Innholdsfortegnelse for 20-Jul-2024 i Amateur Gardening

It will have come as a shock for most of us, myself included, that May and spring were reported recently to be the warmest on record. The Met office understandably felt the need to further explain this surprise record, given the wet, cold memory we all otherwise had of ‘the warmest May’ since records began in 1884. Maybe I’ve watched too many science fiction films, but it does give one a sense of living in a parallel (and warmer) universe. Arguably hearing that the night time temperatures in May, which were above average, had mainly tipped the balance doesn’t go any way to making this challenging record easier to stomach. No doubt we’d have all felt a little better hearing that it was ‘the wettest’ May on record, ‘the coldest’…

Growing peas Every spring I dutifully sow peas for my plot. I’m well aware that to grow enough to keep my hungry family self-sufficient in them is nigh-on impossible (peas take up a lot of space and don’t always give huge yields). I’m also aware that frozen peas are perfectly tasty and inexpensive (they’re one of the few veg that I buy). But, there’s absolutely nothing that beats sneaking to the plot, locating half a dozen plump pea pods and scoffing the contents then and there – they’re too delicious! For shelling peas, ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ is my go-to variety – I sow it in February, in deep pots in the glasshouse (peas don’t enjoy being sown into cold, wet soil), then plant these outside in mid March. Getting plants…

I remember the moment I discovered that the book containing the carefully detailed crop rotation plans for my vegetable garden for the year ahead had been left out in the rain. As I opened the now decidedly soggy pages, the ink smudged, the writing indecipherable, it was clear my best-laid plans had been rained upon (literally). Interestingly though, I didn’t feel the expected despair; instead there was some relief, shortly followed by a burgeoning excitement about what I could now do without my regimented (and restrictive) plans. I’d been experimenting with ways of mixed planting throughout the previous year after a battle with blight in my polytunnels. This was 2013 when block planted everything was the order of the day, so I’d felt rather naughty off-roading in this way. Yet,…

Have you ever thought about giving citrus a go on your summer patio? There’s a huge range you can try, and it’s much more than just lemons for your G&T! This week, I will show you a Japanese citrus fruit that you can add to your bath, a variety that you’re more likely to use the leaves of rather than the fruit, a citrus that makes a great cup of tea, and a whole lot more besides. Keep plants on the summer patio, watering them well and feeding with a specialist citrus fertiliser. Keep humidity up if you can. Citrus are best given winter protection, and you will need to reduce watering right down over the colder months. The largest range of citrus plants can be found at Plants 4…

Unbelievably, we’re mid-way through flower show season and, at long last, the weather appears to be behaving itself a bit more, although it’s taken its time this year! Despite the excessive downpours, my borders and containers are looking pretty sharp, even though I do say so myself. In part, it’s as a result of the heavier rainfall, but also it’s thanks to some rather nifty companion planting tips I’ve learned along the way. Many years ago, I’d return home from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, having marvelled at the exquisitely-planted show gardens and feel an acute sense of inadequacy as I cast a forlorn eye over my disappointing borders and containers. Like all of us, my love of plants had me driving away from my local garden centre, car absolutely…

Lere’s a look at two hardy annuals that work well together, create a splash when grown with other plants and are extremely easy to grow. Gypsophila, which is also known as ‘baby’s breath’, is well-known for its ethereal little flowers held atop delicate stems and for its ubiquity in bridal bouquets. It comes in shades of pink and white and the variety ‘Monarch White’ is the perfect ‘filler plant’ for early summer borders and also works excellently in a vase. If sown from late summer until September, the flowers will appear earlier than those sown next spring, allowing you to succession sow for a longer blooming period. Gypsophila likes a sunny shaded spot and free-draining soil - you may need to add supports in a windy garden, and natural-looking pea…

For a garden to be furnished with interest all year round, plants which shine for a longer period, or at a time when not much else is available, should be introduced. This can be in the form of graceful grasses in autumn, architectural seed heads in winter, or long-flowering plants. One such stalwart is symphyotrichum, which flowers for long periods and helpfully bridges the gap between late summer and autumn. Symphyotrichum are a wonderful, varied group of plants, previously found under the umbrella of aster. Several years ago, the genus was separated into a number of genera, with aster now including most European and Asian asters, while plants native to North America now belong to symphyotrichum. It contains the widely-grown Michaelmas daisies, S. novi-belgii, (New York asters) and S. novae-angliae,…

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. A nifty netting idea Dear Kim I don’t know whether readers might find this helpful. One difficulty I previously had with butterfly netting, or for that matter pigeon, was watering, weeding and harvesting without taking the netting off. Not something that is ideal when cabbage white butterflies are about. So this year I put lengths of water pipe on sturdy 1.2m bamboo canes. The net is 4m wide. The width of the tunnel 2m and the height…

Is it possible to grow too much wild rocket? For me, it beats ordinary larger and thinner-leaved salad rocket for taste and texture any day. Also, the wilder variety is longer-lived and easier to grow. Young leaves and stems are succulent rather than ‘pappy’ and make perfect garnishes to salads, pizzas and any pasta or risotto dish. From now, through August and into September are good times to sow for leaf crops from autumn through till spring. In recent years, I’ve been thoroughly spoilt by the brewing efforts of our son and his partner. They took over a small north facing room in our wooden outbuilding, called it ‘The Brewery’ and set to work. Eric has turned out some excellent beers flavoured with his own hops as well as those…

Go natural to protect the environment Try natural troubleshooting before chemicals, urges Welsh TV gardener At a time when concern is growing about the amount of pollution in our rivers, Welsh TV gardener Naomi Saunders is urging people across Wales and the UK to reduce their reliance on pesticides to protect the environment and minimise their impact on our waterways. Naomi, a presenter on S4C’s popular gardening slot Garddio a Mwy, is calling on the public to take more of a natural approach to gardening and swap weedkillers and insecticides for more eco-friendly alternatives. She has teamed up with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water on its PestSmart campaign to encourage fellow gardeners to make simple changes in a bid to prevent pesticides from entering Welsh rivers and streams. The PestSmart campaign…

It’s easy to think that composting has to be done on a large scale, and when I worked at Kew, the compost heaps were 3m by 5m (10ft x 16ft)! But I say scale is irrelevant, because wherever we grow plants, composting and soil health is fundamental. On my balcony I use a small compost bin, not too dissimilar to a Dalek-style bin, but only 20 litres in capacity. Even at this size, the same composting rules apply. Make sure you mix 50:50 brown materials and green materials. I use finely chopped up kitchen waste mixed with shredded paper (junk mail or old office materials) and torn up egg or cereal boxes. In just 14-18 weeks, I can turn around a good compost for top dressing my pots and baskets.…

There is a history of type 2 diabetes in my family, and in March 2023 I was diagnosed with it myself. It was my doctor who suggested I try a change of lifestyle rather than medication. So I kicked the word ‘diet’ into the compost heap because a ‘diet’, for me, conjures up office-working memories of miserable calorie-counting colleagues in staff rooms bemoaning any Bourbon biscuits sighted within a 100-yardradius. A change of lifestyle felt to me like a more positive way of thinking about food and would better help me make this work. Learning about diabetes I learnt that by 2025, an estimated 5.3 million people will be living with diabetes. Of these, 90% will be type 2 and that the numbers are rising fast this century. The reasons…

Lawns do tend to bear the brunt of the weather at all times of year and in summer, the greatest threat is drought and parching. Cracked earth and shrivelled grass doesn’t look attractive, but hold your horses before you consider splashing out on lawn food or raising your water bill with a sprinkler. For starters, feeding grass if no rain is forecast and the soil is dry is more likely to further burn and even kill the grass. And why waste time and money watering when grass will revive and green up again when the rains return? If you feel you absolutely must water your lawn, why not use grey water or harvested rainwater. Also avoid mowing, as grass doesn’t grow in very dry conditions. If there is still some…

What do hubby’s pants say about our soil? Q Having read your news report (AG March 16) that a way to test soil health was to bury a pair of cotton pants, I persuaded my husband to sacrifice a pair of his old undies. They have just been dug up after 10 weeks in my fruit patch and the only change was dampness but no deterioration - so what does that tell me about my soil condition? It’s an area which is not dug as there are raspberries, rhubarb and asparagus. M. Pagett. Ormskirk A In my experience the speed of a garment’s decomposition into crumbly humus depends upon the material from which it is made. Certainly, woollen clothing rots down more quickly than made-made fibres which, in most soils, tend…

So here we are in July and by now I hope that summer has arrived. If not then it is surely turning up soon. We WILL get warm weather at some point. So with hope and some certainly in mind, we’ll then soon all switch to worrying about how to get our plants through the warmer period without them drying out entirely. An olla is the ideal nifty object to help with that, and in this issue, I’ll be showing how to make one of your very own. An olla is essentially a terracotta implement that you bury next to your plants, that you then fill with water, and which releases a gentle stream of moisture when needed, so you don’t need to water the plants every day. YOU WILL…

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Right now many crops are maturing. It’s been a tough year, with many edibles suffering cold weather in much of the country. I know the meteorologists surprised us by announcing that May was the warmest ever, on average, but that was only because nights were not so cold, though the days were sadly not so warm. Despite the cold, wet, windy conditions, some crops have done well and need harvesting before they go over, and with crops yielding poorly it becomes even more important to salvage what we can, not letting any go to waste. Most crucial is to never delay picking courgettes, cucumbers and gherkins. Inspect plants regularly as one day they’re firm and perfect, and the next swollen, gone over and decidedly less appealing overall. Worse, leave just…

Much as I would like to spend the tail-end of July sitting in a shady nook in the garden with a glass of something chilled and an unputdownable novel, there is work to be done! The days start with watering, if needed, because this is one of the best times to give your plants a drink, as the air is still cool and moisture is slower to evaporate. If I don’t have time to water first thing I’ll wait until the evening when, again, the air is cooler. This summer being what it is, it’s hard to anticipate what the weather will bring to the garden. Even if we do get heavy rain after a dry spell, plants may still need additional watering because rain can simply roll off very…

It hasn’t been a great butterfly summer so far, although that could all have changed by the time you read this! However, it has already been good for day-flying moths in my garden. I’m delighted to report another sighting of the extremely scarce narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, Hemaris tityus, on the last day of May. It was feeding on red valerian, Centranthus ruber. I watched and photographed as it circled the flowers very systematically, in a clockwise direction, for a full ten minutes. Red valerian is one of the best plants for day-flying moths, because the long-tubed flowers can’t be accessed by bees, so there’s always plenty of nectar left in the ‘pot’. Moths have really long tongues, so they can get at it, when others can’t. I saw my first…

From the common blue to the brimstone, July is a wonderful month to see a variety of butterflies fluttering around the garden. Many species stay local throughout the year as the climate is right and everything they need is available from neighbouring gardens. However, one species – the painted lady – makes a much more arduous journey in order to visit the UK. What a beauty The painted lady (Vanessa cardui) is a vibrant butterfly with a wingspan of approximately 5.5cm (2in), boasting a bold mix of colours. With its wings open, you’ll see orange patches surrounded with black markings and white spots. With closed wings, you’ll see a mixture of markings composed of black, white and browny-orange tones. They also have a slight hint of red on their forewing,…

Salad days! When I was a child, I thought salads were boring: bitter lettuce, insipid beetroot and chunks of dull tomato with lumps of cold meat and blobs of Heinz Salad Cream (which I never liked). Today, however, a tastefully constructed salad, featuring home-grown greenery, with tangy dressing and exotic accompaniments, is a joy to behold. Let’s look at two leafy facts: When you cut a lettuce, a white ‘milky’ juice comes from the stalk. The Latin word for milk is lac, so the Latin name for lettuce became lactuca. Meanwhile, in France, where the word for milk is lait, the plants are called laitues. This name came over to Britain with the Normans, and it has since become anglicised to ‘lettuce’. The plant we know as salad rocket (Eruca…

The list of edible weeds and ornamentals is long but that doesn’t mean you’d actually choose to eat them. You can for example eat the white rhizomes of twitch, aka couch grass, and in the right light they even resemble spaghetti. However, if you run out of pasta, take my advice and run to the shops, as they’re tougher on the teeth than dental floss. Then there are oft-touted ‘delicious’ edible flowers such as daylily and fuchsia that have the same all-tainting taste as extra-strong cheese and onion crisps – a flavour that has as much business on our dinner plates as an unwashed sock. I mention these ‘truths’, simply to illustrate how unusual it is for plants that we’re not used to eating, to make the journey from our…