Innholdsfortegnelse for 7-Oct-2023 i Amateur Gardening

7-8 Oct: Festival of Flavours, RHS Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon, EX38 8PH. 10am-4pm. 7 Oct: Alpine Garden Society Hexham Autumn Show, Hexham Auction Market, Tyne Green, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 3SG. 11am-3.30pm. 7-21 Oct: The Annual Nerine Festival and Plant Sale, Guernsey Gardens, La Ramée, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 2TW. 10am-4pm. 7 Oct: Plant Heritage Meeting, Talk on Sea Hollies, & Plant Sale, Shurdington Community Centre, Shurdington, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL51 4TB. 2pm (meeting to be broadcast on Zoom also, see plantheritage.org.uk for details.) 7-8 Oct: Great Dixter Autumn Plant Fair, Great Dixter House and Gardens, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 6PH. 11am-4pm. 8 Oct: Blackmoor Apple Tasting Day, Blackmoor Nurseries, Blackmoor, Near Liss, Hampshire, GU33 6BS. 10am-3pm. 8 Oct: Dawyck Botanic Gardens open day, Dawyck Botanic Gardens, Stobo, near…

DO you find that growing fruit in containers is a bit hit or miss? Are yields disappointing? Do plants struggle? Well, no more! With a few key issues addressed, a mini potted orchard is within anyone’s reach, so let me tell you my tips on how to keep on top of it at this time of year. Perfect pots Any plant with its roots contained within a pot is reliant on you – far more so than if you grew it in the ground, so be nice! Ensure your plant is in an appropriate position and pot, then keep it well fed and watered throughout any period of active growth. If you get that right, you’re onto a winner. “Check fruit is in the right pot and position” Now is…

SNIPPING bunches of sweet peas from the garden is one of the joys of summer. These deliciously scented annuals have a ‘cut-and-come-again’ habit, which means that if picked regularly they will keep blooming, providing you with fresh flowers for the house for months. Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) can be sown any time between October and early June. But for bushy, robust plants and the earliest flowers, sow them now in autumn, or in late winter. They don’t need much cosseting and can be grown outdoors in a cold frame or in a cold greenhouse. If it’s a very chilly autumn, however, it’s best to place them on a kitchen windowsill until they germinate, after which they can be moved to the cold frame or greenhouse. These beautifully perfumed annual climbers…

ACROSS 1 In America, this Wednesday is National ____ ___ (4,3) 6 Genus of the dog’s-tooth violet (11) 7 Common name for the Indian tree Azadirachta indica, grown for its natural insecticidal qualities (4) 8 Potato! (4) 9 In plants, the juice or fluid essential to nutrition (3) 10 Small onions or shallots used for planting (4) 11 Essentially, it’s shredded 14 across, often mixed with mayonnaise to make cole! (4) 13 Borders full of bushes! (11) 14 Main family relative of this week’s Miscellany subject! (7) DOWN 1 TV gardener Carol! (5) 2 The Himalayan honeysuckle genus (11) 3 Magically, a bad Arab arc is the name of a hybrid tea rose! (11) (anag) 4 The Dalmatian iris (4,7) 5 Pertaining to moisture in the air (5) 10 Central…

Save your own seeds Q I’d like to save money by collecting seeds from my own plants to sow. What’s the best method? Mary Healey, High Wycombe, Bucks. A Looking around a well-stocked garden, you’ll notice many plants setting seeds in pods, capsules, cones and fruits. This will be happening all year, but tends to reach a peak in late summer and autumn. Noticing their shapes, patterns and dispersal methods helps us appreciate our plants even more. Collecting them means we can dry, store and sow our own fresh seeds. Species such as the poker (Kniphofia caulescens) or maple (Acer davidii) will come true from seed, with offspring virtually identical to the parents. Open-pollinated plants such as most hollyhocks and Shirley poppies are the result of careful selection over many…

TIME to get the spade out and dig the vegetable plot over. Or maybe not… it all depends. The debate over whether or not to do an autumn dig on the whole allotment has been raging since Victorian times, but the argument has shifted. In the past, digging over was not confined to the vegetable plot, but included the herbaceous beds, orchards and even shrubberies – all dug in the belief that this created fertility, whereas in fact it was damaging roots. Now there’s little doubt about the need for an initial digging over of any new plot. Mostly, this is to evict weed roots and all sorts of possible junk, such as bricks, bottles and batteries. But whether or not it’s worth churning over the whole lot every autumn…

AS the big sunny rudbeckia daisies look up to the sun, with their ring of golden rays and a domed black centre, we know we can expect glorious and dependable summer colour. And in recent years we’ve seen some interesting new varieties arrive on the scene, in new colours, with new vigour and with new disease resistance. Rudbeckias fall into two main groups: annual and half-hardy rudbeckias for sunny summer borders and for containers; and hardy perennial rudbeckias for perennial and mixed borders. Annual and half-hardy rudbeckias Flowering for a long summer season if regularly deadheaded, annual rudbeckias are usually varieties of Rudbeckia hirta. Grown from spring-sown seed each year, they reach 8-24in (20cm-60cm), start to flower in midsummer and go on the compost heap at the end of the…

NEWLY planted woody plants, especially larger ones like trees, usually benefit from being supported while they establish to prevent damage and encourage straight growth. More importantly, a stout stake and a well-placed tie offer stability, keeping the plant firmly in place while new roots develop. This applies to both bare-root and container-grown plants. Rocking in the wind at this stage means the fragile new roots continually break, which slows establishment and offers points of entry for disease and fungal attack. Tie requirements It is important to get a stake of the right size and a tie that allows room for the stem to expand. As it grows, the stem will thicken, but the tie should be adjusted to allow growth without much movement. Choose a tie (or clip) that is…

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Community spirit pays off I AM writing to tell you about a project by Friends of Whitebeam Woods, in Worthing. Our main aim is to look after the fragment of ancient woodland, in Durrington, and to help the council rangers to maintain the flora and fauna. I had noticed that our base in the park had a decommissioned playground leaving the rubber crumb and asphalt surface and old vandalised benches. I suggested that we could make a community garden using the existing surface with added planters. A bid for funding was accepted in November 2022 and we set about building our planters, putting up bird…

WE all know the hedgerow blackberries, or brambles. But when we take a closer look at these invaluable plants we find that there’s much more variety to them than simply the luscious autumn harvest. First, of course, raspberries, tayberries and other invaluable fruiting types, known as cane fruits, are closely related and also fit here. There are also a few brambles grown for their flowers, sometimes scented and in a few cases fully double. Plus, a few are invaluable in winter for their shining, white waxy stems and there are even some evergreen ground covers. Wide range of growing conditions All come under the heading of brambles, Rubus, and almost all are thorny – a few being vicious. So, when you buy one, the chances are you’d better buy some…

No: 692 This word search comprises words associated with kale and its relatives. 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. (Answer is published below). NATIONAL KALE DAY BRUSSELS SPROUTS CABBAGE BRASSICA COOKERY GREENS HARDY LEAVES NUTRITIOUS ORNAMENTAL RADISH SEA UNCURL KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 687 (2 September): PRICKLY AND THE WINNER IS: CHLOE SKOULDING, MARCH, CAMBRIDGESHIRE KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 688 (9 September): SOLANUM AND THE WINNER IS: MR LEBBON, BUCKFASTLEIGH, DEVON KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 689 (16 September): PLANTATION…

AUTUMN is all about bulbs – choosing and planting. And if you are thinking about candidates that will flower in May and June, top of the list has to be alliums. No stylish early summer border is complete without those signature lollipop heads, bobbing above the first flush of seasonal flowers. These glamorous blooms are actually part of the humble edible onion family, and it is only relatively recently that they have risen to such fashionable heights. Over the past two decades, as the principle of growing the right plant in the right place, the importance of attracting wildlife and the desire for design ideas that go beyond the traditional cottage garden have all gained traction, alliums have become a firm fixture in the ornamental border. With their long straight…

MANY decades have passed since the garden behind Judith Dutch’s Georgian home rang with children’s voices. Nowadays the buzzing of bees, fluttering of butterfly wings and gentle trickling of water provide the soundtrack within her colourful outside space in the Dorset village of Iwerne Minster. Called ‘Bowhay’, the house was built in approximately 1760 and served as the local orphanage towards the end of the 19th century, before returning to its original use as a private residence. Judith moved there 13 years ago with her late husband Peter, at which point the sloping garden contained apple trees, some yew mounds, eight columnar yews, some narrow borders around the edges and a stone fountain carved by local sculptor Jonathan Sells. “Mainly it was grass,” recalls Judith. “Almost everything else that’s here…