Innholdsfortegnelse for 10-Sep-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“I’m not going to surprise you when I say the cost of gardening is on the rise (see Marc Rosenberg’s report, page 7), because that is the case with pretty much every aspect of our lives. Everybody up and down the country will be looking at ways to save money, and I think it’s at times like this that gardening comes into its own. The world may have become a more stressful place, but gardening is the best tonic for your troubles and in relative terms, despite the rising cost, it is still cheap to do. Get some exercise, commune with nature and play your part in making the environment better – it’s the best way to beat the price-rise blues.” Contact us: ◼ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ◼ Editorial:…

I SOMETIMES wonder whether laws are more trouble than they’re worth – often the largest single area of garden, they can be beset by problems whatever the time of year. Sunny, exposed areas dry out, shaded areas overhung with trees and shrubs can accumulate moss, slimy algae and other fungal problems – and that’s before you take into account the pests that attack them. Earlier this summer the evening skies above our garden were filled with a loud buzzing and the air was filled with lots of chunky brown beetles. They were European chafers, harmless bumbling things as adults, but their large white grubs eat the roots of grass, killing off areas of lawn if they are in large enough numbers. As if this isn’t bad enough, once foxes, badgers…

THE cost of gardening is set to rise as inflation bites, and suppliers of everything from compost to garden chemicals say they can no longer absorb rising costs, so shoppers may have to pay more for gardening essentials. “Compost prices are going to go up next year by a minimum of 10-20%,” said Steve Harper, chair of the Responsible Sourcing Scheme (RSS). “Haulage, compost materials, plastic packaging and fertiliser are all increasing in price. I would expect a 50-litre bag of compost to cost £7.99 or £8.99 next season,” Steve added, hinting that multibuy offers may come to an end. Could shoppers be at the mercy of ‘shrinkflation’, where products become smaller but prices remain the same? A manager at one compost manufacturer, who did not want to be identified,…

IF you are new to taking cuttings, pelargoniums are a good place to start. Also known as bedding geraniums, they are a common summer garden sight, usually bought to bring a few months of colour to beds and containers, before being chucked on the compost heap in autumn. However, ‘pellies’ are perennial and with a little care can be kept going from year to year. They are tender, so they won’t survive winter outside, but they can be lifted and moved somewhere frost free for winter. I also recommend taking cuttings in autumn before you lift them to act as a back-up plan if the mother plants fail in winter. You can also do this with otherless hardy perennials including fuchsias and penstemons, though cuttings from dahlias are taken from…

LEEKS are often in the ground for 10 months, are an essential part of any winter plot and don’t require any technical growing kit – just soil. It’s no wonder gardeners can’t get enough of this allium! So, how do you guarantee successful harvests? With careful selection, you can harvest leeks from August until April. Early varieties such as ‘Zermatt’ tend to have long, slender stems or ‘shanks’ and can be harvested as baby veg in late summer. As you move towards winter, varieties become stockier and hardier, with darker green leaves (called ‘flags’) – sowings of ‘Neptune’ and ‘Below Zero’ will yield well into the spring. “They are an essential part of any winter plot” While some leeks are open pollinated (such as ‘Musselburgh’), which can lead to variability…

Do asters multiply? YES, they do. Asters spread at the roots, some vigorously and some more steadily, and they also spread by seed. If you simply leave your clumps of asters alone, short runners will usually develop from the edge of the plant during the growing season and produce new shoots, leaves and flowers. As the shoots develop, year after year, the clump expands, becoming wider as the shoots multiply. If carefully removed in spring or autumn, and planted in pots or in enriched soil in the garden, each one of these shoots can make a new plant. Asters also produce seed if they are not deadheaded, and seeds may sprout around your plants. That sounds like a good thing, but the problem is that seeds rarely grow into plants…

No: 079 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 words connected to passion flowers. Answers: NATION (Carnation) = Ex…

MANY older properties have what are known as restrictive covenants quilled into their title deeds. These are designed to stop new buyers changing a property’s use and lowering the neighbourhood’s tone. Buckland Castle is no exception, and according to our title doc I’m restricted from running a pub or brothel or making bricks on our drive. I know! It’s the Nanny State gone mad. The deeds were penned during the Industrial Revolution, when brick-built ‘satanic’ mill towns were rapidly expanding and the owners, who back then lived next door, didn’t like the idea of another Manchester springing up on the other side of the fence. But I can only speculate as to why they also demanded that trees near the house and hedges were to be pruned annually. Perhaps it…

IT’S hard to know where to start when talking about our lawns this autumn. In large areas of the UK our grass has been fried to a brown crisp that crunches when walked upon. Northern areas have had more rain, and hopefully have lawns in better condition – though here you may be running the risk of waterlogging and compacted soils. Whatever the weather, summer is a tough time for our lawns as this is when they get the most use, so it makes sense that in autumn we start to make repairs before the worst of the winter weather arrives, giving our grass the best chance of remaining healthy through to next spring. Autumn is the season for clearing and feeding, for tackling moss, pests and diseases, and also…

IF any of your houseplants spent summer in the garden it is time to start thinking about bringing them back in, before the evening temperatures drop much further. They will need to be acclimatised to being back indoors, with lower light levels and a drier atmosphere. This is especially important in areas of the country that have experienced extreme heat and dryness this summer. Your plants may have grown since they went outside but don’t re-pot them until next spring, when growing roots will make the most of fresh compost. The most important thing to do is check plants for pests (and I say this as someone who has found vine weevils strolling around their living room after moving houseplants outside in summer). Look for signs of slug and snail…

When can we move our potted rose? Q We have been given a lovely gold-coloured rose to mark our 50th wedding anniversary and would like to transplant it into a larger, terracotta pot rather than directly into the garden. Should we do this now or wait until the spring? Ken Gilbert, Brynhoffnant, Ceredigion A We are delighted to hear that you have just celebrated your 50th anniversary. As for the beautiful potted rose you have been given, there is no reason why you should not move it into a more interesting container. Provided it is large enough – there is a 6in (15cm) gap between the rootball and side of the pot – the rose should thrive. Start by covering the drainage hole with crocks or gravel and fill with…

In this extract from AG 8 August 1970 we look at one of the greatest gardeners of all time OF the many people to whom gardeners are indebted, the one to whom they probably owe most is William Wilks, Vicar of Shirley, near Croydon [now in South London]. In 1888 he became honorary secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society at a time when the society’s fortunes were in low water. The number of subscribing Fellows had fallen below the 1,000 mark, there was a debt of more than £1,000 and there was nothing to show for the £80,000 that had been spent on the society’s leasehold garden in South Kensington, London. Without in any way detracting from the leadership of a new president, Sir Trevor Lawrence, and council, the secretary…

◼ Lawns can become lumpy over time but this is a problem that’s relatively easy to fix. ◼ Not everyone has a heavy-duty roller these days, so instead you need to even out the soil by hand. ◼ Cut around a section of turf and lift it, to see what lies underneath. ◼ Dips and crests may have formed over the years so fork over the soil to loosen it then remove protruding roots or stones. ◼ Rake the soil evenly, flattening mounds and filling in any hollows. You may need to buy more top soil for this. ◼ Roll the cut turf back over the bare soil and carefully firm it down. ◼ Water the edges to help them knit together and try to avoid walking on the area…

GROWING plants from seed is great value for money, so will seed prices rise in 2023? Head of marketing at Mr Fothergill’s, Ian Cross, said the company was holding prices for next year – the fourth year it has frozen prices – but will be reviewed for 2024. At Johnsons Lawn Seed, consumer manager Guy Jenkins said he expected grass seed to be ‘a little more expensive next year’ although he added that a good harvest this season is helping to keep costs under control. Demand falls to 2019 levels Adam Taylor, of Taylor’s Bulbs, said that despite the increase in the cost of fertiliser, labour and heat used to dry bulbs, making the business more efficient meant that gardeners would see ‘little or largely unnoticeable’ changes in prices at…

CORNFLOWERS used to be a familiar rural sight, though they are not so common now thanks to increased use of herbicides and more intensive farming methods. They are a charming flower, adding natural beauty to the garden. Although they have now been bred to flower in a range of colours, this week’s free seeds are for a variety called ‘Blue Ball’, that has the traditional blue petals. Because they are hardy, they can be sown now and will survive through winter in all but the most exposed and hostile gardens. They will then flower earlier than seeds sown next spring (though I like to do both to create prolonged flowering). Cornflowers like full sun or partial shade and will flourish even in poor soil, providing it drains well. Sow the…

I MUST walk past our village sycamore tree, planted in the middle of our small village green, once a day, and yet I have never given it a second thought. Well, that is, not until the Father Brown actor Mark Williams asked me about it. He told me that several local villages had veteran sycamores planted in key positions and he wondered why. He’s a very bookish man, so I was loath to admit my ignorance on the matter! That evening the Best Beloved went and measured the girth of the village sycamore, which was 5.5m (18ft). The measurement allows you to calculate its age. If you measure the girth in centimetres, 1m from the ground, and divide by 2.5cm (the average growth rate per year) you can calculate the…

ASTERS are summer and autumn-flowering hardy perennial plants with flowers like daisies. In spring, shoots arise from a steadily spreading crown and the vertical stems carry pale or dark-green leaves that are usually narrow and lance-shaped, though occasionally broader. Most are 3-4ft (90cm-1.2m) tall. The flowers can be as small as ½in (12mm) across and carried in delightful clouds or as broad as 3in (7.5cm) for a more dramatic look. The colourful petals may be as few as half a dozen or as many as hundreds, and can be white or, more often, pale shades of pink, lavender or blue with, occasionally, darker shades. The petals surround a disc of tiny flowers that are usually yellow. The flowers are popular with butterflies and other pollinators. Change of name In recent…

Q This plant appeared from a batch of mixed annual seeds. What is it? A The plant seems to be a perennial salvia, probably a variety called ‘East Friesland’. It is fairly hardy and should survive winter if you deadhead it and mulch the roots. Q My Pileostegia viburnoides is well established, but it doesn’t flower well. What can I do? Janet Savage (via email)) A I suspect that your Pileostegia needs more potassium to help it flower better and longer. Feed it with sulphate of potash, sprinkling it over the root area at monthly intervals from April to September. Then water it in. Q What is making holes in my peppers? I have an excellent crop this year, but they are all being attacked. Barbara Coe (via email) A…

This week it’s: Don’t pass on a passion flower! Amazing facts about this incredible plant PASSION flower blooms are, let’s say, a little unusual. I think they look rather like the gears and cogs of a floral stopwatch! I guess it is no coincidence that passion flowers are known as ‘clock flowers’ in Israel, and ‘clock plant’ in Japan. The blooms are definitely 3D: a plate of simple petals gives way to a colourful sizzle of coronal filaments, out of which radiate the stamens in a satellite-like formation. So let’s take a closer look at this strange group of plants. ◼ Most of us are familiar with the common passion flower, Passiflora caerulea. It is the hardiest species for our British gardens, and normally produces flowers with white petals and…