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PRABCETSICT ADVICEAL SINCE 1884 19 JUNE 2021

Smart ways to get a better tomato crop How to grow quick, reliable and nutritious beetroot

Great ideas for the best summer containers Plants to partner roses

Wildlife Create a haven for

Best plants to encourage bees and butterflies Top tips for growing citrus fruit

137 years of practical advice

1884 The World’s Oldest Gardening Magazine 2021

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Jobs for this week

* 4 How to add more colour

5 8 10 12

Plant a pot of bedding Get your greenhouse up to date Natural pest control How to sow your free pansy seeds/ Butterfly watch: the comma

Great garden ideas

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“Make your garden a wildlife haven with nectar-rich plants,” says Hazel

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“Plant a container of bedding for more colour,” says Ruth

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“I’ll show you how you can grow citrus fruit,” says Graham

“No more dried leaves – here’s how to create a herbal tea garden,” says Anne

Cover: Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Velouette’ (pic: Alamy)

26 Create your own tea garden: how to get a truly fresh herbal infusion 30 Nectar-rich beds and baskets: best plants to create a wildlife haven 34 Time to try citrus: top tips for limes, grapefruit, oranges and lemons

Gardening wisdom 14 16 19 21 39 47 50 52 56 61 67

Peter Seabrook Bob Flowerdew Val Bourne Wildlife Lucy Chamberlain’s Fruit and Veg Ask John Negus A Gardener’s Miscellany All Our Yesterdays Advanced Gardening Anne Swithinbank’s Masterclass Letters to Wendy: from AG readers Toby Buckland

Garden news 7 Have your say on garden waste Reader offers

24 Save £17.99 on garden-ready plants “Gardening can be an extremely emotional experience. You get an amazing sense of achievement when things go right, but a numbing sense of failure when things go wrong. I think our emotions are heightened by the long gap between planting and the end result. The other day I hit one of those highs when I spied a dahlia poking its leaves through a woodchip mulch. Last year I decided to leave my dahlia tubers in the soil and not dig them up. It was a risk, but I mulched heavily – and waited and waited. We’d had frost and snow in April, and I thought the game was up. Then, at the end of May, eureka! And I still can’t stop talking about it!”

Garry Coward-Williams, Editor

Contact us: Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 Editorial: 0330 3903732 Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Advertising: 0330 3906566 19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 3

Gardening Week with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Your

Step by step

Aftercare in the bed Nurture your plants

Watering using a bottle dripper

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Good health starts at planting time. Give your plants plenty of space as they will soon grow to fill it, and they need light and good airflow to grow well.

For an easy eye-catching pop of colour, plant a mix of bedding plants in a pot or basket

Jewels of the summertime It’s (almost) never too late to add more colour, says Ruth 2

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F you haven’t got round to planting plants. A bunch of scented stocks your bedding, don’t panic, as there potted up and placed in a seating area is still plenty of time and lots of will perfume the air wonderfully. choice available.

If you have already done your In fact, the variety is so wide it can be bedding planting, it will need steady quite overwhelming, if you also include nurturing to keep it at its colourful best perennials such as dahlias and cannas, all summer and right through until the lavenders and pelargoniums, as well as first frosts. foliage plants and even edible varieties.

Many varieties are prone to pests (we Trailing herbs and tomatoes grow have annoyingly lost a lot of lupins and brilliantly in containers. Their scent delphiniums to slugs). If set too adds so much to a warm close together, plants can be Creating a scented summer evening, and I have beset by fungal problems ‘stock pot’ even added ‘Cavolo Nero’ such as powdery mildew, kale to a pot as a dark and especially in ongoing dry striking foil for the more conditions when their colourful plants! roots are neglected and I also like to gasping for a drink. intersperse bedding with The good thing about grasses and interesting bedding, though, is that plants bred for their foliage, plants are relatively cheap to as they provide a cool contrast replace, so if gaps do develop to the colourful flowers. Silver-leaved due to the work of pests and other plants including cineraria and the problems, you can pop in a few more perennial stachys (lamb’s ears) are without straining your purse, and let the choice performers. new flowers extend your colour scheme You can create a statement pot with for even longer. just one large healthy plant, such as a Basically, have fun and don’t accept rose, fuchsia, dahlia or cascading trailing any limits. Just have a go and let your begonia, or even a cluster of the same imagination roam free!

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Barrier protection works well against slugs. You should also encourage predatory insects to take care of aphids and other nasties.

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Water regularly during very dry spells and feed fortnightly with a liquid tomato fertiliser.

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Keep the flowers coming by deadheading regularly. At the same time, check for pest problems and remove any damaged foliage.

Summer cuts: There’s pruning to be done whatever the time of year, and next week I look at what you can cut back in midsummer and what you should leave alone.

Planting a pot of bedding A mix of colours and textured foliage will look wonderful

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Step by step

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Place baskets on pots somewhere sheltered in stormy weather

Tips for top pots Pots and baskets need constant care to stay healthy and thriving, but it’s worth it for a summer-long carnival of colour and scent.

Feeding and watering are key, as already stated, but if the compost is left to dry out, add a few drops of washing-up detergent when you next water, as it makes the compost easier to rehydrate.

Always raise pots on feet so excess water can run away.

Check for slugs and snails lurking around pot rims, and deadhead blooms as soon as flowers fade to encourage the plants to make more.

If summer storms are forecast, store your hanging baskets in the greenhouse or a sheltered porch until the worst passes. Stand them on a pot or bucket so trailing plants aren’t squashed.

Create a container raised from plug plants

Line the base of your pot with crocks to help drainage.

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Detergent makes re-wetting compost easier

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ONTAINERS and baskets are the perfect vehicles for the flamboyant shapes and colours of summer bedding.

We recommend using peat-free compost as it has enough climatefriendly goodness for a season’s growth.

However, it does work slightly differently to compost containing peat, so read the packaging carefully, and follow any feeding and watering instructions.

Plants in containers are tightly packed This combination of trailing begonias, and vying for food and water so you nasturtiums and lobelia makes a striking won’t do any harm by adding fertiliser summer feature granules (I use Growmore or Vitax Q4) to give the compost some extra nutrients. Once plants are growing well, around six weeks after planting, supplement this every 10-14 days with a liquid feed when watering. Tomato fertiliser or an organic product such as Don’t forget to water baskets PlantGrow will give plants the boost they need.

Plants in pots and containers also need plenty of watering, especially during dry spells, which can mean Raise your pots on feet so getting out your watering can twice a excess water can drain away day at peak times. Test the hydration of the compost by inserting a finger up to the first knuckle, and don’t wait until your you plant. Once activated, these swell, plants are wilting, as reviving afterwards hold and release moisture when the plants need it, though you still need to will just drain them of energy. keep a careful eye on the dryness of You can make watering easier by your compost. adding water-retaining crystals when

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Use peat-free compost and add some fertiliser. I used Growmore.

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Add some water-regulating crystals to help water retention.

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Start planting with a large central Add the low-growing and trailing Once your pot is raised on feet, focal plant, in this case Penstemon plants around the edges. Any gaps water it well and make sure the ‘Pensham Plum Jerkin’. will fill as the plants grow. compost stays hydrated all summer.

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Gardening News The latest stories from around the UK Your

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com

Rebecca Pow: “get to the nitty-gritty” Peat bogs will be restored in a multi-million pound scheme

The ban on peat Sales will be illegal post-2024

AG readers are being asked to take part in the Government’s consultation on garden-waste collections

THE Government is calling on AG readers to take part in a national survey to establish the future of garden-waste collections. The two relevant questions in the survey relate to what should be classified as ‘garden waste’, and whether householders with gardens would be interested in a ‘free minimum collection service for garden waste’.

Rebecca Pow MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), told AG she is keen for readers to take part as they are the key target audience the Government wants to reach.

Ms Pow, who used to write a column

saving’, which helps the environment, and the chance for local authorities to recycle green waste into compost, which can then be used by councils and local people instead of peat compost.

In May 2021 the Government announced that from 2024 it will be banning the sale of compost that contains peat to gardeners.

Raising our carbon saving Ms Pow added: “A nationwide garden-waste collection scheme would substantially raise our carbon saving to the level of removing around 176,000 cars off the road every year. The Government would cover the cost of the service to the local authorities and we are looking at a free household collection every fortnight.”

She added that the free limit would be 240 litres per household, which equates to one wheelie bin or large garden sack.

The Government is also keen to encourage more home composting, as Ms Pow says far too much garden waste tends to end up in landfill at the moment, for AG, said: “We did the first which she describes as “at the bottom consultation about garden waste in of the waste hierarchy”.

2019, and we are now on the second To take part in the garden-waste one and getting down to the real nitty- consultation, which closes at 23:59 on gritty of finance and the benefits.

Sunday 4 July 2021, go to  consult.

“Most households pay for their defra.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/ garden waste to be collected, and the consistency-in-household-and-businessaverage is £43 a year and we want to recycling and click on Proposal 7, which know whether the service could be free.” is the garden-waste classification page, The benefits of garden-waste then Proposal 8, which is the collectioncollection include an increased ‘carbon scheme proposal page.

“The Government would cover the cost of collections”

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Have your say on waste

AG readers asked to join garden waste consultation

THE Government has vowed to ban the sale of peat composts by 2024.

The move is part of the ambitious Tree and Peat Action Plans, which were drafted to support the Convention of Biological Diversity Climate Change Conference (COP26) being held later this year.

The aims include investing £21m between 2020 and 2025 to Peat compost support UK tree will be banned nurseries and treble the UK’s tree-planting.

More importantly for gardeners, the peat initiative includes the banning of retail peat compost by 2024 and ploughing millions into the restoration of 35,000 hectares of degraded peatlands in England over the next four years.

There’s an appetite for the peat ban This includes £2.7 million to be directed towards the Great North Bog in the north of the country, which covers vast areas of the Pennines, Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland.

Rebecca Pow, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DEFRA, said: “We want to phase out peat during the life of this parliament and we are trying to speed things up and move as quickly as we can. ”There is obviously an appetite for it so a part of this consultation will be setting a date for the banning of peat and investigating other ideas, such as introducing a point-of-sale charge on peat products when they are purchased, much in the same way as happened with carrier bags.”

Gardening Week with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Your

Feeding fuchsias and lilies with high-potassium tomato fertiliser so they will flower well outside

Using your meini greenhous

Wet the floor to lower temperatures

Eileen Foulkes’ brilliant idea to keep mini greenhouse flaps out of the way

Shading paint keeps the greenhouse cool

Greenhouse up to date After a delayed start, Ruth sorts her plants under glass

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PERFECT storm of a week’s holiday, a pulled back muscle and almost comically unseasonal spring weather means we have been playing ‘running to catch up’ in the greenhouse.

Mature plants that should have been moved out were still undercover and seedlings needing hardening off were also still waiting. I could almost hear them tapping their feet and tutting impatiently with every day that passed.

We have caught up a little, and the lemon tree and tender perennials have been moved out, with the seedlings relocated to the coldframe and mini greenhouse. Our tomatoes have been divided, with some staying under glass

and the rest going against a sunny wall.

Plants in the greenhouse need as much, if not more, care as those outside.

They experience higher temperatures and will dry out faster, and while they won’t be as vulnerable to as many pests, they won’t be immune.

Regulating the inside temperature is a key factor. Boost air flow and damp down the floor to keep things cool. Small pots of water placed among the plants boost humidity and help keep pests at bay, too (see page 9 for more pest controls).

Don’t forget shading, using wash-off shading paint, netting or fleece hooked up inside. Anything that lets in light while also diluting the hottest rays will keep plants unstressed and flourishing.

Beating blossom end rot

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n Every year AG readers ask how they can prevent their tomatoes from developing misshapen fruits with hard, blackened ends. n Blossom end rot is a condition caused by a lack of calcium. While it is rare for soil and composts to lack the mineral, it can’t be carried to all parts of the plants efficiently if they don’t receive enough water. n So while stems and leaves benefit, the fruits are left without. This is more likely in plants with confined roots, such as those in growbags and pots.

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Blossom end rot can’t be reversed, but it can be prevented with watering

n Make sure compost stays moist, even if you need to water twice daily during hot spells. Also, don’t overfeed. n Mulching after watering will help, as will planting in deeper pots of compost.

AG reader pegs a problem!

THE greenhouse isn’t the only structure that needs thinning out – our mini greenhouse is also bursting at the seams with large seedlings.

They have been in the mini greenhouse with the front raised for the past couple of weeks so are properly hardened off and ready to go out.

I prefer using the mini greenhouse to the coldframe for seedlings, especially ones with soft leaves such as Nicotiana sylvestris and hollyhocks, as raising them off the ground keeps them safer from slugs and snails.

My main issue with the structure this year has been Nicotianas ready the front flap, which you can roll to plant out up and tie to keep it out of the way.

But this isn’t totally satisfactory as the central tying ribbon means it droops down at either side.

So huge thanks to reader Eileen Foulkes from Manchester, who has passed on some brilliant advice.

She writes: ‘I make use of my mini greenhouse, as does Ruth, but I soon got fed up with rolling up the front panel and tying it with ribbon.

Large pegs do the job quickly.’ I am going to follow Eileen’s example, and will raid the peg bag!

What are your mini greenhouse tips you’d like to share? Send them to ruth.hayes@futurenet.com.

Gardening Week with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Your

I am using GroGreen Feed & Shine Roses on our roses this year Lily beetles demolish lily plants

I have found Grazers G4 very efficient at deterring lily beetles

G4 tested

Removing blackfly by hand

Pest control, naturally Chemicals aren’t the only way tackle pests, says Ruth

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UMMERTIME, and the living is easy if you are a garden pest, merrily chomping your way through new plant growth.

It is a constant battle to keep plants healthy and pest-free, but it can be won by consistent plant care and paying attention to what’s going on out there.

I prefer to avoid chemical sprays, instead using careful husbandry and harnessing the power of natural predators (including birds, hedgehogs, ground beetles and hoverflies) to keep plants strong.

On the rare occasions I do use chemicals I use organic sprays, such as the widely available Neudorff Bug Free or Vitax Plant Guard.

I also use some of the newly released plant invigorators, including rose and buxus sprays made by Westland and GroGreen. These supplement the feeding and watering regimes, and help keep plants robust and more able to fight off problems. Regular weeding is also important as it not only keeps borders tidy, but also removes hiding places where pests like to lurk.

If you do prefer to use synthetic chemicals, such as Resolva Bug Killer or Provanto Ultimate, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully.

Don’t spray plants indiscriminately and never use them on a windy day as the poison will be blown around the garden and will kill pollinators, which are

We put beetle deterrent to the test n Our two pots of lilies overwinter in the greenhouse and spend summer on the patio. n Each year they are beset by lily beetles, and each year I spray them with Grazers G4 deterrent to keep them safe. n I find it works excellently, while also keeping the beetles in the food chain for hungry birds. nThis year, to prove its efficacy, I plan to spray just one pot, leaving the other one unprotected. n It’s an unscientific test, but one that will hopefully prove conclusive. nIt will also hopefully demonstrate that you can protect plants by using something other than chemicals that not only remove pests, but also prove fatal to the insects we and the garden needs. These pollinators and predators include ladybirds, beetles, wasps and hoverflies. already under threat, and useful insect predators. Most importantly, never use any chemicals on flowering plants, which is where most insects are heading now.

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extent, protected from many pests, they have their own set of problems.

Dry air encourages greenhouse red spider mites, which suck plant sap, create webs, cause mottled leaves and weaken plants. Whitefly also suck sap and can spread disease, while tomato moth caterpillars chomp away at plants and fruits, and often go unseen until you spot their trails of droppings.

Biological controls work well under glass. They are parasites and predators that thrive in warmth and die off once

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exhausted their food supply.

Butterwort as a Encarsia formosa, a tiny wasp, will cull fly catcher! whitefly, and there are predatory mites that make short work of red spider mites.

Check tomato plants for caterpillars and pick off any you find.

Yellow sticky papers do a thorough Encarsia formosa keeps your job, but will also trap beneficial insects, greenhouse free of whitefly so I avoid them. I am, however, quite tempted by a carnivorous butterwort plant that ensnares small insects. in our houseplant compost! Visit  Placed indoors, I am hoping it will greengardener.co.uk or call ✆ 01493 make a meal of the fungus gnats lurking 750061 for biological controls.

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Controlling pests under glass and indoors WHILE greenhouse plants are, to some the temperature drops or they have

Gardening Week with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Your

Leaf spot is a common fungal issue affecting pansies and violas

‘Early Mixed’ pansies offer low-growing clumps of brilliantly cheery blooms in early spring

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Sow seeds thinly on damp compost

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F you have moved most of your seed trays of summer seedlings off your windowsills to harden off or plant out, you will have made room for more.

So why not fill those empty spaces

with this week’s free seeds, which guarantee a blast of long-lasting, early year colour?

Mr Fothergill’s ‘Early Mixed’ pansies flower in a rainbow of shades, the blooms having either solid colours or

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The colours of spring Sow pansies now for early brightness, says Ruth

Add a lid to retain moisture

blotched to bring variety and interest.

The flowers are large and showy, and the plants grow to a height of 6in (15cm), making them ideal for baskets, containers and the front of borders.

Although you can sow your pansies directly (they are hardy perennials, so can withstand the cold), you will get more reliable results undercover.

Scatter the seeds thinly over pots or trays of dampened seed compost, covering them with a little compost or vermiculite. Add a lid to the tray, or seal the pot in a clear plastic bag, and set the seeds on a warm, light windowsill.

Once the seedlings show through, remove the lid/bag and grow them on until they are large enough to transfer to individual pots.

If you would rather start them off in your borders, sow in soil that has been raked to a fine tilth and cleared of roots, stones and weeds.

In a few months’ time, harden off and plant your undercover pansies outside, avoiding areas where they (and violas) have been growing previously, as the soil may contain leaf-spot fungal spores.

ButterflyWatch: The comma (Polygonia c-album) The colourful comeback kid of the butterfly world

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in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire THIS week’s butterfly is a canny master of disguise, as an adult folding and Monmouthshire to almost its wings to resemble a battered old everywhere in the UK. The comma is sometimes described leaf, or as a larva hiding in plain sight as a ‘tatty tortoiseshell’ thanks to by looking like bird droppings. the scalloped edges of its The comma is also making wings. I prefer to think of it as a remarkable recovery after a slightly tattered Persian nearing extinction in the carpet, as its fiery colours 1800s, which was thought shine out magically to have been caused by a wherever it flies. reduction in hop farming, It gets its name from the that led to a sharp decrease The rich colours comma-shaped white marks on of its favoured caterpillar of a comma its underwing, and is usually found food plant. in woodland glades, though in late But over the past 50 years, the summer it will stray into gardens and butterfly has increasingly used nettles as its main larval host and has feast on nectar to build up strength for expanded its range from a few sites hibernating among fallen leaf litter.

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The caterpillar is eccentrically patterned, with predominantly black and orange markings and Caterpillar with ‘bird fearsome spines. It poo’ markings also carries white blotches at one end, making it look like bird droppings to passing predators, which will hopefully then leave it alone.

Once they have reached maturity, the caterpillars pupate in silver-spotted green pupae and, as in all stages of the lifecycle of a comma, these too are wonderfully disguised so they look like dying, withering leaves.

Ruth Hayes

Gardening Week with Peter Seabrook, AG’s classic gardening expert Your

Chelsea Flower Show Product of the Year winner Ally Mitchell with the flowerpots he makes from discarded ropes and nets from the fishing industry

Listen to Peter’s free podcast every Thursday. Search for ‘This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook’ on iTunes

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Last year’s Chelsea product winner, Vegepod, has upgraded its Vegebag so it has a longer life and is a useful way to protect patio crops from pest attack.

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Repurpose to help the planet 2 There is a positive effort to reuse material, says Peter

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“Flowerpots made from recycled polypropylene”

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3

Unwanted turf should be stacked upside down to rot down, and after sieving makes a useful container compost diluent.

4

Florists use an increasing amount of decorative raffia on flower presentations. When retained, soaked and split, it makes an excellent plant-tying material.

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HE judging of Chelsea Flower horror, at our throw-away society.

Show Product of the Year 2021 Product of the Year judging is always went ahead as usual last month, difficult because of the wide range of with the winner announced on entries. This year we had everything the virtual Chelsea output, but people from Twool’s Naked Twine (35 metres will have to wait until the September for £3) to the Gaze Burvill woodland Chelsea show to see all ten low oval table at £5,250, finalists’ products on display. beautifully designed and The judges were Deborah hand crafted from UK Meaden from the Dragons’ sweet chestnut .

Den TV programme, It was interesting to and Chris Harrop, group hear that Blue Diamond director of sustainability Garden Centres are and supply chain ethics at substituting UK-produced hard-landscape materials Dartmouth wool twine in Cosy Nests made from place company Marshalls plc. of imported jute, but it Dartmoor wool Both are committed was the box of Twool’s Cosy environmentalists and well equipped to Nests for Birds and Hedgehogs that judge this year’s theme ‘Sustainable caught my eye. It’s an astute by-product Garden Product of the Year’. use of the wool-spun garden tie.

I joined them in the judging and, as a This year’s winner is Ocean Plastic child of the 1940s, was brought up in an Pots’ offering of flowerpots and saucers age of make do and mend. I still find it made from reclaimed and recycled difficult to walk past a skip and look, in polypropylene discarded by the fishing industry. Former deep-sea diver Ally Mitchell made an uplifting case. Having seen first-hand the accumulation of plastics in the seas, he set about improving the situation. Where his pots are used to grow houseplants on the windowsill, they become a daily reminder of our need to recycle and make moves to live more sustainably.

When opening bags of compost, always cut carefully and cleanly along the top, so the bag can be reused. Alternatively, cut down three sides to get a useful rectangle of thick polythene.

Gardening Week with Bob Flowerdew, AG’s organic gardening expert Your

Bob’s top tips for the week

‘Boltardy’ is very tolerant of extremes in weather, which makes this beetroot ideal for early sowings and longer harvests

With monogerm beetroot varieties. such as ‘Moneta’, there is little or no need for thinning – good news for the time-poor

Beets are the best If you’re after quick, reliable crops that are high on taste

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and nutritional value, you can’t beat beetroot, says Bob

“They are so easy and reliable to grow”

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1

When watering, be careful not to splash the flowers of cucumbers, courgettes, marrows and squashes, as this will often start rots.

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Tie sweet potato vines off the ground as they will root anywhere they touch and divert energy from your crop.

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Thin fruits of big beefsteak-type tomato plants like ‘Marmande’ (pictured) to something achievable – say, one per truss, three per plant.

4

Since it’s Father’s Day, why not ask if there’s a job in the garden your dad’s been avoiding and then do it for him?

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O you remember Woolworths, was (and still is) so popular is due to it the chain that sold lots of small being so easy and reliable to grow. You household items? Among its just sow the seed (there are a number lines it sold packets of seeds of seeds in each husk, though you can and annually announced the largest veg now get ‘mono’ sorts with one or two number sold, which, if I remember seedlings) and then thin them. rightly, belonged to beetroot.

Then you just keep off the birds with a I found this odd, but on bit of bent chicken netting, scarers or examination it made sense. whatever. Birds just love the Other than birds eating their small leaves and will razor leaves, beetroot doesn’t these off. You might even suffer many problems. sow beets literally ‘for the Sure, they seldom do well birds’ if you did not want if overcrowded and may them for yourself. be miserable in poor, dry If you want decent soil. However, they are beets, though, don’t It’s important to thin easily grown to moderate forget to thin those multigerm beet size with little care and they seedlings, seedlings. Fortunately, you but you can are highly productive when can eat the thinnings (try fed and watered well. Also, in eat the thinnings! them stir fried) and the small the days before refrigeration, beetroot beets, from young and tiny until really crops stored for months (and years large, though eventually they will when boiled, peeled, sliced and get a bit fibrous. submerged in vinegar).

Try beet baked, especially the yellow I reckon the main reason beetroot ones. You can also eat their leaves as spinach, and there are even improved varieties. Chard has the same beet ancestor, bred to give thick, wide chunky stalks that can be stewed. Then there is sugar beet, a super-sweet white beet.

Most impressive of all are mangolds or mangels, which are giant beets for feeding stock. These have been grown to over 130lb (59kg). Beet that!

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Striking ‘Burpees Golden’ is a vibrant-yellow multigerm beet that is very sweet and can be harvested from July until November

Gardening Week Your with Val Bourne, AG’s organic wildlife expert

Cabbage white caterpillars can decimate nasturtiums, but wasps collect these insects to feed larvae in their nests Large cabbage white butterflies lay their eggs in batches, which take about two weeks to hatch into caterpillars

The common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) feasting on aphids

Murder most foul

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Val looks at the brutal methods used by wasps to kill prey ANY of you will know that I am a great fan of social wasps, because these stripy meat-eating bees rid me of lots of pests. Last year they cleaned up clusters of newly emerged large cabbage white caterpillars, because lockdown prevented me from getting proper butterfly netting. The only netting available had large squares, so the butterflies just flew straight through and laid their eggs. When I saw the clusters of tiny large white caterpillars my heart sank, and I tried to rub them away with my fingers. The messy green gunge took me straight back to my childhood, because collecting large cabbage white caterpillars was my first gardening job.

I was assigned this responsible task aged four years or so, on a sunny summer’s morning, and my grandmother armed me with a small bucket full of salty water. I was meant to drop the wriggling

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“I had never seen anything like this before”

caterpillars into the salt-laden bucket as I picked them off, but my four-year old fingers were not quite dextrous enough. I squashed several of them in the process and finally decided to put the ones I did manage to move into an empty bucket, rather than drown them. I trudged up the back alley and deposited them at the bottom of a neighbour’s garden and they probably marched back.

I can still sense the green slime on my fingers and I remember being careful not to wipe it on my polka-dot summer dress!

That green slime is full of mustard oil, imbibed from the brassicas it munches, and it tastes as unpleasant as it looks.

Consequently, mature cabbage white caterpillars are extremely unpalatable to predators. Even my chickens turn up their noses!

Not all members of the brassica, or cabbage family, are edible vegetables.

Some have pretty flowers and these include honesty, sweet rocket, sea kale, sea stock and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums often get cabbage white caterpillars on their leaves by early summer, and I have grown these on my vegetable plot as an early warning system. I’m not sure if they kept the blighters off my edible cabbages and kale, though!

I grow the white sea stock, Matthiola

incana ‘Alba’, on sunny, dry edges in my garden. I love the grey rosettes of foliage in winter and it produces highly scented white flowers in May. Each flower has four petals, a characteristic of the cabbage family. My sea stocks endure from year to year, as long as I stop them from setting any long narrow seed pods.

If they set seeds, they die.

One June day I spotted cabbage white butterfly caterpillars munching the rosettes of my sea stock foliage, but I was on my way out so I had to leave them to it. When I returned at lunchtime, they were being carved up by a team of wasps and each wasp was flying out with a section or two. My jaw dropped, because I had never seen anything like this before. However, I didn’t witness the first stage in this brutal murder. The massacre would have begun by each wasp stinging the caterpillars several times. This is the classic technique used to incapacitate and subdue their prey.

Within hours my sea stocks had been rescued. Each tasty morsel was taken back to the nest to feed the hungry larvae and the wasp would have been rewarded with a sugary droplet, which is a waste product from the larvae. The trouble starts when the nest becomes empty. The wasps have to look for their sugary fix elsewhere.

This hunting process goes on all summer, and Professor Adam Hart, an entomologist working at the University of Gloucester, writes that, “It has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens.” You can find out more on the Big Wasp Survey ( bigwaspsurvey.org).

Kniphofias provide nectar for wasps

TIP

August-flowering kniphofias and crocosmias provide lots of nectar for wasps that are in need of a sugar fix.

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Gardening Week with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Your

Create a feast for the senses: complement veg like courgettes with floral colour from tagetes for beneficial pest deterrents that are also highly decorative

Hardy chrysanthemums add colour alongside candelabra-style ‘Nero di Toscana’ kale Summer bedding will be right at home with brassicas like leafy ‘January King’ cabbage

Focus on ...

Potager gardening Fancy bringing a bit more creativity into your crop making? Lucy Chamberlain

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explains how to combine fruit, vegetables and herbs with ornamental plants

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E’VE got medieval French monasteries and chateaux owners to thank for the potager concept – a creative and artistic design of fruit and vegetable garden that’s as easy on the eye as it is productive. I’ve always had a soft spot for them – to me, edible plots can be just as beautiful as ornamental gardens. So how would you go about creating your own?

Add florals, shrubs and herbs Tap into your imagination, because anything goes when it comes to potager plants. Fruit, vegetables and herbs should supply the backbone, but

“Anything goes when it comes to potager plants”

because cut flowers and foliage are also key components, many ornamental plants can be chosen. Viburnums, peonies, irises, lilies, aquilegias – as long as it can go in a vase, anything goes.

Creative pruning and training of your fruit crops is also encouraged. Fantrained cherries, figs and redcurrants, stepover apples, espalier pears – with a little bit of secateur confidence, your For an authentic potager style, your ornamental and kitchen garden fusion can be as eclectic and busy as you like

edibles can become living pieces of artwork! Low, clipped box hedges are often used to add classic formal style to potager plots, yet there are plenty of other suitable plants (box can be pricey, as well as pest and disease-prone).

Hyssop, chives, oregano, sage, common thyme, rosemary, santolina, lavender – upright herbs such as these add a splash of colour with flowers and/or non-green foliage. If you’d still prefer a tightly clipped look, the low-growing, Lonicera nitida is an excellent choice.

Wildlife-friendly gardening As well as offering a beautiful, productive outdoor space, potagers have other benefits. The cut flowers often attract beneficial wildlife, and the diverse mixed plantings confuse pests.

Growing a range of plants gives manageable harvests, rather than gluts, providing a succession of produce throughout the season. So, why not experiment with this style of edible plot?

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Gardening Week with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Your

Lucy’s corner

gladioli and alstroemerias to your beds, in rows or as single dot-plants.

■ Terracotta: Ditch the plastic and pot up herbs, chillies and salads into Try these easy potager ideas terracotta containers. They look ■ Galvanised: Watering cans, tubs and beautiful when grouped together. containers crafted from this steely blue ■ Pretty labels: Whether it’s slate, zinc coating can add a vintage feel to copper, wood or pebbles, get creative your plot. with your fruit and vegetable labelling ■ Bricks: Laid flat as a path or upended for a stylish, romantic look. as bed edging, crumbly red bricks ■ Garden art: Add a cheeky cherub dappled with moss, lichen and algae peeking out from under the rhubarb, are gorgeous. or a full-blown bust of yourself guarding ■ Flowers: Add bursts of cut flowers like the garden gate!

Lucy’s choice

Galvanised metal and terracotta can enhance your plot

Mix sweet peas and runner beans for companion-planting benefits

Try these potager supports

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Bird scarer: An old potato and some feathers can be quickly fashioned into an effective bird scarer. Hang the whole lot from a flexible long pole or upcycled fishing rod, and it’s complete.

5 quick jobs

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Top tip

Add grey water to the base of fruit trees and shrubby plants like this blueberry

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Woven peasticks: Defining plot boundaries, edging beds, surrounding lofty crops – a carefully woven (hazel or) peastick ‘fence’ adds a real cottage-garden feel to the plot.

Any twiggy prunings work well.

GREY water – what’s that? Well, it’s the term applied to household water that comes from your kitchen or bathroom tap, along with any water from plumbed-in appliances like washing machines and dishwashers.

You can use some of this on your garden in times of drought and water restrictions – and it could just save your fruit and vegetable plot from disaster should any hosepipe bans be enforced.

Dishwasher salts and stronger washing machine cleaning agents are harmful to plants, so focus instead on collecting water from kitchen sinks, baths, showers, dehumidifiers and tumble driers.

Use collected grey water within 24 hours (bacteria can build up otherwise). Avoid using it directly on edibles eaten raw (like salads), but feel free to add it to the base of fruit trees and bushes. Finally, rotate its use with rainwater to avoid a build up of fats and detergents.

✃

e Protect brassicas from cabbag is white butterflies. Ensure netting hole-free and that leavesnetdon’t touch the edge of your cage. frames and Melons growing under floweri ng in greenhouses will be s appea this month. When bloom fruit set.r, hand-pollinate to ensure as baby Quick-maturing crops such beets, baby turnips and radishes swell in a flash during June.

Regularly pick over your drills before they get too large. ate Now is a great time to propagally summer strawberries, especidownif stock is becoming old. Peg . runners, ready to lift in autumn a If sowing directly outside, make soak the deep drill then thoroughly base a couple of times tos.give seeds ample moisture reserve

Dreamcatcher: With a ball of garden twine, some sturdy canes or sticks and a good dollop of time on your hands, you can weave a dreamcatcher-style support for climbing beans or squashes.

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1 2 3 4 5

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Next week: Focus on cherries, caring for chillies

and peppers, plant out leeks, best broad bean pickings, prickly pears.

Time to sow springbe slow, onions THOSE of you who love this tiny so be patient. The hair-like

Step by step

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seedlings look fragile at first, but soon bulk up, especially in warm, wet weather. As with all alliums, keep drills weed-free.

Sowings can carry on until the end of August. Choose winter-hardy types like ‘Winter White Bunching’ for late sowings to bulk up over chillier months.

“Onion seedlings soon bulk up”

How to prune grapevines You can let your grapevines ramble hither and thither, but fruit quality and quantity will be greatly improved if you can prune and train:

Wine grapes can carry more fruit than dessert varieties. Thin out the number of bunches your vine carries, selecting the best. Choose one every 3ft (1m) of stem for dessert, and one every 20in (50cm) for wine.

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The bunches arise on side-shoots off the main stems. Cut two leaves past each bunch of grapes, so that the side-shoots are shortened.

This helps to both boost fruit set and maximise individual grape size.

Why not try..?

3

Cut back non-fruiting side-shoots and any others that arise as the summer progresses. The leaves can provide useful shade in a greenhouse, so cut back as hard or as gently as you wish to keep within bounds.

Fuzzy orange Solanum quitoense fruits

A young naranjilla plant growing in a pot

Naranjilla

Wield that hoe to fight weeds!

WEEDS are such a pain. They can zap

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You might not the motivation of experienced and see any weeds, novice gardeners alike, marching forth but hoeing bare like a relentless tide of annoying earth every two greenness. Well, we can win that war! weeks will kill off germinating With so many other jobs vying for our weed seedlings attention on the summer plot, it’s tempting to assume that the bare patch of earth you raked over last week can be left to its own devices – but think again.

Tiny weed seeds will be germinating unseen, so I make a point of hoeing between my rows of veg every 7-10 days to ensure they don’t take hold. Larger beds of earth can be raked over – it’s quicker and just as effective, especially if hoe the weeds off if you allowed them to grow for a few more weeks – now that’s you choose a windy, sunny day. Just imagine how long it would take you to a very good motivator.

Allium cepa ‘White Lisbon’

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allium will be well ahead of the game, but it’s not too late to start sowings of salad onions, bunching onions or scallions now.

Many varieties are available, from stalwart bulbing type ‘White Lisbon’ to purple-skinned ‘Apache’ and modern hybrids such as ‘Katana’. My favourite is ‘Ishikura’, which doesn’t create bulbs, giving a long harvest window (it eventually forms baby ‘leeks’).

Sow directly where the plants are to crop, creating a shallow drill and watering seeds in well. Keep the soil or pot moist in dry spells; germination can

Sow short drills of bulbing spring onions every month until early autumn, or opt for a non-bulbing type like ‘Ishikura’

IF you have space in a cool greenhouse or conservatory over winter, and you fancy your chances of growing an Andean shrub, then Solanum quitoense is for you. It’s quite a striking plant to look at: deeply lobed leaves flushed heavily with purple, and bristly as you like – it will make a talking point before it’s even fruited! Usually grown from seed in the UK, don’t expect flowers for a year or more (give it the same growing conditions as a tomato).

Once flowers do appear, clusters of small orange-yellow fruits packed with juice eventually follow. Rub off the bristly hairs, then consume them raw or cooked. Keep well fed with tomato fertiliser, and well watered throughout summer. Move under cover for winter, then keep irrigation to a minimum.

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The aromatic plants in your garden may be taken in tea, such as soothing camomile, and many can be planted or sown now

Create your own

tea garden

Shop-bought, dried and packaged herbal tea pales beside the fresh variety culled from the garden, so perhaps it’s time to grow your own, says Anne Swithinbank

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HILE watching my family foraging for what they call ‘garden tea’, I realised that our fenced potagerstyle kitchen plot also serves us well as a tea garden. When we first moved here and made this productive space, my late father grew crops allotment-style. Since then, it has gradually filled with fruit trees, herbs and other edible plants with crops grown in the gaps left between. So what is this ‘garden tea’ and can anyone grow it?

The proper name for herbal teas fresh or dried is a tisane. What we refer to as ‘garden tea’ is the leaves and flowers from a range of plants, including what some folk would call weeds, gathered from plants growing in our garden. They are steeped in water just off the boil and drunk without milk and sugar. Regular tea is the dried green or cured black leaves of Camellia sinensis, a Chinese evergreen shrub related to the showy camellias grown for their flowers.

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Using the right plants Anyone can make garden tea, but you need the confidence to identify plants and differentiate from any that might be poisonous. Most gardens will already contain several candidates for a tisane, but those new to gardening might need a knowledgeable friend or relative to help check these.

Another way is to buy new seed or

In June, fresh blossom of lime (Tilia platyphyllos) makes a sweet tea

plants (preferably grown organically) so you know what you’ve got. Most grow happily in containers and won’t take up much space. While most people can correctly identify mint, lemon balm, rosemary, lavender and dandelion petals, some might be unsure of sticky weed and yarrow.

Grow and make your own Despite a history of monastic gardens and herbal medicines, we seem to have lost the knack of growing and making our own tisanes, though they remain popular in continental Europe. Most of my friends offer herbal as well as regular tea, but they are rarely fresh, aromatic mint or lemon balm but dried, bagged and packeted from a cupboard.

Venturing into the garden to gather tea ingredients is more time consuming, but what could be more pleasant than walking among aromatic plants, allowing your senses and appetite to select one or a mixture of herbs and wild things?

Favourite plants for herbal teas Flower petals

sesoR nitsuA divaD

detiderc esiwrehto sselnu ymalA shpargotohp llA

Dianthus ‘Gran’s Favourite’ AGM A fragrant old-fashioned pink whose ‘laced’ flowers of white and purple-pink are carried over a long period. Plant in sun and nip off the slightly bitter green petal bases before use. H&S: 18in (45cm).

Jasminum officinale ‘Devon Cream’ With pink buds and cream-tinged flowers, this fragrant sun-loving twiner will add its exotic aroma to a tea. Plants perform best in sheltered positions, on well-draining soil, and are perfect courtyard plants. H&S: 8ft (2.4m).

Rosa Lady Emma Hamilton (‘Ausbrother’) AGM The fragrant orange petals of this shrub rose will brighten the greens of other herbs in a clear teapot. Repeat-blooms well, against bronze-coloured leaves turning green with age. H&S: 3ft (1m).

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm tea has a mild lemon flavour and is known to reduce stress. These herbaceous perennials seed themselves around unless deadheaded, but unwanted clumps are easily removed.

HxS: 2ftx18in (60x45cm).

Lavandula angustifolia Little Lady (‘Batlad’) AGM A little English lavender goes a long way, so use a tiny spike, a few flowers or a shoot tip. This one is compact, with summer spikes of pale-purple flowers.

HxS: 20inx2ft (50x60cm).

Galium aparine Known as cleavers or sticky weed, this is usually viewed as a sprawling annual weed clinging with hooked hairs. Use fresh young tips for a tisane with a nutty, almost pea-like flavour. HxS: 3x2ft (1mx60cm).

Tilia platyphyllos In some parts of France collecting blossom from large-leaved limes is a small industry. The June flowers make a tea redolent of honey, citrus and chamomile. The flowers of T. cordata are good, too. HxS: 100x70ft (30x20m).

Culinrbasry he

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Roseus’ An upright evergreen shrub with needle-like grey-green leaves joined by mauve-pink flowers in winter, spring and summer. I use the sweet flowers or fresh shoots for an aromatic tea. HxS: 4x3ft (1.2x1m).

Wild

Achillea millefolium Perennial common yarrow often turns up in long lawns. We use mainly the fresh young fern-like leaves for a refreshing garden tea. Heads of white flowers open in summer. HxS: 18x12in (45x30cm).

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3 to start from seed now

Calendula officinalis ‘Art Shades’ Sow annual pot marigolds direct and promptly for flowers by autumn, or sow in autumn for next summer. I use a pinch of the warm-coloured petals rather than whole flowers. HxS: 2x1ft (60x30cm).

Chamaemelum nobile When Peter Rabbit was ‘not very well in the evening’, his mother made him soothing chamomile tea.

Sow now to plant in autumn or next spring and use flowers fresh or dried. HxS: 12x18in (30x45cm).

3 for a container to plant now

Aloysia citriodora AGM Deciduous lemon verbena, also known as verveine, is a small tender shrub whose sherbet-lemon-flavoured leaves are large enough to place one or two per mug. Simply fill with water off-boil for a delicious tea. H&S: 5ft (1.5m).

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Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’ AGM A classic ‘rose geranium’ whose roselemon foliage makes a fragrant tea. The plant is pretty, with clusters of mauvepink blooms over lobed foliage. Keep plants frost-free in winter. HxS: 2x1ft (60x30cm).

Mentha spicata Tisane afficionados love their Moroccan peppermint, but I enjoy the gentle minty perfume and flavour of spearmint. To control mint rhizomes, plant in their own bed or a large container. HxS: 2ftx30in (60x75cm).

Thymus vulgaris Sow thyme into a pot and transplant seedlings singly to pots or grid-fashion in a tray.

Plant out in spring and use leaves and flowers sparingly for their pungent, savoury flavour. HxS: 6x12in (15x30cm).

Growing, picking and brewing tea-garden plants IF you are looking for a garden theme, consider a specially planted tea garden for an aromatic treat. Mediterranean-type herbs and pinks (dianthus) like sun and well-drained soil, but mints don’t mind a little shade and need moisture. Roses enjoy a sunny, open site on wellcultivated soil. While foraging for tea, I often

wonder whether we instinctively choose the ingredients our body needs. Pick fresh, young leaves, newly opened flowers and use sparingly.

Good kit includes a glass teapot or tisanier with a well and a metal infuser to stand inside a mug. Try one flavour or make a mix. I usually tear or snip leaves to help release flavour.

Prepare tea using a glass teapot or a metal infuser in a mug

Camellia sinensis growing at a tea plantation on the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall

Can we grow regular tea in our gardens?

CAMELLIA sinensis is slightly tender and usually grows in the good light and cool air to be found in the temperate upland regions of China, India and Kenya. Plants struggle below 23°F (-5°C), but we do have British plantations in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. Do try growing a tea plant and treat it like a citrus, with slightly acidic compost and cool winter conditions.

The difficulty comes in harvesting the ‘tips’ (two leaves and a bud) and then processing them into green or black tea. It has been suggested that drinking too much green tea could be harmful and my dad’s mantra ‘moderation in all things’ is a sensible approach for all herbal teas.

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Single-flowered plants, such as cosmos, are great for bees and butterflies

Nectar-rich

beds and baskets

Plant out summer bedding, hanging baskets and containers that provide food for bees and butterflies to help make your garden a wildlife haven, says Hazel Sillver

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NJOY the sight of bees and butterflies in the garden this summer by selecting wildlife-friendly bedding plants for borders and hanging baskets.

Single-flowered choices, such as cosmos, give pollinators access to nectar, whereas traditional bedding plants (including double French marigolds) have such layers of petals as a result of horticultural breeding that the nectar and pollen are unreachable.

On top of this, the single-flowered and semi-double species that wildlife feed on have a more contemporary look, injecting the garden with refreshing new life. Increasingly, councils are planting this type of bedding in parks and on roundabouts, both to help wildlife and to create a modern look.

Another change is that summer bedding is planted in layers, as a border would be, with ‘see-through’ airy plants and tall plants providing height at the back. The days of park flowerbeds being a flat sea of double begonias,

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pansies and petunias, with not a bee or butterfly in sight, are gone.

Butterflies and bees One of the best bedding plants for butterflies is sweetly scented heliotrope, such as ice-blue ‘Reva’ and violet ‘Nautilus Power Blue’. They also flock to vervain, including the airy purple Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’, which can be used to create layers, and

Hoverflies love Iceland poppies, such as this red Papaver nudicaule ‘Party Fun’

lipstick-pink Glandularia ‘Sissinghurst’, which looks lovely tumbling out of a pot on the patio.

Hoverflies like marigolds, including the flame-orange Calendula officinalis ‘Indian Prince’, and single-flowered Mexican varieties, such as Tagetes tenuifolia ‘Tangerine Gem’. Both provide fiery colour and act as effective pest control in the vegetable patch.

Hoverflies also love Icelandic poppies, and their crepe-paper flowers provide charm and colour for months.

Bees are partial to the daisy-like flowers of cosmos, which are available in mid-border and back-of-border sizes, and flower all summer. They also love single-flowered hollyhocks, which provide drama and height. Ready-grown poached egg plants (Limnanthes douglasii) are a great alternative to the old guard of double-flowered bedding for the front of a border.

Opt for these contemporary bedding plants and enjoy an abundance of wildlife in the garden this summer.

9 bedding plants for wildlife For bees

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Cosmos bipinnatus Sonata Pink Delicate-pink daisy blooms above feathery foliage make this cosmos a beautiful bedding plant. Grow in full sun and keep cutting for the vase, and it will flower into late autumn. H: 20in (50cm).

Antirrhinum majus Sonnet Yellow The Sonnet snapdragon series are easy, colourful bedding plants that provide food for bumblebees and make good cut flowers. Grow in well-drained soil in sun or semi-shade. H: 2ft (60cm).

Verbena rigida ‘Santos’ This tender perennial is often grown as an annual and increasingly sold as a bedding plant because it flowers for months, into autumn, and provides for wildlife. Likes well-drained soil in sun. H: 12in (30cm).

Heliotropium arborescens ‘Marine’ Butterflies flock to the dense heads of richly scented violet-blue flowers that coat this compact heliotrope throughout summer. Likes moist, well-drained soil in sun or semi-shade. H: 18in (45cm).

Convolvulus tricolor ‘Blue Ensign’ AGM This dwarf morning glory has gentianblue funnel-shaped flowers with white and yellow throats. Grow in very welldrained soil in sheltered sun; can be grown in containers. H: 12in (30cm).

Calendula officinalis Buy ready-grown pot marigolds and use as bedding. The orange daisy flowers are produced over a long period if continually cut. Prefers well-drained soil in sun or semi-shade. H: 20in (50cm).

Papaver nudicaule Champagne Bubbles Group Icelandic poppies are superb bedding plants, producing scented orange, white, pink and yellow blooms for months. Likes well-drained soil in sun. H: 18in (45cm).

For butterflies

Verbena rigida f. lilacina ‘Polaris’ Charming clusters of pale-lilac flowers lure butterflies to this spreading vervain for months. Likes well-drained soil in sheltered full sun. Grow as a perennial in mild areas. H: 16in (40cm).

For hoverflies

Tagetes ‘Lemon Gem’ This marigold forms a bushy mass of single yellow flowers throughout summer and into autumn. A good companion plant for tomatoes. Grow in well-drained soil in sheltered full sun. H: 12in (30cm).

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Wildlife plants for hanging baskets moc.nagrom-nospmohT

Convolvulus sabatius (syn. Convolvulus mauritanicus) AGM This trailing rock bindweed from Morocco produces pale lavender-blue funnel flowers in summer and autumn. Likes well-drained soil in sun. H: 6in (15cm).

Glandularia ‘Peaches ’n’ Cream’ (syn. Verbena ‘Peaches ’n’ Cream’) A spreading vervain with clusters of creamy pink-orange flowers in summer and autumn. Place hanging basket in full sun and keep it moist. H: 8in (20cm).

Tropaeolum majus ‘Crimson Emperor’ Velvet burgundy flowers tumble from this semi-trailing nasturtium. The flowers are edible, so toss them onto summer salads. Prefers well-drained baskets in full sun. Can trail to 3ft 3in-6½ft (1-2m).

Nectar bedding for containers Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’ Gorgeous copper-red single flowers rimmed with gold are produced by this bushy marigold throughout the summer and into autumn. Easy to grow in well-drained containers in full sun.

H: 2ft (60cm).

Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’ A compact form of the fashionable species, this throws up small clusters of nectar-rich purple flowers atop slender stems, from July to September. Likes well-drained pots in sun.

H: 2ft (60cm).

5 other ways to help garden wildlife Butterflies need sun, so plant nectar flowers in a south or west-facing bed.

Bees like foraging on one flower type at once, so try edging a border with one nectar plant, like lavender.

Stop using chemicals. Prevent disease by enriching the soil instead.

Further reduce the need for chemicals by growing pest-resistant plants, such as nectar-rich nepeta and lavender.

Provide birds with shade and shelter in the form of shrubs and climbers, and put out fresh water in hot weather.

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Grow pest-resistant plants, such as lavender

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Xanthos’ This lovely cosmos has big daisy blooms the colour of primroses, above lacy foliage.

Makes a great cut flower. Grow in welldrained containers in sun and keep compost moist. H: 2ft (60cm).

Glandularia (syn. Verbena) ‘Sissinghurst’ AGM This trailing vervain produces pink flowers throughout summer and autumn. Likes welldrained pots in sun.

Deadhead and keep compost moist.

H: 12in (30cm).

Plant a hanging basket

Sit the basket in a pot to keep it steady. Ensure the chains are outside the basket.

Sit your basket on a Line with plastic pot and cut slits in and moss from the the lining for plants lawn or coconut fibre. Make cuts for plants to grow through the sides.

Begin planting, adding compost as you go.

Plant Verbena bonariensis to attract butterflies, including the painted lady

A potted calamondin will add colour and scent when its branches are laden with fruit or flowers

Citrus enjoy a spell outdoors in summer, from mid-June to September

citrus

Time to try

Is it possible to grow your own lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit in the UK? Of course it is, says Graham Rice, so long as they are given a little warmth

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S the idea of relaxing on the summer patio, reaching out and picking a lemon to slice for your end-of-the-day G&T or a lime for your Mexican beer, a myth or a reality?

Trust me, if it were a myth I wouldn’t be settling down to explain how to grow your own lemons. And limes, oranges and grapefruit, too.

Of course, citrus fruits are not as tough as apples and plums, so you can’t just plant them in the garden or leave them outside all the year round.

But they’re very happy to grow in containers so, as winter approaches, you can move them into a porch, a conservatory or a greenhouse. Some will flower and fruit all the year round and their scent is amazing.

The right temperature Although they dislike frost, citrus don’t need tropical temperatures and most will be happy just a little above freezing.

Calamondin – needs a minimum of 13°C (55°F).

Grapefruit – needs winter frost protection.

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Kumquat – can take an occasional light frost.

Lemon – needs a minimum of 41°F (5°C).

Lime – needs winter frost protection.

Orange – needs a minimum of 41°F (5°C).

Let there be light Warmer temperatures suit these plants well, so they’re happy in the house, and small plants can even go on the windowsill. But they like good light so make sure you clean the greenhouse or conservatory glass as the nights draw in.

Meyer’s lemon is the most widely offered citrus, but it’s not the easiest to grow. So, for your first citrus, try a

kumquat – the dainty little orange that you eat whole.

Citrus plants are usually vigorous, and will grow large if left alone, but spring pruning and trimming back strong summer shoots will keep them neat. Plants can be thorny, so look out for thornless varieties if lack of thorns is an important consideration.

Finally, citrus plants can be expensive.

But, because they’re vigorous and respond well to feeding, you can start small and you’ll soon have a good-sized tree. You can try growing them from seed, as many pips from bought fruits will germinate and develop into trees, but the results can be unpredictable so are best grown for fun than for fruit.

Where to buy*

Citrus Centre  citruscentre.co.uk ✆ 01798 872786 Cross Common Nursery  crosscommonnursery.co.uk ✆ 01326 290722 Victoriana Nursery  victoriananursery.co.uk ✆ 01233 740529 *Many nurseries are currently unable to send out plants – or despatch may be delayed.

6 citrus for starters

detiderc esiwrehto sselnu ymalA shpargotohp llA

Calamondin Small fruits just 1in (2.5cm) across have a sweet skin and sharp flesh, and they can be eaten whole or used for marmalade. Expect 100 fruits on a 5ft (1.5m) plant. Prolific and easy to grow. H: 5-6ft (1.5-2m).

Grapefruit Vigorous but less productive and longer to ripen than other citrus, although breakfast grapefruit fresh from your own tree is something special. Tolerates low temperatures, but appreciates warmth. Best in John Innes ericaceous compost. H: 6-9ft (2-3m).

Orange ‘Sanguinelli’ Blood oranges have the look and the flavour we need. They also have the advantage of being thornless, very productive and more naturally neat in growth than most citrus.

H: 6-9ft (2-3m).

Lime ‘Tahiti’ An ideal pick-from-the-tree citrus for summer drinks, the seedless fruits eventually turn yellow but taste of lime. The dark-green leaves are strongly flavoured and useful in Asian and Mediterranean cooking. Almost thornless. H: 6-9ft (2-3m).

Lemon ‘Four Seasons’ The best all-round lemon, it usually flowers and fruits all the year round with fruits at varying stages on the plant together.

Ripe fruits will remain in good condition for some time. H: 10-15ft (3.5m).

Kumquat ‘Nagami’ Very small, slightly pear-shaped fruits about the size of a large olive have a sweet skin and sour flesh. They are best eaten whole. Fairly hardy, but can be kept indoors most of the year for a better crop. H: 3-6ft (1-2m).

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 35

Planting and care

Use a formulated citrus feed for summer or winter

Replace the top of the compost with fresh

Use John Innes No3 compost help drainage and water in with a or a compost specifically made for half-strength liquid feed. citrus fruits.

Keep moist and feed regularly Plant up now into an elegant container, using a specific citrus feed. then stand the container on pot feet to Repot every two years, or remove

Shorten the tips in summer

the top few inches of compost and replace with fresh.

Pinch back vigorous shoots in summer, and reshape the plants in late winter.

Did you know?

A bonus of growing a lemon or lime is you can add them to your tipple

LEMONS usually turn from green to yellow based on temperature, not ripeness. So assess ripeness by size and not colour, with 2-3in (5-7.5cm) being ideal.

It’s better to wait until they are the right size and not wait until they’re completely yellow.

Dealing with pests

Cleaning the leaves of scale insects that also produce sooty mould

Enjoying your citrus crop

Sooty mould on leaves is a symptom of pest infestation

evihcrA IT

year round, but moving the plants outside for summer allows natural predators better access to help control pests.

Watch blue tits picking off the scale insects.

BugClear Fruit & Veg

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36 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

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n Look out for The most common citrus pests are aphids, red spider mite, mealybug and scale insects. You might also find that the sticky honeydew excreted by some pests produces sooty mould.

Deal with the pests and the sooty mould will vanish, too. n Basic control You can usually tolerate minor problems without taking action, or you can squash small infestations with your fingers. Localised problems can also be dealt with by dipping cotton buds in insecticide for spot treatments. n Sprays Choose non-persistent organic treatments that contain fatty acids, natural pyrethrum or plant oils. I have BugClear Fruit & Veg to hand that deals with aphids, scale insects, mealy bug and red spider mite. Spray where needed, not the whole plant. n Summer outside It’s sometimes tempting to keep citrus undercover in the conservatory all

MANY citrus will flower and fruit all the year round if they’re warm enough in winter, and the scent from their flowers is delicious.

You can surprise visitors by eating the small kumquat fruits whole, as they’re very tasty, or pick a lemon or lime for your summer G&T or winter cocktail without leaving your chair.

I sometimes add a garden lemon or lime when I make marmalade for a little added sharpness. Sadly, I’ve never grown enough oranges for the marmalade itself!

A mouthwatering harvest of kumquats in the UK. The plants do need heat, so are best kept in a conservatory to keep the flowers coming

Ask John Negus John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

How do I grow on my Dutchman’s pipe?

Q

I acquired some Aristolochia macrophylla (Dutchman’s pipe) seeds and got them to successfully germinate. However, I find I cannot get any real information about growing them and wonder if you could assist, please?

Second, I have a serious allergy to wasp stings and have to carry two EpiPens with me. Are there any plants that deter wasps?

Dorothy Reeder, Co Leitrim, Ireland I am delighted that you have raised some strikingly beautiful Aristolochia macrophylla from seed and have robust seedlings.

Set them singly into 4in (10cm) pots of a compost mix formulated for seedlings, adding a quarter part, by volume, of coarse grit. Then grow them on in light shade in a temperature of around 66-70°F (19-21°C).

When the roots fill the pot, move the plants into containers 6in (15cm) larger in diameter. This time, set your charges in a blend of Miracle-Gro ericaceous compost mixed with a quarter part, by volume, of coarse grit.

Being a climber, your plant is best

Twig and leaf blight can be treated with a fungicide

Fungal issues

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Dutchman’s pipe germinate well in light shade and a warm temperature

trained over netting or trellis. A word of warning, though. If you have a cat or dog, please keep it away from the plant, because if the animal’s fur or hair comes into contact with the plant’s toxic leaves or flowers it may harm the animal.

As for discouraging wasps from the garden, wormwood (artemisia) and mint are known to repel them, and there several fine and sculpturally pleasing species and varieties of each.

Q A

What is wrong with my kerria stem?

Chris Nower (via email) Your bush has succumbed to twig and leaf blight (Blumeriella kerriae).

It is worse in wet weather when spores are dispersed by rain splashes, but Fungus Clear Ultra is usually effective against it. Initially, prune out the infected shoots and bin or burn them. Then, when new growth appears, spray repeatedly with the fungicide in spring and summer to prevent reinfection.

Pockets of acid soil can create a difference in hydrangea flower colour

Tobacco plants make a colourful splash in summer

Why is my hydrangea pink and blue?

Q detiderc esiwrehto sselnu erutuF shpargotohp llA

Do you know why my hydrangea is producing both pink and blue flowers?

We live in the Chilterns and it’s quite thick clay soil, so I assumed we would have an alkaline pH soil and therefore pink flowers. I have not given the hydrangea any pH-altering feed.

Victoria Love (via email) It is curious why some of your which is what you’d expect in the hydrangea flowers are blue and Chilterns. But the anomaly is the others pink. It’s almost certainly due to presence of blue flowers that change there being pockets of acidity within its to that colour when the pH is much root area. less – about 5.5-6 – and iron, Pink blooms are caused by a aluminium and other elements are relatively high pH, of around 7.5-8, readily available to trigger that change.

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Smoky beauty

Q A

Can you tell me what this plant is, please, that’s in my garden?

Sue Sullivan (via email) This is a variety of tobacco plant (nicotiana). A half-hardy annual, it is raised from seed in gentle heat in March or April and transplanted where you wish it to flower when frosts finish in late May or early June. There are several selections that have red-flowering forms, two of which are Evening Fragrance Mix and F1 Perfume Mix. Seeds are stocked by Suttons, Woodview Road, Paignton, Devon, TQ4 7NG ( 0844 326 2200, ✆ suttons.co.uk).

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 39

While John sometimes advocates using chemicals against pests and diseases as the most effective means of control, organic options are sometimes available and we advise readers to go with their preferences

Contact John Negus by email address below Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

If you collect and sow peony seeds (inset) they will slowly grow to make more plants

Quick questions & answers

Q

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Why did our Clematis montana not flower this year?

Sally Evans (via email) These plants do occasionally have a ‘year off’. Encourage it to bloom next year, which it almost certainly will, by feeding it with 2oz (56g) per sq/m of sulphate of potash. Apply it now, and in July and August, over the root area, and then water in.

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Can I use seeds to add to my peonies?

Q A

My peonies have finished flowering and have produced seedpods. Can I plant these to expand my peony bed?

Alan Steele, Dalry, Ayrshire I am delighted that your peonies germinate. But what an achievement! have produced seeds. Wait until Alternatively, sow them in wellthe seeds are ripe – when they are firm prepared soil, adding grit, if necessary, to and relatively loose within the seed ensure good drainage, and cover seeds capsule – then gather them and sow with jam jars firmly implanted in the soil. them shallowly in pots of proprietary In time, when your charges flower, you seed compost augmented with a quarter may find that they are similar to, or even part, by volume, of coarse grit. better than, the parent’s blooms. When Plunge them to their rim in a planting them out, remember that coldframe or similar structure and be although they like moist soil, new plants patient; they can take a year or more to don’t take kindly to being overwatered.

How can I regenerate my cactus?

Q A

Can I save wallflower seeds now for sowing?

Aiden Taylor, MIlton Keynes, Bucks Unless the seeds are completely mature – the seed cases will crackle and seeds rattle loosely inside them – they may have insufficient vitality to germinate.

Wait a little longer until the seeds are fully ripe before pulling up the plants and saving the seeds.

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Q A

What is this flower and how do I care for it?

Mr T Parkes (via email) Your shrub is Deutzia x magnifica. Prune after flowering by cutting back a third of older flowered shoots to lower side shoots or to a node (stem joint) and new stems will appear from stumps to flower next year.

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 41

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My Christmas cactus is looking a bit sorry for itself and has stopped flowering. A decade ago its blooms were magnificent. Can you tell me how I can revive it?

Thomas Masterson (via email) The best way to regenerate your Christmas cactus is to remove any obviously dead shoots and shorten it to within 6in (15cm) of the base.

Christmas cacti usually Then repot it in loam-based ericaceous regenerate well with compost, augmenting it with a quarter part, by volume, of coarse grit. Water it in with clean rain water. repotting and care Finally, position it in light shade to simulate its natural habitat.

Within three or four weeks, new shoots will proliferate from the woody stock to create a fine new plant.

Feed it with a high-potash tomato fertiliser when it is showing flower buds and water it regularly throughout the year.

Q

Ask John Negus John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

ymalA

Oriental poppies don’t do well in very dry soil

Will my poppy ever flower again?

Q A

I have a beautiful white Oriental poppy that flowered for two seasons, but since then it has put up healthy leaves but never flowered. I have it in a pot, but would it be better in the ground?

Diane Holland, St Helens, Merseyside I am sorry that your Oriental variety monthly until September. Next year, start hasn’t flowered for a while. in April. Additionally, water freely when The usual reason is that the root area growth is active. is too dry. If this isn’t so and the potting Ideally, in autumn, when leaves die compost is damp, encourage robust leaf back, move it to a warm, sunny part of the growth and help blooms form by feeding garden where it should bloom every year. with sulphate of potash.

Potassium is a vital plant food that Sprinkle it over the root area now and improves resistance to adverse weather water it in, repeating the treatment conditions and improves performance.

What is wrong with my bay tree?

Q

At the moment my bay tree is growing new leaves, but it has also been attacked by a pest that curls and deforms its leaves and the edges end up dead and black. What is it and what would you recommend?

Pilar Rose-Alcorta (via email) Bad luck! Your bay tree is infested with bay sucker, a minute pest resembling fluffy white stars that devours leaf undersides.

When feeding, this creature causes the Bay suckers cause distortion plant’s leaves to develop thick, distorted to the edge of bay laves bulges. Luckily, although this is unsightly, it doesn’t do irrevocable damage to the bay.

As for controlling it, if you are using leaves for cooking there are no insecticides against it, so pick off and bin or burn affected foliage.

If your tree is purely ornamental, tackle it with Bug Clear Ultra, a systemic pesticide that travels in the sap stream to all parts of the plant and guards against attack for three weeks.

Alternatively, encourage natural predators such as birds, ladybirds, wasp and ground beetles to frequent your garden.

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Prune choisya after it has flowered

Pruning choisya

Q A

I need to cut back my choisya – when is the best time to do it?

Ginny Turner, Evesham, Glos Choisya is an accommodating shrub and is best tackled when the flowers have faded, in late spring or early summer.

Remove one third of the oldest shoots, shortening them to near ground level or to younger growth.

Make sure you don’t spoil the shape of the plant, though.

After pruning, feed with blood, fish and bone or another organic fertiliser.

Unknown beauty

Q

Can you name these orange flowers? They were in the garden when we moved in and this is best year they have flowered.

Paul Elliott (via email) The plant is day lily Daylilies originally came from the Far East (hemerocallis). A native of China, Korea and Japan, it is well named, for blooms last for just one day before shrivelling and dying.

There are over 30,000 named varieties and yours could be ‘Jolyene Nichole’. To propagate, divide the rootstock in autumn or early spring and plant divisions in fertile, freedraining soil in full sun.

A

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 43

While John sometimes advocates using chemicals against pests and diseases as the most effective means of control, organic options are sometimes available and we advise readers to go with their preferences

Contact John Negus by email address below Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Why is my clematis starting to fade?

Woolly aphids are common and can distort tree shoots

Q

The flowers of my patio clematis Nubia are fading. Do you know why this is happening? The pot is in the sun most of the day so do I have to water it each day? Second, can I cut my foxglove down to encourage new flowers or growth?

Jan Schut (via email) Clematis Nubia is a fetching variety that normally flowers from May to September. It’s best to remove faded blooms the moment they occur.

If you water frequently to keep the root area damp, new flowering shoots will form to continue the display.

I suggest that you feed your clematis monthly with Vitax Q4. Start now and finish in September. Then, next year, begin in April.

Prune in March, shortening all stems to 8in/20cm, cutting to just above a pair of buds.

Most foxgloves are biennial, forming a rosette in their first year, and then flowering, seeding and dying in their second season.

I suspect that your plant is Digitalis purpurea, which is a biennial. If you wish to perpetuate it, allow the seeds to ripen,

A

Woolly worries

Q A Deadhead Clematis Nubia when flowers start to fade

then sow them immediately in a wellprepared patch of fertile soil in full sun.

When the seedlings appear, move them to a nursery bed to grow on for transplanting in October where you wish them to flower the following late spring.

What is this ‘cotton wool’ developing on my apple tree?

Sheila Blackmore, Surrey This is woolly aphid, a pest that feeds on sap and debilitates growth. Control it by spraying with BugClear Ultra for Flowers, Fruit and Veg and when the tree is dormant in midwinter, spray it with Vitax Winter Tree Wash to kill overwintering aphid eggs.

A woolly aphid colony will distort shoots, causing them to become lumpy.

If stems are badly affected, cut them back to healthy tissue in late autumn to encourage robust regrowth.

How can I get my irises to flower well?

Marrows won’t form without good pollination

Dying marrows

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How can I get my irises to flower?

I have several plants and they grow but never bloom.

Christine Mepham (via email) I am sorry that your irises – and I am assuming they are a bearded variety – are not flowering. The usual reason is lack of adequate sunlight. If they are growing in even light shade they will be reluctant to perform.

They also like a damp spot, or at least soil that doesn’t completely dry out. Also, when you plant, make sure the rhizome (root) is slightly above the soil and gets the sun for most of the day.

If you do not have an open sunny spot for them, encourage them to flower by feeding them with sulphate of potash. Sprinkle 1oz (28g) per sq m over the root area and water it in. Apply it monthly until September. Next year, start in April.

Additionally, if your garden is acid, work in 4oz (112g) per sq m of garden

Bearded irises like full sun and soil that retains moisture

lime, which bearded irises like, to raise your soil’s alkalinity.

Once your irises are flowering well, divide them every three years to stop the clumps becoming congested.

Q A

Why haven’t our marrows formed properly? They just turn yellow and fade away.

Sheila Blackmore (via email) This is because flowers were not pollinated. Remove the dead fruits and encourage more blooms by watering freely and liquid-feeding weekly with tomato fertiliser.

When lots of flowers bloom, remove a male bloom when fully open, strip off petals and dab pollen onto the stigma of a female bloom, characterised by a minimarrow beneath it. Hand-pollinated flowers will develop into fruits.

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 45

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AGardening’s Gardener’s Miscellany king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke The qualities of rhubarb

This week it’s: Let’s talk about these tangy stalks

several centuries after it was ‘discovered’ before it was eaten ‘for pleasure’! So, let’s take a closer look at this ‘fruit’. n Enthusiasts of companion planting use rhubarb to help their brassica crops. It is said the rhubarb deters clubroot disease and root-fly pests. Pieces of rhubarb are simply dropped into the brassicas’ planting holes when planting!

New developments nworB TD

SEED firm DT Brown has been at the forefront of rhubarb breeding in recent years. It was the first company to introduce ‘Livingstone’, an autumnSweet spot: cropping variety, followed by ‘Poulton’s ‘Poulton’s Pride’ Pride’ (see below). Two years ago, it launched ‘Poulton’s Red’, arguably one of the sweetest varieties ever. With rhubarb, generally the redder the stem the sweeter the taste, and this new variety is both red and sweet: little or no sugar needs to be added when cooking.

‘Livingstone’ is still available, but stocks of the others are low at the moment. n With both ‘Poulton’s Pride’ and ‘Poulton’s Red’, the dormancy has been bred out so gardeners can harvest sticks from February (if forced) and carry on right through to November – up to 10 months of the year.

The rhubarb triangle

detiderc esiwrehto sselnu ymalA shpargotohp llA

LARGE-scale commercial rhubarb forcing is carried out indoors, and in total darkness, where the shoots, aided by a warm environment, race upwards in a frantic search for light. This quick growth results in longer, straighter sticks. The British rhubarb-growing industry began in the 1880s, centred on a tiny triangle in West Yorkshire, bordered by Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield. Such was the demand that, by the 1930s, there was a ‘rhubarb express train’ run by the Great Northern Railway company, carrying tons of it to customers in the south. n Rhubarb in commercial forcing units can grow so fast that they make a popping noise when the buds burst into leaf. n Rhubarb is native to Siberia, and thrives in the cold, wet winters experienced Wild rhubarb in Yorkshire. growing in Siberia

5

Rhubarb: a vibrant crop and a handy companion plant

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb...

THEATRE actors still say this! By repeating ‘rhubarb’ over and over, it looks like you’re having a real conversation on stage in the background. Apparently, if you just move your mouth without saying words, it can look obviously fake. It is attributed to the company of English actor Charles Kean (1811-1868) at London’s Princess’s Theatre. The word ‘rhubarb’ was chosen because it has Man of few words: soft-sounding consonants.

Charles Kean n The hit American sitcom 30 Rock is about a TV station producing a live sketch show. I’d love to see the scene where, I’m told, there’s lots of background noise, and a character is heard audibly mumbling to himself, “Rhubarb, rhubarb, peas and carrots”!

ornamental plants with ‘rhubarb’ in name

Giant rhubarb (Gunnera manicata)

Lonicera periclymenum ‘Rhubarb and Custard’

False rhubarb (Thalictrum flavum), aka common meadow rue

Nemesia ‘Aroma Rhubarb and Custard’

Hebe Rhubarb and Custard 19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 47

evihcrA IT

IT does not take someone with a degree in botany to see that rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum) is not a fruit. Yet it is now included in fruit lists in catalogues and books. It is eaten, 99% of the time, for dessert, although chefs now pair it with fish, such as mackerel. At one time rhubarb was used only for medicinal reasons, mainly as a laxative. It was

AGardening’s Gardener’s Miscellany king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

AG’s Garden Wall

It’s time for our just-for-fun puzzle: AG’s Garden Wall. This wall comprises 12 bricks in three courses. Each brick has a different word, or phrase on it. The first brick in each course (with words in BLOCK capitals) has been cemented in place and cannot be moved. Just rearrange all the other bricks, so that all four words in each course of bricks are linked.

There are three different connections to look

ROSE ‘DUKE OF...’

SLEAFORD TRIANGLE

Knutsford Leeds Windsor

Thornbury Edinburgh Wakefield

for, one for each course. You may find that some words have more than one connection to other courses, but there is just the one correct answer. You’ll either find this puzzle fiendishly difficult, or incredibly easy!

Answers below.

Hint: In one of the courses, the words are all connected to the ‘rhubarb triangle’!

)elgnairt brabuhr ylrae eht desirpmoc taht snwot erihskroY eerht eht( dleifekaW ,sdeeL ,drofdarB = ELGNAIRT ;)seert ro stnalp ot gnitaler sdrow niatnoc lla taht snwot( gnikraB ,yrubnrohT ,drofstunK = DROFAELS ;)esor fo seiteirav lla( rosdniW ,hgrubnidE ,notgnilleW = ’…FO EKUD‘ ESOR :rewsnA

W£3IN0

Word search

No: 574

This word search comprises E E R H U B A R B R words associated with rhubarb. S R L N A C I D L H They are listed below, and in the grid they may be read across, backwards, up, down S T I G O T E A U E or diagonally. Letters may be D I R H N S X C G U shared between words.

Erroneous or duplicate words R C B A S A I N U M may appear in the grid, but A L I E T K I O E M there is only one correct solution. After the listed words T G R I R C R R P E are found, there are nine letters S T V N R I D O T T remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEY WORD. U E R O T C A E Y S RHUBARB C T F E L B MU R C ACID HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, ACTOR send it to AG Word Search No 574, Amateur Gardening, CRUMBLE and 2, Eelmore Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7QN, CUSTARD Unit to arrive

by Wednesday 30 June 2021. The first correct entry DESSERT chosen at random will win our £30 cash prize.

FORCING This week’s keyword is ..........................................................................................

GIANT LAXATIVE Name........................................................................................................................

POISON Address....................................................................................................................

RED ...................................................................................................................................

RHEUM SIBERIA Postcode..................................................................................................................

STEM Email.........................................................................................................................

TART Tel no........................................................................................................................

TRIANGLE Future publisher of Amateur Gardening, will collect your personal information your competition entry.

YORKSHIRE solely toplc,process

48 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

Rhubarb is poisonous

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JUST FOR FUN ROSE ‘DUKE OF...’ Bradford SLEAFORD Wellington TRIANGLE Barking

Rhubarb stems are fine when cooked, but the leaves, whether eat deadly cooked or raw, contain Don’t enough oxalic acid to kill rhubarb leaves a man. It is perfectly OK to add rhubarb leaves to compost heaps.

Rhubarb roots, when dried and powdered, have been used for centuries as a laxative, and to treat some intestinal complaints, including amoebic dysentery.

An old-fashioned way to kill greenfly on roses was to boil up rhubarb leaves with water and soft soap. Then, after cooling and straining, it was sprayed onto the plants.

Historical gardening event of the week: 17 June 1919

THE late actress and comedienne Beryl Reid was born on this day in Hereford. In 1982, she won a BAFTA for Best Actress in TV’s Smiley’s People – and that BAFTA was heavy!

I know, because I held it when I visited her in 1989, to write about her garden. Beryl and gardening lived in Honeypot Actress Cottage, a beautiful enthusiast, Beryl Reid chocolate-box thatched cottage on the banks of the Thames at Wraysbury, in Berkshire.

She was a very keen gardener, until osteoarthritis stopped her. She had lush lawns, and borders filled with perennials, roses and annuals.

Unfortunately, every few years, the banks of the river would break and flood her garden. And so she’d have to start growing things all over again.

Beryl died in 1996.

Coincidentally (or was it planned?), in 1980 Beryl starred in a TV comedy called … Rhubarb Rhubarb! It was a remake of an earlier comedy by Eric Sykes, where ‘rhubarb’ was the only word uttered. Also, a golf game took place at the Royal Rhubarb Golf Course, and at one point a character is seen reading a newspaper called the Daily Rhubarb, whose headlines consist entirely of the word ‘rhubarb’!

Crossword ...just for fun!

My favourite-ever dessert

BACK in, I think, the late 1980s, we printed a letter in AG from a reader that included a recipe she had created. It appealed to me, so I tried it at home. It is, in all honesty, my favourite-ever dessert. I just wish I knew who the reader was, cheesecake mix forms so I could thank her; the printed Athe base of Graham’s letter will be somewhere in archived favourite dessert issues, but it’d take years to find it!

Sinful rhubarb dessert n Base: 4oz butter, 3oz brown sugar, 6oz plain flour.

Mix these and press into the base of a 9x13in tin. Bake at 180°C/gas mark 4, for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. n Topping: 12oz cream cheese, 2 large eggs, 1tsp lemon juice, 2tbsp plain flour, 1tsp baking powder, 3oz desiccated coconut, 12oz cubed rhubarb, 9oz brown sugar, pinch of salt and nutmeg.

Beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Spread over the cooked base. Beat together the remaining ingredients and spread over the cream cheese. Bake at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 40 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into squares. Delish!

1

6 9 12 15

puorG kooB nworB ,elttiL

He got his just desserts in the end!

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Wow! I didn’t know that...

Yorkshire folk have their own word for rhubarb: tusky!

Wakefield Museum has a permanent exhibition about forced rhubarb.

It’s not often that you find rhubarb on the jacket of a mystery novel.

The Body on the Train (Frances Brody, 2019) is about a man’s body that is found at London’s King’s Cross, having travelled on a rhubarb train from Wakefield. Boxes of rhubarb on a platform next to a train are illustrated on the jacket.

3

2

ACROSS 1 The subject of this week’s Miscellany! (7) 6 The tough fibre of Cannabis sativa, used for making rope and coarse fabric (4) 7 ____bane: common name for plants of the erigeron genus (4) 8 The Insecticide now banned – Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (1,1,1) 9 State of matter different from the solid and liquid states, as found in the flowering plant agastache! (3) 10 Time period of indeterminate length, found in the monstera houseplant! (3) 11 Potato is a main ingredient of these small Italian dumplings, usually served with a sauce (7) 12 Zero, as in the vanilla orchid! (3) 13 Fruit consisting of a hard or tough shell around an edible kernel (3) 14 Bitter ___ of apples is a disorder that causes dark

spots on the outer skin when in storage (3) 15 Vegetable returning, at the end, to an Italian island! (4) 16 The pointed ends of small pieces of gardening advice, perhaps! (4) 17 Plant genus from the buttercup family, commonly known as windflowers (7) DOWN 2 Latin name for the wych, feathered, mountain and Scotch elm (5,6) 3 Genus of flowering plants in the diascia and nemesia family, including the purple bell vine (11) 4 Flogs idea in the common name for the perennial Baptisia australis (5,6) (anag) 5 Material used, for example, when making a pond, for making the liner watertight (7) 9 Genus of the giant 1 across! (7)

arennuG 9 tnalaeS 5 ogidni eslaF 4 notihcodohR 3 arbalg sumlU 2 NWOD enomenA 71 spiT 61 ablE 51 tiP 41 tuN 31 liN 21 ihcconG 11 arE 01 saG 9 TDD 8 aelF 7 pmeH 6 brabuhR 1 SSORCA

World’s worst rhubarb joke

n A thief who stole all the rhubarb from the allotments, as well as the plums, and the packets of senna pod seeds from the sheds… is on the loose!

DROWSSORC EVOBA OT SREWSNA

KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 569 (15 May): TRAILING AND THE WINNER IS: MRS SARAH E TAYLOR, LOWER QUINTON, WARWICKSHIRE

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 49

All our yesterdays from the AG archives

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Herbaarcte7o: perennialsus

Percy Thrower looks at the best herbaceous perennials for the garden

50 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

Percy Thrower

1. Acanthus mollis Latifolius Group

2. Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’

3. Anemone x hybrida ‘Luise Uhink’

4. Symphyotrichum novi-belgii ‘Marie Ballard’

if you want a white colour, ‘Luise Uhink’ is the one to go for.

4 Aster [Symphyotrichum] Asters have engaged the attention of plant breeders for more than 40 years and hundreds (maybe thousands) of varieties have been produced, many of them very good indeed. But some have deteriorated with age and some have been weakened by the attacks of pests and diseases.

As a result, relatively few varieties stand head and shoulders above the rest by virtue of their health, vigour and beauty. Prominent among these are A. novi-belgii ‘Marie Ballard’ [Symphyotrichum novi-belgii ‘Marie Ballard’], perhaps the finest blue Michaelmas daisy ever raised, with double flowers; ‘Fellowship’ with huge soft petunia-purple flowers; ‘Ernest Ballard’, carmine-rose; and Winston S. Churchill, with smaller flowers than the foregoing, but

such a lot of them and of such a rich beetroot-red that it can hold its own in any company.

5 Campanula These are the bellflowers and there are a lot of good ones to choose from, some more suitable for rock gardens, walls or paving than for beds and borders.

Campanula carpatica is a dual-purpose plant suitable either for a rock garden or for the front of a bed since it is clump forming and about 9in (23cm) high. The bell-shaped flowers look up at one and are showy. C. carpatica var. turbinata ‘Isobel’ has particularly good violet-blue flowers and C. carpatica f. alba ‘Weisse Clips’ is an outstanding white.

If there is room for a tall plant, 5ft (1.5m) high and spreading out in an elegant shuttlecock of growth, plant some form of C. lactiflora, which can be had in white and various shades of blue and lilac. My choices are ‘Prichard’s Variety’ for blue and ‘Loddon Anna’ for lilac.

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FEW plants have undergone a greater change in conventional use in the past 25 years than herbaceous perennials.

These plants, which were traditionally grown in herbaceous borders, are now rarely used in this way except in public parks. As gardens have become progressively smaller, it has become increasingly difficult to allocate sufficient space for borders devoted exclusively to herbaceous plants, which have had to take their place along with other types of plants in a partnership designed to create the greatest possible effect with the last expenditure of labour.

When these are the objectives, it becomes even more essential to make use of exclusively five-star varieties.

Here are a few suggestions.

1 Acanthus This is one of the most handsome foliage plants and the tall stiff spikes of curiously hooded maroon-purple and white flowers in late summer are most arresting. There are several species and varieties, but one is outstanding for the size and quality of both leaves and flower spikes. Its name is A. mollis Latifolius Group, or for short just A. latifolius, which is what it may be labelled in the nursery or garden centre.

2 Achillea These are the yarrows of which there are a great many kinds, but two are outstanding for the contribution they can make either planted alone or in association with other plants. One is deep-yellow Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’, notable for its very extended flowering season from midsummer to autumn; the other is ‘Moonshine’, with grey-green ferny leaves and flat heads of flowers in an unusual shade of sulphur-yellow.

3 Anemone Here I am concerned with the fibrousrooted herbaceous anemones known collectively as Japanese anemones, and all flower in late summer and early autumn. They produce attractive flowers ranging in colour from white to deep rose and in height from 2-4ft (60-120cm).

They all will thrive just as well (perhaps even better) in shade as in sun. I pick as specially good for small gardens the 2ft (60cm)-high reddish-pink Anemone x hybrida ‘Profusion’, but

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Five-star plant selection

This is the seventh of a 10-part series by Percy Thrower, who reveals his ‘best buys’ originally published in Amateur Gardening in 1973. In this and part 8 next week, Percy looks at herbaceous perennials. The following articles in the series will focus on rock plants.

6 Delphinium These splendid aristocrats of the garden have been so highly bred that many varieties are quickly superseded by others of even greater excellence, or maybe the old ones decline in vigour and quality. But a few varieties seem to be timeless, declining little, if at all, with age and always appearing in nursery lists. For those who prefer to renew their delphiniums fairly frequently from seed, a good strain of Pacific Giants can prove most rewarding.

7 Erigeron These look much like short Michaelmas daisies, but they start to flower much earlier, most in June, a few in July, and though summer is the period of their display, some will continue to produce a few flowers even in the autumn.

‘Foersters Liebling’ is the best deep rose-pink variety and there is a series of excellent hybrids raised by Alan Bloom with names such as ‘Sincerity’, ‘Dignity’ and ‘Felicity’, which are all good and offer a wide choice of the other typical erigeron shades of lavender, purple and pink.

8 Gaillardia These are among the gayest of daisy flowers, but they need to be grown in well-drained soil and sunny places, and to be lifted and divided at least every second spring if they are to prove really perennial. Typically scarlet with an outer ring of yellow, there are also all-yellow varieties and others in which the two colours have become blended to produce various shades of orange and bronzy-red. Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Mandarin’ is a splendid orange-flame example of this blending of colours.

‘Ipswich Beauty’ is a real startler if you prefer the colours kept separate.

9 Geranium It takes a long time to accustom new gardeners to the fact that the scarlet or pink-flowered plants they have always thought of as ‘geraniums’ are pelargoniums and that the true geraniums are hardy perennials, most of which have blue flowers. They are all very easily grown and most enjoy chalk or lime in the soil. This is certainly true of Geranium x johnsonii ‘Johnson’s Blue’, a lovely form of our own native meadow cranesbill, which will produce a

137 years of practical advice

1884 The World’s Oldest Gardening Magazine 2021

5. Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’

6. Blue Delphinium ‘Pacific Giants’

7. Erigeron ‘Dignity’

8. Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Mandarin’

9. Geranium x johnsonii ‘Johnson’s Blue’,

10. Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’

profusion of violet-blue flowers from June to September.

10 Helenium Like erigerons and gaillardias, heleniums grow so quickly they can starve themselves out unless they are lifted and divided every second or third spring.

Fortunately, this is very easy to do since they can be split by hand and quickly re-establish themselves. Some kinds are rather too tall for any but big

gardens, but ‘Wyndley’ and ‘Moerheim Beauty’ are ideal, 2½-3ft (75-90cm) high, the first with yellow and mahogany-red flowers, the second a rich copperycrimson throughout. If I were confined to one helenium, ‘Moerheim Beauty’ is the variety I would choose.

n In AG 26 June Percy Thrower concludes his five-star plant selection of herbaceous perennials

The views, information and opinions expressed during this series of extracts from past issues of AG are solely those of the individuals involved, at the time they were written, and are not necessarily relevant or even legal today. Please treat these pages as a look back at how things were done in the past and not necessarily how they are done today. AG accepts no responsibility if readers follow advice given in these articles from past issues.

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 51

Advanced gardening New series on advanced gardening techniques with Steve and Val Bradley

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local)

The predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis can eat up to five adult red spider mites per day

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Red spider mites can cause untold damage to crops, particularly tomatoes. The tell-tale webbing usually means there is a large infestation

Biological control for indoor plants Steve andVal Bradley explain the biological methods for controlling red spider

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mite and whitefly that involve the use of predatory mites and parasitic wasps

52 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

whole pest population with one or two applications of a chemical.

Biological control is actually about pest management, rather than outright control, so the aim is to keep the pest population at a manageable level, rather than eliminating it altogether.

If the pest population disappears completely, the control agent will die out, too, due either to a lack of food or a disrupted lifecycle. So, the aim is to have a balance at all times, with a

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IOLOGICAL pest control is a ‘bug eats bug’ approach that involves the use of natural enemies to help control pests on your plants. There are predators for almost all situations now, not just outside in the garden but also in enclosed places such as indoor rooms, conservatories, greenhouses and polythene-clad structures where edible plants may grow alongside ornamental and tender ones.

Selective organic control This method of pest control is suitable for organic gardeners and anyone who is reluctant to use pesticides, especially indoors or on plants being grown for food. The predators or parasites are bred to be host-specific, so they will only prey on the insect pest you wish to control and are harmless to other wildlife and pets.

Management not elimination Dealing with pests biologically is quite different from the traditional practice of aiming to wipe out the

Red spider mites are tiny sap-sucking insects that thrive in warm conditions

low population of pests supporting a low population of control.

The two ways biological controls work 1. The pest is controlled by introducing insects that are predators and feed on the targeted pest, often eating adults, young and even eggs. This is the case with red spider mite control. Some predators can feed on other things, such as pollen or dust on the leaves of plants, so they can survive for a time even if the pest is only present in low numbers.

2. The pest is controlled by introducing a parasite, where the control will lay eggs in the pest at some stage of its lifecycle, usually the eggs or young. The predator’s young develop inside the pest, killing it. This is the case with whitefly control.

n Other pests that can be controlled biologically Citrus red spider mite, fuchsia gall mite, fungus gnats, mealybugs, scale insects, thrips

Steve Bradley MA MHort (RHS) has written (or co-written) over 40 gardening books, including Propagation Basics, The Pruner’s Bible, The Ground Force Workbook and What’s Wrong With My Plant? He is resident expert on BBC Radio Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and he has built medal-winning gardens at both Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace.

Whitefly control

THE most common insect used to deal with glasshouse whitefly is Encarsia formosa, a small wasp. The females lay 50-100 eggs singly by injecting

them into whitefly scales. The scales turn black as the wasp egg hatches and the young feed on them before emerging as adults by making a hole in the dead Use a yellow sticky trap to get some idea of the level of whitefly population before ordering the control.

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whitefly scales. Adult wasps feed on the honeydew produced by whiteflies.

The wasps are supplied as parasitised whitefly scales on a cardboard square.

Hang the card containing the juvenile wasps on the plants where the whiteflies are feeding. The parasitised scales show as lots of little back dots in the centre of the card.

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Whitefly can be a problem on tomatoes and fuchsias. Growing marigolds in front of tomatoes or between fuchsias helps, as whiteflies feed on them, but they will eventually migrate to the crop.

Having the control ready can save a lot of damage.

Red spider mite control

THE most commonly available control used to deal with red spider mites is another mite, called Phytoseiulus persimilis, which feeds on the red spider mites.

They can eat around five adults and 20 young per day,

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With all these pests and controls it is worth having a 10x hand lens to see what is happening, so you can check on a regular basis.

and breed much more quickly than the red spider mite, so they can potentially double their numbers every two days and reduce the red spider mite population very quickly if the conditions are good.

Red spider mites usually feed at Shake the container before the top of a plant on the soft, young scattering the predators over growth, so spray first to moisten the the leaves, because the insects leaves. This stops the predators rolling often settle into the base of the off the leaves as they are distributed. container during transit.

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Alternatively, place them in distribution boxes, which act as breeding sites for them to start to hunt for prey. Place these among high populations of spider mites.

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 53

54 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

Ask Anne!

Anne Swithinbank’s masterclass on: filling gaps in rose beds Anne’s picks Keep an eye on spreading plants like Campanula glomerata

When these orange-flowered roses open, their blooms contrast well with silvery artichokes. Yet there is a good planting gap between the two. Filling the gaps are thymes and self-sown forget-me-nots followed by aquilegias and pansies

Set off roses with lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and lilies (Lilium regale)

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Add new herbaceous perennials, like Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’, between rose stems. After flowering, cut growth down if it interferes with the roses and when clumps are large enough divide in autumn or spring.

Gaps between roses Q

We have moved house and the garden is planted with many rose bushes, but with gaps between them.

What can we use to fill the gaps, thwart weeds and complement the roses, and are there any pitfalls to watch out for?

We need a lot of plants, so could I start some from seed now?

Alice Burke, Lowestoft, Suffolk Beds planted just with roses used to be the fashion, but even those that repeat-flower are not continuously in bloom and the bushes or shrubs themselves are often ungainly beasts.

Times have changed and most gardeners now aim for a relaxed style of planting, designed to encourage and benefit wildlife. A mix of plants to complement the roses and extend the season of interest will also attract a wider variety of insects and birds, many of which eat aphids and other pests.

The biggest pitfall lies in filling the gaps too successfully, with large and floppy plants. Roses enjoy light and air around them, and you will need access to the soil beneath in order to prune,

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What you can do now

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Take cuttings of penstemons, nipping out buds if needed.

They root easily and establish well between roses. Cut back after the first flowering and in spring.

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Sow honesty (shown) to flower next spring, plus sweet Williams and foxgloves, but sweet rocket can be overbearing on rich soil, so keep it to the edges.

Good gap-fillers

HERBACEOUS peonies perform well in large gaps as they enjoy the same kind of soil as roses. On lighter soils, perennial gypsophila surrounds blooms with masses of tiny white flowers Against pale roses the dark maroon pincushions of Knautia macedonica show Try peonies, like Sarah up well. In narrow gaps, toadflax Linaria purpurea ‘Canon Bernhardt, in large gaps Went’ has pale-pink flowers to complement darker roses. between roses

56 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

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feed and mulch. To allow for this, any plants added should be set 12-18in (30-45cm) away from rose stems. Avoid those that spread and stick to shallowrooting kinds that won’t mind being controlled by cutting back periodically.

This is your first summer, so let the roses show their colours and general performance. Consider removing or moving any that are growing too closely, are weak or not to your liking from autumn to spring while they are dormant.

Even mature rose plants usually settle well after being carefully lifted and replanted. While the soil is still bare, apply rose fertiliser now to moist soil and mulch around their roots with well-rotted garden compost or soil conditioner.

Use catmint, pinks and lavender for the edges of borders to set off the roses. Among them, plant Lychnis coronaria, compact cultivars of Salvia x sylvestris such as ‘Caradonna’, Stachys macrantha ‘Superba’ and well-behaved hardy geraniums easily sheared back after flowering. Plan to plant bulbs of Lilium regale, and alliums in autumn and tulips in November for a spring display.

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Plant annuals and tender perennials like this Nemesia Aromatica Rose Pink into gaps. Also, plant pansies and Orlaya grandiflora with its lacy white flowers.

19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 59

Letters to Wendy

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 2, Eelmore Road, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7QN (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Star letter

Vanessa’s rhubarb leaves are enormous

Giant rhubarb

I THINK all this rain we have been having in the South in the last week has done wonders for my rhubarb.

Vanessa Eden, Southampton

Gloria will be taking a closer look at different bumble bee species

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Bee grateful

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DIDN’T know much about bumble bees until I read Val Bourne’s feature (AG, 15 May).

Now I will give them the respect they deserve for all the hard work they do pollinating our plants throughout the year, sustained by regular sips of nectar as they go on their travels.

I shall look out for the beautiful colours of each species and glory in their

ABIG orgood ‘do-er’ small, our gardens have been

our haven and a place we have felt so safe during the last year or so, even more. I have never known this Camellia ‘Anticipation’ to keep giving and giving for so long, it started flowering before Christmas and mid May still blooms galore and looking stunning giving so much pleasure.

Sylvia Monk, Hayling Island, Hants Wendy says Snap! My Camellia ‘Donation’ has been the same – I’ve never known it to bloom so prolifically and it’s still in flower on 1 June

different markings. Without these little creatures of beauty, our gardens wouldn’t flourish.

Mrs Gloria Wilding, Prescot, Merseyside Wendy says Don’t miss Val’s fascinating article about bees in next week’s AG, where she discusses the different ways bees store and transport pollen

Long-flowering Camellia ‘Anticipation’ has provided so much pleasure

The tree peony thrives in its container

Petite peony

I THOUGHT readers might like to see this photo of my beautiful tree peony.

It’s been in the same pot for the last five years. As my garden is small, it has had to stay in this same pot, so each year, I take off the top 4in of compost and replace with fresh. During the summer I feed fortnightly with a seaweed feed and it has rewarded me with nine blooms, 8in in diameter.

The empty pot in front is waiting for coleus plants I’ve grown from seed in the conservatory. I’ve already given some away and once hardened off they will make a colourful display, ready to take over once the peony blooms have faded.

Mrs Joy Robinson Gravesend, Kent 19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 61

62 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

Letters to Wendy

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 2, Eelmore Road Farnborough, Hants GU14 7QN (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Photo ofweek the

Each week we publish a reader’s poem about a favourite plant or gardening experience. This week, Gill shows that a gardener’s work is never done...

Time flies

Judith’s supermarket tulips – “I’m delighted with the colours”

Hot-coloured tulips

HERE’S a photo of my peony tulips. I bought the bag of them at the local supermarket. I’m delighted with the colours. I planted the giant daisies on top in the autumn.. grown from AG seeds!

Judith Simpson, Belfast

Reader’s Tip

THESE very handy and clever items my daughter made for me.

I have very little sight and also very forgetful, but I’m sure everyone could make use of these. The first small pot holds my string – all I do is pull the string from the bottom and it doesn’t get in a tangle. The second tip shows a large black plant pot with the bottom cut out so I can support all my canes and stakes and I’m not falling over them all.

Debbie Bolas via email

W £2IN0

How many times I’ve been known to say, “Got a job, take five minutes, no more,” My husband just smiles and nods his head knowing Fine well he’s heard all that before!

I’ve only gone to water the plants, I’ll be done in less than a second.

But wait, the seedlings are ready for pricking, This may take longer than reckoned.

I prick out the plants, 10 minutes pass by And I’m just about to go in...

When I spot the trug is full of detritus Which is destined for my compost bin.

After turning the compost , five minutes have passed, And I’m making my way to the gate...

When I notice the cosmos and roses and pansies Need deadheading and this job can’t wait.

Ten minutes later I’m at the back door...

When I spot pesky weeds in the paving, Grab the trowel and the kneeler, and five minutes later Notice untethered sweet peas are waving.

Grabbing my string and tying them in, Only one or two minutes it’s taken, On the way to the greenhouse with the string In my hand...

I Spot all the dahlias need staking.

Just about to go in for a cuppa I’m almost finished at last...

But the pots need a mulch, a feed and a drink, And by then half an hour has passed.

After sweeping the path, checking the greenhouse, And filling the cans with water...

My hubby has finished watching the rugby, I’ve been out there an hour and three quarters!

Gill Gornall 19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 63

SHARE YOUR STORIES TIPS AND PHOTOS and you will receive a fantastic pair of Town & Country’s Master Gardener gloves — the UK’s best-selling gardening glove and a perfect companion to help you in the garden. State small, medium or large with your letter.

Future Publishing Ltd Unit 2, Eelmore Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7QN

Editorial:

Iona has found many plants in her garden are magical when adorned with beads of rain water

Editor: Garry Coward-Williams

Email: garry.coward-williams@futurenet.com & 0330 390 3732 (Mon-Fri 9.00am-6.00pm)

Gardening Editor: Ruth Hayes Assistant Editor: Janey Goulding Art Editor: Al Rigger Picture Editor and Letters: Wendy Humphries Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Suddenly the rain came down

WHILST folk may feel inclined to head straight indoors in a downpour, we gardeners know that the water not only quenches the thirst of our plants so that they can flourish, but it can also highlight features of the plants in our gardens.

A plant well known for its ability to capture water is Alchemilla mollis, traditionally one of the best plants to enjoy following a downpour, it’s fluted leaves hold onto droplets of water, making it look like the leaves are holding bundles of translucent pearls.

At present, the starry leaves of the lupin shine out, holding perfect spheres of shining water at the centre of each star. There’s nothing growing more vigorously than the lily and as it shoots skywards, the clusters of hairs surrounding each bursting bud cling on to silver drops of water after each rain shower.

Something to look forward to in the summer is the sight of suspended raindrops along a flowering sweet

pea. Its tendrils and flower buds are the perfect home for masses of suspended globes of water which reflect the light beautifully.

Why not take a walk around your garden next time it rains and celebrate the magical appearance it brings to the borders. See how the rain sticks to furry leaves, streams and pools down thin, strappy foliage and gives a new vibrancy to glossy leaves. Teasels and the castor oil plant can collect deep wells of water.

All sorts of flowers take on a different appearance when dusted with water baubles reflecting colour and light in an interesting and uplifting way. Do write in and send photos to let Amateur Gardening know what you have seen!

Iona Chisholm Wendy says Thank you Iona, I will appreciate the glistening raindrops on various plants and flowers much more after reading this

Veronica to the rescue

‘Veronica’ holds the key to the door 64 AMATEUR GARDENING 19 JUNE 2021

WHEN my daughter left home for an early shift she was in a hurry and forgot to take her key. I knew she would return about 4pm before I had come back from the dentist so I left the key where I hoped she would find it, she is a keen gardener.

I left a note on the doorstep that read “Key with Veronica”. I wrapped the key in a piece of plastic and hid it under the large veronica bush. Did she find it? Yes, but it took a while!

Dr Rhoda Pippen, Cardiff

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Toby Buckland Plantsman and BBC gardening presenter Toby’s trivia

Tomato ‘Lemon Tree’ is just one of the heritage cordon varieties I’m trying this year ‘Grappoli d’Inverno’ is an Italian heirloom cherry variety that tastes at its best after it has been roasted or reduced in a pan dnalkcuB yboT

Want better-tasting tomatoes, and more of them? Treat them mean and keep them craving more, says Toby

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“Getting the best requires restraint”

But getting the best from this ‘glutbuster’ requires restraint. Overindulge a beefsteak from Bologna or a plum from Pasadena with liquid feed and water, and you’ll create a leafy triffid that won’t crop even by the end of summer.

However, the same tom kept on strict rations, with its compost allowed to dry between watering and fed only when the leaves start to pale, will produce tomatoes from a much younger age.

All the tomatoes I’m growing are cordons, trained as a single stem against a cane with all side-shoots regularly removed. Cordon varieties are also labelled on the seed packs as

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Cordon tomatoes are perennials which, given yearround heat and light, would live and produce tomatoes indefinitely. indeterminate – they are perennials with no determined end point to their life.

Because their genetic wiring tells them they’ll live forever, they’re in no rush to grow up and (for want of a better expression) start a family.

Nipping off the side-shoots where the leaves meet the stems, and withholding feed and water until the first flowers turn into embryonic toms, will trick them into behaving differently. Wanting more – and with the threat of a short life hanging over their flower heads – they rush into procreating their next generation in the form of a crop of tomatoes.

Tips for top tomatoes ENCOURAGE green tomatoes to ripen by pinching off the plant top when fruit trusses have formed. The number of trusses depends on where you live.

Outside in a cool part of the country it might be three, but in a greenhouse in Guernsey it might be nine. Once fruit has set, maintain a feeding regime that keeps plants hungry. This reduces sideshooting and improves flavour. Once picking, keep the compost/soil moist to stop the fruits swelling and shrinking, which causes their skins to split.

Pinching off tops of plants when they crop can encourage toms to ripen Keeping plants hungry reduces side-shoots, but nip off any you see 19 JUNE 2021 AMATEUR GARDENING 67

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LWAYS Leave them wanting more,’ as the circus showman Barnum once said. Wise words… hopefully ignored by anaesthetists, but essential for gardeners growing tomatoes.

And I should know, as getting tomatoes that hark from the warmer climes of Italy and the USA to fruit isn’t easy. This year, I’ve a colourful clutch of heritage varieties in my greenhouse, such as beefsteak ‘Golden Dixie’, the Russian ‘Black Plum’, plus yellow ‘Lemon Tree’ and the Italian ‘Grappoli d’Inverno’.

I’m particularly excited about this last one. The name translates as ‘winter grapes’ because the oval, cherry fruits store for four-six weeks after picking.

This can be even longer if the vines are hung as the Italian farmers do it, in a sunny window for the tomatoes to dry.

My friend Gabby grew them with great success last year, and although their firm flesh isn’t good fresh, when roasted or reduced in a pan their flavour transforms.

Bush (aka determinate) tomatoes are annuals that produce a single, huge hurrah of fruit before turning up their toes.

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Tough love

Although I’ve developed a soft spot for my fruity additions, I’m not going to treat my toms too well!

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