fronds reach to 24in (60cm) high. Prefers moist, lime-free soil. Woodwardia unigemmata The evergreen jewelled chain fern from South East Asia bursts with character. Arching fronds are bronze when young and reach to 5ft (1½m) long. They ‘walk’ by rooting from bulbils at the tips, so give them space and moisture. Reaches 3-5ft (90cm-1½m) high. Matteuccia struthiopteris The ostrich or shuttlecock fern is ideal for planting between rhododendrons and other shrubs, where it will spread via rhizomes into gap-filling colonies of elegant shuttlecocks, to 5ft (1½m) tall. Polypodium vulgare Look upwards to see the common native polypody, as this attractive evergreen generally grows in a linear…

Should I cut off my sweet pea pods? Q Should I keep the seed pods on my sweet pea plants? They have almost finished flowering. Nigel Barker, Tiverton, Devon A AT present, your sweet pea plants are putting all their energy into producing and ripening the seeds contained within the seedpods – the next generation of sweet pea plants. Removing the seedpods should divert the energy into producing more flowers, unless the plants have started to go brown – it is quite late in the season for sweet peas to be flowering and growing. Removing the seedpods may not have the desired effect. If you are considering saving seed from your plants, then continue to keep them growing as long as possible so that the seeds become nice and fat,…

THE seasonal nature of fruit and veg growing inevitably leads to gluts. Picking a trug full of French beans is at first thrilling, but pretty soon becomes disconcerting when you realise that you’ll need to eat them every night for a week to use them before they go off – and there’s lots more to come. The answer is to harvest crops at their peak and process them quickly for storage, so they’ll keep to be used at your leisure. Potatoes Easiest and most obvious are potatoes. Lift from the soil and leave to dry for a couple of hours, then pack carefully into hessian (which are best) or paper sacks (try marshalls-seeds.co.uk or molevalleyfarmers.com) and store in a cool, dry, dark place like a shed or garage. A bit…

Do ✓ Pick fruit and vegetables at their peak of ripeness, and process as quickly as possible for storage. ✓ Handle crops carefully at all times – even tough root crops like potatoes can bruise, making them more prone to rot. ✓ Store root crops in a dark, cool and well-ventilated place. Keep potatoes dry. ✓ If you have space, freez soft fruits, peas and sweetcorn on a tray one layer before bagging and storing in the freezer. Don’t ✗ Store potatoes in bright conditions. Light makes the flesh turn green, and eating green potatoes will give you tummy ache. ✗ When bottling crops, don’t use dirty equipment or jars. Wash them thoroughly, and sterilise jars in a hot (120ºC) oven. ✗ Neglect stored crops in sacks and boxes –…

WEEDS can creep into even the most well-maintained gardens and can be a nuisance to remove. To help you reclaim your garden from pesky weeds, Roundup is giving AG readers the chance to win a Roundup Telescopic Wand, plus Total and Path gels. The Roundup Gel Wand extends up to 34in/86cm, meaning you can get to weeds no matter where they are, leaving your garden beautifully weed-free. Total Gel is ideal for treating weeds in hard-to-reach areas, killing the root so weeds don’t come back. For weeds that grow on hard surfaces, such as paths, drives and patios, Path Gel weedkiller gets to the root of the problem. We have one bundle to give away, worth £32.50. How to enter Send your name and address on the back of a…

In 2006, guerrilla gardeners in Brussels declared 1 May the day for all of us everywhere to go out beyond our gardens and plant sunflower seeds in the hope that they will bring beauty and health to our neighbourhoods. International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day has been held on the same day every year since. Fleuroselect designated 2015 as Year of the Sunflower. Fleuroselect is the Europe-wide organisation that tests new flower seed varieties and awards Gold Medals to the best. Nutty-tasting sunflower seeds are a good source of vitamin E and various minerals.…

Berry good, indeed! JUST a note to tell you about two plants I purchased from Morrisons supermarket about five years ago, for £2 each: aronia and goji berry. Both have grown very well. The aronia bushes have given good yields for the past three-four years. I pick the berries in autumn and cook them with my porridge. They do not seem to have much taste, but I’m informed (through the internet) that they are full of antioxidants. The birds do not touch them until all else is consumed, and then what’s left vanishes quickly. Based on my experience, I can recommend the aronia plant very much indeed. The goji berry has grown well, but never produced any fruit. The Polish shop in Perth sells aronia jam and syrup, so it…

I’VE just laid a new flagstone terrace at Chateau Buckland, which, thanks to its top-of the-slope position, looks out over the rest of garden. However, while the view is good, it’s so uncomfortably in the sightline of the houses over the road that the vibe is awkward – like being on a stage and auditioning for a part in a play. Even Sir Kenneth Branagh would think twice about pulling up a poly-rattan pew. Luckily, it’ll not be a lyceum for long. I have a trick to bring the curtain down on this patio-performance space and create some much-needed privacy. And it involves the horticultural double-act of pruning and training. Like Ant and Dec, or Burton and Taylor, pruning and training belong together – but all too often when the…

Trees and shrubs in containers can only access finite levels of water and nutrients, so they need more care than those in the ground. Feed monthly with blood, fish and bone or Vitax Q4 between April and September, forking it into the compost and then watering well. Acid-loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons should be fed with an ericaceous fertiliser. In spring, repot, topdress and root-prune potted trees and shrubs.…

THE importance of plants to our health and wellbeing has been part of mankind’s heritage since the dawn of time. Sadly, much medicinal plant knowledge has been lost, but interest still remains and this fascination with healing plants runs through every page of this gorgeous book by The Seed Sistas. Beautifully illustrated and packed with information about the healing properties of a variety of common wild plants, the Handbook leads its reader through the calendar year via the key elements (fire, earth, air or water) and the plants traditionally harvested at that time. It looks at global herbalism, shares recipes and, perhaps most importantly, calls us to reconnect with the earth, before it is too late. Never eat anything picked from the wild unless you are certain of its identity,…

ONE of the elements to keep in mind when building a flower show display is height, and the same can be said for gardening in a small plot. We have a cube of space to fill and need to have plants both above and below eye level. Using containers to furnish walls and fences is one approach, and there are a number of different designs to achieve this. You need to remember that where such containers are more than a foot or so deep, the top tends to dry out while the bottom can be waterlogged. “It’s good to have plants above and below eye level” The three-plant-holding, green plastic Wonderwall design overcomes this difficulty by having an inch-deep reservoir in the base of each unit. Irrigating from the top,…

The season of vivid garden colours is drawing to a close, but you can keep the colour coming indoors. Coleus are easy to grow from seed and will thrive inside. Scatter the seeds thinly on fresh, dampened seed compost. Cover and keep somewhere light and warm until germination. After germination, remove the cover and let the seedlings grow before thinning them out. Then pot them on until they are large enough to use either on their own or in containers with houseplants such as African violets and streptocarpus.…

IT’S late summer and the evenings are still warm – yet in only a few weeks, the frosts will return and then many foes will hibernate until next year. Currently, there’s a full moon beaming down, so this is the perfect time for thinning out the little critters that are the most damaging to your plants. Without such a foray, you may never know exactly how many of them exist, for they hide during the day. Moonlight does not put them off, and so the nights right now are a good time to reveal them, and with a powerful torch you can catch them at the crime scene. “You will see far more than you expect” You may think I’m over-egging this, but seriously, if you venture out, I guarantee…

OVER the years, I’ve met many experienced gardeners who have never taken a cutting. I’m sure there are a number of reasons for their reluctance to give it a go, but one likely reason is they consider propagation a technical business that is best left to skilled horticulturists. Of course, some techniques do require a deft touch, a lot of practice and specialist kit – micropropagation, budding and grafting are a few that come to mind. However, there are plenty of ways to create new plants from scratch that are super-simple – and one of the easiest is to take semi-ripe cuttings in late summer. Nurserymen call these semi-ripe cuttings, because shoots are fairly firm or ‘ripe’ at the tail end of the growing season. Those taken in spring or…

Make harissa: chargrill sweet and hot peppers, blitz with tomatoes, garlic, paprika and roast coriander, and then jar and refrigerate for about a month. Oven-dry cherry toms to add to risottos, focaccia and so on. Slice in half, toss in seasoned olive oil and oven-cook at 100ºC for two hours. Finely chop fresh chillies, add garlic, onions, white wine vinegar and sugar, reduce via boiling, then jar as chilli jam. String thin-walled chillies (such as cayenne) onto a length of cotton and hang in a sunny window for a month, then store in airtight jars. Coarsely chop dried chillies to make flakes, add to heated olive oil, infuse and cool, then bottle as chilli oil. Want to make passata? Roast toms with onion, garlic, herbs and oil for two hours…

THIS weekend it’s our local village show, and if, like me, you fancy flexing your horticultural muscles on the show bench with your finest cabbage and longest runner bean, due diligence will get you far. It goes without saying that choosing your most pristine produce is important, but other factors are equally (if not more) crucial if you really want to gain those coveted ‘First Prize’ cards. Having judged a fair few exhibits in my time, I can’t emphasise enough how awful it feels to mark someone down because they haven’t paid attention to the rulebook (your show will have their own or refer you to the RHS Horticultural Show Handbook). If it stipulates that your onion stems must be neatly tied off with raffia, don’t use an elastic band.…

HAVE you grown courgettes and pumpkins for years, and now fancy upping the ante? If so, the chayote ( Sechium edule ) could be right up your street. In the squash family (Cucurbitaceae), it’s growing needs are similar. Sow one seed per 3½in (9cm) pot under cover in late March, then transplant outside once the risk of frost has passed. The plants (which can grow to 40ft/12m) are best trained against a fence or a pergola, allowing the developing fruits to hang freely. Tendrils mean that once secured to its support, little intervention is needed. Green, star-like flowers emerge in summer (these are either male or female), shortly followed by pear-shaped fruits with a dimpled base. Sliced and with seeds removed, they stir-fry and sauté beautifully, absorbing the flavours of…

Most varieties will need support; get canes, stakes or other supports in early and tie stems in as they develop. Water generously in dry spells. Feed with liquid feed every week or two. Use tomato fertiliser or other feed designed to promote flowering or fruiting – any is better than none. Look out for aphids and treat them promptly, using your favourite treatment. If cutting flowers for indoors, do so as the buds are starting to open and change colour; change the water in the vase every day. Deadhead promptly as individual flowers fade.…

Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Kokuryu’ AGM A low evergreen grass with strappy black leaves, ‘Kokuryu’ provides useful ground cover in moist, well-drained, acid-to-neutral soil. The mauve summer flowers are followed by blue berries. H: 8in (20cm). Heuchera ‘Obsidian’ AGM The glossy chocolate leaves of this semi-evergreen perennial (they look almost black as they mature) are complemented by tiny cream summer flowers. Plant now, in humus-rich soil in sun or semi-shade. H: 1 1/2ft (45cm). Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ Form of cow parsley, with wine-brown foliage and lacy white May flowers. Seedlings of regular cow parsley can appear and should be weeded out. Sow now or in September. H: 3ft (90cm). Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ The purple wood spurge has maroon foliage and lime flower bracts in…

Clematis ‘Étoile Violette’ AGM On a fence or wall, this late-flowering clematis makes the perfect backdrop for a jewel border. Look for ‘Group 3’ on plant labels, and prune back hard to healthy buds 1ft (30cm) from the ground in spring. HxS: 12x4ft (3½x1.2m). Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’ This choice perennial has ruby-red bottlebrush flowers from July to October (the heart-shaped leaves are also pretty). Best grown in well-drained but reliably moist soil, in full sun or partial shade. H: 39x28in (1mx70cm). Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ AGM The rich magenta flowers of this long-flowering hardy geranium are a great linking colour that will bring together reds, purples and blues. Tolerant of most soils; happy in full sun or partial shade. HxS: 2ftx39in (60cmx1m). Penstemon ‘Raven’ AGM…

Q Having just acquired my first-ever garden – which is overgrown, but has a greenhouse – I’m motivated to grow things, but I have very little budget, and no idea what to do first and in what order. What would you suggest? Ellie Canterbury, Amersham, Bucks. AYou’ll be pleased to hear that I don’t think you should do much for the first year, except watch and learn. Your garden could be full of hidden treasures such as late-flowering toad lilies, Michaelmas daisies and nerines, plants with autumn tints, fruits or fragrant winter blooms. Lying beneath the soil could be a legion of spring bulbs, or dormant woodlanders such as Lamprocapnos spectabilis and hardy cyclamen. Move into the greenhouse and set this up as your headquarters by clearing, cleaning and making…

1 Store potatoes, onions and shallots in hessian or open-weave sacks in a cool, dry and dark place with good ventilation, such as a shed or garage. 2 Pack carrots, beetroot, parsnips and celeriac in boxes with just-moist sand and store in a cool, dark place for up to six months. 3 Air-dry chillies, beans and herbs, dry fruit using a dehydrator, and store in airtight jars for up to a year. 4 Bottle tomatoes as sauce, make jam from soft fruits, pickle beetroot and courgettes, ferment cabbage to make sauerkraut.…

ELLEN Willmott, one of the great characters of British gardening, was born on this day. A clever and headstrong daughter of a well-to-do London solicitor, at the age of 17 she discovered the joys of plants and gardening when her family moved to Warley Place in Essex. Self-taught, she became a successful breeder and grower of perennials and roses. She served on a number of RHS committees, and often derided fellow committee members for their apparent lack of knowledge. She is also said to have surreptitiously scattered the seed of plants she thought were unjustifiably missing from gardens she visited. A favourite for this purpose was the slow-germinating, silver-leaved sea holly (Eryngium giganteum, pictured). It has since become known as ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’! She died in 1934.…

IN many countries, the common name for the sunflower reflects the belief that the flowers follow the sun as it crosses the sky during the day. In France, the sunflower is known as tournesol, and in Spain, girasol. Actually, this turning action (known as heliotropism) is confined to the buds. The tops of the flowering stems do turn during the day to face the sun, but they stop once the flower opens. By the time the plants are mature and the blooms are fully open, they generally face east.…

MY wife and I could not agree more with the excellent Peter Seabrook’s comments (AG, 13 July) regarding TV gardening presenters. On Thursday evening, we counted at least eight of them darting about the RHS Tatton Flower Show. In addition to Peter’s observations, we have often wondered if they are all obliged to attend the same ‘hand and arm waving’ classes. Simon Wilson, Ashfield, Suffolk I TOTALLY agree with Peter Seabrook’s comments regarding TV garden show coverage. I always watch them, but by the end of the week I’m bored with seeing the same gardens night after night, with the presenters saying the same old thing. As Peter says, “What about the children?” Those wonderful children would have loved to have seen their gardens on TV – it would have…

WOODY, shrubby herbs such as lavender, sage, hyssop and rosemary can be cut back now after flowering to prevent them becoming sprawling, straggly and unproductive. Simply remove the spent flowers and up to a third of old stems, reducing them to a healthy pair of leaves. Next year and the year after, tackle another third so the plant is gradually regenerated and remains shapely. English lavender can be treated in this way now as new shoots will soon come through and harden off before the coldest days of winter arrive. French lavender is less hardy and just needs a gentle trim. This variety is relatively short-lived, so it is worth taking cuttings in autumn as an insurance policy for next year. Once these herbs have become woody and unsightly, it…

ONE man’s mission to revive heritage potato varieties is giving shoppers more variety for their table. Hampshire-based potato expert Alan Wilson is growing four more rare heritage spuds after he successfully produced seven varieties last summer. The first of the varieties being introduced this summer will be ‘International Kidney’, which dates from 1876 and is used for popular ‘Jersey Royals’. Two more are top French salad potatoes: ‘Roseval’ is red-coloured and Alan says it’s his first choice for making potato salad, and the other is the oddly-named ‘Ratte’, dating from 1872, which is long and finger-shaped. The fourth variety, ‘Red King Edward’, was first produced in Scotland in 1916 and was always in the top 10 UK maincrop varieties until the 1960s. It’s a treat for the traditional Christmas roast.…

AUGUST is the start of our annual descent into autumn, with cooler days and more rain, making it the ideal time to undertake some lawn maintenance. Summers are cruel to our grass and many will be looking dry and weed-infested, probably with a few bare patches too. If you take steps to remedy these now, your lawn will improve in appearance and have more chance of withstanding the worst of winter. Feeding is important, as healthy grass is less vulnerable to being overgrown by moss and weeds. This is the last chance to apply a summer feed before moving into autumn nutrition, although if you live in Scotland I would move straight to an autumn feed now. Only use fertilisers in damp conditions as they may scorch the grass blades…

HERE In the south, the largely warm and dry summer we have been experiencing has been perfect for our rockery plants. Although sturdy alpines are ‘designed’ to thrive in inhospitable situations and are pretty tough, they dislike the mild, damp bits of our climate. This is when their low-growing leaves are vulnerable to rotting on contact with wet soil and they can soon be overrun by weeds. In summer, however, they usually flower well and soon spread over their habitat, whether it’s a rockery space or carefully curated alpine trough. They need little maintenance other than replacing the gravel around their roots, which improves drainage and keeps their foliage off the soil. Weed frequently and cut back fast-growing plants such as aubrietia that tend to flop outwards as they grow,…

SOMETIMES the old ones are the best – which is why this week’s free seeds, Phlox drummondii ‘Tapestry’, are a sure-fire winner for any garden. This half-hardy annual variety comes in a glorious blaze of mixed colours that will create an almost endlessly varied palette for your borders. The open-trumpet flowers with their delicate scent and alluring shades from pastels through to dark cerise are happy in most borders and will grow contentedly in containers. They are also prized for their longevity, flowering through to autumn, and are ideal for use as cut flowers. ‘Tapestry’ is a half-hardy annual, meaning it is unreliable in very hard frosts. For this reason, you can sow them now in pots and grow them on through winter in a frost-free greenhouse or porch. The…

1 Empty, clean (and maybe even sterilise) your apple, potato, bulb and root stores, ready for refilling over the coming months. 2 Save ripening seedheads from almost any plant for feeding birds in winter – especially the oily ones such as sunflowers. 3 Preserve surplus hot and sweet peppers, then slice, remove the seeds, and hang them in a dry place. Make sure you label which is which! 4 This is your last chance to plant a new strawberry bed to give the plants enough time to establish for a grand crop next year.…

1 Select healthy shoots with at least three sets of leaves, and remove from the mother plant by cutting above a leaf joint. Place inside a bag with a little water in the bottom, shake and secure the top with an elastic band. 2 Take the material to a shady, sheltered spot to prevent it from drying out quickly. Using a sharp gardening knife or secateurs, make a straight cut beneath a leaf joint. Aim to leave a cutting that’s 3-4in (8-10cm) in length. 3 Remove the leaves from the lower half to bottom third of each cutting. Use secateurs instead of your fingers to avoid leaving behind jagged edges that can invite infection. Snip out the shoot tip if it is very soft and sappy. 4 Fill a clean…

1 Cloches: Place a glass or plastic cloche over individual plants to boost temperatures. Tall tomato plants can initially be laid on a bed of straw before being covered with a tunnel cloche. 2 Watering: Reducing the amount of water you give your plants can aid end-of-season ripening. Do this gradually – the aim is to cause your plants slight stress, not to kill them completely! 3 Picking: Regularly harvesting fully ripe fruits will speed up the maturity of developing ones. Pick over plants daily – you can pick as they start to colour up, laying them in a sunny spot to ripen fully.…

1 With cantaloupe, galia, honeydew and musk melons, check for small cracks that appear on the fruit shoulder, encircling the spot where it joins the stem. 2 Net suspended fruits at this point to stop them falling to the floor. Then wait for the fruit to emit a perfume (this is so delicious it causes involuntary drooling). Your fruit is now ready to harvest. 3 With watermelons, check the pale base that is resting on the floor. When ripe, this turns yellow; if white or cream, it’s unripe. Tapped fruits also give off a hollow ‘drum-like’ sound.…

DAHLIAS are among the most colourful, flamboyant plants we grow. Their flowers come in all colours, shapes and sizes; easy to grow, they're invaluable for cutting as well as for borders. We know all that. The only problem is their foliage, which is, frankly, dull. But wait. Attractive bronze-leaved varieties have been around since the 1920s, while the past 15 years has seen the introduction of more dahlias with rich, dark foliage than ever before. I’m growing quite a few of the bronze-leaved varieties this season – and the thing I've noticed is that they make an important contribution to borders when they are just a few inches high. From soon after the plants emerge, that richly bronzed foliage makes attractive combinations with short perennials such as the ‘Kudos’ dwarf…

THERE’S an alternative way of raising dark-leaved dahlias: you can grow them from seed. The choice is not nearly as great as that offered by tubers, but there are some fine options available. ‘Redskin’ and ‘Diablo’ are dwarf dark-leaved varieties with semi-double flowers in many colours. However the quality of the foliage is very variable. A safer bet is ‘Bishop’s Children’, derived from ‘Bishop of Llandaff’. Taller and with toothed foliage, it has single flowers in a range of colours.…

Choose a partially shaded and sheltered spot where the fern won’t be buffeted by the wind. Enrich the soil with plenty of well-rotted garden compost before planting, and remember to water in well. Water during dry spells in the first year. Established wood ferns in shady areas are well able to tolerate summer droughts. Mulch with well-rotted compost while the soil is moist in autumn or spring. Ferns grow well in pots for shadier patio areas. Grow them in 50:50 John Innes No2 and multi-purpose compost.…

Iris ‘Black Suited’ The majestic flowers of this bearded iris are the deep purple-black of midnight. Plant them now or in the autumn, in sun-baked, well-drained soil, and make sure they have plenty of elbow room. H: 3ft (90cm). Fritillaria meleagris AGM The snake’s head fritillary is the wildflower of damp meadows – it seems to cast a rain shadow over the land when it blooms en masse in April. Plant in moist, well-drained soil in September. H: 1ft (30cm). Papaver somniferum single black-flowered Opium poppies like this dark plum beauty can be sown indoors in September, or direct in April. Remove the seedheads promptly if you don’t want them to self-sow. H: 3ft (90cm). Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Black…

Rosa Munstead Wood with Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’. Hylotelephium telephium ‘Purple Emperor’ with Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’. Cosmos atrosanguineus with Stipa tenuissima. Alcea rosea ‘Nigra’ with Verbascum ‘Clementine’ (above). Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’ with Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus ‘Cosmopolitan’. Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Ace of Spades’ with Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’. Kniphofia ‘Nobilis’ with Dahlia ‘Rip City’.…

Dahlia ‘Thomas A. Edison’ With their large, deep purple blooms, these decorative dahlias deserve centre stage in any jewel border (they work particularly well with orange dahlias). Pot up the tubers in March, for planting out when the frosts have ended. HxS: 39inx1 1/2ft (1mx45cm). Agapanthus ‘Windsor Grey’ Grow in pots that can be dotted through your jewel border – the silvery grey flowers are useful for breaking up any clashing colours. To get agapanthus to bloom well, feed with a high-potash plant food in spring, then again in May and August. HxS: 21/2x1ft (75x30cm). Zinnia Giant Dahlia Mixed Sow these boldly coloured half-hardy annuals in May/June into a modular seed tray. Plant out 12in (30cm) apart when large enough to handle; they’ll only…

Sow rocket and land cress into modules for winter salads. Clear some bed space or plant into containers. Raise plants like this lavender (plus pinks and penstemons) by taking 3in (8cm)-long cuttings. Insert several into 3½in (9cm) pots of 50:50 multi-purpose compost and potting grit. Cover with ventilated polythene, out of full sun. Grow on under unheated glass for winter. Begin removing hefty weeds like brambles, ivy and nettles a little at a time, all around the garden. Don’t compost these! Clear small sections of border and fill quickly. Next month is good for dividing herbaceous perennials and sowing hardy annuals such as these calendula into soaked drills for next summer. Just give it a go.…

Bottling: Bottling fruits hot to make sweet or savory jams and sauces. Pickling: Preserving lightly cooked veg in vinegar and spices. Dehydrator: Blows warm air over sliced fruits and veg to dry them out so they store without rotting. Jam pan: Large, deep pan, wide at the top to help evaporation of moisture. Kilner jar: Large, heavy jar with hinged lid and airtight rubber seal. Fermentation jar: Deep glass jar with a lid incorporating an airlock to let gasses out and stop air getting in.…

MOST of us think of cheery sunflowers as tall, single-stemmed summer flowers, grown for the delight of children and competitive gardeners who want to create records for the tallest. But, actually, sunflowers come in a range of sizes – yes, from lofty skyscrapers to medium-sized versions for mid-way in the border and to lovely smaller forms for patio pots. They’re in flower now, so let’s look at some of the facts about these smile-inducing flowers. According to Guinness World Records , the tallest sunflower ever grown was in 2014. It measured a whopping 30ft 1in (9.17m), and was grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer of Karst, Germany. He had already held this record twice previously. The height of fashion SUNFLOWERS recommended for height are always the annual types, and include the older…

THE best sunflowers need a fertile soil that’s been enriched with garden compost. But a little-known use for these plants is that they will break up a hard, compacted soil, such as a former path or driveway. Compacted soils like this have a ‘pan’ – a layer about 4in (10cm) down – that is as hard as nails. This pan stops the free movement of air and moisture, and starves worms and micro-life. Sunflower roots need to punch deep into the earth to provide anchorage for their tall stems and weighty blooms. If sown direct, they will extend their roots through the pan, prising open cracks in it; transplanted sunflowers will not penetrate the soil to the same extent. Come autumn, cut the top growth away and allow the roots…

The views, information and opinions expressed during this series of extracts from past issues of AG are solely those of the individuals involved, at the time they were written, and are not necessarily relevant or even legal today. Please treat these pages as a look back at how things were done in the past and not necessarily how they are done today. AG accepts no responsibility if readers follow advice given in these articles from past issues.…

A ‘TRUCKER’S hitch’ is a knot that makes holding trained branches in place much easier. Double up the twine and tie a simple knot a few inches back from the folded end to create an ‘eye’. Tie the string to the branch and loop around the trunk/ anchor point, then adjust so that the eye sits between the two. Take the end of the string that goes around the anchor point through the eye; as you pull back, the eye acts like a pulley, increasing your power while stopping the string slipping as you tie it off.…