Innholdsfortegnelse for 21-Dec-24 i Amateur Gardening

Festive greetings to you, dear readers, one and all. As you read this I will no doubt be doing a little pottering in my garden and one of my favourite things at this time of year is to make space for a little upcycling project or garden repair. My polytunnel door broke recently so I’ll probably mend that, and I quite fancy creating a little cold frame space inside for extra seedling protection, oh and the chicken enclosure needs repairing …… Of course, there’s lots to do if we think about it but at this time of year the little fixes and repairs can go an incredibly long way. In this time of spend and eat and be merry, the simple, cost-free and handson becomes arguably extra special. I’m so…

with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Welcome to the final 2024 issue of Amateur Gardening, and what a year it has been. Whether we’re thinking about instability in world events or the increasing demands of climate change, it’s clear to see that we are living through times that are not for the faint-hearted. Luckily we have the strange days between now and the new year to use as a safe space, to breathe deeply, live gently, reset and recharge the energies in our optimism banks. Yes, there will be testing times - personally I find it hard to be 100% upbeat and ‘yay let’s party!’ at this time of year when all I really want to do is snuggle down in the warmth with a good book and a hot…

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Plan and plant a forest garden Do you feel that throwing all manner of fertilisers onto your soil is not for you? Or does the idea of going back to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle capture your imagination? Perhaps you like the idea of not having to rake all those leaves up every autumn. Whatever has led you to look at forest gardening as a way of producing food, you’ll find yourself in ever-increasing company. So, with this method of growing edibles gaining momentum, let’s look at the practicalities of setting one up. Now, while plants are dormant, is a great time to plant up a forest garden, and there are plenty of nurseries offering a great range of plants (www.jurassicplants.co.uk and www.agroforestry.co.uk are…

With Chris Collins, Garden Organic’s Head of Horticulture Our world is dominated by hard surfaces: bricks, paving and materials that make our lives more convenient. But plants can cushion these hard edges and are a more natural way of suppressing weeds. Importantly, filling crevices with plants also creates habitats for wildlife, while soaking up rainwater and providing more extreme weather protection in your garden. The top of a wall is a great starting point for softening. A layer of open-topped brickwork or recycled materials, such as expanded cork or charcoal bricks, can be used as planting pits. Into this, you can plant alpines such as aubrieta, a member of the cabbage family, which will happily cascade down the front of a wall providing a flush of purple flowers. It requires…

With Julia Boulton, Beth Chatto’s granddaughter and chief custodian of the world-famous gardens, and her team Evergreen foliage in varying shapes, sizes, shades and textures forms the backbone of the garden throughout the year, acting as a foil for those flightier plants which come and go. Over winter they can be relied upon to provide that living-look as the surrounding herbaceous perennials retreat below ground to wait out the worst of the weather until spring. Ever-grey plants, also with a year-round presence, provide the perfect contrast to the many shades of green in the drier areas like our Gravel Garden. The silvered foliage of plants such as pseudodictamnus (ballota) and santolina are particularly effective at this. Throughout the months, the permanent presence of evergreens offers birds and insects a home…

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with Ruth Hayes, AG’s gardening expert If you are looking for a hardy perennial plant that is low-maintenance, highly colourful and ideal for covering the soil in a sunny, potentially dry spot, look no further than aubrieta. For generations of gardeners, it has been the go-to plant for covering rockeries and hanging over walls - and for good reason. Long-flowering and well-behaved, it is easy to grow and its clumps of dense flowers in shades of pink and purple make it a joy throughout the summer. Although it can be bought as small plants, it is very easy to grow from seed, and a variety such as ‘Purple Cascade’ is the perfect eye-catching plant for the front of borders, rockeries, path edges and overhanging garden walls. In late winter, scatter…

Your lovely letters, emails and social media posts continue to flow in beautifully. Every message, poem, idea and comment matters. Please keep them coming. We will send out a thank you gift for every item published in the magazine so do please send your address and contact details when you get in touch. Impressive rain water harvesting set up Hi all, Just browsing through the latest edition of AG and was very taken with Kim’s article on gardening for personality, place and people. It could have been written especially for me. The IBC water butt is a brilliant idea and I have been using two for a couple of years now. They are connected to the downpipe of the two biggest roof areas on my house and give me a…

You read us every fortnight, now come and meet us in person and say hello! After several years’ absence, the National Amateur Gardening Show returns in 2025. The event takes place on July 12 and 13 at the South of England Showground at Ardingly in Sussex and a host of AG regulars including editor Kim Stoddart and columnists Toby Buckland, Ruth Hayes, Michael Perry, Adam Kirtland, Mike Palmer, Liz Zorab, Stephanie Hafferty and many others will be on site for two days of talks, demonstrations and audience Q&As. Plus expect some exciting surprise announcements to come. The show will be a family-friendly event, and there will also be plants for sale from local growers, nurseries and national plant associations, a food zone, English wine hub, arts and crafts, a health…

With expert gardener and AG columnist, Stephanie Hafferty The winter solstice on December 21 is the shortest day of the year. Although we are still deep within winter, with much of the worst weather likely still to come, it is a reassuring thought that every day going forward will be that little bit longer. We can look forward to spring, and the new growing season to come. I like to spend the solstice in the garden, gathering all the homegrown ingredients for Christmas dinner. Weather is unpredictable and so it is worthwhile harvesting everything in advance, in case of heavy frosts or snow. Digging out frozen solid parsnips is not the easiest of tasks! One winter, the ground was so frozen I couldn’t get a spade in and had to…

Memories of Christmas past are like flakes of snow that can’t help but drift knee-deep and muddle together. The frenetic build-up to the festive season has already melted into the 10 before and been washed down with a good measure of Christmas cheer. And no doubt the dinner, the carols, turkey and cake will whizz by in a blur, just like a passing snowball. The busyness of the season may be at the root of my flaky festive memories, but it’s the traditions, repeated down the years, that add to the confusion. Like ‘snow on snow’ in the old Christmas carol, these rituals form inseparable layers – which is no bad thing as it means people and places in long ago Christmases are never far below the surface. Christmas as…

Your plant recommendations from expert plantsman, Michael. There’s only one plant synonymous with Christmas across a number of different countries, albeit known under a range of different names, and that’s the poinsettia. It’s a rather curious plant, because if you ever spotted one growing in the wild, you would be gazing up at a 6m (20ft) tree with a blaze of red flowers. So it’s quite a marvel that the plant we know so well is just about 30cm (1ft) and enjoys being a festive houseplant! ‘Alaska’ Let’s kick things off with something super-unusual, and one that will really glow in your Christmas home. ‘Alaska’ is the best crystal white poinsettia in the marketplace, and gives all sorts of decor possibilities. You can even snip a few stems and use…

What could be more Christmassy than a robin? The lovely flash of orangey-red around our gardens that’s so synonymous with this time of year. But there’s much more to our robins than Christmas cards and tree decorations! They’re extremely territorial for starters. Whilst they appear cute and friendly to us - often bold enough to come very close when there’s the chance of a stolen crumb, or when a newly revealed garden worm is involved – they are anything but to other robins that may be thinking of encroaching on their patch. Their first line of defence is singing – often up high with their chest puffed out to look as intimidating as possible. This may draw humans in even more, but can be enough to put off a potential…

Christmas chestnuts “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” so went Nat King Cole’s 1946 winter hit song. But what if you haven’t got an open fire – not many of us do these days? Well, you can eat sweet chestnuts raw, but they are much nicer when cooked. Try this: ■ Preheat your oven to 200°C. ■ Take your chestnuts, removing any outer, green, spiky skins. ■ With a sharp knife, cut a small ‘cross’ into one side of the inner brown, shiny skin. This allows steam to escape from the nut. ■ Place the nuts in a roasting tin, and bake in the oven until the skins open and the insides are tender – usually 20-30mins. ■ Peel and eat straight away. The origin of ‘bean feast’ A “bean…

Until 30 Dec: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Occupation Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 2LJ. Until Dec 28: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Rosemoor: Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. Until Jan 5, 2025: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. Until 28 Dec: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford CM3 8ET. Until 28 Dec: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate HG3 1QB. 19 Dec: Burnham Nurseries Christmas Open Evening, Burnham Nurseries’ Orchid Paradise. Burnham Nurseries, Forches Cross, Newton Abbot, Devon, England, TQ12 6PZ. Open until 7pm. 19 Dec: Home education day, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Occupation Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 2LJ. 24 Dec: Burnham Nurseries Christmas Opening, Burnham Nurseries’ Orchid Paradise. Burnham Nurseries, Forches Cross, Newton Abbot, Devon, England, TQ12…

By the time we reach the winter solstice and the daylight hours dip to their lowest, it can be hard to find much in the garden that brings sunshine. But with a little planning, there are ways to find colour, interest and cheerful flowers to lift your mood and enhance your surroundings over the weeks ahead. I like to create an all-natural wreath for the door and garland for the mantelpiece. I use willow stems as a base and tie bunches of foliage to that framework and include berries and seed heads for additional interest. The windowsills are decorated with jugs of stems, mostly bare, onto which I can hang baubles. They never stay in place long, because our cats like to play with them, but even that brings joy…

with Bob Flowerdew, long-standing AG contributor, broadcaster and all-round expert. Once celebrations are over it’ll soon be time to start our new growing season. The days will lengthen, although they’re still very short and a weak sun is low in the sky. It’s this as much as the cold that restrains what we can sow, or rather, can grow as we can easily get all sorts of seeds to germinate on a warm sunny windowsill or in a warm propagator. It’s just after they’ve emerged that difficulties occur, as there’s just not enough of the weak sunlight for seedlings to grow well. Often in desperation to climb ‘out of the shade’, our seedlings become etiolated (tall, spindly, yellowish and weak) so it’s best to keep plants a tad cooler so…

With expert broadcaster, author and long-standing AG columnist, Anne Swithinbank The date on our cover celebrates the winter solstice and with Christmas only a few days away, my thoughts are focussing on picking fresh from the garden where I can. Our sprawling house can accommodate the extended family, so we get to stay at home while everyone else travels to us. The payback is plenty of list making and the joy of harvesting produce and materials to feed guests and decorate the home. A canny eye is kept on the forecast, to avoid roots and stems trapped in frozen soil and gather wild salad rocket before a frost. Foliage decorations are a must, so armfuls of evergreens and stems are brought in and meals planned which include stored squash, frozen…

We moved house around five years ago just after retiring from work and now have a small rectangular garden (33x19 foot). Apart from a small plum tree when we arrived, it was all grass (mostly moss) with a few broken slabs which the estate agent described as ‘a patio’. We put our thoughts on paper, hired a landscaper for the hard stuff and then transformed the space into a garden. There are raised beds topped with gravel, a large patio and a pergola. In summer the garden is bathed in sunshine from lunchtime onwards. Now for the interesting bit: our garden is 99% grown in containers and we currently have around 250 adorned with a wide variety of perennials, shrubs, small trees, bulbs and seasonal plants. Any plant can grow…

What has been attacking our brassicas? Q I wonder if you could identify what could be making so many holes in these cabbage and sprouts leaves? There is no sign of slugs, snails or caterpillars. They have only gone for the larger leaves, even though I netted the plants when they went in the ground and there were very few white butterflies at the time and none seen under netting. Sue Cubberley (via email) A Bad luck! If there are no slimy trails, indicating that slugs have been busy, or birds, especially pigeons, have been tucking into your cabbages, blame cabbage white butterfly caterpillars. Though you haven’t seen winged adults near your brassicas, it’s probable that some plants are close enough for females to insert their ovipositor through the netting…

With Adam Kirtland, AG’s garden DIY ideas expert In the darkest depths of winter, I find myself turning to our houseplants for comfort. Although they too are taking a slight rest, they still give me a tremendous amount of joy during these wintry times. However, I cannot profess to being a houseplant guru, nor should you ever reach out to me for houseplant advice, primarily because I fulfil that age-old stereotype of being a gardener with poor houseplant skills. That said, I haven’t killed a houseplant in several years now, which I put down to determination and making sure I’ve got the right tools for the job, some of which I’m sharing with you here. New home for a rescued houseplant If you’re to become a houseplant parent then you’ve…