Innholdsfortegnelse for 5-Apr-2025 i Amateur Gardening

How excitable we gardeners are starting to get now as we stride that bit further into spring. It’s such a lovely time, with the anticipation of the year ahead. The garden is still waking up so there’s not so much weeding, cutting back or lawn mowing to do, yet we are sowing the seeds of the gardening seasons ahead which brings with it the sweet spot promise of leaves, flowers and bountiful produce to bring to the home and table. Boy, does it feel good! I’m still honouring my promise to myself to take some time nearly every day, come rain or shine, in my garden and to soak it all in (literally in wetter times). I know that doing so even on the busiest of days, sometimes just for…

with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes There seemed to be a lot of false dawns heralding the arrival of spring this year - often one bountiful day of sunshine, just enough to raise our foolish spirits, followed by several more of torrential rain, gales and grey murk. While this was extremely tiresome at the time, it did make her arrival all the sweeter and one thing I did notice when we finally had a run of dry sunny days that allowed us to do something worthwhile in the garden, was that plants were a couple of weeks behind where they usually are at that point in the year. While this isn’t ideal for an impatient type like me, it has, however, given us a few extra days to get things…

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Are you bursting to sow butternuts, craving courgettes or primed for pumpkin patch creation? Me, too! I adore growing squashes and am still enjoyably eating my way through my winter-stored ‘Crown Prince’ and ‘Musquee De Provence’ crop. But my mind is now turning to 2025’s harvest, so the seed packets are being gathered. I should firstly say that I live in the south of the UK where it’s quite mild, so I plan to plant out my seedlings in mid May, around six weeks after sowing. If your plot is more exposed or chilly, you could delay sowing for another week or two, for planting out in June. Being tender, squash plants don’t like to go outside until nights are relatively warm…

What do I do with old orchid shoots? Dendrobium orchid stems produce clusters of flowers Q My orchid has produced new shoots after I kept it cool through the winter, but I’m not sure whether to cut out the old stem. What do you advise? Penny Elliott (via email). A What a wonderfully healthy bamboo orchid (dendrobium). It’s probably D. nobile. Growing to around 60cm (2ft) tall when it’s happy, its blooms are borne in small groups on furrowed stems which, in time, may shrivel and die and be replaced by new shoots. Well done for keeping it cool over winter, which it needs to flourish and flower profusely. Indigenous to S. E. Asia, Australia and New Zealand, it’s normally easy to care for. Provided you shade it from hot…

The next generation of gardeners is being encouraged to flex their green fingers in a nationwide tour by gardening educator Lee Connelly, aka The Skinny Jean Gardener. Throughout May, Lee will be reaching 10,000 schoolchildren, inspiring them to get growing. Sponsored by National Garden Gift Card and leading ecological horticulture brand ecofective, the tour is part of this year’s National Children’s Gardening Week, from May 24 to June 1. Lee said: “This tour is about showing kids that growing their own food isn’t just fun, it’s a skill for life. “Being part of National Children’s Gardening Week is an incredible opportunity to bring gardening into more schools and homes.” Lee is a leading gardening educator, has appeared on CBBC flagship show Blue Peter, hosts his own podcast and has toured…

With Chris Collins, Garden Organic’s Head of Horticulture If you’ve ever seen a densely planted bed of lavender-blue phacelia, you’ll know this plant is an insect magnet. The bell-shaped flowers, with their whiskery stamens, will literally be buzzing with bees, hoverflies and butterflies trying to get at the nectar. But it’s not just bees that benefit from this plant. Phacelia – also known as purple tansy, fiddle neck or scorpion weed - is a fantastic all-rounder. It’s easy to grow: simply sow seeds 10cm (4in) apart between April and September and thin to 30cm (12in) as the plants grow. It also tolerates poor soil and can be grown in containers or raised beds, though it can reach more than 1m (3.5ft) high, so give it plenty of room. If you…

If you’re dreaming of a garden bursting with vibrant dahlias this summer, now is the time to presprout them in pots for a longer flowering season. While you can wait until after the last frost to plant tubers straight into the ground, pre-sprouted tubers will flower sooner than those planted out in late spring. Choose an organic, peat-free compost to plant them into, and keep pots in a frost-free spot such as a greenhouse, cold frame, or on a bright windowsill. Water lightly to avoid rotting, then wait for those first shoots to appear. Once they’re growing well, you can increase watering to support their development. To break dormancy, dahlia tubers need a constant temperature of 15°C. As they wake, the eyes, or growing points from which new shoots will…

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with Andrew Oldham When I first started growing on an allotment 30 years ago, I got some strange looks from the diehard gardeners who grew their vegetables in strict rows and had no time for planting ‘ballerinas’ - the common term on the allotment used to describe flowers. I came in, a fresh-faced 20-something, and sowed row after row of flowering annuals beside my chard and onions. I even crammed in bright orange calendula between my potatoes. The straw that broke the allotment committee’s back was when I dug a trench that ran from my greenhouse to the main path, added grit, and planted 60 ‘Hidcote’ lavender plants. This is my favourite lavender for the number of bees it attracts, but it attracted a warning from the allotment committee because…

With Adam Kirtland A while back, while perusing the aisles at the garden centre, I came upon the ‘pots’ section. Small and large, terracotta, wood, plastic, ceramic, you name it – they had it, and then I saw something that gave me an idea. It was a small terracotta planter designed to look like a pair of Wellington boots – but the price tag put me off! Funnily enough, the very day before, I’d spotted an old pair of boots at the back of the shed - cracked, muddy, and well past their walking days. But instead of throwing them out, I saw their potential. Half an hour’s work, a bit of greenery, and they’d be perfect for brightening up a dull corner of the garden. Step 1 Get your…

With Michael Perry The days are getting longer, the birds are getting louder, and garden centres are about to explode with colour - it can only mean one thing: spring is upon us! If your borders are looking a little worse for wear after winter, now is the time to start planning ahead. The best plants for long-lasting, low-maintenance blooms will be arriving in garden centres before you know it. Farplants is the supplier of more than 11 million plants to garden retailers across the UK every year and their collection of summer-flowering beauties promises bold colours, head-turning fragrance and fussfree growing. So, grab your trowel and take a look at some plants that deserve a spot in your garden this year. Spiraea Walberton’s® Plum Carpet A must for anyone…

W‘It’s mine, all mine, all mine!’ was the happy thought running through my mind as the tractortrailer tipped out its cargo of compost. Tired of the high delivery costs when ordering small amounts of ‘black gold’, I’d decided to go large, and buy a full 16-tonne mega-load of the stuff. And here it was in all its steaming glory, but as the compost tumbled from the trailer and its shadow began to resemble the brooding outline of K2, a new thought crossed my mind… I was going to have to move this stuff. On my tod! As problems go, too much compost is a good one to have, especially when starting my ‘job of the month’ which is creating new ‘no-dig’ beds. I’ve been a ‘no-digger’ for a long time,…

Nominate your favourite community endeavour for a national award as home and gardens retailer Robert Dyas relaunches its Plant & Pause initiative. The scheme, which also ran in 2024, focuses on the benefits of using outdoor spaces to boost mental health and wellbeing. It will run until the end of Mental Health Awareness Week on May 18. Running alongside the scheme will be Robert Dyas’ Nominate Your Community Space competition, where members of the public are invited to nominate a community garden, space or charity that works with local residents in a gardening scenario. Both projects are being run with the charity Thrive, which delivers more than 600 community and outreach programmes to schools, hospitals and care homes across the UK. Last year’s competition winner was NHS St George’s Hospital…

There’s a garden centre near to where I live which I occasionally frequent as they have a nice range of plants, are very friendly, and it’s so local. It’s not my favourite local garden centre mind you, but I’m not naming names as I’m keen to support all of them where I can. What I will say is that I’m always so shocked, yet slightly intrigued, by the sheer volume of pest control products they have on sale as I walk through the door. I try not to look each time but they have a whole long shelving rack full of them, bottle upon box upon jar of creature blasters. I’ve always gardened organically because that’s just what made sense to me, so what draws me over to those shelves…

With expert broadcaster, author and long-standing AG columnist, Anne Swithinbank Welcoming to people and plants, the greenhouse is a superb piece of kit and soon becomes the headquarters of a home garden. Here a gardener can potter about during wet weather, propagate plants, grow a wider range and give crops a slightly longer growing season. In my unheated greenhouse; tomatoes, cucumbers and chilli peppers have been the easiest to grow and I’d say that melons, sweet peppers and aubergines are slightly trickier. They benefit from a warm, early start and are often just hitting their stride as the nights grow cooler and dewy here in mid-August. Another success story has been Cape gooseberry (Physalis edulis) and closely related Cossack ground cherry (P. pruinosa). These deserve to be more widely grown…

When we talk about bulbs for the garden, my first thoughts are usually of crocus, tulips, daffodils, and other flowers that provide so much colour during spring. However, there are other bulbs and corms that we can plant in containers and in our garden beds that provide bright blooms during summer and autumn. Some of these plants are tender and will need to be kept in a frost-free environment during the coldest months of the year, But if you can provide the right conditions, they will reward you with a spectacular display of colour. For these bulbs and corms, the display will look best when there they are grouped together to look like a clump. While you could dot them around the garden, they will have more impact in company.…

“The answer lies in the soil” This was the catchphrase of Arthur Fallowfield, a character played by the late Kenneth Williams in the 1960s BBC radio comedy Round The Horne. It may have been just a comedy skit, but it is absolutely true. So, what goes into a good garden soil? It must have three ingredients: i) water for plants to absorb, b, ii) air for plant roots to ‘breathe’, and iii) nutrients to sustain the plants as they grow. A soil deficient in any one of these will cause 99% of plants to languish, and probably die. Sand, clay or silt make up around half the volume of good soil. About 1/20 the volume should comprise plant and animal remains – essential in helping to keep the soil open…

Taking on a new allotment is such an exciting adventure - you’re probably dreaming of juicy home-grown tomatoes, still warm from the sun, and crisp carrots fresh from the earth. Once you have your plot or part of your plot set up, you’re probably wondering how you can make these dreams a reality. The truth is that as with any new project, you’re likely to encounter some challenges, usually related to every site being different, and needing to get to know the nuances of that particular green space. 1 Start small and plan If you’re new to allotmenteering, it can be pretty overwhelming at first, so starting small will ease you into it. Make a plan of where everything will go and then work on that vision bit by bit.…

with Ruth Hayes, AG’s gardening expert While colour and shape remain the most important factors for many people when planning their garden, scent must never be seen as the poor relation when it comes to satisfying all our senses. For me, the different perfumes of the garden throughout the year are the most powerful mood-changers, from the sharp, clean, upbeat smell of a fresh spring morning, to the drowsy, heady fragrance of a warm summer garden and the gently melancholic wistfulness of a damp autumn afternoon. There is something magical about brushing against a herb or walking past a clump of blooms and suddenly finding your nose filled with an intoxicating perfume - one of the joys of life indeed! As spring revs her engine and picks up the pace,…

Wise watering can hack Dear Kim Having had an unpleasant experience with a frog getting trapped in a watering can, I came up with this idea. You can still fill the can as usual but the frogs can’t get in. Another way of using up unwanted plastic flower pots. They don’t all fit as snugly as this but with a bit of pushing & shoving I have managed to adapt all my cans. Kind regards Chris Jones Kim says; thank you Chris. It’s such a simple but brilliant idea to help filter the water going into the can from the water butt, as well as protecting frogs from getting trapped. Clever plant protector idea Hello, I wanted to share a great idea an elderly plot neighbour has passed on to…

with Bob Flowerdew, long-standing AG contributor, broadcaster and all-round expert. Some question whether it’s worth growing your own potatoes as they’re relatively inexpensive to buy, especially by the sackful. Indeed, they sometimes seem to deliver little recompense for all the work you put in. True, if you don’t mind what your spuds taste like, buy them from the supermarkets that only sell a few sorts. But grow spuds at home and you’ve the choice of many dozens fresh as you like from plot to plate. You can grow the old violet-skinned ‘Arran Victory’ for the very best mash, ‘Golden Wonder’ for amazing roasties, ‘King Edward’ for baked, ‘Pink Fir Apple’ for cold salads and ‘Maris Piper’ for chips. Mind you, these are all maincrop/lates, which give large yields but come further…