Innholdsfortegnelse for 8-Jun-2024 i Amateur Gardening

One of the absolute best things about editing this fine gem of a magazine, is knowing that no matter the weather, or what is going on in the world, we are able to bring together, in a flurry of enthusiasm, the latest gardening ideas, news and inspiration every fortnight just for you. What a fantastic team we have, all deeply connected with the rich legacy of AG and excited about its potential for the future. The magazine has a truly friendly, family feel which I hope shines through on these pages. We do aim to be the friendliest magazine of, and for, keen gardeners everywhere, so your ideas and inspiration will continue to be key. I do genuinely take on board every idea that is sent in and it is…

While we all set time aside for the ‘big’ gardening tasks, such as planting, pruning, mowing and harvesting, it’s the little everyday tasks that combine to create the glorious whole that is our entire plot. I try to do a spot of weeding every day, even if it’s simply pulling a few unwanted seedlings out of the raised beds as I pass. But sometimes a more thorough approach is needed if a precious plant is to survive. A dwarf red hot poker (Kniphofia pauciflora) at the front of one of the beds had become engulfed by couch grass, weeds and a self-seeded foxglove seedling. The rogue plants had worked their way into the rootball of the poker and try as I might I was unable to fork them out. The…

Five simple steps to your best cherries – ever! Are you looking at a cherry tree draped with fruitlets, and you’re crossing your fingers that they all ripen? Let me help you! A bowlful of these summer fruits epitomises all that’s good in life, so let’s get ourselves there. Firstly, thwart cherry blackfly. This pest congregates on shoot tips en masse in early summer. Keep a watchful eye out for the characteristically stunted new shoots and twisted tips. Aim a strong jet of water at them – and blast! The water dislodges the aphids. Simply repeat this process every week or so and these blackflies won’t be able to build up their numbers. Secondly, deter fruitlet ‘runoff’. This is where fruitlets yellow and fall before swelling to full size. Keep…

I don’t have a really enormous garden at Spring Cottage. It’s a third of an acre and one third of that is dedicated to fruit and vegetables. The large, rectangular stripy lawn has never been an option here, because there just isn’t enough room. Anyway, I am very keen on meadows and this is the perfect time to stand, stare and watch the many bees visiting mine. Soon I will have butterflies, for gardens with longer grass encourage many summer-flying beauties. I expect to see lolloping sooty ringlets, flighty skippers, vivid orange and brown gatekeepers and lots of meadow browns, although not necessarily in that order. My mini-meadows are not large, sadly, and they are more in the style of horticultural meadows because they contain daffodils, camassias, cultivated orchids and…

I love this extract from Beth’s Drought-Resistant Garden book describing the pace of growth at this time of year - ‘Unlike a painting, a garden constantly changes, is never the same, from one day, even from one hour to the next, especially in early summer when multitudes of plants are thrusting towards the light…’ A favourite plant adding to this fast-moving time of year is nepeta, included in this issue by the garden team who wouldn’t be without it! Julia x Nepeta, also known as catmint, is an invaluable group of plants grown throughout our Gravel Garden and other areas offering full sun and a freedraining soil. Their silver-green leaves can provide a contrast to darker-leaved plants like cistus, dictamnus and agapanthus. Many make attractive rounded hummocks of aromatic foliage,…

It’s all about June! Flaming June is a classic painting by Sir Frederic Leighton (1895); this title has become a synonym for hot days during the month – or more often spoken sarcastically when June days are cool and cloudy! But there are plenty of gardening references to June: ■ ‘June drop’ is the name given to the natural phenomenon of apple trees shedding some of their young fruitlets. It is perfectly normal for maybe a third of all fruit to fall, meaning that there is reduced overcrowding, and the apples can develop unhindered. ■ ‘Juneberry’ is one of the common names for Amelanchier lamarckii – it is a large, deciduous shrub or small tree in the rose family. It is also known as the snowy mespilus, shadbush or serviceberry.…

I once grew asparagus peas, the idea being that I could maybe get two crops for the price of one. The catalogue waxed lyrical about abundant crops in small spaces and how it was a staple of kitchen gardens of the past. When the seed arrived, I directsowed them on the edge of the path and immediately covered them with a cloche. They flowered and little ridged pods formed. As I harvested them, marvelling at the abundance, (as they did indeed crop heavily), I pondered hopefully if this could this be the food of the future. I took my harvest into our kitchen, boiled them, tossed them in butter and took them to the table where my wife Carol was waiting to bask in my home grown gardener glory. We…

Why are petunias so hard to grow? Q I have tried to grow petunias from seed for the past two years, but without success. All my other flowers have grown, apart from petunias. Are there any tips you can share on the best way of growing them? Mark Scothern (via email) A Petunias are not the easiest of plants to grow from seed but there are such a wide variety of colours that it is always worth a try. Because the seeds are so small you should sieve the compost first. Sow thinly onto dampened compost then gently press them onto the surface. They need light to germinate, so leave them uncovered apart from a seed tray lid. Sow them thinly – sprinkling seeds over seed compost – and gently…

As you’ll well know (and as our editor Kim shares with her resiliency journey), the seasons continue to be ever changeable, and with that comes the need to be ever conscious of the role that water plays in our gardens. I’m forever looking for ways to be more mindful with water, from saving rainwater to using tools that help us be careful about what we use. This week I’m sharing four of my top suggestions to help you water your green space more effectively. Rainwater harvesting When it rains, boy does it rain, so let’s use that water when the supply is ample. A longestablished method for this is to attach a water butt to a downpipe on your house, shed or garage that takes any hassle out of saving…

You may succeed with earlier sowings of French and runner beans, but it becomes easier now summer is advancing and we have warmer soil. In fact most of the skill with these beans involves harvesting pods at their prime before they go over. They usually do well once they get going, apart from in cold summers or hot droughts. However given a warm summer and plenty of moisture, either may produce more beans than you can cope with. During talks I like to ask audiences who grows runner beans, and have they ever not given away a carrier bag full, or several? It really is famine or feast, fortunately usually the latter. French aka haricot/green/flageolet/snap/wax/dwarf beans are closely related to runner beans which, (other than having the potential to run…

Bringing you some of the gardening news highlights As increased climate imbalances, such as a greater danger of flooding, put more homes at risk, gardeners are being asked to do their bit by making their plots more flood-proof. Flood Re, a scheme that helps provide affordable insurance for flood-risk homes, is asking gardeners to be smart about how they garden. It hopes to encourage people to use their green spaces to soak up excess water and save their properties from flood damage, thereby potentially lowering insurance premiums. Taking steps could also help to make flood-prone properties easier to insure in future. Flood Re’s Build Back Better scheme allows people, through participating insurers, to claim up to £10,000 for flood resilience measures over and above the cost of work to repair…

1 This is the term used for soaking your glasshouse in water, top to bottom. Water the sides, beds, floor and plants first thing each morning on hot days and you’ll create a beautifully cool, humid greenhouse, ideal for plant growth. 2 Unless windy, keep greenhouse roof vents fully open throughout summer. Open low-down side vents, too, to suck cool air into the house. This then warms and rises, then flows out of the roof vents. It gives the perfect cycling of fresh air! 3 While indoor screens and shade paints offer filtered light, they don’t control high temperatures. It’s far better to lay sheets of glasshouse shading mesh outside, over the roof. This stops the sun hitting the glass, so keeps things cool inside. Top tip Plant out winter…

I’ve been extremely lucky in my three score years, plus a few months, to have visited several so-called ‘exotic’ destinations, including the breathtaking Maldives, searing hot, dusty Kenya and a number of the stunning Caribbean islands. They all evoke wonderful memories of lush, tropical plantings, fantastic foliage and striking orange, red and yellow blooms. Holidays abroad can hold very special memories and as gardeners, many of us will come home to find our tropical gardening dreams and inspiration shattered, as we step off the plane, reaching for a brolly, and a warm coat. But, fear not, despite the UK’s sometimes inclement weather, our exotic horticultural dreams can still become a reality. Admittedly (and in the spirit of full disclosure) it’s unlikely we’ll be harvesting ripe bananas or mangoes from our…

While damsels dazzle and butterflies breeze stunningly through the garden, it can be easy to overlook the less colourful, smaller, less-sightly invertebrates at ground level. But they are no less beneficial to your micro-ecosystem. Invertebrates actually make a larger contribution to garden biodiversity than any other group of ‘micro-fauna’. An average garden could be home to 2,000 different species, living in trees and flowers, in soil, compost heaps and buildings. But away from the more visible, ‘trapeze artist’ spiders and honeybee ‘highways’, down at the base of plants in bed and borders ground-dwelling invertebrates are working just as hard. Let’s look at some of these under-feet heroes Hidden in garden soil and leaf litter, you might find up to 29 different types of earthworms (annelids) for starters. Just 25 of…

Every summer I spend hours searching for, and pinching out, tomato sideshoots that grow between the plant stem and its main fruit-bearing branches. Most of them end up on the compost, but the rest I put to a much more profitable use. These little unwanted shoots can be used as softwood cuttings to make more tomato plants, which is great when you consider that many tomato seed packets have a paltry number of seeds inside. Not only do the shoots help increase your plant stock, they will ripen later than your larger plants, extending the cropping season well into the autumn. If you grow them in your greenhouse and maintain a steady feeding and watering regime, they will flourish even longer - last year an AG reader sent me a photo…

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. The Facebook account for Amateur Gardening magazine is now up and running again and we have also started a new Instagram account @amateurgardeningofficial. We hope to see you there. Happy 140th AG Kim says; thank you to the many readers that have written in about the anniversary issue with birthday wishes, it means a lot to team AG. Bullfinch feast Dear Kim, Almost three years ago I moved house leaving behind my large wildlife garden that my…

Never mind Greeks bearing gifts, it’s people bringing houseplants who are the ones to watch. Two years ago, my friend Rob gave me a parlour palm and just like Odysseus’s gift of a Trojan Horse it looked innocent enough, but it has gone on to breach the walls and open the gates of Buckland Castle to dozens of other indoor plants. Orchids now occupy the bathroom, spider plants inhabit the kitchen while a colourful cohort of leafy indoor greenery has transformed the lounge into such a convincing mini-me of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nigel Farage set up camp between the dumb cane and spineless yucca. How has this jungle-ification happened? Well, it’s certainly not because I’m weak-willed. I have the…

Perennials are plants that entertain us in the summer and fall back under the protection of the soil for winter, only to return the following year. They can include trees and shrubs, but the traditional herbaceous plant is the painter’s palette of the garden, offering a huge array of colours and forms. It’s the stalwart of the classic cottage garden the UK is famed for. The good news is you don’t need a huge space to use these plants, and they can be a long-term, cost-effective option. In fact, a small open border, good-sized raised bed or even a large pot will do as long as it’s in a sunny spot with fertile, well-draining soil. You can really express your design flair by painting with these plants. Go for hot…

Gardening in a natural and forager-like way borrows a lot from the system known as Forest Gardening. In the UK, this was pioneered in the 1980s by Robert Hart, who applied a system of seven layers to his existing orchard in Shropshire. Gaps in a light tree canopy and lower tree layer are colonised by shrubs and herbaceous plants, there’s a ground cover layer of spreading plants and a below-ground rhizosphere of roots and tubers, while climbers thread their way upwards. By carefully siting fruits, nuts, herbs and shade-tolerant veg, a low-maintenance and sustainable edible garden is created. Small interventions and little soil disturbance should mean working with nature rather than against it. This is a fascinating topic to look into and the book Creating a Forest Garden by Martin…

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If you like to use a lot of herbs when cooking, it is amazing what you can grow to save money from the weekly supermarket shop - and I’m not just talking about splitting pots of parsley or coriander here. Late last summer, in a fit of untimely enthusiasm, I rooted and potted up a lemongrass stalk and a section of ginger, both bought from a supermarket. It was the wrong time of year to do so but miraculously they survived the winter, the lemongrass in the bathroom and the ginger, once it had died back, on a bedroom windowsill. They are both growing again so I’ve repotted them in multipurpose compost and moved them to the greenhouse where they should get enough warmth and light to grow well. Both…

Your plant recommendations from expert plantsman, Michael. In this week’s article, I’m looking at top performing plants for your summer garden. Many of these will be available to purchase coming into bud at this time of year, just bursting to give you a full summer of enjoyment. There are a few choices that you might not have considered before, such as outdoor gerbera and patio physocarpus. There’s a mixture of shrubs and perennials, all of which I’ve discovered are available at Hillier Garden Centres up and down the UK. Look out for their new varieties too, as they also breed their own specimens. Cordyline australis ‘Torbay Dazzler’ Beginner gardeners often don’t believe that cordylines are hardy and able to be grown in the UK. But plants can thrive down to…