Innholdsfortegnelse for 21-Mar-2020 i Amateur Gardening

“How many of you have changed to peatfree compost? And if not, what’s stopping you? Is it cost, or you do not believe it can deliver the same quality? I ask because there has been a huge increase in the quality and range of peat-free options now available, including Westland’s New Horizon, Bord Na Móna’s new ‘Happy’ brand, Dalefoot’s unique wool-based compost, and Thompson & Morgan’s new Incredipeatfree. Perhaps 2020 is the year to give them a try?̶1…

Garden memories THE world-famous Botanic Garden of Wales turns 20 this year, and former volunteers and employees are invited to get in touch with their stories of the site and pay it a nostalgic visit. The garden, near Swansea, was opened to ‘conserve, educate and inspire’ its visitors. It was built on land originally owned by the Middleton family in the 1600s, who made their wealth through the spice trade. In the ensuing centuries, it included parkland designed by Capability Brown’s apprentice Samuel Lapidge and was divided into seven farming leases in the 1930s. The gardens were opened in May 2020 with the Lord Foster’s Great Glasshouse as its centrepiece. Now anyone who has been part of the garden’s history is invited to send in their memories and attend a…

THERE are three distinct types of begonia: those grown from tubers in upright and pendula growing forms; the fibrous rooted Semperflorens begonias for bedding; and rhizomatous houseplant types. Cross breeding amongst the many hundreds (1,800, in fact) of different species in recent years has brought a wide array for indoor and garden use. It took 15 years of intensive crossing and selection to add fragrance to the tuberous types as in Begonia ‘Aromantica’ (upright) and B. ‘Sweet Spice’ (pendula). The latter makes an excellent basket plant, and at head height in a hanging basket, it is in a good position for you to savour the rose-like perfume on warm summer afternoons. “It took 15 years of intensive crossing and selection” Getting begonia tubers into growth is easily done by enclosing…

YOU probably heard about the plague of locusts rampaging through crops in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia earlier this year. I can only imagine what that must be like because once, when I was in South Africa, a small swarm descended on some shrubs and nearly gave me heart failure. Nothing prepares you for the size of a fully grown African locust if you’re only used to British insects, because they are at least 3-4in (8-10cm) long. This lot made a noise as they clattered through the trees as well. The huge swarm I referred to earlier, the worst swarm known for decades, has probably been caused by exceptionally heavy rainfall at the end of last year. This is yet another effect of climate change. I’ve never been to eastern Africa,…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week How do I prune my huge climbing rose? Q I have a very old climbing rose, ‘Oklahoma’, that I’ve never really had the nerve to hard prune. It has lovely scented flowers but only at the top of the plant. Is it too late to cut it back now? Lesley Johnson, via email A Rose ‘Oklahoma’ is a climbing form of a hybrid tea rose and it ought to be possible to do some renovation and bring the flowers down into the garden. However, it is worth noting that not all varieties respond to attempts at renovation so this may not work, but you can apply the techniques without risking the whole plant. Renovation pruning is best done during…

Miracle-Gro is giving AG readers the chance to win one of two gardening bundles, each worth £27.99. The prizes are perfect for those wanting to get ahead this spring and get started on their immaculate lawn. The two winners will each receive Miracle-Gro EverGreen Luxury Lawn Seed (420g), which is ideal for creating a new lawn or for over-seeding. It is specially selected to create a fine luxury lawn with strong roots for optimum absorption of water and nutrients. Winners will also receive Miracle-Gro Patch Magic Grass Seed, Feed & Coir (1.5kg) that will regrow bare patches 2x thicker than ordinary grass seed, with first shoots being seen in just four days. It has been developed to survive virtually every condition and grow grass anywhere – even on concrete! How…

A SMALL heated propagator or warming mat can make a huge difference to your success with seeds and cuttings in the cold early months of the year. Germination is quicker and more uniform, and growingon more consistent in the slightly higher temperatures. It means you can easily grow bedding plants from seed in time for summer flowering and raise slower-growing veg like onions, tomatoes and chillies for earlier and longer cropping. Warming mats can be used in the same way, but they’re bigger and have no lid or raised edge so large plants can be raised on them. They’re ideal for vigorous potted-up seedlings. Mats can also offer winter protection in a greenhouse for large tender specimen plants raised in pots. None of these propagators is fitted with a thermostat…

RHS Gardener’s Quiz & Puzzle Book: 100 brainteasers for gardeners who know their onions By Simon Akeroyd and Dr Gareth Moore (October Books, £14.99) IN which Italian city was the first botanical garden established in 1545? Which herb has popular types that include spear, apple and garden? These are just two of the questions in the beautifully illustrated RHS Gardener’s Quiz & Puzzle Book, with brainteasers that range from fairly easy to the downright difficult. With this book, you can test your own horticultural and botanical knowledge or that of your friends, and it’s ideal for gardening quiz nights. There are questions covering subjects such as weeds, plant anatomy, wildlife, fruit and veg, and gardening through the ages. They range from anagrams, odd one out and multiple choice. This is…

GAZANIAS are bright garden gems, as their common name of ‘treasure flowers’ attests, and planting them will bring you a wealth of rich, joyful colour. These versatile dwarf beauties do best in fertile soil that gets constant sunshine, and they enjoy coastal gardens as well as containers and baskets. Variety ‘Sunshine Mixed’ promises large bright blooms in vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow, some with contrasting pristine white markings. Sow undercover now, or directly into prepared borders in late spring. Make sure they get plenty of sun as the blooms are stubborn to open in shaded areas. Last year, we had several plants in the garden, some of which spent winter undercover and others that I left in situ. The outside ones succumbed to the relentlessly wet weather, but…

WHEN it comes to growing spuds for roasting, boiling, mashing, chipping or baking, bulk is definitely the name of the game! So how do you guarantee superb quality and yields? Soil, site and spacings Assign your potatoes to a sunny, open spot – being tender they enjoy warmth, plus good airflow will deter the humidity that encourages late blight (see page 20). Unlike many veggies, a slightly acid soil is preferred, so don’t habitually lime bare beds in early spring. For top-notch maincrop yields, ample fertiliser is required – phosphate and nitrogen, in particular. Non-organic growers could add sulphate of ammonia (for nitrogen) and superphosphate at planting, and again on earthing up. Organic gardeners can rely instead on fish, blood and bone. Spacing for traditional rows is important (see overleaf);…

How do I fight blight in toms? Q My old greenhouse has had to come down and won’t be replaced until next year. We’ve always had problems with tomato blight on outdoor toms. How do we grow a successful crop? Enid Birchall, King’s Lynn, Norfolk A Tomato blight, potato blight and late blight are all names for the fungus-like organism Phytophthora infestans. Tomatoes grown outdoors are particularly prone. If summer weather turns cloudy, humid and wet, spores carried on the wind germinate and cause wet-looking brown patches on leaves, eventually withering them. Fruits turn brown and rot, usually just when they look promising. Blight is worse in wetter western regions of the country, but growing tomatoes under glass usually solves the problem. Sometimes spores enter through vents, but if you…

Star letter Organising pots is costly! WITH storm Ciara raging away, and too cold and wet to garden, I thought I would do that job we all put off – washing pots and seed trays. As brave as I am, the thought of cold water and 60mph winds didn’t make this chore any easier. So inside they came, several bin bags of assorted plastic, all encrusted in various combinations of wet and dry mud, mould, etc. Several hours later, and the kitchen looks like the changing room at the local rugby club after a busy afternoon of games. It’s at this point that my wife came home. What Ciara was doing outside was nothing compared to the storm in the kitchen. Valentine’s Day was set to be expensive. So with…

WE all know that hedgehogs are one of our most endangered native species. With their natural habitats disappearing and the proliferation of dangerous roads they have to cross to forage, our gardens are becoming essential havens for this endearing mammal. There are lots of things we can do to help them, so start by leaving an area of the garden to grow wild. This will invite other wildlife to move in – including many hedgehog food species – and give the hedgehogs somewhere to hide, mate and rear their young. Other ways of helping them can be found in this week’s news pages (pages 6-7). It’s really important to think about the structure of your garden when you’re considering wildlife. Resist the temptation to Tarmac your front garden for extra…

EARLY spring is when our roses return to life after their winter sleep, as new leaves and growth shoot forth. This is a vital time for making sure plants stay healthy and reach their full potential in the summer. I am also replanting two roses that I lifted and potted up before Christmas. The roses are growing well, so I need to get them back in the ground as soon as possible. Because roses are prone to replant disease, which can cause them to falter if they go back into the soil where they grew before, I refreshed their bed with lots of new compost and manure before winter. I will use fresh topsoil and compost when planting. You can also plant new roses now as the ground is moist…

PEAS are no longer a crop everyone grows. Indeed, in straw polls, it seems these are less popular than chilli peppers or sweetcorn. Perhaps it’s because you can pick up very good frozen peas at a low price? After all, it’s not growing peas but the picking, podding and blanching that makes peas a bit of a to-do. But no matter how good the frozen sorts are, they really do not compare to fresh green peas. So, as Mrs Beeton allegedly said, “First catch your rabbit”. Peas can be sown as soon as the soil is warm enough, the wrinkled dried sorts sooner than the smooth skinned varieties. Next, do not soak the seeds: this is only useful later in the year in warm, dry soils. Pre-soaking pea seeds now…

DO you really know your festucas from your bents and your ryegrass from your browntops? Fortunately, with such advancements in lawn-seed mixes, gardeners don’t need to concern themselves too much about which grasses make up a seed mix. All the hard work is done for us, and seed mixes are labelled in such a way that little thought is required. For those of you planning to sow a new lawn or repair a lawn this month, you’ll need to spend a few moments considering how your lawn is used and what you expect from it. Most of us are guilty of underestimating how wonderfully accommodating grass is – not many other plants will put up with being walked on day in and day out. Ask yourself these questions: do children…

This week it’s: A lot of allotments We look at some of the facts behind a very British form of gardening – the allotment DESPITE a near revolution in general gardening activities over the past few decades (such as awareness of environmental concerns, the use of peat in composts, single-use plastic and recycling), when it comes to renting and tending an allotment the ethos remains the same as it always has been – the ability to grow food on a patch of land, that is not your own, to give you a sense of achievement, to eat well, to exercise and to save money. And long may that continue. As I write, allotment gardeners everywhere are feverishly weeding, digging, sowing and hoeing – and a few of those who really…

WHICH is best: bush or cordon tomatoes? It’s a question that always comes up while perusing seed lists and plant labels and, as with all contentious issues (like Brexit, climate change, and whether real men wear cardigans) it pays to have an opinion. The tomato clan is split into two genetically distinct tribes: bushes and vines, or, as plant physiologists know them, ‘determinate’ and ‘indeterminate’ varieties, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. Bush tomatoes are annuals that live fast and die young in a single summer, forming knee-high domes that bear their fruit in one hefty harvest. Vines, on the other hand, are perennial tomatoes, and although our winters kill them off, in their native Andean home they keep growing indefinitely, fruiting over a longer period. As with all…