Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Jun-2023 i Amateur Gardening

FOR many people, RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the highlight of the horticultural year. While it is the place to be seen as much as a celebration of gardening, it is not always the most logical (or affordable) place for getting ideas about what you can do with your own garden. One of the show’s highlights for AG staff is the announcement of Plant of the Year, because almost anyone can usually have a go at growing it. Plant of the Year was created in 2010 to celebrate top plant breeders and nurseries, and their work in bringing new plants to UK gardeners. This year there were 18 finalists and two of AG’s contributors, Val Bourne and Graham Rice, were part of the prestigious judging panel tasked with choosing the…

GARDENS that seemed effortlessly easy on the eye in spring and early summer can sometimes start to fade as autumn approaches. This lack of fresh colour could be laid at the door of summer droughts, or is perhaps a symptom of gardeners taking their foot off the pedal as the months roll by. Yet climate change seems to be delivering long periods of fine autumn weather with the first frosts often holding off until the start of winter, so why not plan a fiery finale to end the growing season in grand style? The bright shades of red, orange, russet and yellow that looked flat and brassy under the high-summer sun now begin to glow as it sits lower in the sky and casts longer shadows. A dedicated area In…

Q Please could you help us identify this plant? Theresa Sydling (via email) A It is a perennial tree mallow (Lavatera arborea). Feed and water it regularly from spring through the summer. They thrive in sunny, free-draining soil and are a delight. Q Could you please identify this plant, which has appeared in my front garden? Jane Walter (via email) A This large-leaved plant is greater burdock (Arctium lappa). A British native wildflower, its purplish-red blooms evolve into hooked seedheads which, when mature, are distributed by being caught in animals’ furry coats. Q This is the first time my pitcher plant has flowered. How do I keep it healthy? John Yates (via email) A What a splendid pitcher plant! American pitcher species (sarracenias) are happiest in boggy conditions and most…

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 time! Answers: STATION = 24HR, Dandelion, Carriage (all may be…

IT’S great to encourage birds into the garden, both to watch and to help by eating insects like greenfly. The downside is that they can also cause damage to our plants. We usually think about netting plants during the second part of the growing season, when the birds notice that fruits are starting to ripen, but bird damage can occur at any time of year. Identifying bird damage Tender new shoots and leaves can prove attractive to birds early in the season, with many vegetables and some ornamental plants seemingly regarded as tasty. During a hard winter or a period of cold weather, when birds get hungry or have young to feed, they can turn their attention to such plants. You can usually identify bird damage by the V-shaped notches…

23-25 June: Blenheim Palace Flower Show, Blenheim Palace Flower Show, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, OX20 1UL. 24 June: Kingswood, Walton & Tadworth Horticultural Society Early Summer Show, Church Hall, Church of the Good Shepherd, The Avenue, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 5AS. 2-5pm. 24-25: Maidenhead Open Gardens, Maidenhead, Berks, SL6 1DX. £10 in advance from maidenheadrotary.co.uk/open-gardens. 24-25 June: Arley Hall Garden Festival, Arley Hall and Gardens, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 6NA. 10am-5pm. 24-25: Benington Lordship Gardens Floral Festival & Open Gardens, Benington, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG2 7BS. 11am-4pm. 25 June: Plant Fairs Roadshow, Herstmonceux Castle, near Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 1RN. 11am-4pm. 25 June: Hardy Plant Society Devon Group Summer Plant Fair, Burrow Farm Gardens, Old Taunton Road, Dalwood, between Axminster and Honiton, Devon, EX13 7ET. 10am-3pm. 25 June: Plant Hunters’ Fair, Middleton Hall, Middleton,…

WITH eager spring sowings and correct storage, you can supply your kitchen with homegrown beets all year, so how do you ensure supplies keep rolling in? Read on! Hopefully your garden contains at least one row of beetroot, but I’m here to encourage you to swell that to three or four. That’s the secret to great beetroot – sow small batches every month outdoors from April until July for a succession of roots. If you really love this nutrient-packed veg, make a final larger sowing now. This harvest (made in late October) will keep in storage for months (I’ve kept mine in perfect condition well into May). All that’s needed is a box of damp sand and a cool, rodent-free spot in your shed. “Sow small batches every month until…

PEONIES combine an exotic air and a blossoming feeling of eastern otherworldliness with a welcome resilience, a frost hardiness and a long life to bring us plants that are always tempting and that we can depend on for years of enjoyment. All have large – sometimes very large – bowl-shaped flowers with a forest of golden stamens in the centre, although this sunny centre is sometimes transformed into a mass of extra petals. There are two main kinds. Hardy perennial peonies The majority of peonies are hardy perennial plants. They emerge in spring, flowering generously with single or double flowers, or various intermediates, in early summer. The flowers come in red to white and everything in between, and are also good for cutting. They die back to the ground later…

Q While on holiday in France last year we saw a tall, blue-flowered plant at the edges of fields and identified it as chicory. Can we grow this in the UK? Dorothy Charnock, Chippenham, Wilts. A Wild chicory (Cichorium intybus) is eye-catching in bloom, with sky-blue flowers shaped like those of dandelions. These are held close to stems, reaching around 3ft (1m) tall and open during summer, though they have the habit of closing in the afternoon. Originally from Europe, chicory is a herbaceous perennial whose leaves disappear in winter. Not really a meadow plant, it is found at field margins, roadsides, waste ground and other open sunny sites on well-drained sandy or chalky soils. Probably introduced to the UK during the Bronze Age or by the Romans, chicory has…

NO Mow May is gaining traction as more gardeners decide to do their bit, however large or small, for our declining insect and wildlife populations This is important as last year’s drought, along with increased pesticide use and loss of habitat, has done immense damage to the UK’s insects and the wild birds such as blue tits that rely on them to feed their young. We already live in one of the most nature-depleted counties in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund, so even if you leave a small patch of lawn unmown and filled with ‘weeds’ you will be helping to reverse that trend. We go the whole hog and do ‘no mow summer’, letting it grow and scything it back in August. This year several plants…

ALTHOUGH we’ve passed the usual sowing dates for peas and French or dwarf beans, it’s still worth putting some in right now – for many good reasons. First, we seem to be having longer, milder autumns than we had in the past. Traditionally, we’ve not gone for late sowings as too often the weather would turn too cold too early in autumn. But now there’s a good chance of later batches having time to ripen, and even to dry on the plants for seed. Sowing now, the weather is warmer than earlier, and so is the soil, thus germination and growth are more likely. This suits those varieties from warmer climes, particularly soya (edamame) beans. As well as our weather changing, most modern peas and beans have been bred to…

ROSES are at their peak right now and there are few things more glorious. Their colour and fragrance drench the senses, while their delightful resilience reminds us how integral they are to the summer garden. As individual plants, perhaps, rose bushes are not especially elegant, but their profusion of flowers and fragrance demands inclusion in even the smallest space. Modern roses often flower right through the summer, but that’s not the case for the old once-flowering shrub roses – after their heady peak has passed we’re left with a plant that is, frankly, unremarkable. It’s the same story before the buds open, when our rose plantings generally look rather dull. It makes sense, then, to make optimum use of the growing space between and around rose bushes, to ensure that…

ACROSS 1 Let heat be one who is proficient in sports – and an early potato salad variety! (7) (anag) 6 and 7 across This Wednesday is the summer _______ (4 and 4, making 8) 7 See 6 across 8 Ilex glabra is the ___berry (3) 9 Polymer of vinyl chloride, used in many garden and household appliances, and instead of rubber in electric cables (1,1,1) 10 Japanese fish found in black ointment! (3) 11 Field where Humulus lupulus and its various forms grow (7) 12 Stachys byzantina is commonly known as ‘lamb’s ___’ (3) 13 ___wort (Senecio jacobaea) is a weed poisonous to horses and cattle (3) 14 Ficus carica! (3) 15 Kiln where Humulus lupulus and its various forms dry! (4) 16 Old common name for Calluna vulgaris (heather) (4) 17…

Peat-free killed my house plants JUST wanted to thank you for starting a peat-free trial, it is so badly needed! I have been using peat-free composts for a number of years and have noticed a real decline in quality. I have bought a brand and been reasonably happy, then bought it again to find it completely different. The one I am currently struggling with is Happy Compost All Purpose. I haven’t yet tried it for seeds but it has killed a number of my house plants. I was careful with watering, knowing how free-draining peat free can be at the top and the subsequent waterlogging at the bottom. However, to no avail, leaves browned and then dropped – some of these plants I had had for many years. In the…