Innholdsfortegnelse for 1-Apr-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“I received a press release from a canine nutrition company asking us to warn AG readers against planting certain flowers which they believe are highly dangerous to dogs. This list included daffodils, tulips, bluebells, hyacinths and lily-of-the-valley. I think there are many things about this risk-adverse modern society that I find challenging, but really… when was the last time you walked into a field of bluebells, daffs or tulips to find it littered with dead labradors and poodles? Animals have a far better sense of what to eat and not to eat than we do. The ‘official’ advice if you wanted to plant daffs was to build a fence around them. Really? And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke!” Contact us: 03303331113 03303903732 03303906566…

LAST autumn I rescued a sad-looking Cornus with glowing yellow stems from a garden centre’s ‘reduced to clear’ bin. I transferred it to a larger pot and it spent the winter on the patio but this weekend I moved it into the garden. Cornus, also known as dogwood, are popular multi-stemmed shrubs admired for their shape, flowers and, in winter, vibrant stems of yellow or red. They need a sunny spot to produce their best colours and produce their brightest stems, so I have added it to a sunny corner where I have an ongoing project creating a wildlife area. It is thought that the name ‘dogwood’ is taken from the old English word ‘dagwood’, because the plants’ mature stems were used to make the shafts of arrows, or ‘dags’.…

How can I create year-round colour? Q I am a beginner gardener and would love some advice about two flower beds I’m planning. They are about 9ft (3m) at either side of the front of my house, facing east. Could you suggest some easy colourful, scented plants that will bloom at different times of the year? Rose Ingram, Co Armagh A I am delighted that you are enjoying gardening and wish to plant two beds either side of your front door. I suggest that you edge the beds with purple-blue Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’, a lavender that grows to around 12in (30cm) high and 18in (45cm) across and flowers in summer. Bees love it. Then fill in with the following border perennials: Spring: Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’, Aquilegia McKana Hybrids, Bergenia ‘Bressingham…

This week it’s: Crops of carrots We look at a root vegetable that comes in a variety of colours CARROTS are one of the most useful crops you can grow. You can chop, boil and mash them, or roast them, or use them in stews, or purée them, or juice them, or eat them raw. Also, they are easy – if you have a light or sandy soil, you’d find it hard to not grow a good crop. This is the peak month for sowing, so let’s look at some of the stories surrounding this versatile root crop. ■ We tend to imagine that eating raw veg is better for us. But it’s not true of carrots. Cooking them releases the hidden pockets of beta-carotene (which converts into vitamin A when…

Floating over sweet bluebells,The humble bumble drones and delves,Until his heart the better swells. And butterflies join in and searchAs fragrance rises from bough and birch,Almost toppling sweet robin from his perch. Children skip along winding village lanes,Waving thin and newly formed bamboo canes,From which they have hung white daisy chains. Ponies nuzzle and graze upon meadowland,As a pair of lovers stroll hand in hand,Their slim young bodies already slightly tanned. Passing on they stop to listen and look,At the meandering of a silver brook,And catch a toad peeping from his cosy nook. Altogether, life does seem idyllic and sweet,For those who in the springtime meet,Before the summer sun does rage and heat.…

IT has felt like a slow start to the gardening year, not least because of the seemingly endless days of dry cold that beset February and early March. Dry cold is my least favourite condition – give me mild dampness when the soil is rich and yielding and you can pretty much guarantee that your plants will grow and flourish. We are on the cusp of the main planting and sowing season, though it pays to be cautious for the next few weeks as springtime frosts will devastate more tender plants if they are put out too early and left unprotected. We also need to remember that to get the best results we can’t simply put our plants in the ground or containers and expect them to get on with…

THE last thing I needed to find on a Monday morning was an old module tray that had become a residential unit for snails. On the plus side, they were discovered before they had time to rampage through the garden, and are now roaming wild and free in the fields over the road. The warmer weather and abundance of soft new growth make spring a boom time for pests, whether they are whitefly in your greenhouse, aphids on your roses, slugs and snails anywhere or pigeons pecking your young brassicas. It’s tempting, I know, to ruthlessly tidy everything up and reach for the chemical sprays in a preemptive strike. But I suggest you stay your hand. While clearing away garden debris will remove dark recesses where pests lurk, it will…

I AM thrilled to bits because the chilli seeds I harvested from a home grown chilli I was chopping up for a curry have germinated. I wasn’t sure how successful they would be, but I started them on a light windowsill with bottom warmth from a heated propagator and hopefully they will all grow and crop well. This week’s free seeds are for another member of the same family, this time a pepper called ‘Topepo Rosso’. They are deliciously sweet and great for adding to salads or stuffing with meat or rice. They are renowned for their thick tasty flesh and the plants, which grow to around 2ft (60cm) are popular for producing generous yields. Germination takes between two to three weeks and the seedlings are potted on when large…

I WAS destined to live in Gloucestershire, because the Best Beloved was born in this county and intends to stay here! Just crossing the county boundary causes him to wince, and when we’re by the Four Shire Stone, near Moreton-in-Marsh, he nearly has apoplexy because he doesn’t know quite where he is. The stone monument marks the spot where Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire met, until 1931, when Evenlode was moved from Worcestershire into Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has been encouraging local communities to adopt a wilder approach to their local spaces in order to help wildlife. Volunteers register their own site, and in January 2023 they maintained 9, 229.4 square metres of wild patches across the county. I hope their maintenance regime is light, because undisturbed places are far…

Q My Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ is healthy, but leggy. Should I tie it in or prune it back? Margaret Cross (via email) A The best way to encourage photinias to become bushy at the base and higher up is to shorten them by 2ft (60cm). Do it when its glowing red leaves start to turn green. Additionally, feed them with chicken pellets to speed strong new growth. Q Why are our primroses making pink flowers? Christine Wilson (via email) A It is not unusual for primroses to hybridise, but it isn’t common, so you are lucky! Unlike most wildflowers, primroses are pretty immune to long spells of cold weather, and flower over a long period. Q What is this plant? Marcus Andrews (via email) A This is a…

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 carrots! Answers: BLACK = Straw, Rasp, Goose(all may be followed…

COMFREY and nettles are a good source of nutrient-rich fertiliser if you crush the leaves and steep them in water for a few weeks, then drain off the fluid. Harvest the leaves in spring, when they are fresh, and leave some nettle leaves as they are food plants of butterfly caterpillars, including tortoiseshell, peacock and painted lady. Cut up or pull apart the leaves and place them in a large bucket or container with a lid as the leaves produce a strong smell as they break down. Weigh the foliage down with a brick or stone and either leave it at that, or fill the pot with water. Add the lid and start checking how quickly the leaves are decomposing after around three weeks. The fertiliser will be ready to…

I’M starting to think about our summer bedding plants, varieties that will bring colour and interest to the garden, as well as tubs and baskets, through summer and hopefully into the autumn. I have sowed some marigolds, lobelia, dianthus, nicotiana and bedding dahlias, and the rest will be grown from plug plants. Garden centres are full of plugs now (including vegetable plugs) and they are widely available online. They are an economical and labour-saving way of getting great results. The plants (you can also buy vegetable plugs) are small and are usually bought in trays or singly, in a floral version of the ‘pick and mix’ sweets of old. They are delicate and can quickly succumb to the cold and wet as well as pests and disease so look after…

Steve Bradley MA MHort (RHS) has written (or co-written) over 40 gardening books, including Propagation Basics, The Pruner’s Bible, The Ground Force Workbook and What’s Wrong With My Plant? He is resident expert on BBC Radio Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and he has built medal-winning gardens at both Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace. You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) WHEN a tree needs removing, especially a big one, you can be left with a hefty stump to get rid of. Where it can be pulled or ground out, getting rid of at least part of it is easier, but if you are unable to use a stump grinder, due to access or close proximity of a building or other…

This word search comprises words associated with carrots. 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 eight letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD. CARROTS ROOT CROP AMSTERDAM FORCING BABY BOIL EYESIGHT FLY HARDY JUICE LONG MASH ORANGE PUREE PURPLE RAW ROASTING SEED TAP HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 665, Amateur Gardening, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Weds 12 Apr, 2023. The first correct entry…

WHEN Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said that Brits should fight supermarket food shortages by eating more turnips, I was cock-a-hoop. After all, who doesn’t love a gin and tonic with a slice of turnip? What’s caused the shelves to be empty (again) is a topic of hot debate. The government blames bad weather. Food importers point to post-Brexit import regulations turning the UK into a red-tape wrapped ‘marginal’ market. Whatever the truth, the why is out of our hands. But what we can grow to fill the gaps is filled with possibilities – for summer, at least. Lacking a Mediterranean climate, year-round tomatoes, cucumbers and lemons will always be a stretch. But otherwise expensive-to-buy leafy rocket, spinach and oriental greens are easily within our grasp. My favourite way of growing…