Innholdsfortegnelse for 31-Oct-2020 i Amateur Gardening

amateurgardening.com Daily blog and news IF the past seven months have taught us anything, it’s that we have returned to being a nation of gardeners and crop-growers, which is a fantastic thing. At the start of lockdown, when we were all facing spring and summer confined to our homes, millions sought solace and sanity in their gardens. With garden centres closed, horticultural websites almost broke under the strain of extra demand, in some cases seeing one month’s orders outstripping what was usually expected for a whole summer. Hopefully a lot of firsttime gardeners will want to continue their growing ‘journey’ (to use a ghastly and hackneyed phrase), but many are wondering how to produce brilliant results again next year. The answer lies in your soil. It is a living thing…

WHILE spring is traditionally seen as the ‘start’ of the gardening year, autumn is just as (if not more) vital. Yet more than half of all adults questioned by the RHS didn’t know this important fact! The world-leading horticultural charity commissioned pollsters YouGov to chart people’s attitudes to gardening and 65% of UK adults were not aware that autumn is the most important season for planting. Of those questioned, 61% didn’t know tulip and daffodil bulbs are planted in autumn and 43% consigned fallen leaves to their council garden waste bins instead of using them to make leaf mould at home. These statistics have spurred the RHS to launch its Grow at Home This Autumn scheme to ‘encourage and help people to plant now to save water and money’. Leaves…

RESEARCH scientists are continuing to make remarkable discoveries, and this week I read about road construction developments that will absorb daytime heat to reduce the temperatures in cities on hot days and generate electricity, so pavements glow in the dark and reduce the need for street lighting. While all manner of research projects are set to improve our environment, home owners can also help the planet and their soil by composting organic waste. “It is frustrating to see bins loaded with lawn clippings” It is so frustrating to see wheelie bins loaded with lawn mowings, green weeds, fallen leaves, crop and ornamental plant debris taken away in lorries burning fossil fuel, when it could all be composted on site. It does, of course, take a little time and effort, but…

WHETHER you take a knife to these fruits to carve them or eat them, there’s no finer sight on the autumn plot than a healthy crop of pumpkins. It’s no secret that pumpkin plants have a healthy appetite for food and water, but what else do you need to know to get the best from your plants? Aside from following the growing tips in my checklist opposite, you need to try to keep the growth rate as uninterrupted as possible. Once those fruits set, their potential to swell (especially large-fruited varieties) is gargantuan, and so any check in moisture or nutrition will set back your chances of growing a record-breaker. If you find your plants are producing lots of male rather than female flowers (both are needed simultaneously), then ensure…

What’s wrong with compost? Q Determined to make lots of compost for my new allotment, I installed a bin in our small garden for kitchen veg waste. Instead of fibrous compost, though, it was a black sludge full of fruit flies. How can I do better? Andrea Neilson, Buxton, Derbyshire AMaking garden compost at home ticks a lot of boxes. There’s less waste for the council to haul away, free soil conditioner is made on site, soil is enriched, and plants benefit. Plenty of well-rotted compost improves the structure of all soils, helping in the formation of soil crumbs. These small nuggets of mineral particles, clay and organic matter are perfect homes for organisms and help soils stay aerated, at the same time as holding on to water and nutrients.…

This word search comprises words associated with turnips and swedes. They are listed below; in the grid they may be read across, backwards, up, down or diagonally. Letters may be shared between words. Erroneous or duplicate words may appear in the grid, but there is only one correct solution. After the listed words are found, there are eight letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD. TURNIPS SWEDES KOHLRABI TATTIES NEEPS ASIA BRASSICA CABBAGE CRISP DICED ROAST ROOT SPICY STEWS VEGETABLE SNOOP DOGG HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 542, Amateur Gardening, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF, to arrive by Wednesday 11 November 2020. The first correct entry chosen at random will win…

AUSTRALIA boasts a bonanza of 24,000 different species of trees, shrubs and flowers, making our meagre native flora of 1,400 look like a losing cricket score. But few of these Aussie originals – bar the notable exceptions of gum trees and bottlebrush – have gone on walkabout to our gardens, meaning the best of Down Under’s diversity is still to come. There is one new arrival in nurseries, though: the cushion bush. Although brought to Blighty circa 1817, its garden worthiness has been a well-kept secret inside the confines of herbariums and the high walls of botanic gardens. And when you look at this unusual plant, you can sort of see why. “Thriving on neglect, it gets hardier with age” Everything about Leucophyta brownii, as the botanists like to call…

1 Small is bountiful: Many things can be grown indoors. Microgreens and herbs can be sown and grown on a windowsill and chillies are happy in a warm, well-lit kitchen. 2 Buy the right plants: Test your soil so you know its pH and don’t waste money on ‘wrong’ plants. Blueberries, for example, hate alkaline soil, while the cabbage family does well in it. 3 Grow prolific crops: Grow crops that you enjoy eating and produce generously, such as potatoes, beans, raspberries and strawberries. Tomatoes too, though they do need lots of care. 4 Grow up! Think vertically. Plant trailing toms, salads and herbs in hanging baskets, canes of dwarf peas and beans in containers and espalier fruit trees along a wall. 5 Intercropping: Inspired by the ‘three sisters’ regime,…

OF all the spring flowers we use to pack our gardens, my perennial – or rather biennial – favourite are the wallflowers. These yellow, gold, burnished beauties with their bushy growth and delicious peppery scent, fire up the spring days like nothing else. They are biennials and can either be sown in late spring for autumn planting out, ready for flowering the next year, or bought in autumn as bare-root plants. I usually favour the latter route, buying a bunch of newspaper-wrapped plantlets for less than £2 from my local town centre garden shop. Perennial wallflowers such as purple ‘Bowles Mauve’ and the more pinky ‘Winter Orchid’ are increasingly popular and incredibly long-flowering, to the point where I can’t remember when our ‘Bowles’ hasn’t been in flower. Keep them shapely…

IT ALWAYS makes sense to prepare for a cold winter. So before the arrival of frosts hard enough to damage them, make sure you empty watering cans, sprayers and so on. Never leave hoses with water in them – one hard frost, and they may rupture. Be especially vigilant with inexpensive thin plastic hosepipe, as this gets so brittle when cold that it shatters if moved, so put it away somewhere safe. If you have a pool or pond, float a ball in it as this bobbing will keep water from freezing and it also allows noxious gases to escape. “It makes sense to prepare for a cold winter” Once most leaves have fallen, check your gutters are clean and downpipes clear (not blocked with a cluster of snails hibernating).…

John has been answering reader queries for 50 years Can dahlias stay in place over winter? QI don’t have the space or facilities to lift my dahlias for winter. What is the best alternative and when can I repot those in containers? Can I also move dahlias to another spot now? E J Moss, Mitcham, Cambridgeshire AYour best bet is to leave your dahlias in the ground where they are over winter, providing them with protection. If you were to try moving them now they wouldn’t have time to put out new roots into the soil and would be more vulnerable to cold weather. The best time to move them would be after the frosts, in mid-late April. The best way to take cuttings is from shoots produced in spring.…

Tim tests six products this week to determine the best for you LEAF rakes, the ones with flat tines and (usually) plastic heads, are not the same as spring-tined rakes that have thin metal wire tines designed to scratch thatch and moss from deep between grass blades. Leaf rakes are designed to run over the surface gathering loose debris, such as grass clippings and fallen leaves. A spring-tined rake will quickly clog up with trapped leaves, while a well-designed leaf rake gathers without clogging. If you have a lawn you’ll find owning one of each type makes life much easier. All six of the leaf rakes I tried here do the job – some with a little more finesse, while others have additional features that might suit your situation. I’m…

OUR compost heap has worked well this summer and provided us with many bags of rich, crumbly goodness to be spread on the beds this autumn. Although composting slows down in winter when the temperature drops, keep building your heap or filling your dalek bin. It is worth covering your heap with old carpet in winter to keep in its heat, removing it every so often to let in rain to dampen the mix. If you have a lidded bin, uncover it occasionally for the same reason. The main additions at this time of year will be prunings, cut back perennials, weeds and grass clippings. Make sure anything woody is chopped up finely or shredded beforehand and when adding grass clippings to the mix, fork them in with the rest…

THERE’S a public field just behind our house that has been sown with wildflower seed, and whenever you walk through it at this time of year, a flock of at least 50 small, chattering finches rise and swirl around your head. They are goldfinches, some of the most attractive and precious of our native small birds. A common sight in gardens, they will flock to feeders and also strip seeds from teasels, sunflowers and mature fennel plants. Goldfinches are easy to identify, with their scarlet face and bright yellow wing patches. They are so colourful that a collective noun for a flock of these little beauties is ‘a charm’, which says it all! There are around 1.2 million breeding pairs in the UK and they can be found almost everywhere,…

THIS year we’ve had a bumper crop from our three apple trees, so they should keep us going for at least three months. That’s one apple a day each, cut up on our breakfast muesli, and I’m a firm believer in the old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Apples are rich in fibre, antioxidants and in vitamins A, C and K, so they help the dietary system, the immune system and thyroid function. Also, the pectin reduces cholesterol. Most importantly, they taste wonderful and, if you grow your own, they’re free. If you’re organic, they’re also pesticide free. I think a lot of gardeners decided to plant apple trees in ‘lockdown’, because a lot of potted fruit trees sold out in spring. And now is…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week Is this the time to remove a bamboo? QI have cut back a large and invasive clump of bamboo. How can I kill the stumps and roots as I’m unable to dig them out, and how do I dry the canes for garden use? Tricia Agar, via email AThis is slightly the wrong time of year to deal with your bamboo roots as the plants will have gone dormant so won’t absorb any weedkiller you use. So next spring, cut down all the new stems to 12in (30cm), drill into the stumps and put a teaspoonful of a herbicide such as Roundup or SBK into the hole. Vinegar is also supposed to be effective. Do this when it isn’t…

This week it’s: WHEN discussing brassicas we tend to think of cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts, but these are just the ‘leafy’ brassicas. There are three more commonly grown members of the brassica vegetable group that, visually at least, have very little in common with the leafy types. I’m talking about turnips, swedes and kohlrabi, which are all brassicas in their own right. Where they do have similarities is in the growing: they all need a firm, non-acid soil with good drainage. Let’s look at some of the stories surrounding these root and swollen-stemmed brassicas. ■ When it comes to turnips, the small kinds are grown for human food. Larger varieties are grown to feed livestock. Turnips: a potted history THE turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) is a…

Star letter AS an absolute novice, my style of gardening is very much ‘I wonder what will happen if I do this?’ – I do, however, know what I want it to end up looking like so I created this plan in my conservatory/greenhouse/potting-up area. I’m not sure how true to the design the end product will be but Amateur Gardening has provided endless inspiration! Helen Yarr, via email Wendy says: This is amazing, Helen! What a great way to visualise your plan and good luck with putting it into action. That’ll be the dahlia! HERE’S my first-ever dahlia flower, which I am growing in honour of my late father who loved them. I’m chuffed with the way it’s turned out. Mike Dunn, Plymouth, Devon MY dahlias will continue through…