Innholdsfortegnelse for 12-Jul-2025 i Amateur Gardening

As gardeners we are a little more attuned than some to the ebb and flow of the natural world throughout the year. Yes, the seasons are all a little topsy-turvy but there are stabilising, grounding, solid influences to be found which can bring much comfort to us all. When we do what we can to help wildlife and boost biodiversity in our outside spaces and spend time watching the natural world at work, we in turn benefit immensely. There’s nothing like gazing at a bee, butterfly, beetle, bird or hoverfly to take your mind off the worries of the day. To listen and learn from their movements, which plants they favour… To just tune into their rhythm for even a few moments has the potential to bring so much joy.…

At the time of writing it’s been a glorious early summer so far, the record-breaking dry days of spring becoming slightly more showery as the temperatures rise, meaning the plants have been going ballistic! There’s been so much growth across the borders that I’m already trying to work out where I can relocate some of our perennials this autumn so they all have enough room for optimum growth. It’s also been a generous summer on a personal front, with lots of plant swapsies going on with friends. We had a glut of tomato seedlings which have duly been exchanged for courgettes, cucumbers, herbs and leeks, in the true spirit of community gardening. I also donated some of our summertime prunings to a local theatre group who were staging a series…

Regular AG readers will already know my feelings about herbs – they’re supreme flavour powerhouses! I can’t imagine my kitchen without dill, or basil, or thyme, or tarragon, or mint, or…. – you get the picture! If you want to capture that zesty fresh foliage it pays to leap in now, before they divert too much energy into flowering. That way, you can harvest the maximum quantity of those all-important leaves. My golden oregano is in full leaf right now, and I have lots of clumps of it dotted around the garden. Although I’ll leave some stems uncut, so that flowers can develop to feed beneficial insects, the majority of growth will now be sheared to the ground. Adding a generous water and general liquid feed (I use Growmore) to…

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With their vibrant blooms and diverse forms, dahlias are the stars of the summer borders, and they can be just as spectacular in containers. Whether you have a compact courtyard, a balcony or a small city garden, growing dahlias in pots allows you to enjoy their bold beauty without the need for large beds and borders. With the right varieties and care, even the smallest space can be transformed into a dazzling dahlia showcase. Opting for shorter, bushier dahlias, with compact growth that doesn’t require excessive staking, works best in pots and containers. Choose from pompoms, singles, collarette, gallery and patio varieties. Here are some top performers: ‘Gallery Art Deco’ From the Gallery Series bred specifically for containers, this variety produces vivid orangepink blooms on compact, robust plants. Figaro Series…

When seeds throw up an unexpected treat A surprise variety can be named as you wish! Q I was given this poppy about 30 years ago by a friend who owned a nursery and had sown a batch of red poppy seeds, which all came out red apart from this one. I would be very grateful for any information, name etc. Shaun Bryant (via email) A Well done your nurseryman friend who sowed seeds from a red poppy that produced seedlings that shared the colour of the parent flower, apart from one that produced a fetching pink bloom, which you are now enjoying. It won’t have a name as it has not been trialled and named, which can take many years, by plant breeders whose job it is to introduce…

This recipe is a versatile, colourful way to eat all those gorgeous homegrown harvests in a beautiful roll. Putting them together is a bit fiddly to begin with, but we are not seeking perfection here - and I explain how to repair any broken rolls in the recipe! These are great fun to make with family and friends, and so delicious dipped in your favourite sauces. You can swap the ingredients with whatever is in season. Spring roll sheets/wrappers, made from rice paper, are widely available in supermarkets and international food shops. Ingredients Makes 10 rolls ■ 10 spring roll sheets/wrappers■ 1 small cucumber (or half a large one)■ 1 large carrot■ 4 spring onions■ ¼ medium red cabbage■ 1 sweet pepper■ 1 courgette■ a few lettuce leaves■ fresh herbs…

Have you ever wondered how and where the garden centres and mail order outlets choose and buy their plants? One of the main showcases is the yearly flower trials held in various locations in the Netherlands and Germany. Almost 60 companies set out their glasshouses like a showroom, displaying exciting new genetics and old favourites for the shopping outlets to peruse and choose from. This year, I spent a couple of days there with the team from the television shopping channel QVC hunting down unique plants for their programmes. Here’s a behind-thescenes look at the varieties that caught the buyers’ eyes. HibisQs Adonicus Series A development many years in the making, but now we are able to grow these superb ‘holiday hibiscus’ outdoors on the patio. These Hibiscus x rosasinensis…

As with most things in life, to achieve the best results we have to put in the effort first, and it’s no different when encouraging long flowering periods for perennials. A key requirement is regular deadheading, which prompts the plant to produce more flowers in the battle to create seeds. Long-flowering perennials are a bonus to any garden and penstemons are some of my favourites. Upright varieties are hardy and will flower from June until the frosts, with varieties such as ‘Firebird’, ‘Charles Rudd’, ‘Raven’, ‘Pensham Czar’, ‘Snowstorm’ and, of course, ‘Geoff Hamilton’ really standing out. Plants that go well with penstemon are nepeta and perennial potentilla. Nepeta are superb for pollinators and popular varieties such as ‘Walker’s Low’ and ‘Six Hills Giant’ have lavender-blue flowers, while ‘Snowflake’ has pure…

Peonies for perfection! Peonies are virtually unrivalled in their ability to bring impact and drama to a garden. Once established, they flourish for decades, bringing large quantities of flamboyant blooms in a magical range of hues and outstanding, often finely cut, foliage. And some cultivars, such as 'Monsieur Jules Elie', flower into July. ■ Don’t you just love mythology! The peony gets its name from Paeon (also known as Apollo), the physician of the gods in Greek mythology. Asclepius – who was either Paeon’s tutor, or his son (!) – became jealous of Paeon. Fortunately, the god Zeus saved Paeon from Asclepius’ wrath by turning Paeon into the peony flower. And this actually happened! Where in the world? In the wild, the vast majority of herbaceous peony species occur in…

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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. AG mag has wide appeal! I popped out to make a cup of tea whilst reading the latest edition of AG and came back to find Lilli our bulldog deeply engrossed in it! I thought you might like to see. Kind regards Samantha Evans Kim says: thank you so much for sharing this upbeat image with us Samantha and making us chuckle (rather a lot). What a great picture - Lilli looks like she’s enjoying herself. Fantastic idea…

Across the country, the normally indestructible buddleia has lost its cloak of invincibility and is under attack. The damage starts on the younger leaves causing them to curl as if scorched, then they develop blotches and turn yellow, before falling. I first heard about this new scourge from callers to my radio show who reported that usually trouble-free plants were suddenly looking green (or yellow) around the gills. Since then I’ve been on the lookout and noticed sickly buddleia in parks, gardens and waste ground, where seedlings rise among the scrub. Leaf curl can be caused by many sap-sucking insects that deliberately deform the leaves of their hosts either by injecting the foliage with growth-corrupting chemicals or deflating the underside of the foliage causing the leaf tops to roll up…

This year’s chilli plants are growing well and as two of the varieties (‘Big Sun’ and ‘Paper Lantern Habanero’) are new ones to me, I’m keen for them to succeed. They have been growing on a bright and warm windowsill indoors but now I’ve potted them into larger pots and moved them to the greenhouse. Giving plants more room means that not only do their roots spread and take up more food and water, their compost is less likely to dry out (though do check it every few days, especially during hot spells). The bushier the plants grow, the more chillies you can expect, so I have pinched them out to encourage branching. The three varieties I’m growing are pretty spicy, but did you know there are certain techniques a…

Coming across fledglings can quite literally feel like spotting a new species - so prepare to find a few new faces in your garden this month! If you are fairly knowledgeable about what birds regularly visit your space and have come to know their different colours, gaits and plumage, then things can get a bit more confusing at this time of the year! Blackbirds which aren’t black, robins without red bibs and non-speckled starlings can throw your detection skills into disarray. But the generally duller colouring of these fledglings begins to make sense when you consider that they are currently in the most precarious phase of their lives. They’ve just been thrust into the wide world. Flying is still being learned, while many also need to keep track of their…

Some years ago while accompanying a garden tour in and around Cape Town, I was fortunate to visit Babylonstoren, an estate in the wine region of South Africa and sister to The Newt in Somerset. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Company’s Garden in Cape Town was vital for growing fresh produce to restock trading ships stopping off between Europe and Asia. This is now a public park and botanic garden but provided inspiration for the eight-acre potager-style productive garden at Babylonstoren. After admiring the wildlife-friendly, sustainable plots, we headed inside for a lunch featuring beautifully prepared raw veg anointed with carefully matched dressings, herbs and edible flowers. Visits to places where everything is done so well can be overawing, but there is always much to learn. A…

It’s approaching high summer so if you are preparing to go away for a few days or longer, keeping potted plants sufficiently quenched can be a worry. They have on-going watering needs, as sun and wind can really dry out soil and leave plants in containers somewhat frazzled. So here are a few of the ways I keep plants looking good while I’m away that I’d like to share with you. Safety in numbers Tip Where practical, move your pots and containers so that they’re grouped together in a partly shaded spot with the smallest pots at the front to avoid them being deprived of light by their taller companions. Doing this gives them more protection from wind than if they were individually exposed to the weather. It also creates…

Shrubs are useful for providing framework and structure in the garden but, more than this, they produce beautiful flower displays year after year, making them excellent value for money and worth the space they occupy. Shrubs range in size from groundhugging to towering plants that look more like multi-stemmed trees. Some are deciduous, others evergreen or semievergreen. Whatever the season, site or location, there is likely to be a shrub that will thrive within it. I’ve chosen a selection of shrubs that have caught my eye for their colour, fragrance or form, and that are on my wish list to add to our long shrubbery. For best results, plant in the autumn or winter for a sensational summer of colour next year. If planting out in summer, do so when…

A happy lupin is a thing of beauty but, sadly, not something you often see regularly in my garden because the slugs and snails appear to love them even more than I do! But I refuse to give up, so will continue sowing them and hoping for success. Tall varieties of lupins look fabulously regal and imposing in the middle of borders, but there are shorter varieties that also look wonderful further towards the front of beds. Avalune Mixed is a lightly fragrant lupin that grows to around 30-40cm (12-16in), making it ideal for smaller gardens as well as patio planters. The spirelets of flowers emerge in pastel tones of blue, mauve and pink, as well as white, all held on sturdy, weather-resilient stems. The flowering time is July to…

If we’re not standing sheltering in the shed listening to a deluge, we’re probably wishing it would rain about now. As this is the month when our plants are growing fast and in rather desperate need of water, it is often also a time of drought with peak sunshine and bonedry soil. The weather is so changeable we have to be prepared for almost anything right now. There’s little we can do when faced with constant rain, but we can cope with droughts by watering, if we have enough water that is. Unfortunately (but understandably) during periods of severe drought the water companies issue hosepipe bans to stop folk using tap water on their lawns. Unfortunately this also stops us using it on our homegrown vegetables. So what can we…