Innholdsfortegnelse for 4-Dec-2021 i Amateur Gardening

“I note that the National Trust has called upon members to stop using peat compost (News, page 6). This is not the first organisation to do this, but I do wonder why announcements are always aimed at gardeners using compost when it could be equally aimed at people who drink Scotch whisky or eat mushrooms—both of which rely on peat. Waitrose came out earlier in the year to ban peat compost from its supermarkets, but there was no mention of the pot plants it sells and there is no shortage of mushroooms or whisky in its stores. Double standards?” Contact us: ■ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ■ Editorial: 0330 3903732 ■ Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com ■ Advertising: 0330 3906566…

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com THE National Trust has joined conservation organisations around the world in calling for its members to stop using peat-based compost. The flagship heritage charity, along with RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the Royal Horticultural Society and pressure groups from 19 other countries, are all calling for a ban on peat as part of an international effort to tackle the effects of climate change. They say that a failure to implement a ban will undermine any climate and nature commitments made by world leaders at COP 26, which took place in November 2021. These international organisations are also asking their cumulative 8 million members to stop buying products that rely on peat or are grown in peat, and seek sustainable alternatives. By stripping the demand for peat…

Listen to Peter’s free podcast every Thursday. Search for ‘This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook’ on iTunes ROSES will be included as standard among many of the cut flowers arriving in gift deliveries across Britain and countries around the world over Christmas and the New Year. How things have changed, though, since the luxury production post-Second World War of such glasshouse kinds as pale-pink ‘Lady Sylvia’ and the long-lasting (when cut) dark-red ‘Baccara’. Rising glasshouse heating fuel prices in the 1970s, and the availability of air freight, saw production switch to Africa, Columbia and Ecuador, where good sunlight is guaranteed and the right temperatures are found by moving polythene-clad houses up mountainsides. Rose breeders applied their skills to introduce rose cultivars suited to these subtropical conditions and steadily…

WE normally feed our birds throughout the year, including the summer months. However, this year we stopped filling the feeders from the beginning of June until the end of September because we had three resident pigeons that hovered underneath. Stumpy Wing had a damaged wing, Droopy Wing had a right wing that touched the ground and Fatso had a cleavage worthy of Dolly Parton. He found it difficult to fly and he needed his own runway for take-off. This motley trio chased the blackbirds and robins away, and did unmentionable things to the Best Beloved’s ancient car, which is parked under beech tree branches. They roosted on my box chickens for hours on end – so much so that they began to sag and lose shape. However, when the food…

When should we prune our ‘Limelight’? Q Our hydrangea ‘Limelight’ flowered really well this year, but has now gone over. Should I cut it back now or wait until spring? Marc Edmunds (via email) A ‘Limelight’ is a variety of Hydrangea paniculata, which flowers in late summer on wood produced in the current year. Therefore, the best time to prune it is in early spring before it comes into growth after winter. Pruning is not absolutely essential, but flowering will be better if the shrub is given a trim each year. The best method is to cut the whole plant back to a woody framework that can be as low as 10in (25cm) above soil level if the plant is growing in an exposed spot, but as high as 2ft…

AS long as the ground isn’t frozen or saturated, you can plant trees and shrubs now. In fact, you will be spoilt for choice as most varieties are available to buy bare root, meaning they are smaller and considerably cheaper than those sold in containers. Bare-root plants are so small they look almost twig-like, but come spring they will romp away and put on astounding levels of growth. Having said that, there is no need to wait until spring to see the results of your planting. If you choose a container-grown variety that boasts patterned evergreen leaves and berries, or carries winter flowers, such as a Daphne or a deliciously scented sweet box (Sarcococca confusa), then you will have a pretty and perfumed spectacle to greet visitors straight off. From…

WHETHER you believe in climate change or not, we do seem to be experiencing greater extremes of weather and this can have a serious effect on our gardens. We live in the south of England, where winter gales and rain are our worst enemies, so I make sure tree supports, gutters and greenhouse panes are secure, and raise pots on feet so excess water can drain away. We also get the occasional hard frost, and the cold April this year threw the garden out of kilter for months. Northerly AG readers also have snow and harder freezes to contend with, so it is good to know what to expect and how to deal with it when it arrives. Preparation and prevention are better than cure, and a lot of what…

AT the time of writing there is talk of Christmas tree shortages, but I hope that by the time you read this there are more than enough to go round. The most popular types of tree are Nordmann fir, which have the thick boughs and broader needles, and Norway spruce, with thinner needles but a wonderful evocative scent. Although Nordmann firs are more popular, I prefer a Norway spruce. They smell glorious and though they are more prone to dropping their needles, if stood in a cool corner and watered regularly, they last well. If you buy a ready-cut tree, as most of us do, there are a few things you can do to keep it fresh until Twelfth Night. If possible, select one that hasn’t been netted so you…

IF there’s one horticultural bugbear that drives me crazy, it’s saggy wires – I simply cannot stand them. Supporting raspberries and trained fruits is critical at any time of year, and now is a great time to make sure that everything is as it should be. Ever since discovering a quick and highly effective way to keep wires tight, I’ve adopted it in my gardens. It will help your plants, too. Nobody wants supports to sway around and wobble. With winter being a key season for fruit tree, cane and bush planting, you’d be advised to try this simple technique (see panel, right). It doesn’t require specialist equipment and it is ideal for supporting raspberries as well as trained fruits such as fans, cordons and espaliers. The beauty of this…

This week it’s: GARDENERS have always needed to control the pests and diseases that invade their plants and gardens. Over the centuries, they have used numerous ways to tackle such problems, from intricate traps, to simply digging-out and burning. But gradually, chemicals were discovered to be quicker, easier and cheaper to use. For 200 years or more, noxious chemicals and toxic substances have been sprayed, sprinkled, smeared and smothered over plants and soils, and it has only been in the past 50 or so years that the world has realised that such chemicals, while effective, also make a huge and detrimental impact on the environment. Let’s take a look at some garden chemical stories over the years. That is the question: “Tobacco…” EVEN from as early as 1690, many plant…

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While clearing out myshed some weeks agoI found some bulbs, Stunted, forgotten, pasttheir ‘plant-by’ date, Every gardener knowswhat I mean. I held them in my hands,weighing, cogitating, Were they worth thetrouble of planting? Would knife straightstems grow from curvyshoots?I considered. Give us a chance, thecrocuses seemed toplead. So I did, planted theminto pots, And let the sun do itswork. Some weeks later, Sunlight and earth makesplants grow straight,I found. Give everything anotherchance to see the light,Yourself included…

TAKE a moment to check over your stored corms and tubers because if any have started to soften and rot, they will contaminate the rest. They start to fail if they were stored without being properly dried out, or if the place where they are stored is damp. If you find one rotting bulb, give all the others a gentle squeeze and discard all that don’t look or feel firm. If they are left where they are, you run the risk of disease infecting all the other bulbs. If you have discovered problems among your bulbs, move the remaining sound ones somewhere with better ventilation and dry conditions. I have been storing gladioli corms in net bags hung in the shed and the tubers are under the greenhouse staging, dry…

OUR fickle British weather has long troubled gardeners, with us learning to cope with late frosts, dry spells, wet spells and sudden gales as irritations. Sure, we used to lose some crops – even giving up on some ‘difficult’ plants – but generally, we had ‘favourable’ growing seasons most years. This was because our most popular crops and flowers were once predictably those that would produce well given that average ‘favourable’ season. The current mess we’ve got ourselves in is twofold. We can no longer rely on our old calendar of operations. It’s still overall an excellent guide, but it’s slipping out of sync. Certainly, it seems possible to sow and plant earlier than in the past, and we can snatch second crops as autumn comes later. But this is…

Q I thought hydrangeas were fine in the sun if they were well watered, so I planted one in a pot facing west. Despite regular watering, it looked sad and it hardly flowered at all. Is it worth saving, and what small shrub can I put in the container instead? Barbara Hyde, Tetbury, Glos. A If you look up hydrangea care, their ideal position is described as sun or light shade so you can be forgiven for thinking that a west-facing location would suit it. These deciduous shrubs originate from woodland, where a high tree canopy provides shelter and the root run is cool, moist yet well drained. Hydrangeas generally don’t thrive well in open positions where they are more vulnerable to late-frost damage and drying winds and where, in…

No: 040 It’s time for our just-for-fun puzzle – AG’s Garden Wall. This wall comprises 12 bricks in three courses. Each brick has a different word, or phrase on it. The first brick in each course, with BLOCK capitals, is cemented in place and cannot be moved. Just rearrange all the other bricks, so that the four words in each course of bricks are linked. There are three different connections to look for, one for each course. You may find that some words have more than one connection to other courses, but there is just one correct answer. You’ll either find this puzzle fiendishly difficult, or incredibly easy! Answers below. Hint: In one of the courses, the words are all anagrams of chemical groups! Answers: NORDMANN (fir) = Lodgepole (pine),…

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) MANY plants need some form of protection from the ravages of winter, especially if they are growing in containers. This is because while the tops of these plants may be quite hardy, the roots are not. These plants have evolved to grow in the ground, where the roots are enclosed in a large volume of soil that insulates them and they are not restricted as they are in a container. Naturally growing plants tend to have a much wider and deeper root system than those grown in containers. Container material The other consideration is the material the container is made from. Plastic and metal pots often have very thin sides and bases, and…

Star letter YOU recently asked for pictures of the plants grown from seeds that were included with AG this year. I attach photos showing the wonderful display they made outside our cottage this summer – well, not just summer, as they lasted virtually through until the end of October. We became the talk of the village (in a nice way!) for the colour and I felt I had become some sort of ‘hero’ gardener for my efforts. I had to admit to my newly gained fans who were keen to know my secrets that I had merely scattered the seeds that were free with your mag! We live on a busy road, but are fortunate to be opposite open farmland so the flowers had a battering from the wind and…

DON’T ask the guy who owns our local pick-your-own Christmas tree plantation to choose between trees. ‘Leave me out of it,’ says Matt, whose face has the thousand-yard stare of a man who’s seen trouble. ‘Last time I picked sides, it caused a domestic: the wife stormed off leaving the hubby behind in need of a lift home!’ It’s funny how, when choosing a tree, we all become experts on what’s going to look best, but it’s not just size and shape that counts. The variety is most important – especially if the tinsel goes up when the Hallowe’en pumpkins haven’t even gone on the compost heap. If that’s you, then a needle-holding Nordmann is a must. Sure, they’re often twice as expensive as a trad-Norway tree, but do the…