Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Apr-2021 i Amateur Gardening

“There is something special about making the first cut of the lawn in spring. While a lot of time was spent in the garden over winter, it was primarily to accomplish tasks of preparation: building compost sites; clearing old roots and plant debris; pruning roses; and planting umpteen flowers, shrubs and a tree. At times the garden seemed more like a workplace than one of joy and wonder. But it is that first cut of the lawn, preceded by some vigorous edging work, that turns a workplace into a garden. Now daffs, primroses, hyacinths and just-opening tulips truly come to life as though refining the lawn was the final part of the puzzle, bringing the garden into sharp focus. The next step is scarifying and seeding – the work is…

OUTDOOR gardening may be taking up most of our time now (so much to do!) but let us not neglect houseplants. They are growing again after winter just like their outdoors counterparts and need just as much care. Restart feeding, and water them whenever their compost feels just dry to the touch. As the temperature rises, stand them on trays of pebbles that are kept damp to create healthy humidity around their leaves. Now they are growing again you can re-pot or divide those that are cramped in their current pots. The roots will make the most of the fresh compost and they will grow well. If you have a hippeastrum (amaryllis) that has finished flowering, cut back the stem and move it to a shaded part of the greenhouse…

TAGETES ‘Starfire’ may well sound like something from the Star Wars franchise, but these perky plants will bring a host of earthly benefits to your garden. For starters, they produce a blaze of colour in low-growing mounds of yellow, red and gold that create a vibrant edge to borders or an eye-catching spill of colour in a container. They are also deliciously scented, to us at least – and this is their other superpower. Research scientists have discovered that the smell of tagetes confuses and deters whitefly, making them the perfect plants to dot around your veg growing area and tomato growbags! Tagetes ‘Starfire’ are half hardy annuals and while they can be sown outdoors in May and June, it is still too chilly for them now. Start them off…

SO what connects the following: tomatoes, marrows, courgettes, squashes, pumpkins, ridge cucumbers, runner beans, French beans, soya beans and sweet potatoes? Well, of course, these are all tender crops. They cannot take any frost – one touch, and they’re lost. Even in the warmest of gardens, these should not be planted out for another fortnight or so, unless given extra protection. And then it also takes a favourable summer to get the best, as they really need warmth. That’s warmth all over, not just to their tops! You see, we’re too keen to get them planted out but we’re watching weather conditions, not soil temperature. Planting out into too cold a soil may stall or check the plants, which do poorly for the rest of the season. “Soil temperature is…

Dahlia ‘Figaro Mix’ These dwarf classics have a compact, bushy habit - great for lavish bedding schemes and containers. Each plant produces a mass of flowers and they are perfect for pots and planters, or in borders dotted around to fill in gaps. Begonia ‘Organdy Fl’ Mix A must-have in your summer planting, these Begonias are particularly good at withstanding the wet or dry conditions of a British summer. Perfect for patio pots, containers and hanging baskets they will explode with a mass of blooms all summer. Busy Lizzie ‘Divine’ Mix This Busy Lizzie offers a mildew resistant alternative to seed-raised Busy Lizzies. Their bright shades of red, pink, purple and white are set against tough deep green leaves, and planted 30cm apart they provide a carpet of colour in…

Q My six-year-old son is fascinated by dinosaurs, and I’m thinking of clearing the shady side of the garden to make it a jungly, prehistoric park for some of his toys. Any plant suggestions? Leona Pritchard, Birmingham A Start by studying some pictures of dinosaur-strewn landscapes. Ignore the Tyrannosaurus rex, stegosaurus and wheeling pterodactyls, and study the depictions of plants instead. Some will look familiar, because their descendants are still around today. During the Jurassic period, there was a lot of movement in the earth’s plates. The Atlantic Ocean began to open up around 150 million years ago, Africa and South America separated from each other, and volcanoes erupted. Mountain ranges formed, and shallow seas flowed out over the land. Whereas the climate had been hot and dry, it gradually…

A GARDEN pond is a brilliant way to waste time! Since we put ours in two years ago I have spent countless hours gazing into it, watching the snails and water beetles, admiring the plants and sadly searching in vain for frogs or at least a newt or two (we need to encourage our neighbours to put in ponds as well, I think). Ponds are a great addition to any garden. They add a calming, soothing element for us and are also a major attraction for wildlife. Flying aquatic insects soon find their way in (exactly how they locate a new pond is beyond me), followed if you are lucky by frogs, toads and newts. Birds will probe around the edges for food and nesting materials and mammals will use…

FEW things are more glorious than a colour-packed garden border, former gaps between perennials filled with the joyful colours of summer annuals. Now the weather is warming up, the soil is too, which means you can start sowing hardy annuals directly where you want them to go. We must still be more cautious with half-hardy varieties such as gazanias and nicotiana though, as these can still fall foul of our temperamental spring climate so should be started off undercover for a few more weeks. Soil preparation is key when sowing direct. If it is too heavy and holds onto water, seeds can sit and rot, and if it is poor and thin it will lose nutrients. Dig in lots of well-rotted compost or manure to open up heavy, compacted soil,…

IN the third week of April, I find myself straining to hear the cuckoo every time I go into the garden, but so far no luck at all. Others hear it further up the village, very occasionally, although it never stays for long. I usually drive a few miles east to a nature reserve managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). If I can time my visit with the bluebells, often out in the last week of April these days, then so much the better, as I’m very likely to hear a male cuckoo calling. It’s one of the sounds of spring. I used to travel a lot further for my annual cuckoo fix – all the way to the mountains of Nagano in Japan, in fact.…

Q Now that my spring bulbs have finished, what can I plant for late colour? Helen Friockheim (via email) A I suggest that you plant the following summer-flowering bulbs now to follow your spring display of daffodils, crocuses and other early performers: Gladiolus murielae (G. callianthus) Flowering from August to September, the gladiolus-like blooms are pure white with a starry, purple throat. Colchicum autumnale (autumn crocus) Colouring August to October, flared pink flowers are followed in spring by wavy-edged glossy leaves. Galtonia candicans (summer hyacinth) Spikes of flared trumpet-shaped flowers appear on sturdy spikes in August. Roscoea cautleyoides Flare, lipped and hooded yellow blooms cheer late summer. Schizostylis coccinea (Kaffir lily) Starry gladiolus-like flowers enrich October and November. Sternbergia lutea (autumn daffodil) Cupshaped yellow blooms illuminate September and October. Once…

WHEN decided where to place your pond there are a few things to take into consideration. It needs a sunny spot out of the prevailing wind, so that aquatic plants will flourish and to attract wildlife. Ideally position it away from overhanging trees and shrubs, which give too much shade and may clog the water with fallen leaves and twigs. However, wildlife does like a quick escape route for protection, so grow ornamental grasses or build a habitat pile close by where amphibians can hide and hibernate. If you want a wildlife pond think twice about adding ornamental fish, as they will eat aquatic insects as well as amphibian eggs and spawn. They are also likely to become a fish supper for the neighbourhood herons! Putting in a pond takes…

TS ELIOT had a point when he wrote ‘April is the cruellest month’. For while it is a month of increasing warmth and sunshine, it can also be beset by snap frosts that play havoc with our gardening plans. Early fruit blossom such as pear can fall foul of an unexpected cold snap, so you lose your fruit, and more tender plants can be trashed overnight. Luckily we have an array of weapons to help us protect our plants, from greenhouses and cold frames to fleece, bubblewrap and even old blankets. The process of acclimatising plants to outside conditions after months in a protected environment is called ‘hardening off’. Plants that overwintered in a heated environment should first go to an unheated greenhouse for a couple of weeks, with fleece…

Listen to Peter’s free podcast every Thursday. Search for ‘This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook’ on iTunes THE deep freeze is very useful to help cope with garden surpluses, and currently we are eating our way through the last of the stored raspberries to make space for the new season’s crops. Raspberries, blackberries, loganberries and indeed all the cane fruits freeze well, and with newly planted blueberries the normal light crop in the first year or two can be frozen in small numbers as they ripen until enough have accumulated for a full serving. Surpluses of the new novelty cultivars of blackberries and raspberries may be less likely until their pruning regime is better understood by growers. These autumn-fruiting kinds are called primocane types. They fruit on the…

PEOPLE are always amazed at how long brassicas take to grow, so I’m here to gently remind you that the time to get your Brussels sprouts, kale, sprouting broccoli, winter cauliflower and Savoy cabbage seeds sown is now. It’s tricky to cast your mind forward so far when there’s so many exotic crops that need sowing in April, but you’ll be glad you were so organised in the frosty months. These hardy veg are the backbone of a cool-season harvest, delivering picking after picking of flavour – and nutrient-packed goodness. They’re all part of the same plant species, Brassica oleracea, and all have distinct juvenile and mature phases – but there the similarity ends. A cauliflower curd is made up of thousands of immature buds on a short stem, whereas…

This week it’s: ON Wednesday of this week (21 April), Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II turns 95. Having come to the throne in 1952, on the death of her father, she is the longest reigning monarch Britain has ever had. Although her real birthday is in April, she also has an ‘official birthday’ on a Saturday in June. This is marked by a Trooping of the Colour ceremony, which brilliantly demonstrates the superior drill and horsemanship of the serving soldiers of her Household Division. It is British pageantry at its best. As the great lady has reached such a milestone, we thought it only right and proper that we celebrate by looking at some of the links between queens and plants. And there are many! Roses by any other name…

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) SOIL in a garden border offers plants the maximum stability as they grow, because the plants can send down strong roots to act as anchors against winds that blow against them. But what if you choose, or need, to grow plants – and especially tall ones – in pots? The amount of compost varies according to the shape and size of the container, but it is seldom enough to offer meaningful support, especially during the early stages. Depth of compost problem One of the major problems with trying to support a tall plant in a pot is that the depth of compost is not sufficient to offer a firm grip to a single…

THANK you for Ruth Hayes article (AG, 3 April), regarding container bulbs, very helpful as we have some requiring help. The article reminded me of a story told to me years ago when I was an apprentice. In the 1950s the Reverend W. Awdry, author of the Thomas the Tank Engine books, was vicar at Emneth in the Black Fen, and he had been granted a ride with the driver and fireman on the Wisbech Tram whose locomotives were the origin of Toby the Tram Engine. During the return trip from Upwell to Wisbech the tram clattered to a stop in the middle of seemingly nowhere and the crew rushed off the loco. Fearing a boiler explosion, or worse, Awdry followed. But, he found the crew gathering bulbs from a…

DID you hear about the new science book – How to be 50% as Smart as Albert Einstein? I bought two. Ba-dum-cha! And just like Einstein, I’m grappling with space-time theory. Not the mathematical model combining three dimensions of space with the fourth dimension of time, but the equally perplexing imponderable: what to do with pot plants that have run out of space over time in their containers The flags at Buckland Castle are home to a cluster of large potted evergreens, including topiary bays, box trees and a 6ft (1.8m) blue European palm. All have that ‘yellow around the gills’ appearance, suggesting they need potting on, but they’re so big that lifting the rootballs from the containers could seriously strain a chap’s Higgs Boson. Where gravitational mass exceeds available…