Innholdsfortegnelse for 10-Dec-2022 i Amateur Gardening

“Climate change has been in the news a lot recently, thanks to world leaders gathering at COP27 and the exploits of XR and Just Stop Oil. It is easy to look at the planet and despair over the damage being done and the apparent hopelessness of putting things to rights. As individuals, we may not be able to change the world, but lots of individuals working together can make a difference, and gardeners are in a unique position to help improve nature’s lot through what we grow and how we garden. Val Bourne makes this point brilliantly in her four-page article starting on page 20, and next week I’ll show you how to recycle Christmas ‘rubbish’ in the garden.” Contact us: ■ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ■ Editorial: 0330 3903732…

IF you are planning to grow garlic this season, tradition dictates that you’ve got just a fortnight to get those cloves in the ground. Although in theory you can plant garlic next spring for a later crop, the general consensus is that you will get a better yield if you plant before Christmas. And not wanting to fall foul of the allium gods, that’s exactly what I have done. We grow garlic each year in one of our raised beds, a different bed each year to avoid the build-up of allium pests and other problems in the soil. The allium family includes leeks and onions, so none of these should be grown in soil that hosted any of their relatives the previous season. There are two types of garlic; ‘hardneck’…

ALTHOUGH we generally use our lawns less in winter, they are still subjected to a battering from the weather. Saturated and frozen lawns should be left well alone, but on mild, dry days there are jobs to tackle to see your lawn into spring in the best possible condition. Grass continues to grow if the temperature is higher than 5ºC (41ºF) and it can be mowed when dry. Raise the blades to their highest setting and take care not to gouge up the soil. Prolonged wet can cause dog lichen and algae to form among the grass, often in areas where soil is compacted and drains poorly, or where overhanging vegetation blocks good airflow. Aerating affected areas by plunging the spikes of a border fork into the ground will help…

IVIES are attractive, evergreen, easy-to-grow, shade-loving vines that cling neatly to fences, walls and tree trunks, and often feature prettily patterned foliage. They are indispensable plants, tolerating deeper shade than any other vine, but they can be invasive. These adaptable vines feature climbing stems that cling to their host by tiny roots that develop wherever a stem touches a wall, tree trunk, wooden fence or other support. Ivy is not a harmful parasite, as these tiny roots do nothing but hold the stems in place. Ivy also grows as a vigorous and effective ground-cover plant. Hundreds of varieties The leaves of most ivies are shaped similar to an arrowhead, but some larger ivies have undivided leaves. There are hundreds of varieties, many of the most attractive having leaves that are…

This week it’s: Arums and aroids We look at a plant family with a unique and intriguing ‘flower’ EVEN someone who knows nothing about plants can spot an aroid from 100 metres! Many popular garden and indoor plants – and wild plants – are aroids. They are unlike any other group of plants, and they are fascinating. Aroids are members of the Araceae plant family, which contains around 140 genera and some 3,750 species. They are mostly tender plants from the world’s tropical regions, but some have evolved hardiness, meaning they can tolerate outdoor winters of the sort experienced in northern Europe. So, what makes them so special? Let’s take a look. ■ Probably the world’s largest collection of arums and aroids is kept at Missouri Botanical Gardens, in the…

THERE are two weeks to go before Christmas and whether you celebrate or not, there’s no escaping it and for most of us it offers a break from the usual routine. I know that in a week’s time I’ll be up to my elbows in festive tasks involving food, last-minute panic buying and mountains of present wrapping while watching The Bishop’s Wife. So this week I’m making sure the garden gets all the attention it needs as it may not get much more than a cursory look until we embark upon 2023. My main job has been tidying up the area underneath our ‘bird feeder tree’. It has been an ongoing struggle because the birds drop seeds from the feeders and fatballs, and not only does this make a mess…

I NEED some winter colour on the patio, so, just in time for Christmas, when we will have people popping round, I’ve decided to plant a container of spring bedding. It will flower for a while and then the plants may well go dormant for the coldest part of winter and early spring, before returning to life with a second flush of flowers later. Because autumn was incredibly mild, many of our summer bedding plants lasted much longer than they should have done, and some are still flowering. I’ve potted these up and transferred them to the greenhouse in the hope they will see out the winter. I have left in place the hardy green foliage plants and herbs that I included when I planted. They will provide an interesting…

What should I do about compost wildlife? Q Something is making a hole in my compost heap and I’m worried it could be a rat. I have turned over the heap to deter it, but would it be safe to put down poison? Tom Wilkinson, Wisbech, Cambs A I wouldn’t use poison because I am sure there are a lot more beneficial animals than annoying ones living in and around your compost heap. Many creatures might take up residence there at this time of year to take advantage of the heat and protection it provides. These could include slow worms and grass snakes, frogs, toads and newts, as well as rats and mice. It is also possible that, if there are no other signs of anything taking up residence, 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 plant genera of the aroid family. Answers: GINGER (gin) = Bob ran dynamo…

IF you have ever tried propagating plants from cuttings, you will know that some plants are more difficult to root than others. Using a rooting compound can help, but sometimes more is needed. The main reason for this is that although new roots seem to emerge from the surface of the cutting, they actually begin much deeper inside the stem. This is how they become linked to the internal vascular tissue that moves water, nutrients and carbohydrates around the plant. This difficulty in forming roots is why some plants have to be grafted onto a closely related rootstock and why certain plants are more expensive to buy. The reason for the difficulty is usually that the plant has a hidden barrier that can hinder callus formation (the cells that begin…

THERE are gaps in the border and the weather is closing in, so it’s time to give the soil some love before everything becomes too cold and wet to work on. Winter is the ideal time for feeding your soil, and the easiest way to do it once you’ve removed the summer’s dead annuals and tenacious perennial weeds is to add a generous layer of well-rotted organic material to your beds. This farmyard manure or compost will be broken down by the elements (our weather is often at its fiercest in the early months of the year) and dragged down by worms to feed the soil. Fork over the soil before mulching, remove perennial weeds (dandelions, chickweed and so on) and hoe through small weeds to use as a green…

I’VE always been interested in wildlife, and my earliest gardening memory is watching a bumblebee on a dark aquilegia. I must have been about three years old, so I had an eye-level view of the bee’s tongue probing the nectar-filled spurs at the back. This all happened in my small suburban garden, although it didn’t look small at the time! I’ve had a few wildlife ‘wow’ moments since then. When I was 16, I was a cadet nurse in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. The nurse’s home was run like Colditz. No men were allowed to cross the threshold, although I suspect the ground-floor windows may have allowed a few in. There was a tight 10pm curfew, but that allowed me enough time to cycle down Warwickshire’s lanes on a summer’s evening.…

I ONCE ate a ‘pizza’ in a Rajasthani road-side caff made from curry sauce, chapati flat bread and local cheese. Did I hear you say ‘yuck’? Actually, the cheese was from a yak, and when you consider the pizza was made by someone whose only encounter with a margherita was a picture in a magazine, it was a pretty good effort. That culinary encounter was on my mind as I travelled to film a Japanese garden for BBC2’s Gardeners’ World. Between you and me, I worried that the garden might turn out to be the horticultural equivalent of that pizza, containing look-alike ingredients such as raked gravel and red-lacquered timber but lacking the deeper meaning that underpins the real thing. Japanese gardens, you see, aren’t just about what they’re filled…