Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Oct-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“Are the interests of amateur gardeners being properly represented in Parliament? This is a question raised by Matthew Appleby in our News column (page 7). Matthew is the editor of Horticulture Week and he explains how the original All-Party [Parliamentary] Gardening and Horticulture Group was created to give gardening a voice in Parliament and accurately brief MPs, if and when issues arose. This was then usurped by a new group (Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable) with strong RHS involvement, which campaigned heavily on the peat ban. I think we need representation that more accurately reflects our needs rather than the needs of an ambitious charity.”…

TESTING your soil may sound off-puttingly scientific, but it is a cheap and effective process that helps you determine the acidity/alkalinity of your soils and what nutrients are in it so you get the best results from your plants. It can also stop you buying the wrong plants for your plot, saving you money, frustration and heartache in the process. Winter is a good time for testing as soil will probably have been lying fallow during the dormant weeks of winter, so the test results should be ‘pure’. Test kits are widely available online and from garden centres. There are extremely simple ones where you put a small scoop of soil into a tube of solution, shake it and wait for it to settle to reveal the acidity or otherwise…

TWO decades ago the All-Party [Parliamentary] Gardening and Horticulture Group (APPGHG) was set up to campaign for gardening to have a political voice within Parliament. Around the time of Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock’s Ground Force TV series, gardening was booming and politicians were keen to back the sector. They visited shows, nurseries and gardens, and held receptions where they listened to horticulturists who spoke about life at the coalface. But this body has now been overtaken by the RHS-chaired Ornamental Horticulture Round Table, which meets in secret to discuss pressing issues on agendas and pressing issues set by former RHS boss Sue Biggs. Peat is the biggest current issue. The Government has pledged to ban it in England by the end of 2023 for environmental reasons, but many gardeners…

A QUESTION: What’s worse than biting into a ripe, juicy plum and finding a maggot? The answer, of course, is ‘half a maggot,’ and this week I’ve been working hard to ensure I don’t experience that horror next summer. Last year I delayed protecting our ‘Victoria’ plum tree with grease bands to block the upwards rise of flightless winter moths, but luckily only one or two fruits contained nasty pinkish moth grubs curled up in a mush of black ‘frass’, or droppings. I’d prefer not to find any next year, so this week I have been fixing sticky bands to the trunk and stake of the plum tree to protect next year’s crop. Painted-on grease or sticky bands are a good organic solution to codling, plum, mottled umber and winter…

22 Oct: Nerine and Amaryllid Society Show, RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB. 22 Oct: Hardy Plant Society (Southern Counties Group) Meeting, The Old Barn Hall, 55 Church Road, Great Bookham, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT23 3PQ. 22-23 Oct: Late fruit and veg competition, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 1QB. 22-23 Oct: Festival of Flavours, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1QB. 23 Oct: East Midlands Orchid Society Annual Show, Bottesford VC Hall, Belvoir Road, Bottesford, Nottingham, NG13 0BG. 10am-4pm. 26 Oct: Conwy Farmers Market, RSPB Conwy, Llandudno Junction, LL31 9XZ. 9am-1pm 27 Oct: Hyde Hall past, present and future: RHS Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 8RA. 28 Oct: Living in a box (how to attract bees, birds, bats…

GARDENERS are used to dealing with the elements, but this year my garden has suffered from drought, strong winds and extreme heat. I’m mulling over my strategy, as on the one hand I want to store more water more efficiently, but I also want to grow plants that can cope with climate change because I only want to water where really necessary. I haven’t got the time, or inclination, to spend hours watering everything, because water is a precious resource. Do I get rid of my border phloxes because they failed this year? Should I keep my tall sanguisorbas? They also browned early on. My crocosmias hated this summer. Their foliage turned golden brown and they failed to flower, for the first time in my living memory. Should they be…

When should I move a witch hazel? Q I planted a witch hazel in February this year. I now believe that I planted it too close to the fence and I need to move it forward by 3ft (90cm) or so. Can I move it now or should I leave it until spring, after it has flowered? Steve smith (via email) A Now, or in November, is the best time to relocate your Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’. The soil is still ‘summer warm’ and your charge will re-establish before temperatures plummet in winter. Start by digging a trench around the tree, about 18in (45cm) from the trunk, to expose the roots. Cut through large roots, but leave fibrous roots intact. Ultimately, unearth the entire root system. Then, pivoting the…

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 connected with apples. Answers: PICKEREL (pontederia) = Joe-Pye (eupatorium), Keith (RHS President),…

SECATEURS are basic gardening tools, usually taken along whatever the intended job may be. They serve every purpose, from deadheading to pruning, and a good pair will last for years if they are well maintained. Two types of secateurs Bypass: the cutting blade moves past a lower, curved blade that is fixed in position. Sometimes referred to as a ‘half-anvil’, the method of cut is a scissor action where the two surfaces pass closely and anything trapped in between is cut. These have been around for more than 200 years Anvil: a single cutting blade is pressed down onto a flat surface (or ‘anvil’) and anything trapped between is cut. These types originated in Germany around 100 years ago. One thing that is immediately noticeable is that many of these…

THE compost heaps at Buckland Castle have been crying out for attention for months. In fact, they’re so tall with the straw-like remains of drought-battered plants that they resemble the thatched home of a Hobbit. But it’s not Bilbo and his nefarious Middle Earth mates I’m worried will move in. As temperatures drop, compost heaps become a magnet for hedgehogs, slowworms, mice – you name it, all looking for a cosy place to spend winter. That means now is the last chance to harvest the good stuff at the bottom without disturbing their winter slumber. Then there’s the practical point that it will also free up space needed when the big autumn-leaf clear-up begins and the real possibility of making a new feathered friend. Whenever you dig over soil, move…

I’M slowly clearing the garden of this year’s summer annuals, and cutting back perennials that have flowered and are past their best. Our plot is starting to look rather stark and naked after the summer’s colour, but at least the extra space gives me the chance to improve the soil for next year’s flowers. Just as we feel run down by periods of intense activity and stress, so our soil ends the summer depleted of many nutrients after months of growing and compacted by old roots. Autumn is the time to put things right. If you feed your beds, raised beds and borders with a generous layer of organic mulch now, you can either dig it in or leave it on the surface as mulch to be broken down and…

■ One of the easiest ways to improve your soil and grow well is the no-dig method, when manure and compost are piled onto a bed. ■ This is an especially useful technique for raised beds and narrow borders. ■ Worms, beneficial soil microbes and winter weather work their magic on the compost and manure, breaking it down into a rich and healthy mix. ■ Because nothing is dug, the structure of the soil isn’t damaged or compacted. ■ Weeds are controlled by gentle hoeing, hand weeding or mulching, and because fewer germinate as they are not raised to the surface, there is less cover for pests. ■ After each harvest the plants are lifted and more layers of organic matter are added, ready for the next crop.…

WE have a well-established bronze phormium in a wooden half-barrel, and after years of excellent service I think the summer’s drought has finally done for it. Despite feeding and watering (with grey water) its fronds are brittle and bleached. I shall be sorry to see it go, and in an effort to save some of it I decided to pot up some of the offsets in the hope that they will bounce back. This is a job that should normally be done in spring, but I fear that if I don’t act now I’ll lose the whole plant. The offsets each had robust roots that will hopefully stand them in good stead. Phormiums, or New Zealand flax, are long-lived evergreen plants with strappy leaves in green, purple, cream or bronze.…

■ If your buxus (box) topiary or hedge has been decimated by blight or box caterpillars, you may want to replace it with equally attractive but less problematic alternatives. ■ There are several evergreen shrubs that lend themselves to hedges and topiary shaping. ■ Low-growing box honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida) has small leaves and can be clipped into shape. The variety ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ has attractive green-yellow leaves. ■ Hebes have attractive flowers, are suitably low growing, low maintenance and readily available. ■ Lavender makes a beautiful scented low hedge and is easy to shape and maintain so long as you trim carefully and don’t cut into old woody stems. ■ Holly and berberis make good alternatives if you are looking for a protective boundary hedge. Opt for variegated or red-leaved varieties…

FASHIONS in gardening wax and wane. Edible flowers were popular for a brief moment, then they were almost forgotten again. As usual, not much actually changed, apart from expensive restaurants adding petals to their impressionist salads. You’re not going to get a huge number of calories from munching petals, so including these has to be more for their colour than for nutrition. Many edible flowers are perfumed, so this can also add flavour. Conversely, petals may also be quite tough and bitter, though this is often reduced by removing the base of the petal. Then there are the possible health benefits from increasing the range of plants and the parts that we eat. These plants may be beneficial, but I doubt they amount to an awful lot in practice. “It’s…

IF you crave the plumpest, most sizeable cloves, autumn planting is a must. Here’s how to guarantee the most glorious of garlic gluts. Often first-time garlic growers can feel a bit disappointed with the size of homegrown cloves. Spring plantings don’t have as much time in the ground to bulk up, so if you can start crops off in autumn, you’ll have a better chance of decent bulbs. The extra growing time encourages a more extensive root system to form, which in turn gives more foliage to fuel large heads. “You can plant both varieties in autumn” There are two types of garlic: softneck and hardneck. Even though hardnecks are generally hardier, you can plant both varieties in autumn (see my tips panel on page 20), depending on your preference.…

■ Continual growing and cropping strips essential nutrients from soils. ■ An easy way to replace some of them is to sow and grow green manures, which are readily available from garden centres and online. ■ The most popular varieties are clovers, legumes and rye grasses. Mustard can also be used, but take care if sowing in soil used for growing brassicas as it might help spread clubroot to future crops. ■ Green manures help fix nitrogen back into the soil, while their roots open up the structure, which is helpful if you garden on heavy clay. ■ The top growth is allowed to flower and mature and is then dug back into the soil where it rots down releasing more goodness.…

CROP rotation is a system as old as cultivation, and benefits the soil and plants in three main ways: 1. It helps maintain and balance soil fertility, as different crops require different nutrients from the soil. Growing crops in different areas each year can reduce the risk of soil becoming deficient in one nutrient. 2. Swapping crops also helps stop a build-up of pests and diseases specific to different varieties of crops, such as scab in potatoes and clubroot in brassicas. 3. Crop rotation can even control weeds, as the spreading leaves of crops such as potatoes and squashes will shade out unwanted plants. It isn’t difficult to set up a three or four-year cycle of rotation of the main crop groups: brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, swedes, turnips); legumes (peas,…

1 Cut roses down by a third to reduce the risk of wind rock in stormy weather, and remove any dead, spindly and crossing stems. 2 Deadhead spent blooms, but leave some buds as roses can flower well into autumn in sheltered spots. Also leave some hips for winter colour. 3 Trim unruly shoots from climbing and rambling roses, and tie in this season’s growth so it will extend in the direction you want it to. 4 Remove all traces of blackspot-infected material, including leaves that have fallen onto the soil. Burn or bin them.…

DESPITE originating in the US, Phlox drummondii are perfectly at home in an English garden. The variety ‘Tapestry’ is a half-hardy annual that flowers in myriad shades to create a multicoloured patch of brightness. Created by Mr Fothergill’s, its growers describe the scented flowers as ‘a superb blend of colours in a limitless combination of bicolour and picotee effects’. Phlox grow to around 18in (45cm) and will flower from early summer through to October in the right conditions. Phlox do best in full sun in soil that is fertile and free-draining. They grow well in large containers as well as borders and make excellent cut flowers, with a good vase life. You can either sow them now or wait until late spring and sow directly into the soil. If you…

1 On bright days inspect woody plants for pink spotted stems, which is the disease coral spot. If found, cut out and burn those bits. 2 Be thorough when hunting for snails. Chuck them out of their winter dens for the birds, otherwise they will hibernate and then multiply. 3 Look out for end-of-season sales of barbecue charcoal as this keeps, and no doubt it will cost more next year. 4 Check tree ties and stakes in case we have any strong winds. Also, free off any ties that are getting too tight.…

These top-quality, ‘Professional Standard’ fruit trees mean YOU can now grow full-sized crops in your garden or even in pots on your patio! What’s more, you can expect to be picking your first juicy fresh fruit in the first year! The crop will increase year on year, eventually giving you hundreds of pounds of produce per season and costing literally pennies per lb over their long life of over 50 years! They are ‘self fertile’ and grown on ‘dwarfing’ rootstocks so they will pollinate themselves and always be compact. Grows to 2.5m. • Includes 3 top quality, self-fertile, compact fruit trees so you can grow fruit even in smaller gardens or on the patio • Compact and heavy cropping, with fruits produced from July through to October • You get…

TULIPS are distinctive, easily recognised spring flowers that develop from bulbs about the size of a small onion. Each bulb produces a vertical stem from 6-26in (15-65cm) tall carrying oval leaves, mainly towards the base of the stem and becoming smaller higher up. A few varieties have prettily marked foliage. Each stem is topped by a goblet or cup-shaped flower usually made up of six petals that can be rounded, pointed, fringed or reflexed. The three outer petals may be marked, splashed or coloured differently from the inner three. Some tulips have multi-petalled double flowers while a few varieties produce more than one flower at the top of the stem. Reliable spring colour Tulip flowers come in all colours except true blue, including almost black, and in some especially colourful…

This week it’s: Apple lore and customs We look at traditions behind the humble apple WE are, of course, well into the apple-picking season. AG regularly covers the best apple varieties to grow for this purpose or that taste, as well as the best way to plant, grow and prune apples. But rarely do we devote much space to the folklore surrounding apples, or their customs, rituals and, yes, even superstitions. So, I thought I would now! ■ There are dozens, nay hundreds of localised customs and rituals concerning apples, going back many hundreds, nay thousands, of years. This is, in part, because the apple has played a hugely important role in the economy of those areas where it was, and still is, grown. Summer christening! TRADITIONALLY, apple orchards were, and…

Annuals like this Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Psyche White’ last until the first frosts if propped up, deadheaded and trimmed. They attract bees and hoverflies to a white garden. Senecio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’ is a white-garden winner. Next year sow into containers in May, transplant seedlings to pots, plant out and they’ll grow quietly in the background waiting for an autumn reveal. If you have existing clumps of snowdrops and know where they are, lift some, divide the bulbs, set them 4in (10cm) apart and replant. Or wait until February to plant from pots or in the green. Your hard surfaces will shine in winter moonlight, so top up white-coloured shingle and sweep or scrub silvery paviors so they shine.…

Thank you for all your gardening-themed poems. Marilyn Wellman from Taunton, Somerset, writes about the antics of visiting birds and the joy that they bring… My outside space is awonderful place,Wild birds visit each day.They argue and fight all withtheir might,To pick up a takeaway. I leave out a treat for themto eat,And though this may soundabsurd,I have sparrows and tits whoeat the most bits –And even a grape-eatingblackbird. Wagtails abound, theyvacuum the groundThey will only eat fromthe floor.Starlings eat fast as if eachpeck was their last,They drop more than they eatI am sure. If a wash is their wish there’salways a dish,Or a bird’s bath to do as theyplease.To drink or to clean and thenaway to preen,Nor far just up in the trees. It’s just my bit to keep…

WHEN breaking apart a compost heap, the idea is to switch the stuff from the top to the bottom and empty the rotted ‘good stuff’ from the bottom for use on the garden later. Build back with a 1ft (30cm) layer of dry remains in the base – they keep the lower layer airy – then a layer of lawn clippings or green leafy shreddings (they add nitrogen). I bung in cardboard boxes in layers, too, watering them with a hose until they’re soft, repeating until the last layer of nearly rotted remains goes on the top.…