Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-jan-16 i Amateur Gardening

COOO…COOO, cooo… cooo, cooo...cooo AAAagh! My wife Kath hurled off the duvet, leaped out of bed (naked!), tore back the curtains, wrenched the window open and screamed “Shut up you stupid bird!” while thrashing the trailing stems of wisteria outside with her hand. It had the desired effect. Wings beating like gunshots a pair of pigeons catapulted out of the dense foliage and flapped frantically away. This happened regularly, almost daily, around 5am right through last spring and early summer. Pigeons are not very bright birds, and they just kept coming back though they must have known the reception they’d get – they even started to build a nest in the wisteria in late spring, right under the bedroom window, until Kath took a broom handle to it. While Kath’s…

PECKISH COMPLETE Suet Cake is an easy-to-use bird food that is packed with 12 energy-laden ingredients. It has been proved to attract the UK’s top 10 garden birds, and won’t make a mess around your bird feeder. We have five packs to give away. To enter, send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Peckish Suet Cake draw, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG. Or email your details to ag_giveaway@timeinc.com , heading the email Peckish Suet Cake draw. The closing date is: 27 January, 2016.…

1 Fill a seed or propagator tray with good seed compost, ‘strike off’ the top to level it then tap the base to settle it. 2 Sow the seeds 1in (2.5cm) or more apart. Sow different varieties in their own rows so you can see what’s what. 3 Cover with a light sprinkling of potting compost and vermiculite. Label the rows and water the compost carefully. 4 Cover and put in a heated propagator. If you don’t have a lid, put the tray in a clear plastic bag on a warm windowsill.…

MY LOVE of the humble, yet versatile, spud knows no bounds. Boiled, mashed, roasted, cold in a potato salad – they are my desert island vegetable, and I could eat them every day without getting bored of the taste. Luckily, potatoes are easy to grow. I had massive success last year with some small earlies growing in deep, compost-filled bags. I want to do the same this year, but instead of waiting until later in the season and growing them outside, I’m going to start them now and plant them up in bags in the greenhouse. How to chit • Chitting simply means encouraging the seed potatoes to sprout before planting. • Start chitting from late January in warmer parts of the country, or in February in cooler areas, about…

OCT-FEB 1 Prepare a bed on a sunny well-drained site; dig deep and add compost to poor or heavy soils OCT-FEB 2 Fix three horizontal wires 2ft (60cm) apart between posts, canes at 45°and 2ft (60cm) apart NOV-MAR 3 Plant cordons 2ft (60cm) apart by each cane. Ensure the graft is several inches above soil level AUGUST 4 Prune side shoots to three leaves to form fruiting spurs; do not allow fruit to form in the first year AUG-NOV 5 Pick near-ripe fruit from established trees and leave to finish ripening in a cool place…

QI have an east-facing border, behind which is a row of Leylandii in my neighbour’s garden. Does this mean that my soil is acidic, as I want to plant dahlias and cannas? Ian Angell (via email) ALeylandii do not have a particular requirement for acid soil to grow well. However, like many conifers, the wood and leaves tend to rot down to compost that is quite acidic, so if the trees have been dropping leaves for several years, it is likely they have lowered the pH of the soil to some degree. Dahlias are happy in a range of soil types, so will not be upset by slightly acidic conditions. Cannas prefer a slightly acidic soil, so will appreciate the conditions that you probably…

Go to facebook.com , create a free account if needs be, search for Amateur Gardening and you’re ready to join in the chat! Laura Jane Maynard I am moving house shortly, and want to take a young apple tree with me. It’s been planted for less than two years. What’s the best ways of helping it settle into its new garden? Dr Jane BinghamCarefully lift and pot up your tree before February, while it is still dormant. Use a good quality soil-based compost that drains well. You can keep your tree in its pot until you decide where to plant it in your new garden. Water it well during dry spells in spring and summer.…

“Princess Augusta kept it in a pot for many years” THIS WILL be my last piece from our garden and to celebrate 17 years of sharing it with AG readers, John and I went for a day out at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This makes a great winter visit and is special to us, as we trained here. What a pleasure to walk through the Pinetum, stand in awe at the Syon Vista avenue of evergreen oaks and warm up in the balmy Princess of Wales Conservatory, where I admired a massive stag horn fern (Platycerium superbum). Close to the Duke’s Garden grows an old stone pine (Pinus pinea) planted in 1846. Princess Augusta (mother of George III) kept it in a pot for many years because the gardens…

GARDENERS WHO want to impress the neighbours can now grow potatoes and aubergines on the SAME plant. Thompson & Morgan has taken the wraps off its exclusive ‘Egg & Chips’ plant, which is the result of extensive “natural” plant grafting trials. There has been no genetic modification. The dual-cropper bears aubergines (known as egg plants in America and Europe) on top and potatoes at the roots, even grown outdoors. PATIOS AND BALCONIES Plants will thrive in sunny sheltered spots in gardens, says T&M, as well as on patios and balconies. It follows the launch of the ‘Tomtato’ – which produces both tomatoes and potatoes – in 2013. T&M said it has sold over one million plants worldwide since its launch. VEG PATCH The company’s new product guru Michael Perry described…

“Some said the bubble would soon burst” THE ‘GROW-yourown’ (GYO) phenomenon is set to continue gathering pace in 2016, with even more people harvesting their own fruit and veg at home or on allotments. Seed suppliers Unwins and Marshalls Seeds are expecting a bumper year as demand for home-grown veg continues to rise. James Oakey, category manager for both seed giants, said: “Tomato sales are Seed and plant specialist Thompson & Morgan (T&M), is predicting that 2016 will be its best ever year for GYO. BLIGHT-RESISTANT The Ipswich-based firm has seen a sharp rise in vegetable seed sales for the 2016 season, reporting an impressive 24 per cent rise in sales between September and November 2015, compared to the same period in the previous year. Tomato seed sales jumped 51…

I ALWAYS think of annuals as the frivolous funsters of the garden. They come, they blaze a trail of colour across the summer, and then they fade away to nothing when the days shorten and the temperatures drop. Hardy annuals are easy to sow, and most varieties will germinate in one or two weeks. Once the seedlings are a 2in (5cm) tall, you can transplant them into individual pots and grow them on. Seeds sown outside now will sit in cold earth until it warms in spring, so sowing under cover gives the seeds a head start and also means you will have an earlier show of colour in the garden. Six seeds to consider sowing Eschscholzia californica (California poppy) is bright, and self-seeds generously. Nigella (Love in the Mist)…

FOR MOST gardeners, the greenhouse is one of their most essential pieces of kit. In our uncertain climate it allows you to give seeds a head-start by sowing early, and in the summer greenhouses are perfect for growing tender crops such as cucumbers and aubergines, as well as offering tomatoes a warm and largely blight-free haven. They also come up trumps in the colder months, when they make perfect over-wintering stations for citrus plants, bananas and other tender perennials. But there is more to getting a greenhouse than simply installing one in your garden. You need to decide what size you need, where is the best place for it, and which way it should face. And then, what materials to choose for the framework and panels? Will you need opening…

IF YOU are at a loose end over the next week or so, why not visit one of these gardening events taking place around the country? • 23 January: RSPB Big Garden Bird Walk; RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 26 January: The World of Hellebores (lecture) and garden walk; Ashwood Nurseries, Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 0AE; 01384 401996; ashwoodnurseries.com • 26 January: The Gardens of France (talk); Pershore College, Avon Bank, Pershore, Worcs WR10 3JP; 01386 554609; warwickshire.ac.uk • 27 January: Apple Pruning; RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH; 01805 626800; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor • 28 January: Butterfly Photography Morning (talk & tuition); RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB; 0203 1765 830; rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley • 29…

Pear Ice cream A delicious homemade ice cream with aromatic pear and sweet vanilla Serves: 4 Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 35 minutes Freezing time: 24 hours Ingredients: Method 1 Combine the lemon juice and two of the pears in a medium saucepan, cover and simmer over a medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a food processor and purée until smooth. 2 Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Remove from the heat. 3 Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla and the caster sugar in a large bowl, until thick and pale. Gradually whisk in the hot cream over the egg yolks and then return to the saucepan. Cook over a very…

“They’ll regrow next spring and perform again” WITH THE days lengthening and the heated propagating case switched on, the greenhouse is currently the perfect place to potter, safe from the elements. Later in the growing season, of course, there will be lots to do. But now is the ideal time to think about sowing seeds of perennial plants that will bloom in their first summer. In order to do this they must be started early enough, usually in February. This is cheaper than buying them ready grown (as plug plants or in small pots), and sowing yourself also means you will be raising enough plants to make impressive drifts, or repeated groupings of the same varieties. Best of all, unlike annual plants, these are hardy perennials – they’ll die back…

“I’m revving up the heated propagating case again” AFTER A favourable autumn, a total of three fruits on my aubergine plants swelled enough to be worth picking. Shiny and marbled, they were beautiful but more like duck eggs than egg plants. A mixed blend from Mr. Fothergill’s, they tasted delicious grilled and layered into a moussaka. Sadly, aubergines just haven’t had enough warm, sunny weather here to grow properly in recent years. Refusing to give in, I’m revving up the heated propagating case again and have prepared battle plans for 2016. A small batch will be sown at monthly intervals in the hope that some hit good weather at a crucial stage. Meanwhile, I’ve cannily over-wintered several plants. One or two are indoors but make less than glamorous house plants,…

“Known worldwide for their show-stopping beauty” KEW GARDENS has unveiled an ambitious plan to create the “world’s longest double herbaceous borders”. Set to be called The Great Broad Walk Borders, the new flowerbeds will be crammed with 30,000 plants. They’ll span 1,050ft (320m) of Kew’s Broad Walk, originally designed in the 1840s by William Nesfield to create a dramatic approach to the new Palm House, which was completed in 1848. Visitors will be treated to golden asters and vibrant rudbeckias – plus species propagated from Kew’s collections. These will include the rose-purple Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), the south African Berkheya purpurea with its pale-purple flowers, and the Cotula fallax which has finely-cut silvery foliage and yellow pompom-like flower heads. VIBRANT COLOURS With varieties chosen for textures and vibrant colours, the…

SCIENTISTS HAVE revealed that bingeing on lettuce is more than three times as bad for the planet as eating bacon. Researchers at the US Carnegie Mellon University compared the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of different food types, and stripped this back to per 1,000 calories’ worth. Because lettuce has such a low calorific value, someone would need to eat at least two whole iceberg lettuces to get close to the calorie intake of just two rashers of smoked bacon. As a result, the emissions from producing bulky lettuces are far higher per calorie than those from pork. Professor Paul Fischbeck, one of the report’s authors, said: “Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon.” Lettuce is more likely to perish before it…

WYEVALE GARDEN Centres, the UK’s biggest garden chain, reported a surge in the popularity of a poinsettia rival last month. In the week running-up to 25 December, the Christmas cactus was showing sales growth of 60 per cent on the previous year. Mairi Devlin, category manager for Wyevale, said that they had raised the standard of their plants this year. She said: “We sourced a grower who selected the broadest range of colours now available to date, from dark fuchsia-pinks to white. “The last week before Christmas saw a huge peak in sales,” she added. Christmas cactus (epiphyllum) is sourced from Mexico, and should not be confused with its close relative, the so-called Easter cactus (schlumbergera), which is sourced from Brazil. Mairi added: “The Christmas cactus is certainly making its…

Write to: Jenny Bagshaw, Amateur Gardening, Westover House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1JG or email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com Plant hunters not plum crumbles! I WAS pleased to read in AG News (19/26 Dec) that Gardeners’ World had topped the list in your competition to find the TV Gardening Series of the Year 2015 as voted for by AG readers. I’d like to add a mention too of Monty Don’s mini-series The Secret History of the British Garden which I found fascinating. We gardeners plant, grow and enjoy our fruit, vegetables and flowers without a thought to their origins. I believe the Romans were responsible for many introductions, as were the Victorian plant…

WHETHER YOU think of it as a back-breaking chore or a chance to improve your physical fitness, digging is very much a part of gardening. And when it comes to turning soil, the spade is the tool for the job. Of course it can be made a lot easier by using the ‘right’ spade, which is why it always pays to get a feel for it instore rather than simply opting for one that looks like it’ll fit the bill. Choose a spade that is a suitable length for your height and a weight that is appropriate to your physical ability as well as the conditions of the soil you work with. It goes without saying that a spade needs to be strong but it should also be comfortable. Grip…

THERE’S A robin that visits my shed, as he knows I keep a pot of mealworm grubs under the potting bench. Normally he pops by to collect his tithe and disappears but recently his avian instincts have changed and if he does leave it’s only to scare other birds and all-comers from his territory. I won’t pretend that I speak ‘Robin’ (I can’t even speak French!) but recently his chirping has taken on a very obnoxious tone, and he now shows little or no interest in the mealworms Whenever I’m about he flutters for attention, hopping from pot-to-pot, while delivering a constant diatribe of tweets. Now I know what you’re thinking… this elaborate performance could be an effort to tell me that a boy called Timmy is stuck down a…

AS THIS week’s AG is themed around greenhouses, I look at the practicalities of installing one in your garden, and suggest some of the many alternatives that can be used if you don’t have the space for a full-sized one. This is the time when greenhouses come into their own, and give gardeners and plants a headstart for the growing season. Sow seeds now, undercover, and you should have colour, and crops, earlier than if you’d waited until later in the year. Read on to find out more... Happy gardening!…

SOME, LIKE AG editor Tim, like it hot and are avid growers of chilies. I am not such an ardent fan, but I do like the plants, with their elegant leaves, pretty white flowers, and attractive fiery fruits that – used carefully – add just the right amount of zing to cooking. Chillies and peppers are members of the capsicum family, and originate from South America. They do best grown under glass in our cooler climate, although some varieties will perform reasonably outside in the summer, if kept in a warm, sheltered spot. After sowing, keep them somewhere warm and light. Don’t allow the compost to dry out, and don’t over-water. When seedlings have developed five pairs of leaves, move them into 3in (7cm) pots. Popular types of chillies CHILLIES…

“Soil needs to be fertile and well-drained” AFTER YEARS of glut and famine from the two pear trees in our previous garden, my other half Dave suggested that a short row of cordons would be better on our new site. Pears are fussier to grow than apples, and training them as cordons (single stems) makes room for several different varieties, helping to overcome some of the problems. Pears need a sunny, sheltered spot and low lying areas should be avoided because their early blossom can be damaged by lingering frost. I’ve trained my cordons on posts and wires at the top of a slope, but you could grow them against a sunny wall or fence for extra warmth. Cordons are also easy to cover with fleece on cold spring nights.…

• Sow onion, chilli and aubergine seeds if you haven’t already done so. All of these crops perform best given a long growing period. • Sow onions on the surface of a seed tray filled with good, moist seed and cuttings compost. Sow thinly, spacing seeds about 1in (5cm) apart then cover lightly with sieved compost. Label, then put the tray in a heated propagator. Some growers cover the propagator as it is thought onions germinate best in the dark – but it’s not essential. • Sow six chilli seeds, evenly spaced over the surface of a 3in (7cm) pot filled with good multipurpose compost that’s been watered and allowed to drain. Cover seeds with a sprinkling of vermiculite or sieved compost, label the pot and place it in a…

Q I didn’t lift my gladioli corms last autumn. What are the chances they will come back this year – and is it too early to buy new ones? Geoff Pinkerton, Ipswich, Suffolk A The overwintering of many bulbs, including gladioli, depends on the soil type, drainage and how cold your garden is. On wet, heavy soils in areas that get a lot of frost, gladioli may not come back. Mix grit into heavy soils at planting can help to improve drainage. On my light well-drained soil, I am successful at overwintering the species gladioli, but not always the cultivars. I also find that those that do overwinter often are damaged or grazed by slugs. Controlling slugs early in the season will help prevent this problem!…

“Pinch out growing tips to prevent flowering” AN EXTENSIVE trial of superbly grown summer flowering plants raised from seeds and vegetatively from cuttings can be seen at leading plant wholesale company, Ball Colegrave. Every summer they ask each of their thousands of trial ground visitors to mark with a blue flag the plant they vote the best. Last year, remarkably, top of the poll among horticultural tradespeople and the general public proved to be Coleus ‘Campfire’. I say remarkably because it is grown for bright orange leaf colour rather than flowers, and coleus is a plant which waxes and wanes in popularity. These burning flame-coloured nettles were widely grown both from seeds and named cultivars from cuttings in Victorian times. Widely grown on windowsills, they’re regular sellers on fundraising plant…

SOGGY DECEMBER December 2015 was the wettest since records began in 1910, with 230mm of rainfall, according to provisional figures from the Met Office. NATIVE TREES Barcham Trees has launched a range of 13 native British trees grown from “selected veteran specimen trees”. Go to barcham.co.uk for details. BUTTERFLIES IN DANGER More than three quarters of Britain’s butterfly species have suffered a drop in numbers in the last 40 years, a conservation study has revealed. GLASSHOUSE APPROVED New facilities to care for rare plants will take root at Scotland’s Inverewe Garden at Poolewe. They include a £530k glasshouse (pictured, left). TULIP-PLANTING Before Christmas, 30 gardeners at the Eden Project in Cornwall planted almost 30,000 tulip bulbs in just 10 hours in the Mediterranean Biome.…

“Membership dwindled in recent years” AFTER ALMOST a century of sharing their gardening knowhow, members of a Suffolk horticultural society have been forced to hang up their gardening forks for good. Sudbury and District Horticultural Society, which started life as the Sudbury Garden Club and is affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society, has been going since it was founded in 1920. ALLOTMENTS But at the society’s annual general meeting last month, chairman John Middleditch threw in the trowel after failing to persuade members to take on the leading roles on the committee. Despite a surge in people applying for allotments, membership of the society has fallen from 150 in 1987 to just 25 members now. Every year, the society had staged autumn shows that attracted gardeners from Suffolk, Essex and…

FLOWERING FROM November into March, this hand-selected mix of shrubs has been chosen for their sensational winter floral displays and easy to grow habits. The days may be short, dark and often cold and miserable, but this assortment will provide ample colour, interest, structure and, most of all, fragrance to help tempt you out into the winter garden. Supplied in 9cm pots. OFFER 1 Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ Featuring sparkling slender spikes of acid yellow, deliciously scented flowers until March, followed by purple berries that are a big hit with feathered friends, this evergreen shrub’s spiky leaves provide a myriad of eye-catching colours. Height & spread: 8ft (2.5m). OFFER 2 Viburnum farreri ‘Candidissimum’ Appearing through bronzed and autumn-blushed foliage, the stems…

Bob says that for better crops, less really is more WHAT WOULD you say is the most common cause of poor performance of a vegetable or flower crop? Bad soil preparation? Not enough fertiliser? Insufficient water? No, I think it’s overcrowding. The tendency is to sow far too thickly. And then to leave thinning the resulting crowd until far too long after the little seedlings emerge. Years ago, the original John Innes research centre found that tomato crops were reduced when young seedlings were crowded at just a week or two old. The damage comes from the slightest check, and lots of other seedlings competing is among the worst checks. Thus the value of those multi-cell trays where each seed is sown in an individual ‘pot’ – each seedling grows…

OUTBACK OMEGA 200 CHARCOAL BBQ GRILL £119DELIVERY INCLUDED 01298 213134 outbackdirect.co.uk Throw another shrimp on the barbie! This little beauty includes a chrome grill, tons of table space, an easy-clean porcelain-coated finish, air vent control and a warming rack. BLACK GUM £19+ £10 DELIVERY 01905 888098 hardy-eucalyptus. co.uk Eucalyptus aggregata (the black gum) is a hardy Aussie evergreen that suits the British garden or rural setting with its light, airy habit. Relatively fast growing up to 66ft (20m) in height. CLIMBING KOALA £23.95+£4.95 DELIVERY 0121 355 7701 gardensite.co.uk Say G’day to this hand-painted resin koala. Clinging to his own branch he’s ready to hang in any tree (eucalyptus is most appropriate!). Height 13in (33cm) x width 7in (19cm), weighs 2lb 3oz (1kg).…