Innholdsfortegnelse for 1-May-2021 i Amateur Gardening

“Our love of nature (and the desire to create, encourage and nurture it within our garden) is the source of many good things. There are the health benefits: both physical and mental, as well as benefits to the environment and its flora and local fauna. This week, I discovered a previously unknown benefit: it inspires poetry! When we published a reader’s poem a couple of weeks ago, I encouraged others to submit theirs, and the first piece is in this week’s Letters (page 53) So you see, gardening inspires creative writing as well as being healthgiving. I wonder what other benefits it has?”…

A WILDLIFE charity dedicated to saving the UK’s hedgehogs is celebrating its 10th anniversary and asking AG readers to join their campaign. This year marks the 10th birthday of Hedgehog Street, a nationwide campaign launched by wildlife charities People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS). Its aim is to encourage people to become ‘Hedgehog Champions’ who make their gardens more hedgehog-friendly to help stop the ongoing decline of Britain’s favourite mammal. The latest State of Britain’s Hedgehogs report, published in 2018 revealed that 50% of rural hedgehog populations and 30% of urban hedgehog populations have been lost since 2000. In 2020, hedgehogs were listed as ‘vulnerable to extinction’ on the Red List for Britain’s Mammals. Do ten things to help Several complex factors are…

ALTHOUGH holidays to the Med may be elusive this summer, we can still bring you the scent of warmer climates with this week’s free seeds. Lavender ‘Munstead’ is an extremely popular variety, coming second only to the ever-popular dark blue ‘Hidcote’ variety. Its flowers are a paler lilac colour and are heavily scented, making them perfect for lavender bags or pot pourri mixes. Unlike many lavenders, which thrive in the arid soils around the Mediterranean, when pruned ‘Munstead’ throws up lots of new shoots instead of just one, meaning the plant stays fresh-looking and verdant all season through. English lavender is tougher than its French counterpart and varieties such as Munstead’ are perfect if you want to plant a low-growing hedge. The scented seeds are easy to sow; sprinkle them…

A FEW years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Ireland at snowdrop time. I was struck by two things. First, the small fields were incredibly lush and green, and full of grazing livestock. Second, I noticed hordes of tiny bees on the snowdrops in the gardens I visited. These tiny bees were less than half the size of a honey bee and quite dark in colour, and the snowdrops were alive with them. That’s something I never see in my cold Cotswold garden. Our early snowdrop pollinators are honeybees and bumblebee queens, plus the odd large hoverfly that’s overwintered. I do get tiny bees here, but they don’t usually appear until mid-April, due to our colder climate. However, the difference in numbers isn’t due to climate. The agricultural system…

Why hasn’t our greengage got blossom? Q Our greengage tree is slow to flower this year, but has lots of new leaves. Will it fruit? Jenny Marshall, Dorset A If the tree is growing healthily, it may simply be a matter of time. Fruit trees often require one growing season to establish sufficiently well before flowering, and sometimes take more. Greengages flower early in the year and can be very prone to losing the blossom to frost. If this is likely to be a problem, improve the shelter around the tree. If a tree is growing on very fertile soil, it will produce a lot of leafy growth at the expense of flowers. If you feed the tree with a high-nitrogen fertiliser, and if the soil is already fertile, it…

WIN £30 No: 567 This word search comprises words associated with cucumbers. 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 five letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEY WORD. CUCUMBERS GREENHOUSE OUTDOOR TELEGRAPH IMPROVED BITTER CLIMBER GREEN LONG MALE PICKLING RIDGE SEA SEED SKIN STRAIGHT VINE HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 567, Amateur Gardening, Unit 2, Eelmore Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7QN, to arrive by Wednesday 12 May 2021. The first correct entry chosen at…

Blue tit in disguise IT’S lovely to see such an assortment of wild flowers emerging and the trees looking splendid in their new green leaves. I was hoping the robins would return to nest but I think they were a bit put out that I had done some housekeeping in their nest box plus I had had to cut some of the ivy away that was making the box more secluded. However…. the blue tits are back, not nesting in our garden, but helping themselves to some first class bedding provided by Ben the best groomed dog in the neighbourhood. The blue tit (pretending to be a bearded tit) was just outside the kitchen window so… sometimes it’s a bonus when it’s your turn to do the washing up. Kathie…

THE spring sowing season is a game of two halves. It kicks off indoors with those cold hardy annuals and slow-sprouting pelargoniums and then, after working through tomatoes and the bulk of the bedding, it arrives in early May for a halftime slice of orange. This is when tactics switch to planting seeds of hardy leafy crops straight in the soil, and sowing energetic courgettes, beans and corn in pots inside. These fast growers (along with pumpkins, marrows and outdoor cucumbers) can be sown earlier but there’s little point, as until it’s safe to plant frost-free outdoors these large leaved plants will do little more than compete for precious sill space in the greenhouse. Of course, the go-to guide of when to sow is printed on the seed packets, but…

WHAT a difference a year makes! This time 12 months ago we were in the first lockdown, garden centres were closed and in a perfect storm of chaos, garden websites were crashing under the demand of millions of new gardeners! Hopefully this year there are still lots of new gardeners out there, but you are finding it easier to source plants and products as life starts to open up again. The first May bank holiday is here and the three-day weekend offers gardeners old and new the opportunity to catch up on late spring tasks and get their plots ready for the months ahead. For me, the bank holiday will be a mixture of plant care and general garden maintenance, keeping the patio clean, winkling out the weeds, making sure…

THE Easter weekend showed us how fickle the UK’s weather can be. One day we were gardening in shorts and getting excited about summer plantings, the next we were back in woolly layers watching snow floating down outside. May can be just as bad, especially further north where late frosts can be commonplace on the clear nights. So keep a weather eye on the daily forecast and don’t pack away your garden insulation just yet! Hard frosts damage new growth and can be devastating to anything that isn’t totally hardy that has already been planted out without being adequately hardened off. Cloches are excellent for protecting single tender plants in borders, such as evergreen agapanthus and penstemons that have already had their old growth cut back. You can also insulate…

ONE of the first things done each morning is to pull back the curtains, take a look down into the garden and watch the birds. Similarly, working in the kitchen, time will be spent viewing all the plants and flowers across the back garden, probably spending more time looking out, rather than stopping to appreciate things when outside amongst them. There is a well-established Camellia japonica ‘RL Wheeler’ growing against our dining room window. For two years now because of lockdown, there has been no one to share the glorious view over a meal. Blackbirds had built a nest in the branches and it was interesting watching them sit on eggs and raise a family within two feet of the dinning room. “Camellias respond well to pruning where nescessary” Tall…

AN annual feature on any vegetable plot, runner beans can be sown now and are utterly delicious when the pods are picked at a young and tender age. The pitfalls are easy to avoid if you know how, so let me divulge how to ensure a summer full of beans! Better bean breeding Plant breeders have done gardeners proud in recent years. While older varieties flowered late in the summer, modern types develop earlier blooms due to boffins adjusting the bean’s sensitivity to day length. Drought resistance is improving, too. Red-flowered varieties were shallow-rooted compared to their white-flowered cousins, but breeding has now blurred the boundaries. By far the most exciting development has been the crossing of runner and French beans. This British-led breeding programme has introduced some real positives…

Delphiniums and lupins Q I love delphiniums and lupins, but seem to have trouble keeping them going. They last for a few years, but then just disappear. I don’t want to give up, so what should I do? Any advice you can give would be most welcome. Maggie Douglas, Shap, Cumbria A Unlike some other herbaceous perennials, delphiniums and lupins are relatively short lived, especially on heavy soils in wetter parts of the country. They thrive as youngsters, reaching a magnificent peak after three or four years, but the crowns turn woody as they age and can rot after a cold, wet winter. They are usually good for seven years. Good care from the outset will give these showy plants the best chance of doing well, so plant young delphiniums…

1 As well as edging your lawn, dig a trench around your borders to give them extra definition and make it easier to keep the edges sharp. 2 Make sure perennials, such as clematis, have adequate support as they grow. Cut back penstemons to new growth, then water and mulch. 3 Pinch out plugs so encourage them to become bushy. Check undercover strawberry plants are healthy for earlier fruits than those outside. 4 Relocate plants that have self-seeded in the wrong place, such as these foxgloves that were growing tangled up in a lavender bush. 5 Remove the top few inches of old compost from long-term containers and replace with fresh, then water with a natural feed such as EcoGrow. 6 Sow squash and courgettes in large modules, 1 or…

GLORIOUS exotic dahlias and cannas are some of the most splendid plants in the garden, packing a glossy punch whenever they flower. Despite their startling and long-lasting good looks that keep going until the autumn, these plants are tender so it is still a bit too early to plant them out just yet, but you need to be keeping an eye on their growth. If you potted up their tubers and rhizomes earlier in spring and have been growing them undercover, their shoots should be pretty well developed now. Keep their compost damp and check tender young leaves for pests such as greenfly and snails. In a few weeks you can gradually acclimatise them to life outside, but for now, they need to be safe from late frosts. You should…

SOME gardening terms are not very self-explanatory. A prime example is ‘hardening off’ which, although making some sense, does not convey exactly what it is and why we are supposed to be doing it. I think we should replace ‘hardening off’ with ‘toughening up’, as that is what we are really trying to achieve. We’re told to harden off plants before we move them permanently outside. We want them to become acclimatised to windier, colder, brighter conditions than they’ve been accustomed to in the balmy atmosphere indoors. So to ‘toughen up’ plants, move them outdoors during the day and bring them in again at night, for three or four days – preferably longer. You see, undercover plants grow less stiff stems with larger, softer leaves than they would outdoors. They…

1 ‘Red Rum’: An older variety for those who don’t want any French bean in their runners! Red-flowered, high yielding and bearing tender, stringless pods. ‘Red Rum’ is an early maturing benchmark bean variety that is still considered worthy of an RHS AGM. 2 ‘Firestorm’: This red-flowered self-fertile runner bean also has the French bean in its breeding. It sets better crops in inclement and very hot weather than the standard types, and it grows plump, stringless pods and beans with a sweet flavour. Perfect for kitchen gardens. An RHS AGM winner. 3 ‘Jackpot’: Another runner-French cross, with all the attributes that this brings. It is a compact grower, so ideal for large tubs, and comes in a range of flower colours. High yielding for a dwarf variety, due to…

This week it’s: Cucumbers Mind-bending facts about unassuming fruits I WAS surprised by a recent YouGov poll (December 2020) which revealed that the cucumber is the nation’s seventh most popular vegetable. Not only that, but also it was the third “most famous” veg after potatoes and ‘new’ potatoes. You could knock me down with… well, a cucumber! I have grown cucumbers many times, but I don’t grow them every year, mainly because we don’t eat many and they usually produce such gluts, we don’t know what to do with them. But they are easy to grow and we’re slap-bang in the middle of the cucumber sowing season, so let’s look at some stories. ■ Slicing varieties typically grow to 12in (30cm) and longer, and are best enjoyed fresh in sandwiches…

LOPPERS, or long-handled pruners, are the next stage on from secateurs. They are designed to take on those slightly larger pruning jobs that are too big for the average pair of secateurs, but too small to need a pruning saw or chainsaw. They are ideal for dealing with medium-sized branches and stems of 1-1.in (3-4cm) as shrubs get bigger and older, or tree branches need trimming. In design, they look like large secateurs fitted onto long handles. They have sturdy hand grips at the base that increase your leverage and reach while allowing for good grip and a comfortable working position. Many models have the bonus of extending telescopic shafts that can be locked in position to increase reach and leverage even further. Loppers have the advantage over secateurs when…