Innholdsfortegnelse for 11-Dec-2021 i Amateur Gardening

“There’s nothing like raking leaves for a good workout, and I leave raking mine until the last leaf flutters down to the grass. By this time, it’s tougher to move and so it’s a fight to drag the fresh and decaying leaves with the claw-like tines of my rake. This is not only good exercise – those weeks exposed to the elements have advanced the deterioration process and in the due process of time, I’ll have gorgeous crumbly leafmold. My crop from two years ago is about to be used on the borders: all for free!”…

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com RARE and heritage varieties of tulips and irises, as well as several other varieties of at-risk plants have been discovered growing on the nation’s allotments. Such is their importance that horticultural conservation charity Plant Heritage have taken five allotment sites and added them to their prestigious National Plant Collections. These include collections of irises in Suffolk and tulips in Wiltshire, plus new findings of Tradescantia and Verbena and a collection of Kniphofia and Echinops on an allotment in Leamington Spa. Vicki Cooke, Conservation Manager at Plant Heritage said: “There are a handful of National Plant Collections held on allotments across the country, but as they’re not the obvious location choice for a collection they’re often overlooked.” Passion for plants The Kniphofia (red hot poker) collection…

WITH the exception of members of the plum, cherry, apricot and almond families, and plants that flower in very early spring, most deciduous trees and shrubs require a haircut during the dormant season. While many can be pruned from November through to just before their buds swell and green-up in February, some need cutting back sooner rather than later. This is because if you wait to prune until after Christmas, they bleed too much sap, which weakens them and leaves them open to pests and disease. Vines and acers fall into this category, and I also include wisterias, because once these are sorted it leaves more time to prune other trees later on. Grape vines growing up a wall respond well to hard pruning so cut all the side shoots…

Next week: Focus on blueberries, replace glasshouse soil, check your soil pH, take root cuttings, try cranberries. PARSNIPS are a must-grow vegetable in the winter garden. Puréed, casseroled, chipped or roasted, they keep us fuelled in these chillier months – but how can you ensure success on the plot Being biennial, parsnips are geared towards creating a sizable root in their first year, ready to flower the next. With parsnips taking well over 30 weeks to mature, this is a long-haul crop. Like their carrot relatives, parsnips are slow to germinate. Caused partly by irregular seed maturity leading to immature seed embryos, it’s unsurprising that suppliers legally need to sell us seed with only a 65% germination rate. Cold soils also hinder germination; at 7°C/45°F, parsnips can take four weeks…

This extract from AG 26 December 1964 looks at plants that, according to legend, have links with the Devil THE Devil seems to have spent some considerable time wandering in the countryside, leaving his mark, or legends about himself, on many features of the landscape, as well as on several of our wild plants. However, he must have been fearful of entering private gardens for, among cultivated flowers, there are very few with any reference to him at all. His first venture into a more domestic scene was when he brought the Devil’s apple or mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) from southern Europe in the early 16th century. These were, according to the 17th century English herbalist and botanist Gerard, ‘only planted in gardens, and are not elsewhere to be found in…

Q We have moved into a mediumsized, well-laid out garden, but it has become very weedy. I’ve noticed some ground elder, couch grass and bindweed. What should I be doing over winter to control these weeds? Emily Pritchard, Sawston, Cambridgeshire A Perennial weeds will have spent autumn absorbing nourishment back into their creeping underground stems known as rhizomes, though we tend to refer to them as roots. Leaves will have withered, but as you have spotted where they are growing, it is worth using periods when the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged to loosen the soil using a fork, and winkle out as many roots as you can. Come spring, regrowth will be sparse and easier to deal with. In my experience, perennial weeds infest different borders in a…

THIS is the time of year when indoor plants really come into their own Whether they are gifts or long-standing residents, they definitely add so much to the house, and science has proved they are good for our mental and physical wellbeing. I love houseplants and though I am probably not their ideal custodian (many of ours seem to thrive on neglect), I get a real sense of triumph when they burst into flower year after year. My current delights are a venerable Christmas cactus that is weighed down with pointed pink buds, and a pair of streptocarpus with beautiful flowers of the deepest purple. Winter is a tough time for houseplants because many of them hail from temperate, humid climates and are not well suited to our dark, dry,…

Listen to Peter’s free podcast every Thursday. Search for ‘This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook’ on iTunes IT is pleasing to hear visitors to our Floral Fantasia area (at RHS Hyde Hall) exclaim: “There is still colour here!” Pleasing, because we work hard to ensure there are plants flowering every month of the year. While dahlias and other frost-tender summer bedding plants were removed in mid-November, hardy cyclamen and the pretty hardy small-flowered pot cyclamen, plus Wallflower ‘Sugar Rush’, keep the flower colour coming. Last month, on a trip to trade shows in Holland, time was taken to visit a large herbaceous nursery in Boskoop, the place to see one of the greatest concentrations of hardy plant nurseries. The growers there can put roots on anything and everything;…

GIVEN a bright windowsill, greenhouse or propagator, you can sow and grow fresh salads all year round with the huge range of seedling-cum-leaf-salad mixtures. We sow shallow trays of these densely to cut their leaves while still young. They are easy, nutritious, productive and seldom suffer pest or disease problems (other than the usual rampaging molluscs). Their only drawback is that you may start so many that you will fill all your warm, light spaces. Arguably, there are few conventional crops you’d want to sow for another month or so. That said, you might start early potatoes in bucket-sized tubs if you have enough frost-free light space. These can give you new potatoes at Easter when everyone else is planting theirs, and they are really tasty. The other exception is…

‘Green Pear of Yair’ Said to be from Yair, an estate in the Scottish Borders, this vigorous pear produces medium-sized oval fruit with dark green and yellowish skin. Ripens in early September and produces a prolific crop. ‘Black Worcester’ Depicted on the Worcestershire coat of arms, this variety dates to at least the 16th century. It develops a mahogany colour, but the flesh doesn’t ripen enough to be eaten fresh so they need to be cooked. ‘Winter Nelis’ Bred in Belgium and introduced into Britain in the 1800s, this variety is said to be one of the tastiest, with bulbous russet pears that store well. The latespring blossom has good frost resistance. ‘Hessle’ An old English pear and one of the hardiest, thriving in cooler, wetter conditions. It has small,…

This week it’s: WHETHER you’re mixing dried fruit into the Christmas cake or pudding, or simply offering it around in a bowl for the family to graze from, Yuletide has traditionally been a key time of year for dried fruits. Nearly half the dried fruits sold in shops are raisins, followed by currants, sultanas, dates, prunes and figs. Today you can also find dried apricots, peaches, strawberries and mango, as well as apple, pear and banana ‘chips’. All these have been dried either under the sun or in heated wind-tunnels. Many of the more acid-tasting fruits (such as cranberries and morello cherries) are infused with sweeteners during the drying process. Let’s take a closer look at some of these Christmassy treats. Dates versus figs PACKETS of dried dates and figs…

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Star letter EVERY week when I read AG, I get so much pleasure from the letters and poetry from other readers. It’s great to know that other people get so much happiness from their gardens. I’ve been into gardening just on 60 years now and I can’t imagine ever living without my flowers, nature and outside space. My garden gives me such a sense of peace, happiness and completeness. I love all creators that visit because they all play their part. From slugs to butterflies, from worms to beautiful birds, frost to cheeky squirrels. They are all in nature’s life cycle and all play…

Good and bad: Next week Team AG will show you their gardening successes and failures this year. What were yours? Tell us via amateurgardening@futurenet.com 1 Orchids: Moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) are hugely popular and flower for ages. Place them in good light in winter and move to a shadier spot in summer. Feed and water regularly when growing and re-pot every two years. 2 Anthurium: Striking plants with glossy leaves and waxy flowers. They like a light, warm spot and their compost should be damp but not soggy. Put them outside in a warm spot in summer, bringing them in before frosts. 3 Calathea: Commanding foliage plants with green, red and variegated leaves. They like a warm, light spot out of direct sunlight and damp compost. Mist the leaves occasionally and…

Top Tip Stand plants in water before planting so the rootballs get a good soak and are easier to slip from their pots BRIGHTEN your patio in time for Christmas by planting containers packed with winter colour and interest Winter bedding and a wide array of plants chosen for their intriguing and varied foliage mean that you can create pots that will keep the colour coming right through to spring. I selected a multipack of pansies, a couple of primulas and gem-bright cyclamen, all offset by trailing variegated Vinca minor, a funky-looking trailing Muehlenbeckia on wiry stems and grey-green sage and thyme for scent. My central plant is a frost-hardy winter cherry or Solanum capsicastrum, which has sweet white flowers followed by little round orange fruits. The plants are hardy…

YOUR pond will be looking very quiet now, its vegetation died back and greatly reduced activity in its water. However, look carefully and you will see that this little patch of water is still playing an important part in the life of your winter garden. On milder days, minute aquatic life living in the water will be stirring. Birds will be popping in for a drink and a wash throughout the winter and if you have ornamental fish, they will still be active, though less so than in warmer weather. So while your input into your pond’s health and upkeep will be minimal, there are still things to do, which I have detailed in the checklist below. 1 Plants: Make sure all dead and dying plant material has been removed…

IT’S not all doom and gloom when it comes to wildlife, as the recent rise of the goldfinch indicates. Since the 1990s, this lovely little bird has gone from strength to strength, probably because lots of gardeners like you are filling up their birdfeeders with sunflower hearts and niger seeds. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re in the city, town or countryside, either, because the numbers have gone up consistently in all four countries of the UK. Winters are often milder these days and this is encouraging goldfinches to nest earlier, so they may have more chance of raising two successful broods per year. Females lay four to five eggs, on average, and their nests are high off the ground, sometimes up to 50ft (15m) above ground. They make…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week What are some good border shrubs? Q I want to replace some old and ailing hydrangeas with new shrubs. What would you suggest? Rachel Houghton (via email) A The following small shrubs are appealing throughout the year: ■ For a sunny position Abelia ‘Francis Mason’: Evergreen, it has small golden leaves and pink flowers in late summer and autumn. Buddleja ‘Buzz Series’: Neat bushes to 4ft (1.2m); pink, red, blue or white coneshaped flowers for most of summer. Cistus ‘Peggy Salmons’: Evergreen with pink saucer-shaped blooms in summer. Lavender ‘Munstead’: Evergreen with richly fragrant dark lavender-blue flowers in summer. ■ For a lightly shady spot Skimmia reevesiana: Evergreen with white flowers followed by a wealth of crimson berries. Pieris…

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) SECATEURS are basic gardening tools and are usually one of the first things to be taken along to whatever the intended job may be. They serve every purpose from deadheading to pruning, and a good pair will last for years if well maintained. With regular use secateurs can become gummed up with sticky plant sap and debris, which needs to be removed for the blades to cut cleanly so that the plants being pruned are not left with ragged cuts that can lead to infection. If soil and grime get into the moving parts, they will cause excessive wear and allow rust to develop. Precision-ground surfaces Bypass cutting-action blades should be wiped after…

IT was one of those wintry days when, apart from the trill of a territorial wren, nothing stirred… until a sound forgotten since the sultry days of summer broke the wintry spell. No, it wasn’t the liquid gurgle of a swallow returning early from sun-baked South Africa, or a passing ice-cream van, but the pull and rattle of a mower starter cord, and yours truly scolding the machine in ancient Anglo-Saxon when the engine wouldn’t fire. Mowing in December is unusual, but it can be useful, especially now that winters have more temperature peaks and fewer troughs. The average still hovers from 0-7°C, but the number of days when the mercury creeps higher is increasing. And every time it goes above 8°C, the grass starts to grow. Winter grass growth,…