Innholdsfortegnelse for 5-Aug-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“I think good old-fashioned common sense is in short order these days. So it was nice to get a letter from AG reader F Farrow of Barnsley asking us to reprint a column of Peter Seabrook’s from 1st January 2022, titled ‘Environmental Truths’ (see page 42). In it, Peter debunks myths about the regeneration of sphagnum moss and argues that there are many more things which we can do to help the environment. It was 18 months ago that Peter passed away, and I know many readers and countless experts in the garden trade deeply miss the passion and energy he gave to the promotion of gardening. Moreover, Peter was prepared to swim against the tide to put it all into perspective. He just spoke common sense.” Contact us: ■…

WE have returned from a fortnight away and in the space of 14 days the garden (dutifully watered by younger family members in our absence) has been transformed. On the plus side, it looks like it is going to be a bumper year for fruit and veg thanks to the warm start to summer and diligent watering. The negative is that the heat and a few heavy showers had given our plot a bad case of ‘jungle-itis’, and in the space of two weeks everything has grown like it’s on steroids, including the weeds. My first bit of post-holiday advice is to take a deep breath, make a cuppa and work out what jobs need prioritising. More pressing tasks include clearing away dead bedding to make room for more plants,…

THIS week’s free seeds are for a classic perennial that should bring many summer of colour to your garden. A simple-looking plant, Echinacea ‘Large Flowered’ is the traditional pink/purple daisy with a protruding golden centre. Fantastic for attracting pollinators, this is a long-lasting variety that flowers relatively late in the season and blooms well into the autumn. Echinaceas are fascinating plants. The large central cone of each ‘flower’ actually contains several hundred mini-flowers that draw in nectar-collecting insects. The ‘petals’ fanning around the edge are sterile florets used to attract passing pollinators. They fall off at the end of the season, leaving the seedheads to be plundered by finches that help scatter the seeds and start a new generation of plants. To get the best results, grow your echinaceas in…

I MANAGED to miss the coronation of King Charles III on 6 June this year because we’d booked a week in Anglesey some months before the date was announced. However, I admire our king greatly. He was way ahead of the game when it came to realising how nature-depleted our planet had become due the actions of the human race. He said as much in a documentary made in 1969, just after his investiture as Prince of Wales. He was also aware of climate change. In the 1980s King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, began to create his organically run garden at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. It’s inspired many gardeners to be greener. He also made meadows more achievable by using a mixture of spring bulbs, such as camassias,…

Q Could you tell me the name of this plant? E. Walters (via email) A It is Crinum x powellii, also called swamp lily. There is also a white form, C. x powellii ‘Album’. The result of a cross between C. bulbispermum and C. moorei, it richly colours autumn. Enjoying full sun and fertile soil, it is a native of tropical South Africa and other warm parts of the world. Q Can you please tell me the name of this sweet pea and where I can buy the seeds? Sandra Baker (via email) A The mystery sweet pea is ‘Wiltshire Ripple’, which flowers for months. Seeds are available from Dobies ( 0344 967 0303, dobies.co.uk). A packet of 25 seeds costs £2.49. You could sow it this autumn for an…

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 peaches! Answer: BRICK = Wood, Stone, Metal (materials commonly used…

WHENEVER we get a dry spell of weather, there is always someone advocating that we all choose only drought-tolerant plants to cope with ever-drier summers. We do seem to be getting hotter temperatures during the summer at the moment so it makes sense to take this into account, but it is often forgotten (or ignored) that many of these same plants are unable to cope with the cold, wet winters we get in the UK, especially when compared with the climatic conditions in the areas where these plants originate, such as the Mediterranean. Most of the plants we are familiar with in our gardens can cope with hot conditions, providing some planning goes into their planting, establishment and care. If you start by assuming that a hot, dry summer lies…

THERE is so much going on in the garden at the moment, and it is such a busy time outside of our plots, with summer activities and holidays, that it is easy to neglect our houseplants. I’ll put my hands up and say I’m guilty of ‘I’ll water it tomorrow’ syndrome, which is why in summer I can periodically be spotted dashing round the house with a watering can and bottle of liquid fertiliser, resuscitating and reviving floppy indoor greenery. I haven’t lost one yet, but this is not the recommended way to care for indoor plants. During the summer they grow just as strongly as their outdoor cousins, and have very similar requirements when it comes to care. They need watering more often, so check the dryness of their…

WE are at that point in the summer where the early flowers have passed and it’s time to make room for the second blast of colour. This means deadheading, pulling out withered allium stems, cutting back perennials that have flowered and flopped, and Chelsea chopping bushy plants that will hopefully bloom again in late summer. Deadhead iris stems and divide older clumps that are becoming unproductive, composting their woody centres where nothing is growing. Remove and compost allium leaves once they have fully rotted back and maybe save some of the ripe seedheads to sow. The seeds should germinate within a few weeks (see ‘Ask John Negus’ on pages 37-40 for tips on how to grow alliums from seed). Once you have cleared away dead plant material you should have…

THERE is no doubt the human race is releasing too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and consuming too much of the earth’s finite natural resources. Putting it bluntly, there are too many humans, demanding too much – and yet we never hear, see or read this case being put quite so bluntly. Now is the time for New Year’s resolutions. One should endeavour to be more environmentally friendly, and use less. What about wearing more clothes in winter so the heating can be turned down; a five-degree drop can halve the cost of heating a greenhouse? Do we buy too many new clothes when old ones can be made to last longer? Why do people comment when I wear a shirt with a worn collar and frayed cuffs, then…

This word search comprises words associated with peaches. 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 seven letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD. PEACHES NECTARINES PERSIAN APPLE LEAF CURL FUZZY SKIN CHINA FRUIT HARVEST JUICY PEREGRINE PRUNUS RIPE ROCHESTER SMOOTH SOFT SWEET HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and send it to AG Word Search No 683, Amateur Gardening, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Wednesday 16 August 2023. The first correct entry chosen…

SO far, it has been a good year for our tomatoes, whatever the variety. We have more plants than ever before (they almost all germinated), ‘Tigerella’ from AG free seeds and the heritage cherry varieties ‘Black Baby’, ‘Toddler’ and ‘Bliss’. As a result we have them growing in the greenhouse, on the patio and for the first time in our raised beds. They all seem to be thriving, and we have been feeding and watering them all at the recommended rate. This week I have also been pinching out, pruning and ‘stopping’ the greenhouse plants as they have grown tall enough to reach the roof panes and are starting to grow at an odd angle! Tomato plants are stopped in August or September, depending on where you live in the…

When should I plant my gooseberry bush? Q When is the best time to plant out potted gooseberry bushes? Sally Rennison (via email) A The best time to plant any woody plant is in autumn, when the soil is still quite warm from the summer but the moisture levels tend to be increasing. Although plants go dormant in October, their roots can keep growing until mid-December so planting in autumn can give up to six weeks for additional root growth. This means that come the spring, when the new plant is putting out leaves, it has already got some roots established in the soil to support this new growth. This is good for the plant and should mean that the gardener can leave it to its own devices without the…

This week it’s: It’s National Peach Month! We take a close look at a popular delicious fruit IN America, August is National Peach Month. Whether you feel that peaches should be celebrated similarly here in the UK or not is a matter for you, but it is certainly difficult to imagine summer without this delicious juicy fruit. Peach season can begin in July, and lasts until September, but August is when they are at their peak. There are more than 700 varieties in the world today, including nectarines (which are a variant of peaches and not a cross between peaches and plums). Peaches and nectarines only differ in their skin texture – peaches are velvety, while nectarines are smooth. Let’s take a closer look. ■ All peach varieties are self-fertile,…

I’VE lost many valuable things in my garden, including a phone, the keys (thankfully found), my wedding ring and – more recently – my watch. The ring was the most valuable, and fell from my finger 20 years ago, so unless it miraculously falls from the beak of a passing magpie, there’s little hope of getting it back. The watch, on the other hand (or make that wrist), has been absent for a comparative blink of an eye. It was only a year ago that I put it ‘somewhere safe’ while I gardened. If I could only remember where I was working, I’m sure it would still be there. The one place I haven’t looked, until now, is our pond. The time frame works, as it’s in summer that I…