Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Aug-2020 i Amateur Gardening

“For every plant disaster that we all face at some time, nothing beats a good plant ‘comeback story’. Do you recall my dismay at my courgette falling foul to mosaic virus? The choice was to dump it, or cut away the diseased leaves, feed and see what happened. It looked in a sorry state after the chop, and for a few weeks I thought it was heading for the dump, but then it miraculously started to revive and now we have two courgettes emerging. How marvellous is that?” Contact us: ■ Editorial: 07814 905439 ■ Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com ■ Advertising: 07817 629935…

1 Keep mowing your grass. During dry periods mow every 10 days or so, but when it’s damp and the grass grows faster, mow weekly with the blades on a higher setting. Keep blades sharp and your mower clean. 2 Watch out for fairy rings, which turn grass brown, and fungal red thread. Improving airflow and drainage by aeration and scarifying (raking) helps. Added nitrogen and fungal lawn treatments combat red thread. 3 In the southern half of the UK you can continue feeding lawns with a summer fertiliser, but switch to an autumn version in the north. Keep weeds at bay with a lawn weedkiller, or pull larger weeds out individually. 4 Late summer and autumn lawn pests include leatherjackets (cranefly larvae) and chafer beetle grubs (inset). They eat…

MR Fothergill’s has withdrawn a batch of courgette seeds after consumers fell ill after eating the resulting vegetables. Gardeners raised concerns about a batch of courgette ’Zucchini’ seeds that produced bitter-tasting fruit. The taste was caused by raised levels of a naturally occurring compound called curcurbitacin that can cause a stomach upset if eaten. The problem is thought to have been caused by cross-pollination where courgettes were being grown as a seed crop. A spokesman for Mr Fothergill’s said: “Gardeners expressed concerns that they have pumpkins and courgettes planted alongside each other and are worried that they will create bitter fruits in this way. “We would like to reassure them that this is completely safe. The only point at which the cross-pollinated fruits present themselves as bitter is when the…

ANYTHING that resembles a daisy is fine by me, so I’m really looking forward to getting this week’s free seeds underway for next summer. Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’ is a half-hardy perennial and its large, bright-but-not-brassy petals will bring a blast of joyous sunshine to your borders. Their half-hardy status means they are tricky to overwinter outside so are best grubbed up and composted once they start to peter out in autumn. However, if you start them now and nurture them through winter in a greenhouse or cool, light porch or bedroom, they will flower earlier than those safely stored for the next few months and sown in spring. These cheery beauties grow to 18in (45cm) tall and have a bushy habit, meaning they will certainly get noticed where you grow them.…

THE Best Beloved and I have been together for more than 20 years, and when we moved in together he arrived with his possessions – one battered cardboard box and a cat that had just disgraced herself in his car. He does not do ‘stuff’, so buying him a birthday present is fraught with difficulty. The moth trap I gave him a year or so ago hasn’t been a universal success, but occasionally I set it up in order to see what’s flying around. One thing’s for sure – there are far fewer moths out there than there used to be. When my mother did the washing on Friday evenings, because she worked, she opened the back door and we were invaded by moths galore. That was the 1950s, but…

Growing trees from seeds Q I have successfully collected, sown and germinated various tree seeds. They are still together in their original containers, and I’m not sure when to separate them or how to grow them on. What can I do? Patricia Dickinson, Weymouth, Dorset A Watching your trees grow from seed is a lovely project, and you can expect a decent-sized sapling in five-seven years. This is a great way of enjoying young trees in small gardens and collecting the seed yourself means you can be sure of provenance or origin. This is especially important if you would like to increase a population of native trees such as oaks or rowans from those that have grown and adapted themselves to a specific location. We fall in love with trees,…

IT was an emotional day when the youngest members of the Buckland Clan left the family home, and I’ve been fretting about them eating properly and making new friends ever since. Irrational, I know – especially since their biggest threat is being killed by a cat! Some 27 million birds are killed by the UK’s domestic moggies each year (what did you think I was talking about?). So I’ve decided to boost the survival rate of our resident nesting wrens. Wrens have been regular summer homemakers in the eaves above our patio for a few years now, darting in and out of their lodgings with grubs gathered from the borders. They just love the burgeoning growth of herbaceous flowers, which attract a constant supply of insects for the young. When…

I KNOW we’re still in the midst of summer, but boy, the mornings are starting to feel autumnal and the leaves on our Amelanchier lamarckii are turning glorious shades of red and bronze. It’s time to reluctantly turn our thoughts towards the third season of the year that heralds the onset of winter and the garden’s dormancy. However, it isn’t all about closing down and going into hibernation. Autumn is also a very productive and positive season. There are crops to harvest, bulbs to plant, and late-blooming plants such as dahlias, chrysanthemums, nerines and residual summer bedding will still be providing a riot of colour, offset by the changing leaves. One of the most important jobs now is conditioning and replenishing your soil after the hard weeks of growing. If…

ALTHOUGH millions of people love gardening, very few choose a career in horticulture because they say they don’t know enough about it. Now the RHS has launched a new employment resource to encourage people to join the industry. It contains more than 60 information videos covering 45 potential new careers. A survey conducted by the RHS, which is the UK’s largest gardening charity, revealed that people feared they were too ignorant when it came to plants and gardens, and were unaware of the range of jobs available. Almost a quarter of those questioned said they would seriously consider horticulture as a career if they were given more advice and a further 25% said working with plants would boost their mental wellbeing. Sue Biggs, RHS director general, said: “I am immensely…

SEPTEMBER is a time of harvests and fresh starts, as ripened crops are plucked from the earth and the next lots sown or planted. It’s great to optimise whatever space you have in the garden, but there are times when you need to let the soil rest and recover. Continual growing and cropping will strip the essential nutrients from the soil and these need replenishing for future plantings. Adding fertilisers is the obvious way of fixing the problem, but an easier and more long-term way of doing so is to sow green manures. These are fast-growing seeds, often members of the pea family (legumes), that are readily available from most garden centres and online. Many fix nitrogen (essential for strong stems and foliage) back into the soil through their roots,…

THE male stonechat may be recognised by his black mantle, throat, head and tail with conspicuous white patches on the rump, wings and neck and his brownish-buff underparts. The female is more sombrely clad in a streaked brown dress. They get their name from their alarm call that resembles two stones being knocked together. The hen alone builds the nest of grass, moss and fine roots, to which she adds a lining of hair and feathers, choosing a well-concealed cavity on or near the ground. Four or five pale-green eggs are laid, speckled with reddish-brown. Two broods are reared annually, both parents being equally attentive to their offspring. Insects form their main food supply. The male seems always to be agitated and jealous for the safety of his spouse and…

PRODUCING homegrown table grapes sounds like the height of decadence, but is it possible? Trust me, if you grow the right variety and you practise sound growing techniques, then the answer will be a resounding ‘yes’. For the past six years, I have been curator of two mature dessert vines in a vast Victorian lean-to greenhouse: what a treat! That said, there have been pitfalls and lessons learnt as well as triumphs. Let me share them. The roots are planted outside, then the stem is trained inside – this gives far easier maintenance than if they were totally under glass (even though that might give earlier harvests due to warm roots). I simply top up gaps in rainfall via a good soak with the hosepipe. “There are plenty of outdoor…

MOST average ornamental gardens in the UK look their best up to midsummer’s day in late June, after which they go through a gentle, managed decline until winter. Depending on how the garden is planted, there will be high spots in this period with bursts of colour from late-flowering shrubs, perennials and annuals. However, holes will start to appear as annuals that have gone over are removed, and the dying foliage of perennials and bulbs is cut back. Pots are one answer You can restore a bit of order by temporarily filling these holes with plants growing in pots. Anything that is growing and looks healthy will do, but ideal candidates for smaller border gaps are long and late-flowering perennials like pelargoniums and fuchsias, or annuals such as petunias, which,…

NATIONAL charity Royal Star and Garter has launched a fundraising competition to find the UK’s most ‘sensational gardens’. Participants enter photos or videos of their botanical efforts, from window boxes to vegetable patches, which will be judged by residents in the charity’s three care homes for military veterans. The winner of each of the Sensational Gardens Competition’s three categories will receive a £50 voucher to spend at a garden centre. The categories are: the favorite part of your outdoor space, your happiest moment in the garden and what you are most proud of growing. It costs £3 for each entry with all proceeds going to the charity. Star and Garter community fundraiser Lauren Baker said: “We know lots of people across the country have spent a lot of time in…

LUCY Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert, reported that blackbirds were pecking holes in the fruit from an apple ‘Discovery’ recently, adding that the birds took one peck from lots of fruits rather than sticking to the first one. Were they trying to find the sweetest? It is frustrating that birds attack fruits in this way, and we have similar experiences with plums and strawberries. It is not just birds, though, as squirrels are taking bites out of several apples on the small number of fruits that the new apple ‘Eden’ ( pomonafruits.co.uk) is producing at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex. I hope the squirrels leave a few fruits, because this new introduction from Canada is dual purpose and said to have a delicious, crisp, sweet, aromatic flavour, behaving…

AS autumn and winter approach, it’s sensible to plan ahead to have fresh salads through as many months as possible. Fortunately, the modern choice of very young and seedling leaf salad crops are really simple to grow, compared to raising, say, lettuce and radish plants to maturity. Although a greenhouse or a walk-in tunnel would make it easier, it’s possible to grow leaf salads with a cold frame. You see, the cover is just to keep the harshest weather off and stop mud from splashing your crops, that’s all. A homemade cold frame will do – it just needs to be a shallow box with a clear (plastic for safety) lid that can be opened for ventilation on sunny days. If you’ve no garden, a sunny windowsill will do –…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week Can I grow climbers through a shrub? Q I have a pineapple guava in my garden. Please could you suggest a climber that would grow through it? Ernest L. Jones, Chester, Cheshire A Pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana) is an evergreen shrub with attractive foliage and unusual flowers. While it is possible to grow climbers through shrubs, it is traditionally a deciduous climber through a deciduous host. If either party is evergreen, it may restrict light reaching the other’s foliage, causing bald patches or weak growth. Also, two plants growing so close together will be competing for water and nutrients. It is best to let the host shrub have a few years’ start on the climber so that it is…

This week it’s: THIS week’s subject is a group of shrubs that give valuable leaf and flower colour through the year – and I don’t like them! I’ve had several hebes in my gardens and, in each case, when they became too large, they were dutifully cut back. I was taught at college that they could be hard-pruned, and all the books confirmed it. I ruined three plants, because they did not regenerate as the books had promised. I spoke to head gardeners and others ‘in the know’, who told me that pruning shouldn’t be a problem, as hebes sprout again willingly. Well, not in my experience! I haven’t liked them since. However, millions of Brits adore hebes, and they’re frequently chosen by landscapers for public areas because they’re low…

Put off by the word ‘amateur’ I AM 75 years young and have been interested in gardening all my adult life. Over this time I have, I suppose, subscribed to most of the gardening periodicals. I have never, until recently, considered buying Amateur Gardening magazine. A friend gave me a copy, and it is by some margin the most informative gardening magazine I have read. So why the 50-year lack of interest? It’s the title. I, along with, I suspect, a fairly high percentage of the population, am confused about the meaning of the word ‘amateur’. The Cambridge dictionary interpretation ranges from ‘a person who takes part in an activity for pleasure’ to ‘a person who takes part in something without having experience skill in it’. Sir, I am rarely…