Innholdsfortegnelse for 9-Apr-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“Good news has been in pretty short supply recently, but this week we have a positive report about hedgehogs on page 6. According to the latest study, hedgehogs in urban areas are on the increase. How good is that? This is largely as a result of people (such as AG readers) making the effort to create hedgehog highways, leaving out food and creating hibernation opportunities. When it comes to conservation, I am reminded of the old supermarket slogan: ‘Every little helps’. There may be times when you wonder if those little things you do to try and help really count, and I think this is proof that they do. So don’t stop doing them – they make a difference.” Contact us: ■ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ■ Editorial: 0330 3903732…

SNOWDROP fans, or galanthophiles, are renowned for spending crazy amounts of cash to feed their addiction. This spring the bar was raised yet higher when one anonymous snowdrop collector bid a record-breaking £1,850 for a single bulb on the auction site eBay! The variety called ‘Golden Tears’ was bred by renowned nurseryman Joe Sharman, also known as ‘Mr Snowdrop’. It is a descendant of the variety ‘Golden Fleece’, which Mr Sharman bred and sold for £1,390 seven years ago. ‘Golden Tears’ has been described by AG’s Val Bourne, herself an ardent galanthophile, as ‘neat and yellow’. Its petals are substantial and shapely with distinctive yellow markings. They are almost infinitely variable Snowdrops have more obsessive collectors than almost any other plant since the arrival of ‘tulip mania’ in the 17th…

EACH autumn, most of us are tempted into buying more spring-flowering bulbs for our gardens, either because we have gaps to fill or because those planted in previous years have stopped flowering as well as they did. However, action you take now can save bulbs from faltering, and save your pennies in a few months’ time. Bulbs that flowered earlier in spring will be dying back now, their spent flower stems and withering leaves making your garden look untidy. But hold fire before chopping them off or even knotting them into neat stands. This dying foliage is the secret to next year’s floral successes, returning energy to the bulbs as it withers away. If this is disrupted in any way it can reduce flowering in subsequent years, so bear with…

WE often start plants off under cover in a greenhouse, coldframe or sunny windowsill. Under cover, our young plants are protected from the worst weather and hidden from many pests, while outside it means it’s simpler to keep on top of weeds when crops or flowers haven’t yet been planted in the beds. And, of course, tender plants can’t go out until no more frosts are likely, which is at least another month from now. The likely result is we’ve crammed everything in, and every available space is crowded with pots. We’ll probably get most of them through it – but we might do better. “We don’t see the stagnant air crowding causes” You see, the problem is we can’t see some of the check this crowding causes. We’ll try…

Bamboos are some of the most easily recognisable of garden plants, all having vertical, architectural stems, also known as culms, and long, narrow leaves that look wonderful as they sway in the breeze, creating a gentle rustling sound. Architectural banana plants will create a great impact in any garden! Forming a dense bush with huge paddle fan-like leaves spreading gloriously out through the air, it will create wonderful shadows on your patio. Once established, the big leaves will unfurl as they emerge each year through the central trunk, and within 3-4 years you will have leaves over lm long. The Complete Bamboo Collection All three of these Bamboos are holders of the coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, so you can be sure that this is a proven garden performer,…

COSMOS, sometimes called cosmea or Mexican aster, is a sun-loving plant with saucer-shaped flowers like daisies. Most grow wild in Mexico. They are very colourful, easy-to-grow plants that are usually grown from seed sown each spring (annuals) and pulled out in the autumn. Some cosmos varieties bloom happily at knee-height, flowering on short plants about 12-15in (30-38cm) tall, while others can reach head-height, 5-6ft (1.5-1.8m), with different varieties at all heights in between. All cosmos have flowers with the same general appearance. In the centre of each flower are rings of tiny individual flowers (florets) that together form an eye or disc. Starting from the outside of the disc, each ring of tiny florets opens one after the other to shed pollen for the bees to collect. Usually these florets…

This week it’s: Palms and Palm Sunday We look at stories associated with the palm THIS Sunday (10 April) Christians commemorate Palm Sunday, the last Sunday before Easter, and the first day of Holy Week. In many parts of the world, it has been customary to cover the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. In Christianity, Palm Sunday is celebrated by blessing and distributing palm branches, which represent the palms scattered by the crowds in front of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem. So I thought this was the ideal opportunity to take a look at the palms we grow in our gardens and homes, and to bring up one or two surprising facts about them. ■ Palms are mentioned frequently in both the Bible and the…

Feels like paradise IT’S been in the garden for ten years or more, spending the winter in a corner of the greenhouse. It is not the most beautiful of garden plants, reminding me of warmer climbs in its native Costa Rica, Brazil and Chile. Until now. To our complete surprise four flower stems appeared in January as it rested in the conservatory. Two of these have now opened as it’s true identity as a strelitzia or bird of paradise was revealed. It is possibly the most beautiful flower I have ever seen and well worth the ten years it took to flower. Richard Jones, Abingdon Star letter It’s a fine mesh WE recently purchased ‘John Innes Seed Sowing Compost by Westland’ following Bob Flower’s article (AG, 19 February) we found…

YOU know the cost of living is through the roof when pound shops sell penny chews for a quid (I’m here all week). But while we’re helpless to prevent price hikes for fruit gums, at least there’s one thing we can have for free: plants. And thank heavens! My latest horticultural crush on lush purple and pink foliage is a bank-breaker, especially when it comes to the ‘king of the crimsons’, the Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum) ‘Maurelii’. With a head-high trunk and huge paddle-shaped purple leaves, not only is this striking banana-lookalike the most arresting architectural plant, but it’s also fast becoming one of the most expensive. In just two years, its value has rocketed from a reasonable £30 for a semi-mature specimen to north of £150! That’s expensive if…

THIS week it’s been the turn of our potted shrubs to receive some TLC before they really get going for the summer. Their numbers include a young bottlebrush that has yet to flower, a skimmia, twisted willow and a hydrangea that needed completely re-potting. There is also a lemon and an olive, both of which survived our relatively mild southern winter in a sheltered corner of the patio. They will need pruning and topdressing but I am loathe to do this just yet, because if last April taught us anything, it’s that bitterly cold weather isn’t restricted to what we think of as the ‘traditional’ winter months. So I will leave these more temperate plants undisturbed until the end of April when hopefully the weather will be reliably warmer by…

1 Combat persistent weeds in less used spots (in our case behind the shed) by anchoring a weed-suppressing membrane over the area and topping it with gravel. Make sure the patch is completely covered. 2 Keep fertilisers and weedkillers separate and in their original containers. We’ve had readers contacting us because they have mixed up the two – with disastrous results. Store all chemicals out of the reach of children. 3 Wash used plant pots and garden centre modules instead of chucking them away and use white spirit to wipe ‘permanent’ ink markings off last year’s labels, then sterilise them in a weak solution of bleach or disinfectant. 4 Give sheds, fences and metal fastenings and furniture a sand down and lick of preservative or paint to protect them from…

THERE’S a definite pecking order at our bird-feeding station. King of all is the great spotted woodpecker, a large black-and-white bird with a very long and powerful bill, strong enough to bore into tree trunks. The males have a red nape that’s missing from the females. We have seen three different individuals attacking the peanuts recently. Sightings have been lower than usual, probably because it’s been a mild winter here. However, I’m worried because lots of Gloucestershire’s ash trees have been culled for health and safety reasons, including the one near us. It was the tree where we saw our woodpeckers most often. When a great spotted woodpecker arrives at the peanuts, everything moves out of the way – including the similar-sized jays. We still have a pair raiding the…

John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week Help needed for pruning shrubs Q I am wondering when to prune a couple of our shrubs. We have a leggy Viburnum x burkwoodii ‘Anne Russell’ that’s about eight years old and a Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Koria’ that is two years old and being grown in a large pot. How should I prune it to stop it getting leggy as well? Sandra Partlett, Halstead, Essex A The best way to encourage your leggy eight-year-old Viburnum x burkwoodii ‘Anne Russell’ to grow bushy and flower well is to shorten it by half its height and feed it with Vitax Q4. Sprinkle it over the root area and, if the soil is dry, water it in. Apply it monthly from now until…

Q Even in the greenhouse, my tomatoes seem to get blight every year. I plan to try some blight-resistant varieties, but could you tell me what other crops I can grow under glass, just to hedge my bets? Rosie Churchill, Louth, Lincolnshire A Tomato blight is the same funguslike organism (Phytophthora infestans) as potato blight. Spores from infected foliage are wind-blown over long distances (literally miles), so keeping your own garden clean of infected material, although helpful, is no guarantee of avoiding the disease. All the spores need is a period of warm, humid conditions above 50°F (10°C) with surface leaf wetness to grow and infect plants. Symptoms include brown marks on leaves, stems and fruit. Needless to say, outdoor tomatoes are more prone. Under glass, plants are better protected…

Please continue to send in your gardening-themed poems. This week, Janet Turner, from Chandlers Ford had great fun writing this tongue-in-cheek poem I know you said “the clutter has to go,It’s utter chaos in the gardenshed.”But all these things will helpthe plants to grow,And ensure that everyseedbed is well fed. I’ve got a lot of pots interracotta,for seedlings when I’m pottingon in spring,And empty tubs from yoghurt,cream and mozzarella,Also lengths of twine andstring. The sacks of compost oftensplit,All over benches and theground.I’ll try to sweep up everylittle bit,To nurture pinks and roses,they’ll astound. “Such lovely fragrant flowersI adore,So leave the mess – but shutthe wretched door.”…

WE can’t guarantee you a sunny summer, but we can guarantee a wealth of sun-kissed colours from this week’s free seeds. Rudbeckia ‘Rustic Dwarf’ delights with a mass of daisy-like flowers set on sturdy stems that reach a medium height of 2ft (60cm). A cottage garden favourite, ‘Rustic Dwarf’ flowers in mixed shades of orange, amber and bronze. A half-hardy perennial often treated as an annual and discarded at the end of the summer, it can be sown undercover now or directly where you want it to grow later this month and in May when temperatures, especially at night, should be warmer. I am also going to sow some in individual pots to use as gap fillers later in the summer. Rudbeckias will flower from midsummer right through into the…

WHETHER you’re a shelling, mangetout or sugar-snap fan, there’s a pod out there with your name on it. But how do you get maximum yield from your stalwart crop? When growing peas, one element is fundamental to success – and it’s all in the roots. The larger the root system, the bigger the crop – it’s that simple. To get a decent network of roots you need to provide an open, moist (but not waterlogged), warm (not hot) soil. Sounds complicated? Trust me, it’s not – just sow sufficiently early in the spring, and protect all sowings from mice. Cold soils are also a no-no, with seeds rotting off if sown below 12°C (54°F). So, for super-early harvests sow in pots under cover – if sown in a propagator in…