Innholdsfortegnelse for 12-Feb-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“Gardening is a never-ending journey: there are always new things to discover, different varieties to grow and new techniques to master. Every year I aim to improve my skillset, so having successfully replanted two climbing roses last year, I am going to propagate another two by hardwood cuttings, as Ruth details on page 7. I’m very excited at the idea of creating new roses. On the veg side, regular readers may recall that I’m a keen potato grower – but this year after the potato harvest in July, I plan to fill the space with carrots for the first time. Who knows how it will pan out? But remember, gardeners – have the courage to fail on your journey, for through failure comes learning.”…

BUYING plant feeds can be daunting as every year manufacturers bring out new formulations or simply rebrand what they’ve already got. The faster a plant is growing, the more feed it will need, and this is why liquid feeds are so popular in summer when plants are flowering and fruiting. Liquid fertilisers, added to water, are make it easy for the plants to take up the nutrients they need. However, they are also more easily washed away in rain and their goodness can be gobbled up relatively quickly, which is why we use slow-release and controlled-release pellets or granular feeds as a more meaty back-up. Foliar feeds are also useful for plants once they are in growth. They give an instant boost via the leaves and are useful for countering…

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com WITH the prices of food and fuel expected to soar in the coming weeks, horticultural charity Garden Organic has come up with a great money-saving idea – start sowing and growing your 2022 Christmas dinner this spring! Experts at Garden Organic have developed a vegetable planting schedule for this year that even those new to gardening can follow. Growing your own Christmas veggies does take some fore-thought, as you will need to sow leeks, parsnips and cauliflower over the next few weeks, but as all home growers know, the feast on December 25 will be more than worth the wait. Not only will it have saved money and supermarket stress, but growing your own veggies is also the most sustainable way to feed a family…

VISITING a National Trust stately home in Berkshire after touring the house, we visited the coffee shop before taking a walk around the surrounding estate. The walk took us to a locked wall garden and the remnants of a one-time quite elaborate range of glasshouses, frames and an adjacent former orchard. The below-ground sectional, cast iron boiler, 4in (10cm) cast-iron heating pipes and brick-built foundations to the greenhouses were all that remained. It made me wonder why the stately home was so well maintained, while the once impressive glasshouse unit should be left abandoned. When we visit a building, the contents do not change; one visit puts everything on show. Yet a production garden is changing all the time and is of continuing interest through the seasons. The Lost Gardens…

RECENTLY, I was thinking about my early days as a writer. Right at the beginning I was asked to do a radio slot on a gardening programme called Dig It. We were a team of four and two of us popped in at random every Saturday lunchtime to answer questions. I lasted about six weeks before the producer took me aside and explained that, although I had a wonderful radio voice, no one wanted organic and green solutions. They needed a quick-fix chemical, so I was dispensed with. It was a salutary experience, because that’s when I realised that I was out of kilter with the gardening world. Going back to my short stint on the radio programme, I diligently wrote down every question and when I looked back at…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week Pruning an overgrown cherry tree Q Our ‘Cheal’s Weeping’ cherry tree has outgrown its spot in a side bed in the garden. How will it respond to hard pruning? Martin Stephens (via email) A By all means prune your ‘Cheal’s Weeping’ tree, but tackle it judiciously. The best time is from mid-July to mid-August when pruning cuts heal quickly. Cherries are never pruned in winter when spores of shoot-killing silver leaf (Chondrostereum purpureum) disease are released into the atmosphere. Spores of this fungal disease are prevalent in autumn and winter and can infect several deciduous species if they are pruned now. These include stone fruits including cherries, plums and gages, apricots, almonds, hawthorn and poplars. Affected foliage develops a…

This week it’s: THE herbs parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – some of the most commonly used kitchen herbs – are mentioned in the lyrics of the traditional English ballad Scarborough Fair. The song, with its familiar melody, has been recorded by many artistes over the years, arguably most famously by Simon & Garfunkel in 1966, although its origins date back to the 1600s. Anyway, as a youngster I listened to the song, and not only did it introduce me to these herbs, but also to herbs in general. Indeed, these four were the first herbs I grew, and I have grown them pretty much continuously for the past 40 years. Let’s take a look at stories involving each of them. ▪ Odd one out: Three of these four herbs…

Q I am very confused by watering. What kit do I need, tap or rain, how do I tell when plants need it, indoors and out, and how can I stop plants from dying either from over or underwatering? Finola Chapman, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland A I recall during my training at Kew being scolded for walking along a greenhouse pathway looking straight ahead. I was puzzled, but my supervisor explained that I should be glancing at the plants constantly to note whether any needed watering or other attention. This is now a subconscious habit, and I’ll often stop in my tracks to rescue a flagging plant. Relax and use your intuition, safe in the knowledge that at some point everyone has killed a plant through over or underwatering. Some gardeners water…

JUST as breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, so the first feed of the year is the one that sets our plants up for the year ahead. Cold This should be the first ‘meal’ of the year as there is no point in feeding plants in winter. Most are dormant so don’t take up food, and if they do show signs of growth during milder spells, the energy provided by fertilisers will cause them to throw out new shoots which can be damaged or killed should later cold snaps descend. But now that growth is resuming, over the next few weeks the best thing you can do for the year ahead is provide plants with the means for strong, healthy, prolific growth. Horticultural companies…

ONE of the things I love about this time of year (apart from the signs that spring is drawing closer with every passing day) is that many of the tasks we go about now are ripe with the promise of a colourful or fruitful garden a few months down the line. This week, I have been sowing seeds – some to appear in the magazine, and some for my own satisfaction – and checking over the corms and tubers stored last autumn, making sure I have everything ready for when I pot them up over the coming weeks. One of the varieties was a net of gladioli corms I lifted last autumn. I have never had much luck with glads, and although these ones produced lots of foliage their flowers…

I REMEMBER someone saying that slugs and snails started mating on Valentine’s Day. This may once have been true, but I’ve often found slugs with stashes of eggs in deepest winter. So perhaps the expert was half right, or maybe the snails will wake from hibernation to join the slugs in their reveries – the latter are certainly multiplying already. This is why we have to start controls now, because otherwise their numbers will escalate more and our crops will have no chance. A slug or snail removed now amounts to many dozens not bothering us in a few weeks’ time, and even more after. So first, go round searching out those in hiding to dispose of them. Turn over pots and containers, trays, bits of wood, tiles, old bottles…

THE organised gardener may have started off their garlic in November, but the rest of us can plant now. There are two main types of garlic: softneck (Allium sativum) and hardneck (A. sativum var. ophioscorodon). So, what kind of care do they need? Use your heads Whole bulbs (heads) should be split into individual cloves just before planting (they dry out excessively, otherwise). Don’t bruise them as this can cause rots. Only plant the largest plump cloves as these give the biggest yields (pot smaller ones up as garlic chives), positioning them 3in (8cm) deep and roughly 6in (16cm) apart in grids (wider on lighter soils). Site in full sun, and add plenty of organic matter to the plot, plus a little bonemeal. Garlic doesn’t have an extensive root system,…

I HAVE been killing two birds with one stone this week – giving my shrub roses their final winter prune and using the healthiest of the removed stems as cuttings. These roses are pruned in autumn and then again in late winter to prepare them for the year’s new growth. They can take a hard chop, so be brave and you will soon see new shoots appearing. I took 12in (30cm) lengths of healthy growth and cut each piece in half, just below a healthy leaf bud or leaf node. Because the rose had started to come into leaf I rubbed off the most open buds on the removed stems, leaving the smaller ones to develop as the cuttings hopefully take root. These are hardwood cuttings, taken while trees and…

▪ As well as potting up gladioli corms, I decided to sow some more sweet peas. ▪ These hardy annuals should be ready to plant out into enriched soil once the frosts have finished. ▪ I filled a couple of deep pots (sweet peas like a long root run) with dampened homemade gritty seed compost and poked a few holes 1in (2.5cm) deep in each. ▪ I dropped a seed into each hole and lightly pressed the compost closed over them. ▪ The pots will sit in the greenhouse and once the seedlings appear I will keep pinching them out every couple of weeks to achieve healthy, bushy flowers that will hopefully produce lots of blooms.…

LOFTY, wafty Verbena bonariensis is one of those wonderful plants that give a lot to the garden and ask for very little in return. We sow, nurture and plant them out and they grow, tall and elegant on pliable stems, each one topped with tufts of delightful mauve flowers. They add grace and movement to the back and centre of our borders and are a valuable resource for pollinators, flowering well into the autumn in warm, sheltered spots. The other great thing about V. bonariensis is that they are prolific self-seeders. Introduce a plant into your garden and by autumn you can expect to find several mini plants popping up around it. Carefully dig them up and either plant them elsewhere or pop them into pots and in spring, use…

■ Wet: February-planted garlic will provide you with ‘wet’ cloves in late April and early May. The whole bulb and green stem is eaten, adding a much sweeter, milder flavour to dishes such as risotto. It also makes great pesto and guacamole. ■ Scapes: Hardneck garlics, rocamboles (serpent garlic) and elephant garlic produce curved flower ‘scapes’ in mid-May to early June. Make sure you remove these before the flowers open, chopping them up for stir-frying or grilling. ■ Mature: The familiar way to enjoy your garlic! Freshly harvested bulbs are much juicier than those that have been cured for winter. Plaiting into ropes will allow for easy storage. Alternatively, jar into lazy garlic, using white wine vinegar. Step by step How to plant spring garlic in three steps 1 You’ll…

BLEEDING hearts are mainly spring-flowering hardy perennial plants that are winter hardy in most countries. They are easy to grow, and are colourful without being jazzy. Their flowers are instantly recognisable and come in the shape of pretty heart-shaped lockets. There are four main kinds of bleeding hearts. By far the largest group are dwarf, shade-loving, North American native wildflowers, often with dainty, silvery-green or blue-green foliage and flowers in red or pink shades, and white. There is also a group of similar varieties that appreciate more sun. The plants in the small third group are taller and more elegant, and with more dramatic foliage, while a small and rarely seen fourth group of climbing varieties has yellow flowers. Many make effective ground cover in shade but, in especially hot…

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) THE two types of begonia are the fibrous-rooted, which tend to be the short-lived bedding varieties, and tuberous. Some fibrous types may actually go on to form a tuber if they live long enough. Botanically, this root structure is actually a corm and it is a means of food storage to help it survive through the winter, but it is generally referred to as a tuber. Tuberous are best Tuberous begonia species are typically the ones that produce fabulous displays as summer bedding or in a cool greenhouse, with flowers the size of a plate in some cases. You will often see these varieties and cultivars displayed in classes on the benches at…

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 AROUND 16 years ago a friend came to stay and gave me a Christmas cactus. It sat on the kitchen window ledge rather neglected, small, not flowering much and looking increasingly rotten at the base. A couple of years ago I decided I really needed to do something. I took to YouTube and found a video recommending that cacti like mine may be taken out of the pot, the soil removed and the plant left out with the roots exposed in hot sun for 24 hours before repotting. So I did just this, repotting into a mix of sand and compost. Here is the result.…

WHEN ‘The Cod Father’, ‘Fishcotheque’ and the ‘Hippie Chippy’ takeaways closed during lockdown, potato-producing farmers had a surfeit of spuds that they sold at farm gates. And that’s where my friend Caroline stumbled across a new (to her and me) variety, famed for its fried chip-shop crispiness and fluffy centres. ‘Sagitta’, as it’s known, has been a chippies’ go-to spud for years, but hasn’t made it to many veg plots where standard September croppers like ‘Maris Piper’ and ‘Cara’ are still firm favourites. This reticence to grow a variety that so many eat for a treat could be due to gardeners sticking to what we know – or because commercial varieties, if available at all, don’t always succeed outside of mechanised farms where pesticides and fungicides are applied. But what…