Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-May-2022 i Amateur Gardening

WE are in peak planting season – the best time of the year – but at the time of writing we haven’t had any significant rainfall for several weeks and the soil is hard and desiccated, This means that anything that goes in the ground now needs extra attention while it gets established. Even newly bought, mature perennials can’t be planted and left to their own devices. Their roots may look robust but until they have bedded in and spread they will still only have a limited access to water and nutrients. So if you are planting in the next few weeks, especially over this bank holiday weekend, make sure plants are watered generously and you cover their root area with lots of well-rotted compost or manure to help hold…

■ If you are looking for colourful plants that have a practical use, consider companion planting. ■ This is when we introduce attractive plants that have the added benefit of either luring pest insects away from treasured cultivars and crops, or encouraging insect predators that will reduce the numbers of destructive visitors. ■ I have planted some calendulas around our veg-growing area. ■ Their orange flowers look glorious and will also repel whitefly and bring in ladybirds and hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids. ■ Tagetes are another variety of marigold and they deter whitefly from tomato plants. ■ Other companion plants include strongly scented herbs that confuse pests, borage, which attracts pollinators, thus benefiting the rest of the garden, and nasturtiums, which can be used as a ‘sacrificial’ plant to…

SO here we are, at the end of No Mow May and I’m wondering how your lawns are looking? Have you continued to cut the grass or have you left patches of it to grow wild – and if you have, what’s been growing there and have you noticed a difference in the number of insects and birds visiting your patch? According to the nature charity Plantlife, which started No Mow May, cultivating just a small patch of lawn as a wildflower spot can be of immeasurable benefit to insects. The ideal mowing regime is to create a ‘Mohican’, leaving a short patch with quick-growing varieties such as daisies, speedwell and clover plus an area left unmown for longer where you can grow slower-growing and larger species such as field…

EARLY-FLOWERING perennials such as pulmonaria and knapweed are the harbingers of better weather and help lift the spirits. They are also an vital source of nectar for early bumblebees, which really is their more important role. But now they are starting to fade and flop outwards, looking straggly and unkempt so it’s time to get them back into shape. All you need to do is remove faded flower stems and any leaves that are starting to look tatty. Then feed with a granular fertiliser and water well. They will soon spring back into shape as the neat clumps they were originally and may even reward you with a second flush of flowers. Knapweed and pulmonaria both love our soil and they self-seed prolifically all around it, even in the lawn.…

24-28 May: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London SW3 4SL. 28 May-June 5: The Superpower of Bees (half term event), RHS Bridgewater, Occupation Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 2LJ. 28 May-June 5: The Superpower of Bees (half term event), RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1QB. 28 May-June 5: The Superpower of Bees (half term event), RHS Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8RA. 28 May-June 5: The Superpower of Bees (half term event), RHS Rosemoor, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. 28 May-June 5: The Superpower of Bees (half term event), RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. 28 May: Plant Hunters’ Fair: Carsington Water, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 1ST. 10am-4pm. 29 May: Rare Plant Fair, Kingston Bagpuize House, Kingston Bagpuize,…

I’M always on the lookout for caterpillars (although I can’t always identify them) because I like to see what they’re eating. I try to grow as many different caterpillar food plants in my Spring Cottage garden as I can. This isn’t as tricky as it seems, because my areas of long grass are very good for all browns and some skipper butterflies. Wet summers, which most butterflies hate, can be beneficial to these butterflies because the grassy sword is lush and thick, so their caterpillars get plenty to eat. It doesn’t have to be a particularly refined grass, either, according to a 2003 booklet I own entitled Larval Foodplants of the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Peter R May. He examined all the published records and assembled the…

Is there any way of saving our tree? Q I’ve noticed over the past five/six weeks that my conifer has become ill-looking. Have you any idea what it is and if it can be cured? Gill Smithers (via email) A I am sorry that your once splendid cypress is dying. The usual cause is honey fungus, a disease that blocks the plant’s food and water canals. Check to see if this fungus is responsible by using a three-pronged cultivator or garden fork to loosen soil around the tree. If stretchy black bootlace-like rhizomorphs are visible, blame this disease. If not, then the problem is almost certainly phytophthora, another fungus that attacks the cambium, where growth occurs. In this instance, it causes the middle of a shoot to turn brown and…

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! Answers below. Hint: In one of the courses, the bricks are all Jubilees celebrated by Queen Elizabeth II! Answers: PLATINUM = Gold, Silver, Diamond(all…

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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 Pass the spiny cactus I MUST confess that although I love gardening I do not love all plants. At Christmas time a friend brought me a very prickly cactus. It scratched her hand and made it bleed even as she handed it to me. I mentioned this to a mutual friend who hesitated, then said “She was regifting the cactus that I gave her”. So I queried: “Whoever gave you such an awful plant?” My friend answered “It was a raffle prize at the local WI meeting, somebody wanted to get rid of it”. What did I do with it? I buried it…

ON a recent coffee and cake run to a local garden centre, I almost choked on my flapjack when I saw the £16.99 price tag on a potted foxglove. Seventeen doubloons is a lot of lucre to spend on a biennial, even for a plant running up to flower. It makes you spare a thought for the foxes: at these prices, there will be a lot of uncovered paws this summer. And let’s face it, it’s not as if growing foxgloves requires specialist equipment such as a propagator or greenhouse, or that the seeds are rare. The flower spikes of the biennial hybrids, bred from the purple hedgerow flowers, produce them by the tens of thousands, and they come up almost as quickly as cress. Not only that, they grow…

■ Remember to use all your garden when you are thinking of summer planting schemes. ■ Containers aren’t just for annual bedding – larger ones are deal for growing perennials and shrubs. ■ Clematis look wonderful in a large pot with ornamental supports (we have a low-growing ‘Countess of Wessex’ that is thriving in a pot) and shrub and standard roses also look the part. ■ Lilies and agapanthus will do well too, especially the latter as they like having their bulbs and roots slightly constricted, so should flourish. ■ Divide bulbous perennials every few years and top dress with fresh compost and a granular fertiliser each spring. ■ As with all container plants, watch out for attacks by vine weevils and treat the compost with a chemical drench or…

I HAVE been pleased with the results of sowing my ‘Gardeners Delight’ tomato seeds, part of our free seed range for 2022. They all germinated healthily and most have been living on a windowsill indoors with a few extras relegated to our unheated greenhouse. The greenhouse tomatoes benefited from the ‘tough love’ of colder nights and grew slowly but robustly. They are now healthy-looking sturdy plants. Unfortunately I left the indoor toms on the windowsill for a few days too long and they have grown tall and pale, with weaker stems and leaves. At the moment, I wouldn’t bet on a good crop. However, all is not lost. The great thing about leggy tomato seedlings is they will sprout new roots up their stems when planted deeply, which will help…

1 Grass growth slows in summer so don’t be tempted to over-mow as slightly longer grass looks more lush than a close crop. 2 If you fed your lawn in spring it should be fine until autumn. Feeding during hot weather and dry spells can scorch the grass. 3 Use a weed puller orlawn weedkiller to tackle broadleaf weeds. Never use a general weedkiller as it will kill the grass too. 4 Nematodes bought from 🖰 greengardener.co.uk (✆ 01493 750061) are a good way of dealing with pests such as leatherjackets.…

WELL, we weren’t expecting that! In autumn 2020 I potted up a hippeastrum bulb to add some exotic glamour to the house during the dark days of winter. It grew wonderfully and produced two sturdy stems, each around 2ft (60cm) tall bearing pretty trumpet-shaped flowerheads. After flowering I deadheaded the plant and let the leaves and stems die back and placed it on a cool shelf in an unused bedroom. In autumn 2021 I began watering again and feeding but nothing happened until a few weeks ago when fresh leaves started to poke through the compost. I fed and watered and placed the plant in the warm, light living room. And then things definitely started to happen! Our hippeastrum produced just one stem and a few leaves but wow, what…

RIGHT now is a good time to sow running beans. Note that I wrote ‘running’ and not ‘runner’ – you see, we don’t want to overlook the climbing versions of French beans. They are similar in their varied pods and seeds to the dwarf sorts, but they clamber up poles as do runner beans. French ‘running’ beans grow just like runner beans, but they are easier as their pollination is seldom ever a problem (this can be an issue with runner beans). With both, their seeds rot if sown too soon. However, in warmer soil, these will germinate quickly, emerge rapidly and grow away vigorously. (If the weather is still chilly, then it helps to cover with plastic bottle cloches initially.) All beans love moisture and need heavy watering to…

ONCE you have tried fresh, homegrown sweetcorn, nothing shop-bought will compare, but isn’t it tricky to grow? Not with the right treatment! Let’s look at what this must-grow crop needs. A different grass Sweetcorn is actually a massive, lofty grass. Its reputation for being fickle is down to the way it photosynthesises. Giving you a quick biology lesson, most plants use the C3 pathway for this energy-giving process, but sweetcorn, having evolved in arid regions, uses C4. “Plant in blocks rather than rows for pollination” C4 is excellent in hot, dry summers, but struggles in cool, damp ones. So a bad summer can result in poor corn. But don’t despair! There are loads of ways to combat this (see panel on next page) that focus on starting plants off early,…

THE majority of gardening footwear is the slip-on variety and very often in the form of clogs or shoes, so the wide choice available means it is down to personal preference of style or manufacturer. You need a good pair of garden shoes or clogs to be waterproof, offer some protection (especially for the toes) and be comfortable, durable and slip-resistant. Clogs or shoes Few clogs have a heel grip, which makes them especially easy to slip off before going indoors. This makes them very popular, but they can be difficult to walk in when going over rough, wet or uneven ground. If they get stuck, it can be awkward to step onto solid soil and you may find you have left one behind. Garden shoes usually have a back,…

■ The Ageratum ‘Blue Mink’ free seeds I sowed a few weeks back got off to a good start but threw up a few surprises as they did so. ■ Among the smaller ‘Blue Mink’ seedlings were some much later plants that quickly outstripped them. ■ When I pricked out the Ageratum and moved them into individual modules, I took a photo of the interlopers and sent it to AG’s troubleshooter John Negus for identification. ■ He said: “It looks like gallant soldier or Kew weed (Galinsoga parviflora) that was introduced to Kew Gardens in 1796. It has funny little yellow and white daisy flowers.” ■ Apparently they provide nectar for bees and other insects so I am keeping a few of the plants and will add them to our…

■ The first step towards creating a wildflower meadow is to stop feeding your lawn, as wildflowers do best on poor soils. ■ In autumn, introduce plants such as yellow rattle that weaken the existing grass, making space for wildness. In spring, sow a wildflower seed mix that is suited to your soil (there are lots available online) and buy a few wildflower plug plants. ■ Once your wildflower area starts to get established the rest of the garden will see the benefits. ■ Increased numbers of pollinators will help your plants to thrive and with them will come the insect predators that prey on pests. ■ Garden birds, hoverfly and ladybird larvae, beetles, wasps and spiders all do their bit to keep pest numbers down.…

IS there a better root crop than the humble beetroot? I don’t think there is – they are simple to sow and grow and delicious. Whether you like yours traditionally pickled and sliced with your roast beef, whizzed up into a smoothie or roasted and added to a summer salad, they are a versatile ingredient. This week’s free seeds are for a variety called ‘Moulin Rouge’, a generous cropper that can be harvested as sweet ‘baby beets’ or left in the soil longer to mature into larger spheres. ‘Moulin Rouge’ can be sown in batches every few weeks so you get prolonged harvesting. It will also grow in containers of multi purpose compost as well as in sunny, sheltered soil that has been previously enriched with wellrotted manure or compost.…

1 Placing nets and fleeces over soft fruits and cherries before they swell and colour will effectively prevent much bird damage. 2 When your first tomatoes colour, pick them to ripen indoors on a sunny windowsill as the plants will produce more fruit. 3 Big fat buds that stay unopened on blackcurrants will almost certainly carry pests and disease, so remove and burn or bury these. 4 Progressively raise the height of cut of your mower, and your grass will then stay greener throughout the next months.…

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HOSTAS are cold-tolerant hardy perennial plants grown mainly for their attractive leaves. From a tight, slowly expanding crown at soil level, pointed buds emerge and unfurl in spring. Later, in summer, many varieties produce upright stems that carry flared mauve or white trumpets that are sometimes heavily scented. The leaves are often heart-shaped, or narrower and more elliptical, or even sword-shaped, and often feature a network of veins and may be puckered. Variety of colours The colours, and patterns of colours, in the leaves of hostas are many and varied – and they come in a huge variety. Colours may include combinations of blue, grey-blue and blue-green shades, a huge range of chartreuse, yellows and golds, and many with a central gold or white splash in the centre of the…

IT cannot have escaped your notice that at the end of next week there will be an extended bank holiday. The UK (and many parts of the world) will be celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 70 years on the throne. Whether you are a royalist or not, that is quite some achievement. There will be street parties, and union flag bunting everywhere. And maybe even rather more than the usual amount of traditional red, white and blue plants in beds and containers! I thought I would mark this occasion, not by connecting plants with the Queen necessarily, but by looking at plants linked to both the precious metal platinum, and jubilee anniversaries in general. Rosy jubilees! IF ever anyone thinks of a celebration, and then a plant to go…

Make dyes from plants Q I’m keen to make the most of my garden plants and wonder if I can use any of them to make inks or dyes. Are these processes complicated, and which plants are most useful? Eva Connelly, Middlewich, Cheshire A Dyes made from the roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits of plants generally yield softer, more subtle colours than those of synthetic dyes. As I discovered, some give up their colours more readily (strongly coloured roots such as beetroot and many berries), while extracting colour from flowers sometimes needs more work. Experiment with those you already have, but avoid anything poisonous and work in a well-ventilated space or use an outdoor cooking stove if unsure. The processes can be simple or complicated, depending on what you…

Please continue to send in your gardening-themed poems. This week, Mrs A Keeler, from Lowestoft, told us she loves the AG Letters and poetry section of the magazine and thoroughly enjoyed writing this poem for us… Lady’s mantles around my pond,Protecting bulbs and fragile seeds,Capture rain in spherical jewels,Where insects find a welcome drink. Swaying heads along the path,An abundance of granny’s bonnets,New offspring of reseeded plants,Provide nectar for all who want it. Nearby, where strawberries will bloom,Raspberry canes and blackcurrants bud,Blackbirds scavenge for bugs and snails,Shared by an army of welcome frogs. I may not recall many Latin names,Have no gardening training,Yet time, nature and loving handsHelps my small patch flourish. Mrs A Keeler…