Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Feb-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“I think the biggest challenge for amateur gardeners this year is not the frustratingly changeable weather, or even the rising cost of gardening itself, but the challenge of choosing and successfully using peat-free compost. Many readers have recently written of their frustrations at bad results (see Letters, page 55), and I share those concerns. This year, we aim to go on our own peat-free journey via Ruth’s weekly pages. We will be choosing two products that Ruth will use throughout the year, and she will report on her progress, which I hope will be helpful to those still struggling with the change. To find out more, see pages 4 and 5.” Contact us: 03303331113 03303903732 03303906566…

Top Tip Leave space between each clump of plants as they will soon spread to form a pretty drift of white AMONG the relentless and seemingly never ending bitter cold that struck last month, one ray of light was the appearance of the first snowdrop buds. They appeared bravely amidst the last of the snow and gave hope that despite the biting temperatures, spring was on its way. While most spring bulbs are put in the ground in autumn, some can be planted now while they are still in leaf or even in flower. This is known as planting ‘in the green’ and it works particularly well with snowdrops, sunny yellow winter aconites and, later on, bluebells. It usually yields better results than starting with small, dried bulbs in autumn,…

I NEVER used to be a massive fan of Dianthus, regarding them as slightly old-fashioned and fussy. But boy have my opinions changed! Pinks, as they are also known, are hardy, low growing perennials that produce clumps of pretty, clove-scented flowers on short stems. The blooms are usually shades of pink and often striped white. They have frilly edges that look as though they have been snipped with pinking shears. This week’s free seeds are for a variety called ‘Baby Doll Mixed’ that produces large flowers in a range of shades, from crimson to pale pink, many with contrasting bands of colour. The variety likes an open, sunny spot and is suitable for containers and borders and makes excellent cut flowers. Cut them back after their first flush of flowers…

SOME of the finest species and hybrid clematis have small flowers with late-winter or spring blooms that are up to about 3in (7.5cm) across. Some have their four petals flared to show off the internal colours and patterns in flat-faced flowers and, on some, their petals hang down to create a more bell-shaped look. Most have four-petalled single flowers, while some have extra petals inside their flowers to create double-flowered varieties. Evergreen and deciduous Some of these clematis are evergreen and some deciduous, their leaf stalks all clinging by twisting around their supports. Flower clusters are formed at the leaf joints on growth that developed the previous year. Some spring clematis flower towards the end of winter in mild climates, others later. Some are hardy, while others appreciate a milder…

THIS is the last year that amateur gardeners will be able to buy compost containing peat in England. Sometime between now and the end of 2024 it will become illegal to sell peat-based growing media in garden centres in England – although, of course, there’s nothing stopping anyone from popping to Wales and Scotland to stock up. At AG we’re caught between the devil and the deep blue sea because we want to help our readers get the best results, but can’t with a clear conscience recommend any single peat-free compost. This is because we have found – as have many of you – that most of them have inconsistent results. Discrepancies have even been found between bags of the same brand. Indeed Nick Hamilton of Barnsdale gardens, the son…

I OVERWINTERED my dahlia and canna lily tubers in our unheated greenhouse, the former on trays of sandy compost, the latter in full pots of compost. They were well wrapped in fleece to help them survive the cold weather and this week I made sure they are still sound and potted them up. I’ve left the canna in its large container of multipurpose compost for the time being as several new shoots have appeared and I don’t want to disturb them. Thanks to the mild autumn last year they flowered well into November and I am keeping my fingers crossed they put in a repeat performance in 2023. Before potting up the dahlias I checked them over to make sure all the ‘fingers’ of their tubers were firm and healthy,…

When should I move my peony? Q When is the best time to move peonies and will they thrive in pots? Sue and Elliot Marshall, Berkhamsted, Herts A The best time of year to plant tree peonies is between about October and March. You can do it any time during this period, but it is best to choose mild weather and avoid times when the ground is frozen or waterlogged, or likely to be soon afterwards. Herbaceous peonies are best moved in autumn, though it can be done in early spring if necessary. Peonies do not suit long-term container cultivation. However, if it is necessary to grow them in pots, use soil-based potting compost, such as John Innes No3, and do not let the compost dry out. The plants may…

This week it’s: RECENTLY, I popped to our local supermarket for some broad beans (we’d finished our home-grown supply). There wasn’t a single bean to be had in the fresh veg area. So, despite frozen beans tasting nothing like the fresh ones, I traipsed over to the freezer section. There were plenty of beans, so I grabbed a bag, paid for it, and went home. But we didn’t eat broad beans that evening – I’d actually bought soya beans (the frozen bags looked identical). I was annoyed with myself. Soya beans are tasteless in comparison to broad beans – my second favourite vegetable (after sprouts). Let’s take a look at them. Any recipe ideas for soya beans? There’s still a bag in our freezer. Sowing tricks NOVEMBER to February is…

ON my way into town, I pass a rapidly growing blue cedar that’s planted in the tiny front garden of a Victorian terrace. It’s only been there a decade, yet it already looms like an arboricultural cuckoo over the garden path and worries the gutters. It won’t be long before it smothers the neighbours or is felled, and is proof – if needed – that large trees and small gardens don’t mix. That said, there are techniques – perfected over centuries by Japanese gardeners – that can mini-me even a mighty blue cedar. Bonsai is the most extreme and well-known method (see the panel), and works for both trees and climbers. There’s also cloud pruning, which is suited to medium-sized trees and shrubs, plus a ‘new kid on the block’…

Growing well!: Next week we’re giving away red and white alpine strawberry seeds and I will show you how easy it is to grow fruit and veg. MOST gardeners want to stop using peat products to save our threatened ancient peatland and the environment but are deterred by mixed results However, gardeners at Barnsdale Gardens has been growing peat-free for 30 years and have had great success. The garden was the ‘great experiment’ of much-loved Gardeners’ World presenter Geoff Hamilton, who pioneered organic and peat-free horticulture at a time when it was relatively unknown in the mainstream. The methods he used have been continued at the Rutland gardens under the auspices of Geoff’s son Nick. He explained: “The main thing is that peat-free compost isn’t peat so it needs to…

WE are at that point of the year when it feels like nature is holding her breath, waiting to exhale and burst into life and colour. The same applies to the garden, with longer days and warmer weather encouraging plants to shoot and bud and bloom. This week I have been working on our beds, weeding, raking the soil and feeding it with homemade compost and well rotted farmyard manure to give existing plants a boost as they get going again after winter and lay the ground for successful seed sowing and germination in a few weeks’ time. If bad weather strikes in the next few weeks it will work on the mulch, breaking it down and incorporating it into the soil, working in tandem with the worms that are…

ALTHOUGH I grew up in a builtup West London suburb in the 1950s, I used to see flocks of lapwings on low-lying fields that were too wet to build on. I can still recall watching their lazy flight and it always seemed to me that their wings were beating far too slowly for their own good. They billowed through the sky, as if a conductor’s hand were directing a slow movement from behind the clouds. Their Latin name, Vanellus vanellus, translates as ‘little fan’, and they do waft through the air in a very laconic style. You might know these birds as peewits, an onomatopoeic name that describes their high call. They’re also called green plovers, because they’re wading birds. Like many of the common birds of my youth, lapwings…

FOR anyone who wants to grow their own produce, tomatoes are a must-try. Not only are the fruits among the most versatile of culinary ingredients but there are also so many different colourful varieties available – many that you rarely see in shops. And there’s nothing more satisfying than biting into a home-grown, juicy tomato from the garden. If you’re a novice veg grower, it’s hard to go wrong with classics such as ‘Gardener’s Delight’ and ‘Sungold’. But if you want to try something a little more challenging, look for heirloom varieties like ‘Brandywine’. Unusual colour variations are great for making salads anything but boring – the stripy ‘Green Zebra’, for instance, or ‘Noire de Crimée’, a dark-skinned Russian-bred tomato. Options with black colouring offer the added bonus of having…