Innholdsfortegnelse for 26-Aug-2023 i Amateur Gardening

“Here we are at the end of August and we’re already thinking about what to plant for spring! Personally, I’m a big fan of having spring flowers in my lawn. For me, spring has arrived when my petite tête-à-têtes push through those deep green blades to create a carpet of blaring yellow. This year, I’ve decided to add anemones to the mix after reading Anne Swithinbank’s article on page 24. I need to add new varieties to my daffs and tulips as well, but I’ll wait a bit longer before I make any decisions. Do you have any plans for change this spring? Why not write in dand tell our readers?” Contact us: ■ Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 ■ Editorial: 0330 3903732 ■ Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com ■ Advertising: 07972 769267…

THE miracle of aquilegias is one of the many reasons why gardening is so fascinating. These hardy perennials are easy to grow and keen to set seeds, but the brilliant thing about them is they mutate, so you never know what flowers you will get each year. This year we have had flouncy pink ‘granny’s bonnets’ as well as a stunning dark purple variety with white edging to the petals. Both plants were sown by nature, and I can’t wait to see what they bring us in 2024. This week’s seeds are for a variety called ‘Biedermeier Mixed’, which produces bonnet-shaped blooms in pastel pinks and blues, as well as white. They appreciate sun or light shade and free-draining soil, suit borders and containers and are good for pollinators. I…

PRODUCING delicious homegrown table grapes sounds like the height of decadence, but is it possible? If you grow the right variety and you practise sound growing techniques, then the answer will be ‘yes’. For the past six years, I have been curator of two mature dessert vines in a vast Victorian lean-to greenhouse: what a treat! That said, there have been pitfalls and lessons learnt as well as triumphs. Let me share them. The roots are planted outside, then the stem is trained inside – this gives far easier maintenance than if they were totally under glass (even though that might give earlier harvests due to warm roots). I simply top up gaps in rainfall via a good soak with the hosepipe. “Producing homegrown table grapes is possible” Both grapes…

USUALLY, when we think of gardening gloves, it conjures an image of heavy-duty gloves, often made of stiff leather, padded and waterproofed, ready to protect your hands when pruning roses, digging or pulling weeds. However, there are many tasks in the garden where this type of glove can be completely unsuitable because a more delicate touch is required. If you are planting bedding, deadheading flowers, or harvesting vegetables or softer fruits you will need dexterity as well as protection. Sizes may differ Making the right choice can be difficult, especially if you are shopping online, but it is important. Poorly fitting gloves make working harder, and lead to chafing and sore hands. Bear in mind that glove sizes may differ slightly, depending on the manufacturer, particularly if the items were…

THE final bank holiday before the festive break is upon us and the long weekend is the perfect time to catch up on outside jobs that have been delayed by holidays, gatherings and rain. At the time of writing, the weather is warm and damp so I am hoping that the bank holiday jobs list won’t include removing tomatoes that have been struck by blight – but at this point I’m not holding my breath. This bank holiday weekend I will be bringing order to the chaos the warm, damp weather has already brought – removing swiftly encroaching weeds, getting rid of plants affected by moulds and rots, and keeping a keen eye out for slugs and snails. It has been an excellent year in our fruit and veg patch…

IF you took cuttings earlier this summer, the chances are they are now ready to be moved on from their ‘nursery’ pots and moved into containers of stronger compost. Cuttings are started off in seed compost, which has been formulated to contain the right amount of nutrients to grow strong and healthy young roots without scorching them. Once the cuttings have taken, developed healthy roots and grown into young plants, they are ready for something stronger. At this stage you can either use multipurpose compost or, for less well-developed cuttings, a mix of multipurpose with John Innes No 1 or 2. Once potted up, more frost-tender cuttings such as pelargoniums, penstemons and fuchsias can be overwintered in the greenhouse, with a roll of fleece on hand to protect them on…

APPARENTLY, on Thursday 31 August we’re going to have a super blue moon. The blue bit’s irrelevant, as it’s a medieval term for the second full moon appearing in any month. However, the super part is interesting, as it means our moon will be the closest it comes to us – 14% larger and 30% brighter. Plants are said to grow more in moonlight, though I wonder by how much, and it would be hard to measure. Anyway, several nights either side of the full moon will also be nearly as bright, and given any warm days it’ll be fun to go out late at night. So now is also a fine time to seriously decimate our perpetual gardening foe with a moonlit mollusc hunt – or three. “Snails will…

I GET so angry when I see councils put up signs on their grass verges and spaces, saying that they are not cutting them ‘to preserve wildlife’. It’s right that our wildlife should be protected, but, for pity’s sake, be honest about it. They’re just doing it to save money. In fact, I can’t imagine they’re worried about wildlife at all – if they were, they wouldn’t be building over swathes of Green Belt land! Anyway, the upside of this is that gorgeous wildflowers are being allowed to flourish in areas they previously couldn’t. Let’s delve into their world. ■ Is it mere coincidence that uncut verges, with flowering grasses this summer, have occurred at just the same time as record levels of pollen in the air, with more people…

Q Our agapanthus has been in a large pot for several years, but has not flowered this summer. I haven’t disturbed it because I know they like to be pot bound. What should I do? Kevin Eaton, Reading, Berkshire A Agapanthus, also known as African lilies, are tough perennials from South Africa and belong to the nerine and daffodil family Amaryllidaceae. They don’t grow from bulbs, but make crowns of leaves from rhizomes, above a mass of fleshy roots. Sun-loving and drought tolerant, these are great choices for coastal, dry gardens and borders of well-drained soil, but will also grow well in improved clay. The many cultivars vary in hardiness, with deciduous types the toughest and evergreens bearing larger flower umbels the most tender. When choosing agapanthus, think about their…

WHEN my friend Jim asked me to solve the mystery of a sickness plaguing his tomatoes, I thought it would be an open-and-shut case. Tomatoes often fall victim to the ‘usual suspects’ of leaf-blotching blight or are attacked by a virus that marks the foliage with mosaic shaped ‘tattoos’. But what I witnessed when I stepped into Jim’s polytunnel was more puzzling. The plants had been growing well, evidenced by healthy lower leaves and ripening fruit. But out of the blue, something had corrupted the newer growth, making the leaves weirdly thin and as rounded as ‘waxicles’ dripping from a melting candle. I didn’t have a clue, but keen not to share this fact with Jim, I took a walk around the garden. And that was when I saw the…

Grow your own: Next week I look at autumn care of the veg patch, how to replenish soil and what you can grow through winter. 1 Deadhead lavender without cutting into the old wood, and chop back flopped perennial stems to keep plants tidy and make more room. 2 Mow the lawn when needed, keeping blades high for a longer cut that will help retain moisture in the soil. Edge borders for instant neatness. 3 Install at least one water butt to harvest rain. Attach one to the greenhouse to make it easier to water undercover plants and crops. 4 Keep houseplants pest-free by wiping leaves with a damp cloth. Remove reverting leaves from variegated plants, as I did with this croton. Plants for free ■ Cuttings are a great…

PESTS and diseases are part-and-parcel of the summer garden and each year we are braced to tackle aphids, caterpillars, whitefly, rusts, mildews and blights, to name a few. However, this week we were invaded by a most unexpected pest – a mole. Moles are usually active in late winter early spring so it was a surprise when, over the course of two or three days, five large mounds of earth appeared in the lawn and on a border. There was little I could do other than scoop up the earth to add to our beds, flatten the affected areas of lawn, sprinkle the bare patches with mole deterrent and hope that’s the end of that. The main problems to appear over the next few weeks will be the re-emergence of…

IT’S not very often that a British June turns out to be hot and sunny, but 2023 delivered sun and heat with a few heavy downpours thrown in. Normal play resumed in early July, when cool, blustery weather set in. The skies were grey and leaden, although little rain fell on my garden. It drizzled instead and that’s so frustrating for gardeners, because we like a long spell of gentle rain – preferably at night! Every time the skies darkened close to the cottage, we were serenaded by the green woodpecker’s ‘laugh’ coming from the surrounding trees. No wonder this vision of green and red is called the rain bird. It calls when rain is in the air for a very good reason. Green woodpeckers like to feast on ants,…

When will our vine produce grapes? Q This spring we added a ‘Boskoop Glory’ grape vine to our greenhouse, but it isn’t showing any signs of anything other than producing leaves – should we be worried? David Maltby (via email) A Your ‘Boskoop Glory’ grape is too young to flower and fruit, and it takes a year or two after planting for a vine to mature. I urge you to grow it as a cordon – a single upright stem with fruiting laterals (side-shoots). Ideally, support it with tensioned plastic-coated horizontal wires spaced 1ft (30cm) apart. Tie laterals to the left and right of supporting wires and, in summer, shorten them to five leaves. Remove flowers in the first and second years to channel energy into vegetative growth. In November,…

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 wildflowers! Answers: PLUM = Cherry, Beefsteak, Green (all may be…