Innholdsfortegnelse for 21-Jan-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“This week sees the beginning of our 2023 free seed campaign season, in association with our good friends at Mr Fothergill’s. Every week until the end of October, we will be giving away a free pack of seeds with every issue of the magazine. We know this is a popular gift and it would be great if you let us know how you get on with your sowing — so make sure you write in, and don’t forget all published letters get a free pair of Town and Country Master Gardener gloves. AG is a community of enthusiastic amateurs, and it’s great to hear how your garden is going — both successes and failures (and I’ve had my share of the latter). Speaking of which, don’t forget our expert with…

THERE is still time to take hardwood cuttings before trees and shrubs stir from dormancy and grow a coat of green. A tree I’ve long wanted to add to our garden is a goat willow (Salix caprea), also known as ‘pussy willow’ due to its downy silver catkins. Another name is palm willow, because branches laden with the fluffy male catkins are used to decorate churches at Easter, and it is a fabulous tree for wildlife, providing food and shelter for a wide range of species. Goat willows self-propagate easily and John Negus often receives queries from readers who have found one popping up in their garden. Luckily, our neighbour has a goat willow hedge and they very kindly said I could pop over and take some cuttings – in…

THERE are signs of approaching spring popping up all over the place – flowering hellebores, the first leaves of early spring bulbs spearing their way through the soil, early buds swelling on trees. But winter hasn’t finished with us yet, so don’t neglect the jobs that will keep your plants and property safe until spring. Cold snaps, like the ‘Troll from Trondheim’ that descended in the middle of last month, can damage more than plants. Insulate outside taps to prevent burst pipes and sweep up slippery debris before someone slips and breaks a bone. Check patio pots are still well wrapped against the cold, and add more protection if necessary. Leave the top of the compost open to the rain. Keep an eye on greenhouse plants, especially if your greenhouse…

THE more this evergreen shrub crosses my path,” says shrub expert Michael Dirr in his Trees & Shrubs for Warm Climates, “the greater my appreciation of its floral attributes.” Mahonias are bold, evergreen shrubs featuring leathery leaves divided into segments rather like those of a rose but on a larger scale. The leaves are prickly along their edges but the branches are thorn-free, and mahonias could be described loosely as evergreen barberries, to which they are closely related. Flowers and berries The small, dainty, rounded, almost bell-like yellow flowers open in winter, spring or autumn – depending on the variety – and are gathered in clusters or in fountains or in arching spikes at the tips of the branches, sometimes opening from reddish buds. Varieties with orange flowers are increasingly…

This week it’s: All about prunus! You get showy flowers, attractive foliage and sometimes fruit with prunus ONE of my favourite garden trees is the winter-flowering cherry (Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’). The last part of its name refers to when its flower display starts (when the peachy-orange leaves finish dropping). I always look forward to this tree’s flowers which, for me on the south coast, start around October. Flowering continues on and off during the mild periods of winter, ending around March. It is just one of seemingly hundreds of forms of prunus. They come in a diverse range, from the Japanese flowering and bird cherries, through to the hedging laurels, and fruiting species that include peaches, apricots, plums, almonds, sloes and all their variants. Let’s take a sideways look…

ONE of the best things about this time of year is planning the seasons of sowing and growing that lie ahead. To help you, this issue of Amateur Gardening sees the launch of our free seeds giveaway for 2023 and I am very excited to have the job of talking you through growing all the different seeds during the year ahead. Once again we have teamed up with Mr Fothergill’s to offer our readers an attractive range of seeds, including hardy perennials, bright half-hardy annuals and bountiful biennials, seed mixes designed to attract insects to your garden and, having listened to your requests, more fruit and veg seeds than in previous years. New varieties include alpine strawberries with sweet red and white berries, biennial wallflowers for early spring colour and…

SOME seeds germinate at the drop of the hat yet others take their own sweet time to start showing any sign of growth. Chillies fall into the second category, and it can be months from sowing until the fruits are ready to harvest. ‘Habanero’ chillies, for example, can take more than three months to reach maturity after being potted on, though other varieties are quicker. Low temperatures and light levels will slow germination, so in the UK we sow chillies in late winter or early spring. If you have a heated propagator, use it, otherwise set your seed tray or pots in a warm, light room. When you open your packet be careful; many chillies come with only a few seeds per pack and you don’t want to waste any.…

On the search for easy-going shrubs Q I have a Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’ on a north-facing wall – how big will it get? Also, can you recommend some low-maintenance, drought-resistance and flowering plants for containers in a south-facing area of the garden? Jan Shut (via email) A Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’ usually grows to about 2ft (60cm) high. The following flowering shrubs are drought resistant and should prosper in pots in a south-facing position: Abelia ‘Francis Mason’: Pink and white tubular flowers in late summer and autumn; small golden leaves. Evergreen. Aloysia triphylla (lemon-scented verbena): Wonderfully fragrant leaves, small white blooms in summer; needs protection in winter. Carpenteria californica: Large white flowers in summer. Evergreen. Cistus ‘Sunset’: Vivid cerise blooms from summer to autumn. Evergreen. Cotinus coggygria Golden Spirit: Bright yellow foliage…

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 linked to cherries. Answer: MINT (catmint) = Alpa (catalpa), Erpillar (caterpillar), Nip (catnip)…

THERE are two organisms responsible for canker diseases in the plants that we grow: one is fungal, and the other is bacterial. Both can attack a wide range of plants and almost all can be fatal if not dealt with effectively. Understanding the fungus The fungal cankers are often referred to simply as ‘canker’ or with the name of their most common host added. For instance, apple canker, which is a disease caused by the fungus Neonectria ditissima (also referred to as Nectria galligena). Although this is most commonly found on apple, it also attacks pear and mountain ash, and can be found on common ash, beech, holly, poplar and willow. The main area of attack by this fungus is the cambium layer, the layer of cells between the bark…

BACK in the olden days, ‘bottle half-full’ (not ‘glass half-full’) was the way to describe a person of a hopeful disposition. It’s a sobering thought that even the boozy measure for optimism has been reduced by inflation! But not everything is getting worse, or smaller. Checking the charts, I’m delighted to report that the hours of daylight are rapidly growing. Incredibly, the sun is above the horizon for 60 more minutes (and counting) than it was for the mid-winter solstice! It’s only been a matter of weeks, but we’ve quite literally put hours of daylight between where we are now and 21st December. And this has a big effect on the plants in our gardens. Buds on trees swell and fill with red pigment (see the panel, right), and this…

WE are starting 2023’s seed schedule with a Verbascum phoeniceum ‘Mixed’, a hardy perennial that produces dense rosettes of flowers along the length of a tall spire. The blooms come in a mix of colours ranging from white to pale pink and deep, striking carmine. Verbascum, which are also known as mullein, are happy in sun or dappled shade. Their long tap roots help them thrive in poor, dry soil as they have the wherewithal to search for moisture. However, if you grow from seed or buy plants from the garden centre, plant them when they are young as deep tap roots hate disturbance once established. For such robust perennials, their seeds are tiny and the best way to sow them evenly is to mix with horticultural sand or pick…

REGULARLY topping the ‘favourite summer flower’ polls, sweet peas are one of the plants that never seem to fall from fashion. They are a quintessential summer sight in gardens and allotments, scrambling up cane stands and teepees, dwarf varieties tumbling from containers and hanging baskets. Sweet peas are usually sown in two cycles, a first batch in autumn that are carefully overwintered in the greenhouse, and a second lot in late winter or early spring. Together, these staggered sowings should provide months of colour and scent as long as you deadhead plants regularly. I’m sowing my second batch now, but even though they are hardy annuals with tough seed shells I’m starting them in the greenhouse, not in the beds where I want them to grow. This is because the…

I DO a fair number of garden talks to societies – and very enjoyable they are, too. However, I always have to start by telling them that I’m aurally challenged, which means I’m quite deaf, and have been all my life. I can’t hear soft syllables and I’ll often catch just one word in ten if the person trying to communicate with me is either softly spoken, or sibilant. I can’t do accents for love nor money, so I have to have the subtitles on for the TV show Vera, which makes me feel dreadfully old. And I dread phoning a helpline, because I nearly always get a fast-talker with a strong accent. The worst thing is that I can’t differentiate between different bird songs, even when I’m wearing my…

This word search comprises words associated with plants of the prunus genus. They are listed below; in the grid they may be read across, backwards, up, down or diagonally. Letters may be shared between words. Erroneous or duplicate words may appear in the grid, but there is only one correct solution. After the listed words are found there are five letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD. PRUNUS JAPANESE FLOWERING CHERRIES ALMOND APRICOT BIRD BLACKTHORN HEDGE INGRAM LATE MORELLO PIE PORTUGAL RIPEN SLOE STONES SWEET HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 655, Amateur Gardening, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Wednesday 1 February 2023. The first…