Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2019 i BBC Gardeners' World

Read us on the go Keep up to date while on the move with our digital edition, made for iPhone and iPad. You’ll find extra content plus videos from Monty and the team, and access to the subscriber-only Secret Garden area of our website. From £3.49 per issue. See bit.ly/GW-digital Growing for health Discover more ways to garden with your health in mind, through our extra online projects and ideas that link to our feature on p53. Go to gardenersworld.com/gyh GW plants for pots Meet our July collection of container plants, chosen by the magazine editors for readers who love pots with impact. Find out more about our exclusive range by turning to p69. Lose yourself in roses Love to grow a rose but unsure what to plant? Puzzled over…

Hardy heroes I share Graham Rice’s enthusiasm for hardy geraniums (Expert’s choice, June issue) and have many different varieties growing in my borders, pots and alpine beds. However, I think Graham missed another reason to grow them – slugs and snails ignore them, which is a real advantage in any garden, but especially one with the damp areas and old stone walls beloved of these pests. Nicola Smith, Yorkshire Beware of euphorbia sap While reading your May magazine on Bank Holiday Monday, the first feature (We Love May) suggested planting Euphorbia characias wulfenii ‘Lambrook Gold’. On the previous Saturday, I cut some stems from my Euphorbia oblongata (heeding horticultural advice to wear gloves) when I felt some sap spurt into my eye. I went to A&E, where I was told…

Get your card You can buy your 2 for 1 Entry Card & Guide, or extra copies for your friends and family to use, at magsdirect.co.uk/ GWMay19 (subscribers: go to bit.ly/subscriber-club-discount to discover your £1 discount code) 1 Riverhill Himalayan Gardens Riverhill House, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0RR These gardens are built to create a memorable adventure for the whole family. Whether it be exploring the hedge maze, scaling ‘Little Everest’ to enjoy the remarkable views, or attempting to spot the elusive Riverhill yeti, there is plenty to delight children and adults alike. It also houses a spectacular collection of historic azaleas and rhododendrons. Open 22 Mar-27 Oct, Wed-Sun & bank hols, 10.30am-5pm. Saving £9. Tel: 01732 459777, riverhillgardens.co.uk 2 RBG, Kew Kew, Richmond, London, TW9 3AB New for 2019 at Royal Botanic…

Summer is in full fling and if, like me, you want to get outside and enjoy your garden, then this sophisticated blend of pinks and white will give you colour and scent for several months. To give the scheme a modern twist, I’ve used a black metal pot, with holes drilled in the bottom, to show off the colours. This is an airy, naturalistic composition that will suit a sunny position and is perfect for pollinators. The highlight is Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’, which has scented leaves and a beautiful contrast between the purple calyx and the shocking lipstick-pink flowers. The ornamental grasses add graceful movement, and for mass there is marjoram with its tiny aromatic leaves, and flowers that are adored by pollinators. A triumphant mix of plants for…

1. Lathyrus odoratus If there is one plant whose scent establishes that summer days are here, it is the sweet pea. The delicate flowers in a host of enchanting colours twist their way up supports to nose height to give off their heady fragrance. Be sure to cut plenty for vases indoors, as this will encourage the plant to produce more flowers. Flowers Jun-Sep Height x Spread 1.5m x 1m 2. Erysimum Definitely a daytime diva, wallflowers are among the easiest plants to grow, yet reward us gardeners with showbiz scent and velvety flowers. A bed full of their gloriously coloured flowers can be smelt from far away. Now is the time to sow their seeds for next year’s scentathon. FMar-May HxS30cm x 30cm 3.…

BURNING CALORIES Digging and raking are strenuous activities that will raise your heart rate and burn more calories. Where possible, always try to use manual tools – don’t use ones that automate processes (like robotic mowers). STRENGTHENING YOUR CORE To strengthen your core, try hoeing, strimming, digging with a fork, or turning compost. MAKING IT ROUTINE Focus on gardening tasks that you find enjoyable so you keep coming back to them. Fitness needs to be long-term to have benefits. Regular exercise is the key to having a healthy body and mind. PACING YOURSELF Work up to taking on more strenuous tasks in the garden gradually. Wear the right clothes and collaborate with others. TARGETING SPECIFIC MUSCLES Weeding is good for your back and if you’re squatting that will strengthen the…

Our exciting projects will give kids plenty to do in the garden this summer. These simple ideas will bring wildlife into the garden and add a splash of colour. Pre-school and primary children will love seeing butterflies visiting their homemade feeder – get them to keep track of the different butterflies they see and take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count. And children of all ages can help make a colourful container that will bring a boost of colour to your patio as well as provide food for bees. Butterfly fizzy pop This sugary drink is a great way to attract butterflies into the garden by giving them a little place to rest and have a drink – and is perfect for bringing them back, again and again. Butterflies…

Statement container An oversized pot or planter is a great way to freshen up and add a focal point to a patio. Rather than cluster together lots of small, high-maintenance, planted pots, just opt for a big one. Plant up with colourful and affordable summer bedding or try the florist’s proportioning technique of planting – simply choose a central specimen that is twice the height of the pot – in other words, if the pot is 50cm high choose a 1m plant to go in it. Think dramatic and go for something with mature foliage, such as a palm. Smarten up your furniture Outdoor furniture can start to look tired after a few seasons. Bring it back to life with a rub down with sandpaper to remove old stains, paint,…

Woody plants need the attention of your secateurs in midsummer, particularly those that finished blooming earlier in the year. And, of course, roses will need deadheading, too. DEUTZIA Can make vigorous new stems after blooming in late May, so cut 3-5 of the thickest old stems to the base, and remove weak growth. RHODODENDRONS Deadhead, snipping back to just above a leaf. On old plants, thin out 2-3 branches in the crown to improve air circulation. ROSES Now the first flush is over, cut back flowered shoots by a third to encourage strong new growth and more blooms. WEIGELA To avoid an ungainly, lax bush, remove stems that are too close together and cut out the tallest, oldest flowered stems.…

Prick out seedlings Prick out individually or put several in around the edge of a larger pot to make an instant clump. Handle the seedling by the leaves and plant firmly into new compost. Summer-sown perennials and biennials can be pricked out now if they have two leaves. They will then grow on quickly and develop into strong plants that can be put into the borders in the autumn. Keep the air flowing Fungal disease thrives in humid air so it is worth ventilating the greenhouse to get some air exchange, even though it will increase the plants’ need for water. Ventilation also reduces the extreme differences in day and night temperatures that add to plant stress. Automatic roof vents and side louvres are the best combination as when open,…

Greenhouse tomatoes are a rewarding crop to grow – the protected environment will ensure that at least some of them ripen, which cannot be said for those grown outdoors in an iffy summer! Picking your own ‘toms’ is one of the greatest delights of life and eating them in a salad or a sandwich within minutes of harvesting ensures topnotch flavour. Watering evenly will avoid blossom end rot (the black, sunken area on the underside of the fruit caused by compost drying out between waterings), and planting small-flowered tagetes (French marigolds) in the same compost as the tomato plants will help repel whitefly – the tomato’s greatest enemy. You will encounter relatively few problems provided you ventilate the greenhouse in warm weather and shade plants from scorching sunshine. ALAN’S TOP…

Modern life is seldom without its concerns and, when you’re on holiday, the last thing you need whirring around in the back of your mind is the worry of returning home to dead plants and a wreck of a garden. Most of the potential problems revolve around drought or the fact that plants keep growing when you’re not there, but a few simple tasks will get your garden prepared. Move pots to a shadier area and stand them in saucers to collect water, or set up an automatic irrigation system with drip lines. Avoid planting new plants before going away as they will struggle to establish if the ground is dry, but if that’s unavoidable make sure you water well around the plants and apply an organic mulch about 10cm…

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Though it originally hails from more southerly parts of Europe, lavender has been cultivated in England since the 1500s. Surrey, Hertfordshire, and even Yorkshire, became important centres for its cultivation, with it becoming used as flavouring and perfume, and even antiseptic. Such was the quality of English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) that it commanded a large premium over lavender from other sources – it’s believed to produce the best oil. Between the two world wars, urban development and disease took its toll on the lavender fields, but recent decades have seen a revival, with lavender farms now flourishing in many parts of the country. Easy to grow, lavender thrives in sunny sites and free-draining soil, but annual pruning is essential to prevent the plants becoming straggly. Prune hard every spring, or…

With regard to the question of flea treatments for pets (Clippings, May issue), our dog is given a monthly tablet to prevent fleas which we obtain from our veterinary practice. Therefore, there is no need for an external spot-on treatment. Elizabeth Kirk, Northumberland A recent edition of GW Magazine carried a feature about veterinary flea medicines and the potential for environmental risk. Before being approved by independent regulatory authorities, veterinary medicines undergo an Environmental Risk Assessment that establishes if the product poses any environmental safety risks. If a veterinary medicine is likely to have an unacceptable impact on the environment it will not be approved for use. The essential role these veterinary medicines play in maintaining animal health and welfare should be borne in mind. Donal Murphy, National Office of…

1 SMART GARDENING 71% of British gardeners say the smart technology they most want is a plant sensor that reads soil moisture, light and fertiliser levels, then generates alerts to a phone or computer* . 2 BEE GOOD ‘Don’t Step On A Bee Day’ takes place on 10 July. Watch out for bees on the ground and plant nectar-rich flowers to feed our friends. beegood.co.uk 3 HOT BIN Awarded Product Of The Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year, the compact Hotbin Mini Composter, £150, takes all forms of food, including meat, and makes compost in 30-90 days. hotbincomposting.com 4 100 YEARS The 100th Royal Welsh Show opens on 22 July with the naming of a new sweet pea at 2pm in the Marquee. bit.ly/ royal-welsh-show 5 LAGER…

Continuing our subscriber-only competitions, this month we’ve teamed up with Makita to give you the chance to win a set of battery-operated tools that will help make gardening easier, so you can spend more time enjoying your space. For over a decade, Makita has led the way in supplying Li-ion battery-operated power tools to the construction and grounds maintenance sectors, and now it is bringing that knowledge to help domestic gardeners. Li-ion battery-powered tools are lighter and more comfortable to use, produce less vibration and, compared with petrol-powered products, are quieter and emit no exhaust gases – which is good for your health and the environment. And with no trailing leads, you’ll have cordless freedom wherever and whenever you need it. 1ST PRIZE includes: lawn mower, line trimmer, hedgetrimmer, blower,…

Research shows there has been an alarming decline in pollinating insects like bees and hoverflies. One in every three mouthfuls of food we eat relies on pollination, and us gardeners know we should do our bit to help – together we can make a huge difference. With that in mind, this small border has been designed with two main aims: to attract lots of pollinating insects into the garden and to look great all summer. It’s designed as a stand-alone border, measuring 2m x 1m, but it could be adapted to work in spaces of all shapes and sizes. The palette could be easily scaled up to work in a larger space by simply increasing the numbers of each plant, adding a few more varieties, or woven loosely into an…

1. Phlox (pictured on previous page) All phlox has scent, and while there is a light fragrance during the day, it is evening when its scent fills the air. Phlox is a tolerant border plant, appreciating fertile soil. There are alpine varieties and ones that can be grown in pots. FMay-Oct HxS10cm-1m x 30cm-1.5m 2. Lonicera periclymenum (pictured on previous page) Our native honeysuckle loves dappled shade and its scent is divine, sweet with a touch of nutmeg and perhaps pepper. Hold it to your nose to enjoy it during the day, but at night there’s no need as its scent carries in the air. F Jul-Oct HxS7m x 2m 3. Jasminum officinale If you want to close your eyes and be transported to…

Cooking and eating outdoors is one of the joys of summer and while charcoal barbecues are often the traditional choice, gas models are increasingly popular for those who just want to get on swiftly and cook. A good gas barbecue can transform your summer entertaining, heating up quickly and maintaining an even temperature to produce tasty food. Pick the wrong one though, and you could be tussling with something that’s hard to build, tricky to cook on and leaves you with charred, undercooked food. There’s a huge range on the market, with prices varying from as little as £50 to well over £1,000. But does price reflect the quality of the product and, most importantly, the quality of the food on the plate? We joined forces with our colleagues at…

Best value model: Wilko 2 Burner A sturdy, simple and efficiently designed barbecue that heats up almost instantly, and cooks food evenly, consistently and as well as any higher-priced competitor. Excellent value. Best premium model: Napoleon Rogue 365 Well-designed barbecue made with high-quality materials, this has an impressive appearance and sturdy build, and is a good height for our medium-height testers. It heats up quickly, retains heat well and cooks food evenly and consistently. Best model for the expert: Weber Genesis II LX S-240 Impressive if imposing model. Well designed and comes almost pre-built so that you can start grilling straight away. Cooks food evenly and with great control. It also comes with a handy meat thermometer system.…

‘Tis the season for socialising al fresco, but all too often we gardeners tend to focus on the plants, rather than our main entertaining space – the patio. Put that right this summer with a few simple, quick fixes that – even on a limited budget, and with little time to spare – can quickly transform a tired terrace or paltry patio into an alluring outdoor room, ready to welcome your friends and family. Patio in the spotlight This outdoor space feels like a room, thanks to it being framed by wooden balustrades and topped with a pergola. This simple-to-construct ‘frame’ around the patio lends a sense of security and comfort to the space while providing growing places for climbing plants. The pergola and balustrades also have the bonus effect…

I love raspberries and have always considered them superior to all but the very best strawberries, which are almost impossible to buy and can be tricky to grow well. But raspberries are easy and reliable if they are given conditions they like. Unlike strawberries they are happiest in coolish, dampish summers and can happily fruit in some shade. The roots must be cool and not dry out, so a generous mulch in spring is vital, although they prefer free-draining soil, and when I was a child we grew them successfully on almost pure chalk. Summer-fruiting ones produce their crop on the canes that were formed the previous summer, so by July there are plenty of new green canes with no fruit at all and last year’s brown ones, which will…

Automatic watering Be super-efficient with the amount of water you use in the garden by using an irrigation system. They are easier than you would think and now is an ideal time to install one as temperatures peak. The best ones water the soil and therefore the roots rather than spray the leaves. The most sustainable systems are connected to rainwater butts, but you’ll need to fit a pump to achieve a similar pressure to a mains tap. Set it to water at the time intervals required: containers and vegetable crops for 30 minutes every day, borders for a similar time but just once a week. Some systems come with a sensor that monitors the soil’s moisture content and waters when it is needed, and some can be controlled remotely…

STEP BY STEP Start a wildlife hedge from cuttings A hedge of mixed species creates a valuable feature for wildlife to shelter and feed in. Cuttings taken now will root outside in a frame over the summer and put on enough growth next year to be planted the following autumn. Root plenty of cuttings to ensure you get a strong impenetrable hedge – and to allow for a few failures. 1 CHOOSE a mix of native shrubs such as dogwood, spindle, hawthorn, dog and guelder rose. One plant of each will make several cuttings. Use plants already in your garden, ask your neighbours or look for discounted shrubs to buy. 2 CUT the strongest shoots of this season’s growth and immediately put them in a polythene bag to protect them…

What a time to have a veg patch. The whole garden is one big riot of flowers and fruits, and I hardly know what to pick first. However packed your plot, though, there’s always room for more. Right now every inch of bare soil is a planting opportunity for the new wave of crops that will see my family of four through autumn into winter. Whether you’re re-stocking or starting from scratch, join me in the garden to find out how to reboot your patch with late-season veg sown now. Then get your trugs ready for next month, when we’ll be making the most of harvest time. Why start now? Nature hates a vacuum and quickly fills any bare patches with weeds if you don’t get there first. So, packing…

• Water is a chemical needed in its own right, but it is also the solvent in which nutrients are dissolved. • When a plant loses more water through its leaves (from transpiration) than it can absorb through its roots, leaf dullness is followed by wilting. • Transpiration occurs when plants open their pores in order to take in carbon dioxide, which is is needed for photosynthesis. • Plants can recover from wilted, soft leaves if they become dehydrated. Once they start to become crispy, however, they have passed their ‘permanent wilting point’ and should be cut back and the roots soaked generously and given time to recover. • Scorch damages greenhouse plants when hot sun ‘burns’ the leaves or fruits, resulting in brown patches. Ventilation and shading reduce the…

Anne Swithinbank A keen fruit, vegetable and houseplant grower, Anne was formerly the glasshouse supervisor at RHS Garden Wisley. Bob Flowerdew Bob is an organic gardener and a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. Matthew Wilson Garden designer Matthew was curator of RHS Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr, and often appears on television. Q How can we stop bees burrowing all over our lawn? Trevor and Lynne Hodder, by email A BOB SAYS I realise you must feel under siege, especially as the bees are also coming into your house, but without any effort you have developed a wonderful bit of ecology in your garden, which would be tragic to disturb. These are solitary bees, probably the Andrena species as you noted them burrowing, and this sort…

The giddy escapism of holidays ripples through July – regardless of how many years it’s been since you last heard that school bell chime for summer! It’s rooted in us, and with it, comes the irresistible urge to escape outside, into a green space for eating, entertaining, relaxing, and living outdoors – like the best holidays when we were kids. Outdoor living can seem just a dream to so many, tied to long hours in work or juggling family life. But when we planned this issue back in the depths of last winter, we knew the good mood that a summer garden can put you in, when it’s the only place you want to be. So we set out to make outdoor living an easy reality for everyone, and to…

I am often asked – usually before the start of the flower shows in spring – what are the ‘trends’ or new fashions in gardening. As if I would know! (I don’t get out much). I can tell you a lot about Longmeadow and quite a lot about a number of gardens around the world but zilch about the horticultural fashions of the day. I do, however, go to the shows and inevitably start to see trends, or at least changes, but only with hindsight because they are measured by how they differ from what came before. Sometimes this can be dramatic. For example, somebody pointed out that at last year’s Chelsea there was a distinct dry, drought-tolerant theme, whereas this year we all noticed a tendency towards woodland, shade…

Here I am, on the right of your page, in the middle of my garden, in summer, planting some exquisitely scented nicotiana plants into a large container. The heady perfume of a rose wafts from my right. I wish you could experience how wonderful, how delicious the perfume is that these plants are exuding. But this is a shortcoming of gardening magazines. You cannot close your eyes and enjoy the sweet scent carried in the air, nor can you touch the coarse leaves of the nicotiana. You can see colour or sense texture from the images in front of you; our talented photographers can give you a sense of scale, a visual understanding of design. But no one can pass on to you the innumerable scents that each garden contains…

Two-thirds of UK adults and approximately a third of children aged two to 15 are overweight or obese, according to the latest Health Survey for England by NHS Digital. Meanwhile, falls among older people are common; around one in three adults over 65 who live at home will have at least one fall a year, according to the NHS. Most do not result in serious injury but can lead, in some cases, to broken bones and a loss of confidence. The increase in strength and body confidence that gardening brings can reduce the instance of falls. Physical exercise and getting outdoors, while not an elixir for the many public health problems facing the UK, can have a huge impact on physical and mental health. Gardening is a good way of…

Ebullient chef and television personality Rosemary Shrager is a force of nature. Six years ago, at an age when many would think about retiring, she moved from Yorkshire to a picturesque East Sussex town and set up her cookery school nearby. At the same time, Rosemary’s television career was going from strength to strength – with appearances in a number of popular series, including The Real Marigold Hotel. Yet she somehow still found enough energy to transform the small and overgrown garden of her new home into a foodie’s haven. Entered via a nondescript gate between two shops on the high street, down a narrow passageway shaded by high walls, this miniature Eden is an unexpected delight. In a space that occupies barely 10 by 12 metres, there are fan-trained…

• Assembly Gas barbecues need to be assembled before you can use them. Specialist dealers and some shops offer a build service at an additional cost, but most models take one to two hours to put together yourself. Cheaper brands usually need more assembly and higher-end barbecues often come in large, even huge boxes that are hard to move once delivered. • Quality and stability of construction A barbecue needs to feel safe and secure when you’re cooking on it, and the larger, more expensive models tend to feel more robust and stable than cheaper brands. However, they can be difficult to move from their spot on the patio once set up, while smaller, lighter models are easy to wheel out of the shed just in time for summer. •…

Deadhead bedding Pinch out flowers that have started to fade, by hand. Spend 10 minutes every day enjoying this bit of light gardening – it’s a great time to reflect and you’ll really notice the difference. Bedding plants normally flower right through the summer, but they’ll do far better and look much tidier if you take time to deadhead them, otherwise some plants will just stop flowering and go to seed. Plan your watering Prioritise the plants that need water most as it’s a precious resource. Containers should be watered almost every day – even when it rains, the water will drop off the leaves with little reaching the roots. The most efficient way to water is to take off the rose on the watering can and direct all the…

Harvest your summer veg The midsummer harvest can be overwhelming but it’s vital to keep picking vegetables to stop them going to seed. Leafy salads, herbs and spinach should be cut, then watered to keep them in growth – if allowed to dry out, they will bolt and make the remaining leaves unusable. Dig up potatoes as you need them. Pick tomatoes and courgettes so they bear new fruit. Harvest beans and peas daily – even hardened and inedible pods should be snipped off and discarded. This will stimulate new flowers and more fresh pods for later on. Use up gluts by making chutney, and sauces and soups for freezing. Thin apples Reduce the number of small fruits per cluster down to one or two to improve the size and…

Beechgrove’s greenhouses and polytunnels are essential for growing in this region, but pests can thrive in the warm conditions. Close observation when watering, is part of our routine. Stunted shoot tips and white moult casts are signs of aphids. Caught early, we’ve gained control by carefully blasting them off with a hose. We clean the greenhouses annually and keep the floors weed free as weeds can host and hide pests. We find aphids strike sickly plants harder than their healthier neighbours, and if spraying with veg-friendly insecticide proves ineffective, these plants are disposed of to avoid infesting others.…

Small Space Gardening Make the most of your outside space, whatever the size, with our inspiring 132-page special edition. Full of easy to follow projects and packed with creative ideas and space-saving solutions, this guide will help you conquer the challenges of a small space with clever tricks to help you get the best from your plot. Only £6.99 incl. P&P at magsdirect.co.uk/GWsmallspace18 Your Pruning Year Perfect your pruning technique with this 132-page comprehensive guide to pruning through the year – helping you make the right cuts to get the best from your plants. Includes which plants to prune when, step-by-step guides, troubleshooting, tools and techniques and much more. Only £6.99 incl. P&P at magsdirect.co.uk/gwpruningyr19 Complete Guide to Bulbs Create impact in your garden with Complete Guide to Bulbs. Designed…

When I was a small boy and my mother needed my sister and me to let off steam, we went to a small playground by the River Wharfe in Ilkley. It comprised a row of swings, a slide and a seesaw, all safely contained within a square of tarmac. That was it. Our interest would last a good five minutes before we went off in search of the greater delights to be found on the riverbank – willow wands that could be turned into fishing rods (they never caught anything, but then a bent pin and a worm proved singularly unappealing to the native brown trout). We had greater good fortune fishing with a net for minnows, bullheads and the cunningly elusive catfish, which would be kept in a jam…