Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-Jan-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“What is the future for local horticultural societies, and what do they need to do to encourage more people to become involved? These questions are posed by Peter Seabrook on page 10. Peter is of a generation that grew up in a world of societies created by local people with shared interests – whether it be pigeon fanciers, photography enthusiasts or stamp collectors, it was all part of the fabric of British life. People with shared interests came together to help each other and enthuse about their hobbies. Many garden societies are still very active, and are populated with knowledgeable folk who would be delighted to impart their wisdom and help to new members. Why not check them out? You might find you have a lot of new friends.” Contact…

A SECOND AG columnist has been awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the Garden Media Guild. Graham Rice was presented with the 2021 award during a video ceremony, and joins a pantheon of gardening figureheads including Alan Titchmarsh, Roy Lancaster, Jekka McVicar and Peter Seabrook, who won the very first lifetime accolade in 1993. Graham said: “It was a lovely surprise and great honour to find myself in such great company, including another AG writer, Peter Seabrook.” Graham’s rise to horticultural greatness has humble roots; he left school with one A’level and found a job mowing the grass in a hospital garden. Geoff Hamilton offered him a job “After a time I found myself becoming more and more interested in the plants I was mowing around,” said Graham, “so…

THERE is discussion in our local village horticultural society about the name, and whether it should be changed to ‘Garden Club’ – becoming less intimidating to those new to growing their own. The Annual Summer Show Schedule is also getting a makeover, with some of the younger committee members asking why we need so many classes for onions: four onions autumn sown, ripened and tops turned over and tied; four onions with leaves loosely tied in a bunch; four onions maximum size 6cm (2.5in) ring with leaves loosely tied in a bunch; a bunch of nine spring onions – not to mention more classes for shallots. They also question Rule 6 (“… judges will be guided by the recommendations of Royal Horticultural Society guidelines…”) and they argue that most new members…

EXCITEMENT, excitement and more excitement! We have had a new visitor to the feeding station – a jay feasting on fat balls. I think it’s a young one, because it’s slender and frisky. I remember that I was like that once, honest! It bobs over our lawn, looking rather like a green woodpecker when it moves, before flying up and taking a sizable chunk of food at a time. The flash of electric-blue feathers clearly shows, along with a black moustache, although most of the feathers are a warm pinkish-brown. Jays, handsome and acrobatic members of the crow family, have a wonderful Latin name – Garrulus glandarius. This translates as ‘chattering birds producing acorns’, apparently. One jay can cache up to 5,000 acorns in autumn, if there are plenty around.…

AT this time of year, when seed catalogues are being eagerly studied by gardeners, it might be interesting to ponder a moment on the diversity of seeds themselves. Why do they differ and why do they set themselves in the most unlikely places? If plants of the same species grew crowded together they would all take the same foods out of the soil. All their roots would be at the same level, absorbing moisture and foods, thus impoverishing the soil at that level, and their shoots would be the same height so that air and light could not penetrate to their lower leaves and stems. Nature has, therefore, arranged for seeds to be scattered away from the parent plant by adaptation of the seeds to different methods of dispersal. Sometimes…

This word search comprises words associated with gardening and buildings. They are listed below, and 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 12 letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD. BUILDINGS GREEN WALL ELY CATHEDRAL BIG BEN EIFFEL TOWER TAJ MAHAL GLAMIS CASTLE CEILING ROSE GAZEBO HERBARIA ORANGERY RIB HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 603, Amateur Gardening, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Wednesday 26 January 2022. The first…

Q We have grown a number of trees from seed, including Christmas trees, maples and oaks. Some are now in pots and some in the ground. Do you have any tips on how to grow them on and find final homes for them? Sarah Bonham, Ashbourne, Derbyshire A My first proper job as a gardener (prior to training at Kew) was on a council nursery where, among other things, we grew trees destined for parks and verges. Some were seed-raised and others arrived as bundles of whips or young, unbranched, bare-rooted trees. We planted them in nursery rows and if they weren’t sent out after a year or so, we would carefully dig them up for transplanting into a different part of the nursery. This discouraged the development of deep…

THERE is always something to do in the garden, even in the middle of winter when everything appears quiet, subdued and in a state of dormancy. These are the weeks when you can start preparing for the year ahead, stocking up, sowing early seeds, enriching and warming the soil so you are all ready to go when temperatures rise and the garden starts to fill with life and colour again. This week I am thinking about the soil, warming it, weeding it and enriching it by digging in lots of well-rotted manure and homemade compost. However, all this organic material can increase the acidity of the soil so I am also going to be liming our raised beds where we grow the majority of our vegetables. This is because most…

1 Check tender plants and cuttings and remove dead and diseased leaves. Pinch out flower buds as they use up the plants’ vital energy. 2 Clean glass to let in maximum light and check for pests. Greenhouses offer shelter and food and there are fewer predators than in the garden. 3 Citrus trees need watering with rainwater when their compost feels dry. Feed them too, as they may well be fruiting and flowering. 4 Open doors and windows on mild days to let air circulate, which helps prevent fungal diseases on leaves and algae on damp compost. Step by step Small spaces 1 A mini greenhouse is an excellent solution when space is tight. Hardy plants and seedlings can be overwintered inside. 2 They are lightweight, so either tie them…

STORM Arwen, which swept through the UK causing misery and devastation late last November, gave us a nasty taster of what this winter may hold If you haven’t already weatherproofed your plot, now is a good time to do so and check over any precautions already in place. Young and newly planted trees should be staked and tied. Bare root plantings only need one stake that should be set on the side of the prevailing wind so that the tree is blown away from its support in a gale. Container-grown trees may need two or three stakes set around and attached to the trunk by strong ties. Have a look at vines and wall climbers and secure any limbs that are waving around. This will prevent them being damaged (and…

IMPROVED soil drainage, increased soil warmth, reduced back pain – there are several compelling reasons for fruit and veg gardeners to install raised beds. You can build them using brickwork, paving slabs or rendered breeze blocks, but the most common and versatile construction material is timber. Higher purpose All fruit, vegetables and herbs will happily grow in raised beds. Due to their larger soil volume, they dry out far less than containers so watering is simpler, and you can still pander to the needs of fussy crops such as blueberries that require specialist ericaceous compost. The fact that you can enrich the pocket of soil with any form of compost means that your crop’s root health is boosted. Building a raised bed is pretty straightforward: simply follow the steps below.…

WHEN you’ve wiped the sweat from your brow and taken those fresh vegetables indoors, they need not all end up on the dining tables. Our great grannies didn’t type-cast their vegetables – they used them in ways that may raise a few modern eyebrows. Now that folk medicine is enjoying renewed interest, let’s run through a few centuries-old tips. Onions were much prized for medicine in past centuries. An ancient cure for baldness was to rub the head with raw cut onion, smear on honey, then leave it on for an hour each night. An old corn cure required a finely chopped onion poultice to be bandaged to the corn for a couple of hours before bedtime until the corn was gently worn away. Onion juice was also used to…

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 Exotics for wildlife I’VE enjoyed the recent articles about planting more native species for wildlife. I agree that we need to do more for nature, so I thought I’d share a photo of my neighbour’s cabbage palm that has become an incredible flurry of activity. Every afternoon, all kinds of birds sit on the fence waiting for their turn to gorge on the berries, including thrushes, blackbirds and bluetits. This plant is from New Zealand and may not be recommended as a wildlife-friendly plant, but it’s very welcomed here, as a place for a robin to nest and for its summer flowers loved by…

IT may be cold outside, but we can start spicing things up undercover by sowing chillies this month and in February. The Hayes kitchen cabinet is never short of chillies and I enjoy growing them from scratch because there is a massive range of varieties available in garden centres and specialist sites online, so you can choose the velocity of heat you want. I also enjoy the challenge of germinating and nurturing chili plants because they can be tricky little blighters to get going. The main things essential for successful germination are steady, constant light and heat. You can use a heated propagator if you have one, otherwise use a light windowsill in a warm room. Germination times vary according to the variety, with ‘Habanero’ chillies taking up to 100…

FOR many years, it has been accepted wisdom that it’s foolish to start sowing too soon. We argued that early seedlings were poor, drawn and soon surpassed by those sown later. But breeding has improved many plants and some perform better than they did in the past. Of course, it’s not practical to sow tender plants unless you can be sure you can keep them warm enough. But with a propagator – or at least a warm, sunny windowsill – it’s worth having a go with mini all-female cucumbers. These are so willing and so rapid they give you their first fruits by Easter, then more every couple of days or so for months. Seriously, these are much more productive than you would believe, and on relatively small climbing plants.…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week How do I care for my parachute plant? Q I was given an African Parachute Plant (Ceropegia sandersonii) for an early Christmas present. Since it arrived at the end of November there have been flowers all of the time, and I have been giving it a gentle watering every few days. What else should I be doing? Patricia Gregory (via email) A What a wonderful present. Indisputably, Ceropegia sandersonii, which is also known as an umbrella plant, is a handsome twiner. Provided you can simulate its native tropical habitat of Mozambique and Natal it needs a minimum temperature of 50°F (10°C) it should thrive for you. As for keeping it happy, lime-free water from a covered water butt is…

This week it’s: Plants associated with buildings We look at some of the links between plants and buildings THERE is a very significant link between plants and buildings. How so? Well, of course, our gardens are adjacent to our homes, and this juxtaposition means we rarely see one without the other. And what about the city buildings that are improved, immeasurably by having plants growing next to, or even on them? Historically, from Classical times to the Victorians, architecture has frequently included floral or leaf motifs. Meanwhile, many modern-day plants are named after famous buildings or similar permanent structures. So let’s take a look at some of the stories connecting these two quite disparate, yet comfortably compatible subjects. Walls of greenery WE often read about ‘green roofs’, but what about…

INDOOR plants have become incredibly popular over the past two years and now we are entering the season when they will be given as festive gifts, too. Most of these plants will have spent their lives so far in a cosy greenhouse, being well fed and checked regularly to make sure they have everything they need to get them into perfect condition. This ensures that when they arrive at the florist, garden centre or DIY store they look their best, and you are tempted to buy one to take home or give as a gift. With any new plant you have not grown before there is always the same learning curve: what does it need in terms of temperature, light level and (often the real make or break) how much…

WHEN I was an apprentice, one of my responsibilities was to lift, divide and replant the wiry stems of Devon violets for growing on. I’d completely forgotten this pleasant task until, working through the base of a hedge, I caught some of the stems with a hoe, releasing the unmistakable earthy and dewy aroma into the air. In an instant, I was transported back to my teenage self, remembering the feel of my woollen work gloves – which had removable fingers when dexterity was required – and the taste of the milky coffee my mum made for ‘smoko’, and I could almost hear the warble of the blackbird that always kept me company in that mist-filled field. The violet patch was large, but represented just a fragment of what had…