Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Jun-2024 i Amateur Gardening

As we continue to bumble along in this very stop, start, slow, soggy weather-laden challenge of a gardening year, we have to find warmth and wellbeing where we can. To make the best use of even slightly warmer moments and marvel in the glory of blue sky days when the whole garden delights and positively glows in the sunshine. Everything is brighter, including ourselves, and flowers and foliage look especially vibrant as a result. Garden wildlife also emerges gleefully and everything feels so incredibly wonderful and alive. We have to therefore savour these moments, these days, as best we can around our day-to-day schedules, to grab our fill of sunshine to help see us through to the next. We must take each opportunity to be outside to warm our spirits,…

Safely deter birds from your fruit I am a huge fan of growing my own fruit on the plot. Strawberries are such a popular edible – definitely due to their deliciousness, but also because they crop quickly. Many fruit trees, canes and bushes only come into their own after two to three years, but if you wait that long, boy, will you be rewarded. Currants, gooseberries, blueberries, cherries, blackberries, wineberries and raspberries all crop profusely once plants are established, and I guess we’d best take it as a compliment that it’s not just us that want to eat them. If you don’t protect all these fruits from birds (especially blackbirds, you greedy beauties!) as soon as they start to show signs of ripening then they’ll eat a significant proportion of…

I have to remind myself sometimes that when I first started writing and teaching about a climate change resilient approach to gardening (more than a decade ago), we were living in very different times. The on-the-ground impact of our warming planet wasn’t yet being felt (in the UK at least), and the perception of what (if believed) climate change might mean was very far removed from the reality we are experiencing now. It was commonly thought that we were in for a more attractive Mediterranean climate, with warmer summer weather, so there was nothing to worry about, and in fact wouldn’t that be really, rather nice. At talks I did for gardening clubs I would pull out examples of the changes taking place as a way of convincing many of…

“Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”(American novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne) I think it’s fair to say that many of us find real happiness in our own gardens - I know I do. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been out in your garden this week, rushing around like a thing possessed without taking so much as a five-minute tea or coffee break. So, come on, pull up a seat and take the weight off your slingbacks. As lengthy as our gardening ‘things to do’ lists may be at this time of the year, it’s vitally important for our own physical and mental well-being to sit down from time to time,…

Which products, or projects would you like Adam to cover and trial in his column? Please contact editor@amateurgardening.com with suggestions. Around this time of year, when the catalogues are flowing through the letterbox thick and fast, I’ll often flick through and inevitably end up looking through the pots, tools and other garden paraphernalia at the back. Something that always catches my eye is the page dedicated to ‘plant theatres’; wooden or metal structures that are either stepped or something resembling a small bookshelf. In the past, these have also been known as auricula theatres, aimed at showing off your prized collection, but I’m not using mine for auriculas… For this project I’ve used a simple electric jigsaw and powered screwdriver, but a handsaw and regular screwdriver would do the job…

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. Hi Kim Thank you for saving AG. I wanted to show you and all the readers my lupin. It’s called ‘Red Arrow’ and named after the RAF display team, I bought it eight or nine years ago as a small plant at Gardeners’ World Live. At that time…

During the long summer days (that we hope are still on their way) our plants are working hard and need loads of water - on average those in the ground need about 2-3cm (1in) of rain a week. Of course there are wet years and dry years, but even in wet years there can be longish dry periods so it’s better to water too soon for it never to be needed than to let swelling crops suffer, but how do you know? A simple rain gauge is a tin can (or similar straight-sided open-topped container) stood in the open. Although some water may evaporate, this will still indicate if there’s been any significant rain, or just drizzle. Better, having several such gauges will give an average and then you can…

Be alert for toxic caterpillars AG readers are being asked to be alert for, and report, the caterpillars of a moth that could potentially devastate our ancient oak trees and also cause uncomfortable allergic reactions in people. Oak processionary moth caterpillars, which are mainly found in the south east of England, are a tree pest which can strip oak trees of their foliage and leave them susceptible to disease. They feed on the leaves as they migrate causing the leaves to sometimes drop off, which negatively impacts their growth. This can weaken the tree and leave it more vulnerable to other stresses, such as drought and further diseases. They also make distinctive-looking nests out of silken webbing that contains hairs which cause intense irritation to skin, eyes and throat if…

The perfect way to learn to garden is to start in miniature. The hanging basket takes the same discipline as large-scale gardening with attention to watering, feeding and plant health; but … they can be hung on balcony railings and walls, so they’re a brilliant way to make further use of vertical space. I like to grow what I call ‘potager baskets’. These are based on the old French idea of a potager garden, which is all about food, but with a little twist. I like to mix up edibles by throwing in some flowers too, which means you get beautiful baskets that are productive and pretty but also great for pollinators. First, choose a central plant for your basket and then add trailing veg or flowers around the edges.…

After all the rain we’ve received so far this year, the garden is looking fresh, full and fabulous. The kaleidoscope of colour has arrived, as if Mother Nature has spilled her entire paint palette on the garden. With all this variety, the struggle isn’t finding options, it’s choosing just one to write about! Julia x Salvias are a wide-ranging genus including classic border perennials in the form of S. nemorosa and S. x sylvestris cultivars; nemorosa and sylvestris meaning ‘of woods’, referring to the natural habitat of these salvias, typically found growing in groves and woods across central Europe and Western Asia. Others vary in their needs, from the tall moisture-loving bog sage S. uliginosa, to the drought resistant and short-lived, silver-woolly S. argentea. The genus also includes S. rosmarinus…

Turning a concrete yard into a lush, wildlife-friendly garden is a rewarding project that anyone can undertake with some planning and elbow grease. Here’s how I turned my own barren space into a thriving habitat, complete with pollinator-friendly plants, along with a lawn, bird feeding station, whisky barrel pond, bird bath, hedgehog house, and wild area. Planning and preparation First off, I sketched a design, ensuring that each feature had its place while considering the needs of various wildlife species. Removing the concrete flags was labour intensive but necessary to create planting beds and a lawn. Creating a pollinator paradise Pollinators are crucial for any garden. I selected a variety of nectar-rich plants to attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects. Buddleia, lupins and cosmos formed the backbone of my…

When I was growing up my dad always used to grow chrysanthemums and I never appreciated them as I should have done. To me, they lacked the glossy pizazz of dahlias and the scent of roses and I basically ignored their presence. Now that I’m older, with a garden of my own, I have come to appreciate their presence in borders and planters adding reliable colour in the autumn when much else is starting to fade, and they’re ideal for the vase too. Chrysanthemum are easy-going perennials that like free-draining fertile soil or compost and a sheltered spot. This month they will appreciate some extra feeding with nitrogen to promote bushy growth and potassium to encourage flower buds. The plants are usually hardy down to around-5C, and if temperatures reliably…

Garden for you Gardening has definitely changed my life after a long period of not being able to work, now nature has healed me to speak. Growing and nurturing seeds and plants helps me be mindful, be in the moment and slow down, which has helped to keep stress levels in-check. It is a calming activity and being amongst nature daily does help heal. The trick is to not let what others are doing make you feel you have to do it too. You do you. There are no real rules in the garden so do what you love, plant what you love and put it where it will be loved. If things go wrong it can always be moved. But just enjoy the process and do it your own…

As June moves towards its end, looking after the garden is a bit like herding cats - everything is going on everywhere, growing in all directions and the gardener is hard-pressed to know where to turn first. The beds need weeding, the greenhouse needs cooling and shading, containers and baskets need watering and feeding and the first early crops need harvesting. All this before we start planting out the seed-grown flowers and vegetables, and tender plants that we have been nurturing through the winter. One of the main jobs is to cut back any shrubs that flowered in early summer, such as weigela and philadelphus. They are pruned now to give them time to grow before going dormant in the autumn, because each year’s flowers are produced on stems that…

I am not known for my technical wizardry, because our wi-fi signal used to be almost non-existent here. If I had to use the mobile, I would have to walk a hundred yards into the middle of the field in front of my house and the weather was not always conducive. Consequently, Twitter, or whatever it’s called now, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat passed me by. The signal’s much better now and I have surprised myself by loading an app called Merlin to record and identify birdsong. When I wake early in the morning, I set it up for ten minutes, because birds are very chatty early on – a bit like me. As evening wears on, I set it for another ten minutes. Identifying which birds are singing It is…

I can remember from childhood the odd, earthy smell of beetroot boiling in a saucepan before the process of peeling and slicing for salads. I wasn’t keen on the odd sweetness of its roots or the tide of red that seeped across the plate. This was one of the few foods I would not eat but kind of wanted to. The breakthrough came some 40 years later in the shape of beetroot pie, where the roots were contained and mixed with cheese and onion. Roasted beetroot came next and proved a revelation, especially in combination with soft goat’s cheese and toasted hazelnuts. Raw, grated carrots, yacon and beetroot are great in a vinaigrette dressing. If you don’t want your food dyed pink, then golden or even white beetroot is the…

Facts you didn’t know about…garden pests! Early summer is when garden plants are most at risk from pests. Plants are young, tender, lush and full of moisture, making them at their most appealing to pests – whether the two, four- or six-legged kinds! Let’s look at some pest curios: ◼ Female aphids (greenfly and blackfly) are capable of virgin births – no males required. Also, she can carry developing young, which are themselves already carrying developing young! This increases population numbers rapidly: one estimate is that one aphid could generate 600 billion descendants – in one season.(yikes)! ◼ Male vine weevils do not exist. One adult weevil can lay many hundreds of eggs between April and September, so, by year five, could produce more than six million eggs! ◼ Rabbits…

I once had a front garden full of dahlias and it was admired by neighbours and by the Wednesday Walkers, the rambling group that passes our cottage once a week. They would stop and take photos of the colours lapping over our front wall, but then we got the builder in. I have forgotten the job he was doing in the house, but he took it on himself to bury my dahlias under four feet of plaster, pea gravel and stone. It was an interesting look to come home to, and what made it even worse was that it was a Wednesday and the walkers saw and looked at me in disgust. We are all responsible for the death of the foliage-laden front garden: ease of parking or a place…

How to get perfect peonies Q I have had success growing various flowers from their seeds but have yet to succeed with peonies. Do you have any tips on the gardening wizardry required to harvest their seeds and grow more peonies? Ed Debaes, Henfield, West Sussex A Peonies are not as difficult to grow from seed as one might think. Simply wait for seeds to mature and ripen to a dark blue to black hue, then sow them 2-3cm/1in deep in seed trays or in 12cm/5in pots of soil-based seed compost. Cover the compost surface with grit to reduce growth of moss and weeds. Pleasingly, hardy varieties do not have to be protected from the weather. It is usual for a few seedlings to appear in the first year and…

Of course, I love the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, doesn’t everyone? It will come as no surprise that I specifically love the Great Pavilion - I like to spend most of my day there, seeking out all the new plants, chatting to the breeders, and trying to predict what might be popular with visitors throughout the week. In this column, I’m going to share six of my personal picks from this year’s show, and they’re all available to buy already, plus I’m even telling you where to get them! Go for it, guys - plant a slice of Chelsea in your own patch at home! Digitalis ‘Appleblossom’ by The Botanic Nursery I adore this foxglove to bits, it is absolutely incredible, it almost looks like an orchid. You could almost…

The early carrots washed away, my salvias drowned, while tulips were like pound shop umbrellas in a gale, inside out as soon as they opened. Proof, if it was needed, that the weather is now officially bonkers. But there is a silver lining… it’s been a really good year for the roses. I love roses, always have, and even though the soil in my garden doesn’t particularly like them, I’ve built up a collection of good ‘doers’. As anyone who has tried and failed to get a good display knows, roses can be fussy, especially if you choose a variety that requires ideal conditions of full sun and compost-lavished clay soil. My sloping garden has the sun but the ground is thin and gravelly and although I’ve steadily built it…