Innholdsfortegnelse for 2-Apr-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“With concerns about the increasing cost of living, it’s not surprising that people are thinking about growing their own veg – and on pages 6 and 7, we unveil some of the latest varieties. It’s always exciting to see how the producers have created new varieties, and there is a definite trend towards veg being more visually ornamental and colourful. It is a question of deciding what you want to grow, and if you have the right soil and aspect to make it work. And don’t forget that a lot of fruit and veg can be grown in containers, so everyone can grow some food. Give it a go! Contact us: ◼ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ◼ Editorial: 0330 3903732 ◼ Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com ◼ Advertising: 0330 3906566…

EVERYTHING should be growing well, sending out strong new shoots and blooming beautifully if spring is its season. But let’s not get complacent, because those fresh young shoots can all too easily fall prey to pests and disease. So while we celebrate regrowth, we must also be alert for any problems and nip them in the bud. New plants can quickly fall foul of unseen diseases in the soil, especially if they are planted where the same variety has grown previously. Pansies and violas are susceptible to a fungal disease called leaf spot that causes yellow and black lesions on the foliage and stems, and hollyhocks are vulnerable to a rust disease. Although these can be treated by fungicides such as Provanto Fungus Fighter Plus and Fungus Clear Ultra, the…

THE search for ageless beauty is an eternal quest and although there is no scientific proof that AG keeps you young and beautiful (though following our advice will keep you fit!) these seeds will bring long-lasting prettiness to your borders. Ageratum houstonianum originated in the warmth of Central America and the West Indies but grows fantastically well in our gardens. The variety ‘Blue Mink’ is a half-hardy annual that creates mounds of the most beautiful blue flowers, making it perfect for edging borders. It is also a wonderful addition to containers. It likes a sunny spot with free-draining soil and is also popular with pollinators, which will benefit the rest of the plants in your garden. The name Ageratum comes from the Ancient Greek ‘a’ (without) and ‘geras’, which means…

I HAVE to confess that I’m not fond of over-neat gardens. I always say that I like gardens to resemble a buxom lady wearing underwear that’s a size too small for her – she could break free at any moment. That attitude is more of a statement about my mind than my body, although one of my grandchildren once said (after she’d been in a school play about ancient Britons), “Me Boudica – you Boobica.” I am an exuberant person, you see, and a teacher once described me as one of life’s enthusiasts. The trouble is, I was never sure whether it was a compliment or not. Whatever, we all make gardens that reflect our personalities and, I suspect, we make the same garden wherever we go – hopefully with…

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! No: 056 Answers below. Hint: In one of the courses, the bricks are all words connected to ‘fools’! Answers: TRAP (part) = Step(pets), Spots(stops),…

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) MULCHES are loose coverings (or sheets of material) placed on the surface of bare soil or the surface of compost in containers. They can be a useful alternative method of weed control rather than using weed killers. They work because they block out daylight, which stimulates weed seeds to germinate. The seeds are still there, but they remain dormant Helping moisture retention A good mulch will also help with moisture retention in the soil or compost, by reducing surface evaporation, and dark-coloured fabric mulches can be used to warm up a seed bed or planting area in spring by absorbing the sun’s heat and transferring it to the soil beneath, making it warmer…

I RECENTLY had a very strange encounter. While weeding through the borders, I came face to face with a mint-condition picture of the pop idol Rick Astley! How or why, I can only speculate. Perhaps it’s a ‘Cry for Help’ (see what I did there?) or an elaborate marketing plan to mark Rick’s comeback hit ‘Never Gonna Dig You Up’ (genius!). All I know is that I’ve taken Stock, Aitken and Waterman (stop it!) and, like Mulder and Scully, I have launched an investigation into mysterious garden discoveries. Following the ‘Rick incident’, I asked listeners to my radio show to share their experiences. Within minutes, I’d unearthed a hoard of weird stories. There were strange encounters of the foodie kind, including a buried pack of biscuits and a pork pie,…

WE are at an exciting season, as we watch this year’s plants come back into growth, sow our seeds and plan our edible cultivations for the coming months. However, while giving plants a good start is important, it is also only a fraction of what needs doing through the year. While plants do well in nutrient-rich soil that has been improved with well-rotted manure and compost, they will do even better if given extra nourishment through the growing season. In particular, flowers and crops in containers and growbags need extra feeding as they soon gobble up the goodness in their compost and show signs of starvation. These include poor cropping and flowering, plus pale or yellowing leaves, known as chlorosis. As well as container plants needing an extra boost, anything…

COLOURFUL vegetables that have been bred to look as attractive as flowers, while warding off pests and diseases, top this season’s list of launches from UK seed houses. With inflation tipped to hit seven per cent this spring, the cost of living crisis is fuelling the boom in growing veg, as households look to beat rocketing supermarket bills. Andrew Tokely, horticultural director at Kings Seeds in Essex, told AG: “Veg seed sales are buoyant; not as high as last year during pandemic, which was unprecedented, but higher than two years ago. People want to grow their own because of increased supermarket costs, as well as the health benefits.” Here, AG has dug deep to bring you the cream of the crop. Runner bean ‘Black Knight’ THIS is a former old…

1-2 April: Jekka’s Open Day: Jekka’s, Shellards, Lane, Alveston BS35 3SY. Visit Jekka’s Herbetum and buy herbs. Entry via bookable coupons. 10am-4pm. 01454 418878; jekkas.com 2-3 April: Plant Heritage Spring Fair, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Occupation Road, Worsley, Manchester, M28 2LJ. Adult £12. Free to RHS and Plant Heritage members. Open 10am-5pm; 0161 503 6100; plantheritage.org.uk 3 April: Rare Plant Fair, Evenley Wood Gardens, near Brackley, Northants NN13 5SH. £7.50 includes the Fair and Garden, £5 season ticket holders, children under 16 free. 0845 468 1368, evenleywoodgarden.co.uk 9 April: Plant Hunters’ Fair: Bodenham Arboretum, Wolverley, Kidderminster DY11 5TB. 10am-4pm; planthuntersfairs.co.uk; bodenham-arboretum.co.uk 10 April-9 May: Bluebell Spectacular, Hole Park Gardens, Rolvenden, Kent TN17 4JA. £10 for adults and £2.50 for children (5 to 16). The gardens are open from 11am to 6pm.…

ASPARAGUS is a perennial vegetable that is often referred to as ‘luxury’ and ‘gourmet’ thanks to its specific season and the time required from starting to cropping – but trust me, everyone can afford a patch of asparagus. Let’s look at the less-costly cultivation methods, plus some growing techniques that guarantee luxury for all. Growing essentials Please don’t let the time you need to wait before that first cut deter you: just get on with it! Once started, a well-tended bed can last for as long as 20 years. There are two propagation options: open-pollinated or more modern, all-male F1 varieties (for more details about these, see page 20). Open-pollinated seed (which is less vigorous than F1 hybrids and therefore cheaper), sown direct will need at least three years to…

AZALEAS are neat, long-lived, lime-hating, mostly cold-tolerant shrubs with brightly coloured spring flowers. They are among the most valuable garden shrubs as they rarely outgrow their space and reliably produce dazzling colour each spring. They can be evergreen, retaining leaves all the year round, or deciduous, in which case their leaves fall as winter approaches. Their flared, funnel-shaped flowers are often brightly coloured and come in every shade, except blue, including vivid red, orange and yellow tones, as well as white and softer pastel pink and lilac shades. A few are bicolored, striped or flecked. Most azaleas have simple trumpet-shaped flowers 2-3in (5-7.5cm) across, although some flowers can be up to 5in (12.5cm) and some have extra petals creating double flowers. A delicious scent is a feature of some varieties.…

Q Every Christmas, I receive a packet or tin of flower bombs as a stocking filler. I dutifully throw them into my garden and wait, but nothing happens. Where exactly am I going wrong? Patricia Margolyes, Grantham, Lincolnshire A Flower bombs are brown balls about 1in (2.5cm) across, composed of clay, potting compost and flower seeds. They are presented in pretty and promising tins and boxes, or you can make your own using roughly equal parts of peat-free compost and clay soil plus seeds. Like making pastry, you mix the dry ingredients together, add water and then roll it into balls. The next activity is to lob the balls out into the landscape of your garden and wait for plants and flowers to erupt. Except, of course, it is not…

Star letter Forsythia saga FURTHER to your article How to Grow Forsythias (AG, 26 February), my tip is, if you are short of space in the garden a forsythia will grow very well in a pot. Our forsythia originates from a cutting that my dad took from a plant growing by the church where my husband John and I were married 58 years ago. The church has long since been demolished but the forsythia lives on and produces lovely flowers every March around the time of our wedding anniversary. Over the years I have lost track of the number of cuttings I have taken from that original cutting and shared with others. I just break off a few twigs and push them into a bit of ground to root. Marilyn…

WHEN spring arrives the delight of seeing snowdrops, daffs and crocus is the signal for me to start thinking about this year’s potato crop. Last year I planted potatoes in my border rather than in containers and it was a great success, so the plan is to do the same this year. However, I have the dilemma of only having one site in my garden that is suitable in terms of position and light. It’s fine for the experts to say you should rotate your crops every year, but not all of us have that luxury within our garden spaces. Last year’s crop would have taken a lot of nutrients out of the soil and the more you replant the more likely disease will occur. However, if you can’t rotate,…

CLOCHES and their modern plastic replacements are handy for successful growing by creating warm, protected microclimates. Originally, these were bell shaped (‘cloche’ is French for ‘bell’) and made of glass. They were superseded by less expensive contraptions of glass panels held together with wire and stiff rods. Unwieldy and very fragile, these have now been replaced by plastic replicas, plastic ‘boxes’ and low plastic sheet tunnels – and often by individual cloches made from clear plastic bottles with their bottoms cut off (although these often require more ventilation and really need almost the whole top removing as well). It does not matter which you use as the principle works the same as with a greenhouse. The light passes through and is converted to warmth inside, which is then trapped. Plus,…

John has been answering reader queries for 50 years How can we encourage our apple to fruit? Q We have a small apple tree but it hardly has any blossom, and last year produced just two apples. How can we help it produce more fruit? Gareth Kinsley, Salisbury, Wiltshire A Apple fruit buds appear on wood that is two or more years old, and the most productive wood is 2-5 years old. However, young trees tend not to be very productive (and it is wise to prevent them producing too much fruit) because they are putting their energy into making a strong and extensive root system. Only when this is in place will the tree be able to support the energy-consuming activities of flowering and fruiting. It isn’t unusual for…

This week it’s: April and Fools We take a look at the month of April and April Fools THIS Friday is 1 April – and you know what that means! Traditionally on this day, people will play harmless pranks on others, before gleefully announcing “April Fool!” Custom has it that the prank-playing should cease at noon, after which time it is no longer acceptable. Anyone playing a prank after midday is considered the ‘April Fool’ themselves. But how did this all start – and what connections, if any, exist with plants and gardening? Let’s find out… ◼ In The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot wrote: ‘April is the cruellest month’. As gardeners we know that April is crucial, but it can also be cruel: too cold perhaps for seeds to germinate,…