Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Mar-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“How is the cost of living affecting you? In an effort to help readers, we have been scouring DIY stores, garden centres and bargain shops to see how much we can save by selective shopping. The results were shocking. On one box of Vitax Q4 plant food, you could save a staggering £7.49 if you shopped at one store instead of another! This isn’t pennies – it’s pounds of your money that could be saved. Our survey covered stores in areas local to the AG team in the south of England. Going forward, we would like readers around the UK to tell us about the bargains they find, and those published will be rewarded with a free pair of Town & Country gardening gloves. We can all help each other…

WE were sitting in the kitchen when something caught my eye as it moved on the lawn. The earth really did move for us that lunchtime thanks to a busy mole that produced a hummock of earth in the middle of the grass as we watched. Admittedly it wasn’t quite as large as the mound that appeared next to the pond the next day – that was high enough to have a snow-capped peak – but it was still pretty impressive. This spring the main issues we have been tackling in the lawn are moles, which have arrived from the field over the road, and moss that has spread because the lawn soil is compacted and a lot of grass was killed off by last summer’s drought. I’m treating the…

DON’T be put off by the fact that this week’s free seeds bear flowers with a vague similarity to the dreaded bindweed. Morning glory is a far cry from that pernicious invader! The exotic flowers open in the morning, as their name suggests, and fade at sundown, but there are so many blooms on each fast-growing plant that you can look forward to a summer-long feast of colour. A half hardy annual, the seeds should be started undercover and you can help germination by soaking them in water overnight to soften their outer shells. ‘Choice Mixed’ flowers in shades ranging from white to dark purple, and they can be trained up trellises and webbing and grown through other plants and shrubs. They also grow well in containers with a framework…

IT’S official – UK gardens are getting smaller (by about 1% per decade, to be precise). And with larger plots harbouring more weeds and extra work, it’s no surprise that small-space gardening is popular among time-strapped growers. Luckily, there are loads of successful ways to grow crops in compact gardens. Let’s look at the best of them: Smarter selections Closer spacings and more intensive cropping is only successful if your soil is up to scratch. Adding bulky organic matter (like well-rotted manure or garden compost) will help add nutrients and lock in moisture. Dig a 3in (8cm) layer into the top spade’s depth of soil. If you’re growing in pots, opt for a good-quality brand that contains extra nutrients and water-retaining materials added (such as Gro-Sure Container & Basket Compost).…

ELDERS (Sambucus) are bold, adaptable, deciduous shrubs grown for their foliage, flowers and edible berries. Their foliage could be described as shaped like giant rose leaves, with leaflets arranged in opposite pairs along the central stem, with one leaflet at the tip. Many modern varieties have leaves that are repeatedly split and toothed so some look as frilly as a Japanese maple. The colour of the foliage has also become more varied and dramatic. Some have leaves in deep bronzed crimson, some in bright-yellow or gold, and some are variegated. Many would make splendid foliage plants even if they had no other features. Small berries The white or creamy flowers are tiny, but gathered into broad, flat or occasionally rounded heads that can be up to 18in (45cm) across. These…

This week it’s: Small garden conifers We explain why conifers don’t have to be troublesome MY wife is a buyer for a plant centre on the south coast. I asked her recently which conifers she had in stock, and she said there weren’t many because there is little demand for them. I was surprised, as there are conifers of all colours, shapes and sizes to suit any garden. “But,” she said, “the majority of people think that conifers grow into tall trees (like cedars), or as troublesome hedging (like leylandii). Conifers,” she added, “are regarded as not suitable for your average small garden.” She is right: people do have this belief of conifers – and they are wrong! It’s time we corrected the misconception. Let’s look at some stories about conifers…

THE cost of living crisis is biting hard and all of us are tightening our belts and looking for ways to make money go further. Gardening has not remained immune, with the cost of plants, equipment, feeds and compost heading north over the past year. Ours can be an expensive hobby when you tot up everything you buy over the course of the year and that can be off-putting to many of us when we are also trying to juggle food and fuel prices along with everything else. Our readers are part of the AG family and like all families, we look after our relatives and offer them support when it’s needed. For almost 140 years we have helped AG readers with their gardening and now we want to help…

IT’S all systems go undercover, where bulbs and tubers are sprouting, seedlings are growing and last year’s cuttings are ready to be potted on. With so much young plant growth in confined spaces, good hygiene and diligent pest control is vitally important. There’s nothing that opportunistic snails, slugs and aphids like more than the soft growth of vulnerable new shoots. Good ventilation is also important, as temperatures rise and the combination of springtime warmth and dampness creates perfect conditions for fungal diseases and rots. Look out for the telltale brown-grey signs of botrytis grey mould that can take hold in closed greenhouses where plants are crammed together. Keep everything healthier by opening doors and windows during the day, shutting them at dusk when temperatures drop. I spent a few hours…

EVERY so often, a garden presenter is shown washing pots. These pots will look suspiciously new, barely in need of cleaning. And of course they’re plastic, which is sort of important. You see, the notion of washing pots was introduced when all pots were earthenware (fired clay). Now it’s true, washing can remove or kill overwintering pests and (perhaps more importantly) their eggs. But originally, pots were also washed before being used because this was one way to wet them through. Clay pots absorb (and evaporate) water, and if filled when bone-dry they may suck water out of the compost instead of keeping this moist. As we seldom use clay pots nowadays, this is no longer a factor. “It’s the soap that does the job” Most probably few pests or…

How can I brighten a gravel patch? Q How do we brighten up an area of gravel? We have tried plants in pots but are really after a more ‘border-like’ display? Marie Scott, Bridlington A I suggest that you work good topsoil and crumbly manure into the gravel and sand area to make an appealing bed. Then I think I would create a series of islands, dividing them with grass paths. If you use pea shingle for paths, edge it with ceramic tiles, bricks, or plastic edging strips. As for planting, the following shrubs and border perennials thrive in full sun or light shade and should serve you well: Perennials: Agapanthus, allium, alchemilla, Anemone hupehensis, aquilegia, aster, astrantia, brunnera, campanula, chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’, crocosmia, dianthus, dicentra, echinacea, euphorbia, geranium (cranesbill…

No. 106 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 linked to conifers! Answers: TURK’S CAP (Lilium superbum) = Day(hemerocallis),…

ONE of the most impressive developments in the technology available to gardeners over the past few years has been the plant identification application or ‘app’. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, you can now take a picture of a plant with your smartphone and receive an instant suggestion as to what it is, along with information about it and advice about caring for it. Instant identification What would have been the stuff of science fiction only a few years ago is now available to anyone with a smartphone, and even more amazingly, often for free. Although you may not be able to find the exact cultivar, just being able to identify the genus* offers a level of horticultural understanding to amateurs and non-gardeners in a way that it…

WHEN non-binary balladeer Sam Smith was asked to name an alternative dream career, the multimillionaire replied: “I’d love to be a ‘fisher-them!” Well, I was outraged. Not by Sam’s avoidance of the ‘microaggression’ inherent in ‘hetero-normative’ language, but the aggression towards fish! How could them? But I mustn’t take offence… It’s so difficult to say anything these days without upsetting someone, as the English language has become a minefield (apologies to pacifists). I mention this because, as part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Language Project, American scientists (who else?) have compiled a repository of ‘problematic words’ that shouldn’t be used in plant and associated science. They don’t, for example, like ‘male’ or ‘female’, even though alternative words such as ‘XY or XX individuals’ are synonyms for the same…

OUR rationale in putting this price guide together was to visit as many garden centres and DIY outlets close to us to gauge the price differentials out there. We concentrated on the items that gardeners are most likely to be buying at this time of year. They included the general-purpose granular fertilisers Growmore and Vitax Q4, which can be found almost everywhere, Tomorite, which is the most widely available brand of high-potash tomato feed, a general purpose ‘pour and feed’ fertiliser from Miracle-Gro and a popular lawn feed. TOMORITE (1L) ■ Cheapest: Home Bargains £3.99 ■ Most expensive: Goulds, nr Weymouth: £7.49 £3.99 or £7. 49 WESTLAND AFTERCARE TRIPLE CARE LAWN FEED 100sq m ■ Cheapest: Redfields garden centre, Hants: £9.99 ■ Most expensive: £9.99 or £11.99 VITAX Q4 2.5kg ■…

I HAVE been watching our returning perennials with excitement because there are one or two that I want to take early cuttings from. Clump-forming varieties such as lupins and delphiniums, and also phlox, salvias and asters, can be propagated by taking cuttings from the base – also known as basal cuttings. This is an easy and reliable way of increasing plant stocks without spending money and if you take the cuttings now they should be ready to plant out in late summer or early autumn when the soil is still warm, so the young plants can get established before winter. Alternatively, overwinter the plants in a greenhouse. They will die back but return to growth next spring when they can be hardened of and planted out when frosts are past. Basal…

I HAVEN’T got a pond at Spring Cottage, unfortunately, but my two previous gardens did have ponds. It was always a delight to spot the first globular balls of frog spawn. Common frog spawn can appear between December and April, depending on weather and local conditions, but I usually saw it in mid-February. A female common frog may lay up to 4,000 eggs in a season and the eggs are fertilised by the male as they are produced. Each small black egg is surrounded by a clear jelly capsule around ⅓in (1cm) across. The tadpoles are black when they hatch, but develop light-bronze speckles as they mature. Very few mature into adults. The repetitive night-time croaking from the male common frogs attracts the females. Once a mate is found, the…

■ This extract from AG 24 May 1975 is the third of a 12-part series on how to propagate a wide selection of indoor and outdoor plants. Note: peat will often be mentioned in these articles, and while many new peat-free alternatives are available, peat composts are still on sale for those who choose not to use peat-free. If using peat-free, please note that details of watering and nutrients will vary. INCREASING your own plants is one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening, as well as being the cheapest way of obtaining new stock. Basically, there are two ways of propagating plants. There is the vegetative method, which embraces cuttings, layering, budding, grafting and division or splitting of plants. The other way is to raise plants from seed. In…