Amateur Gardening - 12 March 2022

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Steve Bradley explains how
to propagate agapanthus
Rose care:
What to feed
so that you
have plenty of
stunning blooms
Grow potatoes:
It is time to
plant maincrop
tubers now
Bring me
Busy lizzies:
These disease-
resistant types
won’t fail you
Sunshine!
Best sunflower varieties
revealed, plus care tips
How to grow crocuses

138 years of practical advice
1884 The World’s Oldest Gardening Magazine 2022
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pring back into being busy!
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A quartet of spring tasks
amate 333 1113
subs.curgardenin 9 How to get the best roses
o.uk/M g
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10 Salvaging last year’s plants
12 Free seeds: our guide on how to
sow your free Zinnia ‘Jazz’ seeds
Great garden ideas
24 Planting for insects: best nectar-rich
plants to keep pollinators busy
28 Sun lovers: 16 great sunflower
options for pots and for borders
33 How to grow crocus: everything you
want to know about this winter gem
“Here is my top selection of sunflowers Gardening wisdom

28 for all situations,” says Hazel 14 ob Flowerdew
B
16 Val Bourne Wildlife
19 Lucy Chamberlain’s Fruit and Veg
37 Ask John Negus
43 All Our Yesterdays
47 A Gardener’s Miscellany
50 Advanced Gardening
52 Anne Swithinbank’s Masterclass
55 Letters to Wendy: from AG readers
59 Toby Buckland
Garden news
6 Busy lizzies: stronger new varieties
Reader offers
22 Check out the latest great deals
“For the last few weeks, I have been

“It’s great that there “Meet the stars experiencing the joy and wonderment of
4 is so much to do in
the garden,” says Ruth
33 of late winter and
early spring,” says Graham
seeing my daffodils rise from the earthly
slumber and burst into bloom. It’s strange
that when their time is up and they regress
Future
into the ground, I am never entirely certain

they will return. Utter nonsense, of course,
but somehow their reappearance comes
as a hugely welcome surprise. I guess that
is the magic of plants, and in particular
spring. It’s funny how much it can lift our
spirits to see everything come back to life,
especially as the garden has for the
most part been visually dormant
for such a long time. The garden
has come alive again, and we
have so much to do!
Garry Coward-Williams,
Editor
Contact us:
Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113
Editorial: 0330 3903732
All Alamy unless credited
Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com
“If you want to really help pollinators, here Advertising: 0330 3906566
24 are the best plants to grow,” says Anne
Cover: Sunflower ‘Russian Giant’ (pic: Thompson and Morgan)

12 MARCH 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING 3
Your
Gardening Week
with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes
Step
by step Care of
clematis
How to prune a Group 3 plant
New clematis shoots

are emerging
1 I removed the top 2in (5cm) of

old compost from the pot and
refreshed it with new John Innes
No 3 for mature and hungry plants.
I’m cracking on with
spring jobs including
pruning, feeding
and dividing
Springing back to busyness

Everywhere you look there’s something to do, says Ruth
P 2
EOPLE who aren’t gardeners prefer to use a spray, try and use an Potted climbers quickly use up
sometimes surmise that organic one and follow the available food so I’m fortifying
winter is the ‘quiet’ time in manufacturer’s instructions carefully. the fresh compost with three plugs
the garden. That is so not the Don’t spray on windy days as the of Miracle Gro Push and Feed, which
case, as there is always something to chemicals can travel and, in the case of should give six months of nutrients.
do whatever the season, but it has to be weedkillers, kill your cultivated plants,
said that where we are now is probably and never use pesticides on flowering
the time when we wish for extra hours plants as you will kill pollinators.
in the day, more hours of daylight. Another job to tackle now is pruning
Spring is called ‘spring’ for a reason: it your Group 2 and 3 clematis. Group 2
is the time when everything leaps plants are renowned for their large
back to life and into growth. Shasta daisy flowers that bloom in May and
With this welcome surge needs sorting out! June and varieties include
comes an ever- ‘Nelly Moser’, ‘Barbara
lengthening list of things Jackman’, Jackmanii
to do, and this week I
have been tackling just a
few of them.
‘Alba’ and J. ‘Rubra’ and
‘Burma Star’.
Remove dead and
3 I then cut away dead and
weak stems and reduced the
healthily growing stems back to the
Potting up summer- weak stems and cut back lowest pair of leaf buds.
flowering tubers, clearing healthy stems just above
pots, giving fuchsias their the lowest pair of healthy
seasonal trim and making sure leaf buds.
the pond water stays clear and Group 3 clematis such as the
healthy are all part and parcel of the ‘Hagley Hybrid’ and ‘Countess of
spring gardener’s checklist. Wessex’ that we grow are pruned in the
Feeding and mulching is essential to same way otherwise, as with Group 2
encourage new growth and help it plants, you end up with bare lower
develop healthily and strongly. stems that flower above eye level. I
The warmer weather also, of course, show you what to do in the column, on
brings out the weeds and pests so deal the right.
with them immediately. I would rather
weed by hand than use chemicals, and
the same goes for controlling insect
I have also lifted and divided a Shasta
daisy that had become congested with
couch grass. There will be more on
4 I finished the job by watering
generously and replacing the
metal support around the clematis.
All Future
pests. If you are unable to do this and caring for perennials next week.
4 AMATEUR GARDENING 12 MARCH 2022
Spread the love: In next week’s pages I show you
how to plant and divide perennials and keep
them looking their best all summer long.
I covered some
A quartet of spring tasks and left another open
Growing, feeding and cutting back, plus caring for wildlife
Pot up begonia
tubers this month
Tuber trials
Begonia expert and regular AG
1 It’s time to start potting up your

dahlia tubers. Sit them in pots of
compost, cover with more compost
2 Cut back fuchsias to the lowest
healthy pairs of leaf bud and re-pot
in fresh compost if growing in containers.
reader David Lloyd has been in
touch with some tips on growing
these gorgeous summer plants.
leaving the old stems intact and visible. Border fuchsias should be fed and The usual advice is to place the
Water, place in a greenhouse and wait mulched. Do not compost the remnants tubers, hollow side upwards, on the
for shoots to appear. if they carry rust or fuchsia gall mite. top of a pot of dampened compost.
This then promotes generous
rooting from underneath.
However David, who has grown
tuberous begonias for decades
recommends completely covering
the tuber with a little compost.
He says this reduces the risk of
water settling in the hollow crown
causing rotting, and says complete
coverage promotes the production
of more roots.
Intrigued, I have put this to the test
3 Garden wildlife will be busy nesting

and breeding and will be hungry,
especially if we have a late cold snap.
4 Feed growing plants as they
come through the soil. If you have
problems getting the lid off a new
and potted up three begonia
‘Odorata’ tubers, two covered and
one open. I’ll keep you updated as
Provide fresh food and drinking water tub I find it helps to wiggle the trowel the tubers sprout.
as well as bathing water for the birds. underneath and use it as a lever!
Step
by step Lifting, dividing and ‘cleansing’ a Shasta daisy
1 Carefully dig around the plant and

lift it, keeping soil on the roots and
trying not to damage them.
2 Place the plant on a plastic bag
or board and divide it. I’m using a
spade to chop it into pieces.
3 Carefully tease out the roots of the
invading grass or weed, pull them
free and compost them.
4 If the plant has an old, woody

unproductive heart, cut it free and
compost this as well.
5 replant the divisions at the same
depth as before, making sure each
one has healthy top growth and roots.
6 Firm the soil around the plant and
water it well. Keep it weed free and
make sure the soil doesn’t dry out.

Your
Gardening Week
with AG’s gardening expert Graham Rice
Alamy
Three varieties trialled: on the left, ‘Beacon White’; centre
‘Super Elfin White’; right, ‘Imara White Week’. The
traditional variety in the centre is wiped out, the ‘Imara’
variety was waning, but ‘Beacon White’ was still going strong
Impatiens Downy Mildew wiped

out Busy lizzies until disease-
resistant varieties were bred
Busy lizzies are back in business!

At last with new disease-resistant varieties you can plant again with confidence, but
which should you choose? Graham Rice considers the options
J
UST over ten years ago, busy heard of. Impatiens Downy Mildew Resistance to fungicide
lizzie (impatiens) plants across (IDM) was first found in Britain in 2003 However, the mildew adapted,
the country were wiped out by a but it had been kept under control by developed a resistance to the fungicide,
disease that most of us had never the use of fungicides. and the result was that in 2011 busy
lizzies in gardens, parks and town centre
hanging baskets were wiped out.
Impatiens ‘Beacon’ in a bedding arrangement “The UK Impatiens market, estimated
showing what these new plants can offer to be in excess of £40m a year,
contracted by 80% leaving home
gardeners with a huge loss of this great
garden favourite,” explained Stuart
Lowen, Marketing Manager of
BallColegrave who supply impatiens
seed and plugs to commercial growers.
The mail order companies stopped
listing them, garden centres stopped
selling them. They all but vanished from
Press not restricted unless credited
our gardens.
Breeders worked to solve problem

By then, two international plant breeding
companies had already begun
developing new varieties that were
Impatiens ‘Beacon Formula Mixed’: the ‘Beacon’ Impatiens ‘Imara Orange Star’ is popular
variety appears to be the longer-lasting of the two and there is no ‘Beacon’ equivalent
resistant to the disease. They used and IDM-resistant ‘Imara White’, with the the plants disease-free. That works well
traditional plant breeding methods, with traditional ‘Super Elfin White’ planted in on commercial nurseries, but the RHS
a little modern science thrown in, but no between. By August the traditional reports that there are currently no
genetic modification. Eventually, in 2018, impatiens were dead, ‘Imara’ looked suitable fungicides available for home
‘Imara’ disease-resistant busy lizzies very sad and with few flowers while use. So it pays to buy ‘Imara’ in the
were launched in B&Q, then in 2020 ‘Beacon’ looked excellent. At Syngenta largest format available so they will have
came disease-resistant ‘Beacon’. Both Flowers, who developed ‘Imara’, they benefited from fungicide applications.
are available to order as seed or plugs or grew ‘Imara White’ alongside traditional
young plants from mail order white impatiens in their trials in Special aspect of ‘Beacon’
suppliers now and they’ll Berkshire. Both looked good Stuart Lowen at BallColegrave told me:
be available in plant in June, but by July “The special aspect of ‘Beacon’ is that it
centres and garden the traditional has high resistance to IDM, which means
centres for planting variety was no chemical treatments are necessary.”
after the frosts. declining rapidly Another big difference is that the
and by August Beacon Series comes in seven colours
Comparing was almost all plus mixtures, but the Imara Series
new varieties dead. ‘Imara’ comes in nine separate colours plus
But which should we Impatiens ‘Imara looked good. mixtures and includes two popular star
Hot Mix’
grow? ‘Imara’ or colours not available in ‘Beacon’. Finally,
‘Beacon’? There are four Different treatments ‘Beacon’ is far easier to find on
main factors to keep in mind: disease Both ‘Imara’ and ‘Beacon’ are grown catalogues and on websites than ‘Imara’.
resistance, fungicides, flower colours, in exactly the same way as we always
and availability. I’ve grown both ‘Beacon’ used to grow busy lizzies – except that New varieties are best choice
and ‘Imara’ myself, in the same garden Syngenta Flowers recommend treating Selecting one of the IDM-resistant
but not in the same year. ‘Imara’ was ‘Imara’ with three applications of varieties is the only way to be confident
dead by August, ‘Beacon’ flowered till fungicide, the last at the end of June. It’s of growing disease-free impatiens – and
the frost. the combination of disease resistance isn’t it great to know that busy lizzies are
and fungicide applications that keeps back in business.
At the trial grounds
At the trial ground in Oxfordshire run by
BallColegrave, who developed ‘Beacon’,
they grew IDM-resistant ‘Beacon White’
Where to buy
n Order Imara Series impatiens from
Gardening Direct (plugs) gardeningdirect.co.uk
“Garden centres Dobies (seeds) dobies.co.uk
stopped selling n Order Beacon impatiens from

Brookside Nursery (plugs) brooksidenursery.co.uk
busy lizzies” Dobies (plugs, garden ready) dobies.co.uk
Marshalls (seedlings) marshallsgarden.com

Your
Gardening Week
Rose care tips

Root problems and feeding
Tie in the shoots of

climbing roses
1 Suckers are stems that grow from

the rootstock, usually a short
distance away from the main plant.
They are vigorous and should be
pulled off from ground level. Don’t
cut them as they will grow back.
Start work on your roses now to get the
best scent and colour this summer
Alamy
How to get the best roses

Nurture now for a summer of colour and scent, says Ruth
T
HIS is a key time of year for now, and you can remove some of the
roses, because if you give them oldest stems from well established
the autumn.
a good, healthy start it will help
them to flourish well into
plants to make room for new growth. Tie
in new shoots and prune flowered
stems back by a third.
2 Feed roses with a granular
fertiliser now, forking it in
afterwards, and then again in
It is time to give shrub Rambling roses should be midsummer to keep them flowering
varieties their annual hard left alone until after they well into the autumn.
prune as they can take, have flowered in summer.
and will respond well to, a When pruning, always
severe trim. I cut back our remove dead, diseased taking care not to hit the roots. Then
old floribunda rose to and weak growth as well water well and overlay with a generous
ankle level this time last as any shoots directed layer of mulch.
year, and it bloomed better Rub off inward inwards as they will simply If you have a problem with the fungal
than ever, and on stronger growing shoots clutter up the plant. Rub off disease rose black spot, mulching
stems, from last summer right inward-facing buds too. around the base of plants can also help
through to November. After pruning, feed with a granular bury the spores so they aren’t splashed
Climbing roses can also be pruned rose fertiliser and carefully fork it in, onto the plant when it rains.
Step
by step Keeping your awakening pond healthy
Alamy
1 Without disturbing any

pond creatures, remove 2 Test the water to make
sure there is the right 3 Add a layer of
horticultural sand to 4Fish are becoming active
so feed them with a low-
Future unless credited
dead plant material from balance of nutrients, then the bottom of your pond to protein product, followed by
the water and pond edges replace your pump if it was create a habitat and breeding a high protein one when the
before it fouls the water. removed before the winter. ground for invertebrates. weather warms.

Your
Gardening Week
i
I salvaged last year’s
summer plants to Using your min
greenhouse
reuse this year
Removing flowers My salvaged pot plants are being

to save energy housed in the mini greenhouse
Old compost added Back on track

to a border AFTER a quiet winter with just a few
hardy perennials as residents, our
Salvaging last year’s plants mini greenhouse is filling up again.

We have only had one semi-
disaster this winter, when a stormy
Reuse healthy plants instead of composting, says Ruth night saw a few pots go flying, but
M
OST gardeners are ‘waste compost and will rejuvenate them in the luckily they and their contents could
not, want not’ types of mini greenhouse until late spring. be saved.
people and this week I have I also cut back the flowering plants to Now, though, the
been recycling one of last encourage bushy growth with lots of new mini greenhouse is
year’s summer containers. buds. Amazingly, the nemesia was still in back in business
It held a mix of flowers including flower and the Gaillardias were in bud, and is home to
petunia and coleus (long since gone), a but I remove them so the plants will some
pink salvia ‘Wishes and Kisses’, a trailing concentrate on root and shoot growth blackcurrant and
nemesia, silvery Calocephalus and two rather than energy-sapping flowering. rose cuttings, a
dwarf Gaillardias which miraculously I then added the remains of the couple of Rose cuttings
survived winter. compost in the pot to a border. It won’t perennials and the are shooting
I want to reuse them this year so I have much nutritional use but will help container plants I am
moved them into individual pots of fresh open up and condition the soil. reusing this summer.
Mini greenhouses are excellent
‘halfway houses’ between the
How to recycle last year’s plants greenhouse and the great outdoors
and mean plants need little
hardening off before being planted
out because they have largely
already been acclimatised to
outside temperatures.
The buds on the blackcurrant
hardwood cuttings are starting to
swell and the rose cuttings look like
1 Carefully lift each plant and make

sure their roots are healthy and not
infested with vine weevil grubs.
2
Pot up the plants in fresh
compost, using containers large
enough to take all their roots.
they are bursting into leaf.
I am tempering my optimism
however, because hardwood
cuttings sometimes have a surge of
growth in the early days when their
remaining sap is starting to flow
again, but then die off before the
roots have time to form properly.
We would love to hear what you
have been doing with your mini
greenhouse through the winter.
3 Cut them back to healthy leaf

nodes or new leaf buds so they
will grow bushy and productive.
4 Water well and set in a cold
frame, greenhouse or sheltered
area until ready to plant out again.
Email any of your garden tips, with
photos if possible, to me at
8 ruth.hayes@futurenet.com
All Future

Your
Gardening Week
Seedling care
Press Restricted
1 Once seeds have germinated,

remove the lid so they are well
ventilated,. This helps reduce the
risk of fungal problems such as
damping off disease.
Press Restricted
Zinnia ‘Jazz’ are bright and brilliant

stars of borders and containers
Making a song and dance

Brilliant Zinnia ‘Jazz’ brings a lot to the party, says Ruth 2 Watering from the bottom,
rather than getting the
T
HIS week’s free seeds are which will help the other plants around seedlings wet, also helps keep
enough to make anyone sit up your gardens. them healthy and less likely to
and take notice. Because they are half-hardy annuals it suffer from moulds and rots.
Zinnia ‘Jazz’ are half hardy is still a little early to sow them directly in
annuals that pack a massive punch of a flower bed, so I have split my pack in
colour with their large flowers in vivid half. The first lot I have sown in a pot and If you prefer to wait and sow your
shades of pink, orange and purple. am germinating them on a light ‘Jazz’ seeds in soil, create a seedbed by
They are bushy plants that grow to windowsill. The rest will be sown in the raking the soil until it is finely crumbled.
30in (75cm) and are suitable for borders garden in April or early May. Then dampen it before scattering the
and containers. They also last well in The large seeds are easy to scatter seeds and covering them with a little
vases after they have been cut. thinly and if any fall too close together, more soil. Add a label and use pepper
They are also popular with pollinators, you can easily move them. spray or twigs on the top to deter pests.
Step
by step How to sow your Zinnia seeds in a pot
1 Fill a pot or tray with fresh seed

compost, firm it down then dampen
with fresh tap water.
2
The large seeds are easy to sow
and can be moved if they fall too
close together.
If you plan to sow the seeds directly,

keep them somewhere cool and dry
Future unless credited
3 Gently scatter a thin layer of

compost, perlite or vermiculite
over the seeds.
4 Label them clearly and either add a
lid to your seedtray or seal the pot
in a clear plastic bag.
5 Set the tray or pot on a light
windowsill and the seeds should
germinate in 2-4 weeks.

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

for the week
Enthusiastic gardeners can

quickly fill a greenhouse
with more seedlings than
they realistically know
how to deal with
Grow more varieties of

just those you enjoy, as
with this plot of brassicas
– ‘Red Jewel’ cabbage,
1 Unless you have warm, dry soil
or cloches, don’t sow much
outdoors yet other than grass seed,
and ‘Reflex’ and ‘Nero broad beans and onion sets.
di Toscana’ kale
If you want to harvest show-stopping veg such as

this ‘Atlantic Giant’ pumpkin, concentrate your
energies on a few key crops
Special treatment 2 With an old sharp blade set

high, give grass the first cut
Concentrate on your favourite vegetables when sowing to remove tussock-forming clumps
before they grow stronger.
seeds, says Bob, so you can give them your full attention
L
OOK at the plots of the ‘old start piling up, something gets neglected
boys’ on any allotment and note – a thinning, a weeding or a watering.
what they grow. Apart from The essence of successful gardening is
the odd adventurous one, in the regular attention and performing
most have remarkably few ‘unusual’ of jobs as they become due.
vegetables and not many different This is why prizewinners
vegetables overall. Look at the concentrate on just a few lines,
‘grow to show’ prizewinners’ and why the ‘old boys’ only
plots and, again, you’ll see grow their favourites. It’s
there are not many other so everything gets the
crops competing for their
attention. Then consider
how many packets of
care it needs and can
prosper. Now you can
have fruit bushes and
3 Pre-warm the area for spuds
with cloches or a clear plastic
sheet; even better is a black plastic
seed you have waiting perennials around the sheet, and best is all three.
to be sown… Want prizewinning edges, as their workloads
Our common self- alliums? Focus your are more flexible. But with
inflicted problem is that we attention to reap the vegetables as such, it
want to try growing absolutely the rewards really will pay to be ruthless and
everything, aggravated by our habit of concentrate on fewer.
potting up every seedling. We tend to Obviously, grow your favourites –
spread ourselves too thin. It’s an easy but I suggest that you don’t devote
trap to fall into at the start of the season, more than a trial corner to anything
All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited
with everything looking hopeful. It’s just you’ve never bought, eaten and enjoyed
that when it gets busy and all the tasks already. On the other hand, I do suggest
you try more varieties of those crops you
do grow. It can be quite amazing to see
4 Sow tender long-season crops
All panel images TI Archive
“It really will pay the difference between a half-dozen

varieties of, say, carrots. It’s not that
under cover in the warm:
tomatoes, aubergines, peppers,
to be ruthless” some are good or bad – it’s about how
well suited each is to your site. So thin
melons and watermelons,
courgettes and squashes.
out those packets now!
Your
Gardening Week
with Val Bourne, AG’s organic wildlife expert
and the old favourite ‘Hurst Greenshaft’
Frost-tender plants like is still my go-to. The old adage, ‘one for
courgettes should not be the mouse, one for the crow, one to
put outside until the first
week of June rot and one to grow’ was something
I learnt from a gardener in Hook Norton
in Oxfordshire. He also taught me to
make a 1ft (30cm)-wide drill and zigzag
Val grows aubergine plenty of seeds across it. The chicken
‘Moneymaker’ wire goes across, to make it harder for
mice and pigeons, and then the sticks
go in as well. I also favour wide 4in
(10cm) drills for root crops like beetroot,
carrots and parsnips.
The weeds and grass should be in
full-growth mode, the bees should be
busy, and the birds must be singing
and chasing each other around before
I start. I choose a calm day, water the
Zigzagging peas drills well and then scatter the seeds
Val Bourne
across a trench over the drill and backfill.
Having a greenhouse really helps the
gardener and, if you can invest in an
electric propagator such as the Vitopod
Heated Propagator, you’ll be able to
Broad beans, sown in March, are planted select your chosen varieties, rather than
Val Bourne
out in April in Val’s vegetable patch taking pot luck at the garden centre.
Tomato plants, peppers and aubergines
Wait for the weather

are normally sown here in early March,
pricked out and then potted on.
Courgettes, squashes and cucumbers
are sown in late March or early April. All
Don’t be tempted to sow veg seeds too early, says Val these frost-tender plants should not be
M
Y high-altitude garden is May, but the geum arrived four weeks put outside until the first week of June.
known for being chilly, so after the tulips had finished, because Spring Cottage favourites include
spring arrives late here. I’ve it’s cold in Cold Aston! tomato ‘Akron’ and ‘Sungold’, for eating
calculated that spring arrives The bleak conditions here mean that fresh. We also grow large, fleshy
four weeks later than it does in the Vale the instructions on vegetable seed tomatoes for passata making and this
of Evesham, which is only ten miles packets have to be taken with a large year I’m opting for ‘Beefmaster’ and ‘Big
downhill from here as the raven flies. pinch of salt. If I sowed my parsnip seeds Daddy’. ‘Long Red Marconi’ and ‘New
It’s no accident that all the good gardens, in February, as stated on the packet, they Ace F1’ are two of the peppers I always
growers and nurseries are down there, would fail to germinate. Umbellifers, like grow. Aubergine ‘Moneymaker’ also
where temperatures are usually 3-4°C parsnips and carrots, need ambient does well here. My favourite winter
warmer than up here! temperatures of roughly 10°C/50°F squash is ‘Sunshine’, a small nutty-
Cold Aston, on the northern uplands before they even think about popping flavoured orange round squash.
of the Cotswolds, lives up to its name their heads above the soil. This includes
wonderfully well. Many get my village night-time temperatures, so I have
mixed up with the similarly named Cold trained myself to wait for the weather.
Ashton near Bath, where Derry Watkins’ Parsnips are extra tricky, because
Special Plants is based. I once visited they take 30 days to germinate. A lot of
Derry in May and saw black ‘Queen gardeners go by the packet and fail,
of Night’ tulips emerging through a because it’s too cold, and then they have
bright-orange, frilly, semi-double geum to buy more seeds. It’s not surprising that
named ‘Prinses Juliana’. I liked the parsnip seeds are top sellers, because a
combination so much that I decided to lot of gardeners have to resow.
copy it here. The tulips came up in early Springs are usually tortuous affairs
here. We rarely get soft-green foliage, as

it’s usually been nipped by the weather
“Springs are and that’s why the lockdown spring of
2020 was such a delight – we had a TIP Shop around when it
comes to buying vegetable
usually tortuous proper spring!
I can sow broad beans in modular
seeds, because amounts and prices
vary greatly. Kings Seeds, Marshalls
affairs here” trays in March, for April planting.
However, November sowings are a
and D.T. Brown offer a good range
and good value.
waste of time here. I can also sow peas
Your
Gardening Week
with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert
Earthing up is an important part of the
process and helps prevent greening
Add ammonia of sulphate pellets

‘Desiree’ is a popular maincrop for growing in (for nitrogen) to ensure top-notch
gardens and has great drought-resistance maincrop potato yields
Focus on...
on... Maincrop potatoes
Plant and protect your potatoes in the right way and you’ll be rewarded with tasty
harvests. Lucy explains how to ensure your homegrown spuds are worth the wait
W
HEN it comes to growing For top-notch maincrop potato rely instead on fish, blood and bone
spuds for roasting, boiling, yields, ample fertiliser is required – Spacing for traditional rows is also
mashing, chipping or phosphate and nitrogen, in particular. important (see page 20); 14in (35cm) is
baking, bulk is definitely Non-organic growers could add standard, but go wider on light soils if
the name of the game. So how do you sulphate of ammonia (for nitrogen) and you can to alleviate drought effects and
guarantee superb quality and yields? superphosphate at planting, and again get the biggest tubers. Plant too close
on earthing up. Organic gardeners can on any soil and your tubers will be small.
The right spots for spuds
Assign your potatoes to a sunny, open Potato protection
spot – being tender, they enjoy warmth Obtaining early leaf cover is crucial for
while good airflow will deter the humidity good yields, and tuber bulk is directly
that encourages late blight (see page related to leaf surface area at the
20). Unlike many veggies, a slightly acid ‘marbling’ stage (when tubers just begin
soil is preferred, so don’t habitually lime to form). Protect foliage from late frosts
bare beds in early spring. and water during dry spells to create
All photographs Alamy, unless otherwise credited
a generous canopy. Once this stage is

reached, weed control isn’t necessary.
“Tuber bulk is Lay straw or mulch around no-bed
systems, otherwise earth up rows in
related to leaf the early stages.
Then just keep irrigation topped up
surface area” Give maincrops plenty of time to grow
– the objective being to allow maincrops
to grow well into the autumn, where
TI Archive
into autumn to bulk up to their best

they’ll put on that all-important weight.
Your
Gardening Week
with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert
Lucy’s corner allocated beds for potatoes, plant in triple
or even quadruple staggered rows. No-
dig gardeners can adopt this method,
Plant in triple
staggered rows if
planting through their organic mulch, space is tight
Three best ways to grow spuds
and it’s easiest to plant with a trowel.
■ In rows: This is the traditional way to ■ In bags: Bags are for those who have
set out your spuds, and ideal if you’ve no beds at all! You can expect less pest
plenty of room. Simply dig a trench 12in damage in this way; you can even move
(30cm) wide and 6in (15cm) deep, setting bags under cover in high blight-risk
a line of tubers down the middle. Rake spells. Plant one tuber 6in (15cm) deep
TI Archive
over into a slight ridge once planted. per 10-litre bag, or three per 30-litre bag.
■ In beds: If space is a bit tight but you’ve Use a 50:50 mix of soil and compost.
Lucy’s
choice Best picks to avoid key spud problems
1 Fight late blight: Very destructive,

especially in warm, wet summers.
Grow varieties with resistance (like the
2 Prevent scab: Common scab is more
widespread than powdery scab
(both cause unsightly skin blemishes and
3 Stop slugs: More troublesome
when lots of compost is added
to beds, and in wet summers. Lift
‘Sarpo’ range, pictured) or, if growing storage rots). Avoid very dry or very wet tubers as soon as they have bulked
non-resistant types, cut off all foliage soils, and avoid liming before planting. up. Varieties vary in susceptibility,
to soil level if symptoms are seen and Some varieties show specific resistance but ‘Charlotte’ (above), ‘Kestrel’ and
salvage uninfected tubers. such as ‘Accent’ (pictured) or ‘Desiree’. ‘Stemster’ claim resistance.
bs
Top
5 q uick j o tip
FORGET the fortress that is leylandii
– high boundaries aren’t the only
place for garden hedges! Anyone
who has been to Villandry in France
will have been lucky enough to have
eep an eye on seedlings in trays
1 K
and prick them out into individual
pots before they become congested,
witnessed one of the best parterres in
the world – low hedges sculpted and
to avoid a check in growth. trimmed into the most intricate twists
and turns. Now is the perfect time to
Impress your veg-growing friends
2 by sowing your leeks and winter
brassicas now. These winter
recreate this slice of French history
in your own vegetable plot.
stalwarts often get sown too late. Herb hedges are harvestable
as well as decorative. Imagine a
Bare-root stock often gets sold at
3 knock-down prices in March as it will
soon be coming into growth. So bag
row of chives, oregano, thyme or
hyssop, sage or lavender in full
yourself a real bargain but get it bloom and buzzing with bees all
planted pronto. summer. What a sight!
If you already own a clump of
In sheltered sites, peaches, apricots
4 and nectarines could be flowering
now, so listen to weather forecasts,
chives or oregano, simply take a
spade to the rootstock now, chopping
ready to protect them in frosty snaps. Oregano makes it into clumps and replanting
a gorgeous edge them on the edge of a sunny
Globe artichokes can become
5 congested and less productive –
slice off small divisions now with a
to a veg bed,
and is smothered
with bees (inset)
vegetable bed. Lavender, sage,
thyme and hyssop are best
segment of roots, and pot up to when it flowers sourced as plug plants, as
✃
create new young stock.

TI Archive
in summer they’re not a fan of being

chopped by a spade.

Next week: Focus on sowing outside, start off
tender tubers, sow outdoor tomatoes, prune
blueberries, tidy up globe artichokes.
Greenhouse ‘growing-on’ zones

IF you have been quick to sow all out and their growth advances, they
manner of edibles this spring, there are going to need somewhere to go.
comes a dawn of realisation that all these This is where creating a heated zone
seedlings need somewhere safe to grow in your glasshouse works well. It doesn’t
on once they’ve left the propagator. need to be anything fancy – just grab
My propagator is generally set at some bubblewrap (which thankfully lasts A ‘growing-on’ zone – a frame that is
18-22°C, but looking at my max/min for years), some fixing clips (these can be covered with fleece and bubblewrap
thermometer I can see that the found at any good garden centre) and a
greenhouse staging temperature can pair of scissors. Then go about creating
fall at night into single figures,which an area that has walls and a lid of
isn’t going to do my chilli peppers and
tomatoes any good! It can be wasteful
bubblewrap, and place your seedlings in
there. As a source of heat on chilly nights,
“Create a heated
and expensive to heat your whole
greenhouse – I don’t want to heat all of
place seedlings on heat mats. Check and
regulate the area with a thermometer –
growing-on zone”
mine. But as seedlings become pricked then prick out to your heart’s content.
Step Make a stale seedbed

by step If you want to get one step ahead of weeds this spring, this Why
simple technique will help you to fool them into early growth: not try..?
All Future
1 Locate areas where

you can begin early
outdoor sowings; I always
2 Now, cover over
the area with some
form of clear insulating
3 Leave the covering
in place for around a
fortnight, after which time Polygonum bistorta ‘Superbum’
use this sunny, sheltered material. I have this large a rash of weed seedlings
corner of my plot for baby
turnips, spinach and
rectangular coldframe
with a thick Perspex lid,
will have germinated in
the warmth. Shallowly Bistort
summer cabbages. but glass and rigid plastic hoe these off (don’t hoe FREQUENTLY sold as an ornamental
Dig it over as if you were cloches also work well. too deeply, as you’ll bring plant, bistort (Polygonum bistorta) is
preparing it for sowing or Even a covering of clear more weed seeds to the a hardy perennial that can also be
transplanting, and then polythene will have some surface). Then you’re eaten as a leafy veg, especially at
rake it level. warming effect. ready to sow! this time of the year. If you have a
damp garden, this edible is for you.
It’s happy in sun or part-shade
Rotate crops to thwart soil pests (deep shade isn’t ideal) where it will
readily form large clumps of large,
GARDENERS can tangle themselves up have a problem, mid-green leaves. During summer
in knots trying to follow crop rotations then rotating these are topped by cylindrical
(potatoes, followed by legumes, followed your crops flower spikes of mid-pink blooms (the
by brassicas, for example). These can cure it. variety ‘Superbum’ has especially
principles were instigated by farmers Carrot showy blooms). These are attractive
growing large-scale crops in order to fly, for to bees, making this plant a good
save money on expensive fertilisers and example, choice for wildlife lovers.
pesticides. A 20-hectare field can cost is able to The leaves become more bitter
a lot to look after! But gardeners have overwinter These ‘Bertan’ carrots and tough as the season progresses,
smaller plots where we have to on parsley, show the damage so make a few harvests in spring,
shoehorn crops wherever we can, and parsnips, carrots caused to the roots then leave your bistort to clump up
adding feed to a 6½x6½ft (2x2m) bed and celeriac. If by carrot fly larvae sufficiently to bloom in summer. With
won’t cripple us financially. you know you have it, lift the roots in oxalic acid in its foliage, this veg is
So, the main influencer for me when autumn and store them in damp sand best consumed moderately by those
looking at crop rotations is how I can (freeze the parsley and pull up the with rheumatism, arthritis or kidney
thwart soil pests and diseases. Larvae plants). Then make a note not to grow stones. Wilted in seasoned butter is
or fungi overwintering in the soil can be these crops (or celery, which is also the best way to cook it.
very troublesome – so if you know you prone) in that area this year.
Phacelia tanacetifolia is part of the
borage family and is loved by
bees and other insects
Planting for insects

If you want to keep your garden buzzing with a variety of beneficial insects all
summer long, plant a range of nectar-rich flowers, says Anne Swithinbank
B
Y choosing nectar-rich plants, number of pollinators also means a nectar-rich plants will soon be alive with
we can help a wide range of better set on our fruit trees and runner visiting bees and hoverflies. To make
insects find their energy-rich beans. With their different life cycles, insects welcome, improve their habitat
food. This easy decision fills habits and tongues of varying lengths, by not using pesticides, provide cover
gardens with a wide range of colourful insects seek a range of flower shapes from weather and predators, food for
and fragrant blooms all year round. and opening times. So plant for larvae, a water source and undisturbed
For me, the success of a garden is not pollinators and you will have a garden nooks and crannies for nests.
just about form, colour and perfume, as packed with year-round flowers, filling
the whole plot should pulse with life, your world with colour, fragrance and life. Secret of success
from microbes in the soil to crawling and Although we notice more insects in
flying invertebrates, amphibians, birds Make insects welcome spring and summer, there will be some
and mammals. An important step lies in There is no garden too small for seeking nectar in every month of the
choosing nectar-rich plants to attract attracting winged pollinators. A year. Provide a good range of winter-
pollinating insects, such as moths, bees, windowbox kept topped up with flowering plants such as Christmas box,
hoverflies, butterflies and beetles. heathers, hellebores, snowdrops and
Those of us who recall car number lungworts, but now is the time to plan
There are dramatic benefits for
plates and windscreens splattered with wildlife if you mow less frequently for spring and summer. The secret of
dead insects in the 1960s and ’70s will success lies in aiming for a diversity of
note this does not happen now. In 2017 a flower shapes. Note the most popular
German study that had been measuring flowers, like borage, sage, open daisy-
the biomass of flying insects in 63 nature like heads, honeysuckles and foxgloves,
reserves revealed a drop of 76% over 27 and plant in generous numbers so there
years. This is a huge loss of these small is plenty of nectar to go around.
but important creatures that pollinate our When turning your garden into a
crops and feed other wildlife. nectar bar for pollinators, choose a wide
Helping insects in our gardens range of flower types and colours.
creates a balance by keeping pest Species and less highly bred flowers
numbers under control. Increasing the tend to be the most popular.
9 nectar-rich plants for pollinators
g
3 for sprin
Primula veris AGM Aubrieta ‘Cascade Mixed’ Malus x zumi ‘Golden Hornet’
The common cowslip will multiply and A sunny raised bank suits this spring- On a warm, sunny, spring day our
please pollinating insects. Plant in sun or flowering rock garden favourite that asks ‘Golden Hornet’ crab apple buzzes with
semi-shade and moist but well-drained for little more than a crevice of soil. Shear the sound of happy bees, both domestic
humus-rich soil. Try them in wild lawn back after flowering and add a hardy and wild. It certainly packs a punch in the
areas mown in summer or autumn. osteospermum to follow on for summer. nectar stakes and birds love the yellow
H&S: 10in (25cm). HxS: 4inx2ft (10x60cm). fruits. HxS: 30x25ft (10x8m).
3 for early
summer
Phacelia tanacetifolia Achillea ‘Terracotta’ Stachys macrantha ‘Superba’ AGM

Known as a green manure, this annual is Allow your lawn to grow long and you This large-flowered perennial packs
easy, attractive and useful. Alternative might find fern-leaved yarrow (Achillea quite a punch from early summer to
names are fiddleneck and scorpion millefolium) producing flat heads of autumn where large numbers are grown
weed, and its buds open to lavender- white flowers. A sunny position and together. Grow in well-drained, fairly
blue flowers. Sow direct in spring or moist but well-drained soil are best for fertile soil in sun or partial shade and
early autumn. HxS: 30x12in (75x30cm). ‘Terracotta’. HxS: 4ftx18in (1.2mx45cm). divide in spring. HxS: 2x1ft (60x30cm).
3 for late
summer
Kniphofia caulescens Buddleja davidii ‘Black Knight’ AGM Monarda ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ AGM
Red-hot pokers all produce nectar-rich There are some useful dwarf buddlejas, It can be a challenge to grow, but those
flowers. This evergreen resembles an but always plant the biggest you can for tufts of nectar-rich flowers make it
aloe and given light, undisturbed soil will the most and longest flower panicles of worthwhile. It is vigorous, has mildew
seed itself around. In late summer and nectar. This one bears fragrant flowers of resistance and thrives given good
early autumn the upright stems are alive deep purple. Site in sun on well-drained drainage and a mulch of well-rotted
with bees. H: 3x2ft (1mx60cm). soil. H&S: 10ft (3m). organic matter. HxS: 3ftx18in (1mx45cm).
4 nectar-rich herbs
Lavandula x intermedia ‘Gros Bleu’ Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum

This lavender produces long stems of strongly scented purple This Greek oregano is sometimes known as Greek marjoram.
flowers. Plant in well-draining soil in full sun or as a low hedge. The stems produce tiny white nectar-rich flowers attracting
Cut back after flowering, taking off the growth tips of stems to many insects, including bees, hoverflies and the daintier
keep plants compact. HxS: 30x20in (75x50cm). butterflies. H&S: 2ft (60cm).
TI Archive
Salvia officinalis Thymus vulgaris

These aromatic grey-green leaves flavour food and their blue In late spring and early summer these low, spreading plants
flowers make great salad garnish. These are favourites of are covered with small flowers in shades of purple or white.
day-flying humming-bird hawkmoths. It suits potagers, herb Shear them back afterwards to keep growth compact.
gardens, borders and containers. H&S: 30in (75cm). HxS: 8x16in (20x40cm).
3 for insects with long tongues
Digitalis purpurea ‘Alba’ Lonicera periclymenum ‘Graham Nicotiana alata

Best planted en masse, foxgloves are a Thomas’ AGM This tender perennial is grown as a
great nectar source for long-tongued Cultivars of native woodbine like this spring-sown annual. Tubular greenish-
bumblebees. Sow these biennials in late pale-flowered honeysuckle are a good yellow flowers appear by day. At dusk,
spring or early summer for planting out in source of nectar during summer. Provide they glimmer, sending out waves of
late summer and flowering the following a humus-rich, moist yet well-drained soil delicious perfume to attract long-
year. HxS: 5x2ft (1.5mx60cm). and a support. HxS: 20x5ft (6x1.5m). tongued moths. HxS: 4x1ft (1.2mx30cm).
Can my lawn help pollinating insects? What is

IN UK gardens, Plantlife’s No Mow
May campaign has been popular The common
pollination?
and many gardeners now stop carder bee FLOWERS are usually pollinated by
feeds on
mowing at least part of their lawns nectar-rich insects or wind. Some can pollinate
on 1 May and let the clovers, cat’s ear red clover themselves, but cross-pollination
and selfheal flower. You can then usually results in a better set and
divide the lawn into different areas, allows for diversity. A pollen grain
perhaps keeping pathways or from the male anthers of one flower
glades cut but leaving other patches is deposited on the stigma (the
for a month, some until the autumn female part) of another flower. The
and others for a whole year. This grain germinates, producing a pollen
benefits the widest range of nectar- tube down the style to the ovary
rich flowers and provides habitats where fertilisation takes place,
for butterfly and moth caterpillars enabling seeds to develop.
and many other creatures. If your apple tree failed to fruit
it might have lacked a nearby tree
to supply pollen, the weather
might have been too cold or windy
How do I please pollinators with pots? for insects to fly, or a sudden late
frost could have damaged the
FROM annuals and herbaceous pollination process.
perennials to shrubs and trees, there
is little that cannot be grown in a pot. A bee has to pass the pistils, the
Start young, small plants in modest female part ending in the stigma,
pots, so air can circulate around the brushing past the pollen-covered
roots between waterings, and pot on anthers as it goes
to larger containers as they grow. For
plants that require good drainage, add
potting grit to the compost. During
droughts, stand pots in saucers to
conserve water but remove these in
rainy weather or roots will be saturated Containers play a
and die. Feed established plants with a vital role in attracting
Plantipp.eu
slow-release fertiliser in spring or liquid pollinating insects

feeds added to water as instructed.

Sunflowers are invaluable for their cheerful petals,
known as ‘rays’, that provide colour in late summer;
the annual ‘Sunrich Orange’ is a superb choice
Non-stop sun lovers

Get perennial and annual sunflowers in the ground now to brighten your garden in
late summer and provide a valuable food source for wildlife, says Hazel Sillver
S
UNFLOWERS (Helianthus) are yellow flowers over a long period. height, and many deem them infantile.
one of the happiest plants: their Because their cousins, the annuals, But for those of us who love them, they
daisy-shaped flowers in fiery resemble a child’s drawing of the sun are smiling giants, and there are many
colours fill the garden with cheer atop colossal stems, they usually induce sophisticated cultivars to grow in an
from July to September. a love or hate reaction. Some people attempt to convert ardent sunflower
Most people are familiar with annual dislike the brash yellow colour, others haters, such as the dark, velvety ‘Claret’
sunflowers, and tend either to love or can’t stomach the coarse foliage or the and dusky-pink ProCut Plum.
loathe them. But there are also perennial At Great Dixter, there is only love for
forms, which are often mistaken for annual sunflowers. “Nothing has a
rudbeckias, and provide glorious golden cheerier flower,” says Fergus. “We grow
color at the back of the border in late the tall ones, such as ‘Russian Giant’,
summer and early autumn. Both provide against hedging or in the vegetable
nectar for pollinators, and the annuals’ garden for a bit of fun, but the
seed is eaten by birds. moderately sized ones (cool lemon
‘Valentine’ and the dark-red varieties)
Excellent border plants are used to fill gaps in the perennial
Perennial sunflowers take pride of place borders or are grown in groups of
at Great Dixter in East Sussex, which is Flowers of perennial sunflowers 15-20 as bedding.”
famous for its fabulous use of colour. provide glorious colour and are Sow or plant sunflowers now to enjoy
“We use them in the borders, alongside excellent for cutting their solar colours light up the garden in
heleniums, kniphofia and other a few months’ time.
perennials,” says head gardener Fergus

Garrett. “The pale-yellow ‘Lemon Queen’
is a very good doer. We also grow the
beautiful ‘Capenoch Star’ and ‘O Sole
Where to buy
Mio’, which is pale ice-cream yellow.” Beeches ✆ 01799 584362  beechesnursery.co.uk
These perennial forms may lack the Great Dixter ✆ 01797 254044  greatdixter.co.uk
lovable eccentricity of the annuals, but Sarah Raven ✆ 0345 092 0283  sarahraven.com
they are excellent border plants, Thompson & Morgan ✆ 0844 573 1818  thompson-morgan.com
producing an abundance of charming
9 border sunflowers
First light
Thompson-morgan.com
Mr-fothergills.co.uk
Helianthus annuus ‘Valentine’ AGM H. debilis ‘Vanilla Ice’ H. ‘Lemon Queen’ AGM
Grown at Christopher Lloyd’s Great This annual produces lots of gorgeous, A fantastic perennial with small, pale-
Dixter, this primrose-coloured annual small, yellow-cream flowers, from July to yellow daisies, often for three months.
injects light into the border. Grow in rich, October. Good for cutting. Place in the Site this at the back of a sunny border in
well-drained soil in sun, in the middle or middle or at the back of a sunny border, neutral to alkaline soil that is humus-rich,
at the back of the border. H: 5ft (1.5m). in moist, well-drained soil. H: 4ft (1.2m). moist and well-drained. H: 6ft (1.8m).
n
Midday su
H. ‘Monarch’ AGM H. ‘Capenoch Star’ AGM H. ‘Soleil d’Or’

A cheering perennial sunflower with This has anemone-like golden flowers This perennial sunflower produces
large, bold-yellow semi-double blooms and is a perennial sunflower that thrives blazing rich-gold double blooms that
that have slightly pointy petals, glorious in the late-summer borders at Great almost resemble dahlias, in late summer
in August and September. Grow at the Dixter. Place at the back of a sunny and early autumn. Grow at the back of a
back of a sun-drenched border, in well- border, in humus-rich, well-drained soil. sun-drenched border, in well-drained,
drained, retentive soil. H: 5ft (1.5m). H: 4-6ft (1.2-1.8m) retentive soil. H: 5ft (1.5m).
Red sky at
night
H. annuus ‘Velvet Queen’ H. ‘Ruby Eclipse’ H. annuus ‘Earthwalker’

A sophisticated annual that forbids A delightful and reliable annual The flowers of this stylish, tall, annual
ridicule from sunflower haters, its sunflower with a ring of dusky pink-red sunflower have wonderful terracotta,
bronze-red blooms add the rich hues and buff-cream tips. Very good for golden and brown tones around a dark-
of sunset. Site at the back of a sunny cutting. Place at the back of a sunny chocolate centre. Grow at the back of a
border, in humus-rich, well-drained border, in humus-rich well-drained soil. sunny border, in humus-rich, well-
soil. H: 5ft (1.5m). H: 6ft (1.8m). drained soil. H: 6-10ft (1.8-3m).
3 sunny giants
H. annuus ‘Russian Giant’

One of the best for
competitive growing, this
annual soars into the sky on
gargantuan stems, producing
12in (30cm) blooms. Site
Thompson-morgan.com
against a sunny wall, garage
H. salicifolius or hedge, which can help to
This bonkers yellow-flowered perennial triffid is grown for its willow-like foliage. It support it. H: 10-13ft (3-4m).
may be too ungainly for the everyday garden. Must be at the back of a border or in
an informal sunny patch of ground. H: 6-10ft (1.8-3m).
4 for pots
H. annuus ‘Little Dorrit’ H. annuus ‘Sunshot
Children love this annual, Golds’
which – being short, but The abundant flowers
having big (8in/20cm) of this annual look like
flowers and leaves – has lions’ manes, with up to
something of Alice in 20 per plant that each
Wonderland about it. last for three weeks.
Plant in a well-drained Plant in well-drained
container in full sun. containers of compost
H: 2ft (60cm). in full sun or at the front
of the border. H: 20in
(50cm).
H. annuus ‘Solar Flash’ H. annuus ‘Ms Mars’

A fabulous annual for A wonderful compact
growing in pots by the annual with a
front door or on the raspberry-red central
patio, its golden flowers ring surrounded by
have a central ring of cream petals. Grow in
rust-red colour. Plant in well-drained containers
well-drained containers of compost in full sun
in full sun or at the front or at the front of the
of the border. H: 20in border. H: 30in (75cm).
(50cm).
Suttons.co.uk

H. maximiliani
The Maximilian sunflower is a perennial native to the Great Plains of the US. With
bold-yellow daisies to attract pollinators, it is ideal in a wildlife border. Place at the
back of a sun-baked area in well-drained soil. H: 6-10ft (1.8-3m).
Which is the best What is the tallest What makes

sunflower to type to grow? them grow tall?
grow? If you’re trying to grow a giant, give it
plenty of room in full sun and provide
If you grow only one perennial support, such as a tall tree stake.
sunflower, ‘Lemon Queen’ is a great Sunflowers are very hungry, so
plant and widely available. Fergus champion growers ply them with
Garrett at Great Dixter describes it fertilisers (such as Osmocote),
as a “bulletproof good doer”. If you organic matter (such as well-rotted
grow only one annual sunflower, manure) and seaweed products.
‘Ruby Eclipse’ is a stylish choice for
the border, having raspberry and
coffee-cream flowers.
Sunflower ‘Russian Giant’
If you’re having a family competition

to see who can cultivate the tallest
sunflower, some of the best to sow
include ‘Russian Giant’ and ‘Giraffe’.
‘Mongolian Giant’ is also tall and
produces enormous flowerheads,
sometimes 18in (45cm) wide. The
world record for the tallest sunflower
is 9.17m (30.1ft), and the record for Provide a sturdy cane
‘Ruby Eclipse’ is an elegant choice the biggest sunflower head is and keep tying in
82cm (32.25in).

How to
NERW
SE IES GROW
WITH GRAHAM RICE
This week...
crocuses
Enjoy a welcome burst of colour in late winter and early spring by planting crocuses
The start of the spring season coincides with
the crocuses being fully out. Shown here is
‘Pickwick’, a stunning Dutch variety
C
ROCUSES have flowers like Flowering is mainly in late winter and with a contrasting colour in the throat or
small, slender, upright goblets, spring, and the flowers come in a wide in streaks in the petals. In some, the
made up of three inner petals variety of colours, although not including three outer petals differ in colour from
alternating with three outer red, and there are also many varieties the three inner petals.
petals. The whole plant is not usually
taller than about 6in (15cm).
The slender dark-green leaves have When and where to plant
a fine white stripe along the centre, and CROCUS corms are usually sold in planted at any time in autumn.
both leaves and flowers spring from packs of 10, 12 or 25. Some are on sale The most widely grown types are
small corms, usually referred to as bulbs, in garden centres and nurseries easy to grow. All appreciate
not more than about 1in (2.5cm) across, from late summer and early Plant spring crocus sunshine, especially while
with a rough, stringy covering. Each year, autumn, while orders in autumn, 3-4in flowering and until the
a new corm, or sometimes two or three, from mail order sources (7.5-10cm) deep leaves start to die back
develop above the previous year’s corm can usually be made in later in spring, and they
as it dies away. Roots pull the new corm summer for delivery are happy to be dry in
down to the right level. in late summer and summer, so planting
early autumn. them under deciduous

It pays to plant trees or shrubs is ideal.
“The flowers autumn-flowering
varieties as early as
Winter varieties often
grow well in raised beds
come in a variety possible, late summer even,
as they will flower from six to ten
in full sun.
Crocuses can also be planted in
of colours” weeks after planting. Winter and
spring-flowering varieties can be
grass, but be sure to wait until the
leaves die down before mowing.

Three seasons of crocus
ALTHOUGH many crocuses flower in spring, there are also usually possible to have crocus in flower from October to
varieties that flower in autumn and winter. And while it’s not March, types exist that will cover most of this period.
Autumn flowering Winter flowering Spring flowering

THE easiest to grow and the easiest to CROCUS tommasinianus varieties to Most of the early spring-flowering
find from mail-order sources are the look for are ‘Whitewell Purple’ with types come under the heading of
varieties of Crocus speciosus. They reddish-purple flowers silvery inside and Dutch hybrids. These have larger and
are not often seen in garden centres the pure-white ‘Albus’. C. chrysanthus more flamboyant flowers than other
or nurseries. ‘Conqueror’ is violet blue, can be grown in pots. Try ‘Ladykiller’ types, but a little less elegance. ‘Dutch
‘Oxonian’ (pictured) is a lovely deep (pictured) in purple and white, and Yellow’ (pictured) has orange-yellow
violet-purple and ‘Alba’ is white. ‘Blue Pearl’ in lilac blue and white. flowers, while ‘Remembrance’ is violet.
How to propagate Top care tips Mulch the whole

planting area in autumn
1 Some crocuses increase from their

own seed and will pop up all over the
pace, even in the cracks in a shady
n The most important thing to
remember is never to cut off the
leaves until they’re dead. The leaves
n Crocus in
clumps will
appreciate
patio. Otherwise, dig up the clumps in feed the development of the next year’s a dose of
late summer or early autumn and give corms and fuel an increase in corm general
them more space by replanting the numbers. Eventually the leaves will turn fertiliser
corms 2-3in (5-7.5cm) apart. yellow, then brown, and can be pulled before the
2 Some people replant the large away – although by that stage they are flowers
TI Archive
corms 3-4in (7.5-10cm) apart and hardly noticeable. emerge, while
the small undeveloped corms in n It is also important not to let evergreen those in scattered
between. Be sure to improve the ground-cover plants smother the natural plantings will benefit from the
soil at the same time. crocuses as this will prevent light mulch that the whole border should
3 You cannot increase numbers

by cutting the corms in half.
reaching the leaves.
n It is helpful to feed crocuses.
receive in autumn. A liquid feed will
boost any that need it.
Solving problems
n Crocus planted in grass usually because their site has
may produce fewer become too shady – perhaps
flowers if the grass is cut a nearby conifer is spreading
too soon, slicing off the its branches too widely. This
green leaves before they not only increases the amount
have finished fattening up of shade, but also reduces
the corms for the next year. the amount of rain that
Wait until the leaves turn penetrates, which can be
yellow before mowing. a problem.
n Crocus are generally n Overcrowding is another
trouble-free, but they reason that crocuses stop
sometimes start to flowering. If your crocuses are
Wait for crocus leaves to turn
produce fewer flowers, producing leaves, but few yellow before mowing grass
and may end up not flowers, lift, divide and where crocus are growing
flowering at all. This is replant in late summer.

How to
GROW
WITH GRAHAM RICE
Plant crocus close together

Frequently asked questions
in shallow pots Why have all the crocuses disappeared from my garden?
YOUR crocuses have probably disappeared because
of squirrels. Although squirrels have a particular
fondness for digging up and eating newly planted
crocus corms – I think they’ve learned that newly
planted corms are found under disturbed soil – they
also dig up established corms. Some individual
squirrels seem to develop a taste for crocuses.
When an individual squirrel dies the damage can
be reduced but, usually, once you have squirrels in the Squirrels sometimes dig
garden you should expect damage. up and eat crocus corms
The answer is to plant only in clumps, not scattered, and
How to grow in pots to cover the newly planted corms with a piece of wire netting, laid horizontally.
1 Winter crocuses, especially the

neat but colourful varieties of
Crocus chrysanthus,
Use the fine-mesh type, 1/2in (13mm) or 1in (25mm), as squirrels can reach
through the 2in (5cm) mesh. Plant the corms, half refill the hole, lay the mesh in
place, then finish refilling.
are delightful in Crocuses, such as
pots. The C. chrysanthus, look Does saffron come from a crocus and can I grow it?
simplest great in pots YES, saffron comes from the flower of an autumn-flowering
approach is crocus, Crocus sativus. In particular, the bright-red male
to use a parts of the flowers (the styles and stigmas, known as
regular threads) are collected by hand. This explains why
container saffron is expensive.
compost The lilac flowers with their purple veins open in
TI Archive
mixed with autumn, before the leaves, and the threads must be
25% grit. picked and dried promptly as the flowers wilt after a
2 Choose a pot
at least 5in (12cm) wide, with
half-depth pots being fine for
day. The corms appreciate wet springs and dry
summers, and are best planted in well-drained soil in
full sun. Saffron can also be grown in pots in a cold
Saffron is harvested
from the red stigmas of
crocuses. Plant the corms so that greenhouse. Saffron produces no seeds, but the corms Crocus sativus
they are almost touching and 2-3in multiply when growing well.
(5-7.5cm) deep. Almost fill the pot
with compost then add a layer of The flowers on my crocuses are developing streaks in a different colour.
¼-1/2in (6-12mm) of grit – the flowers Is this natural?
look so much better against grit STREAKING in crocus flowers, as well dig up infected plants and burn them.
than against compost. as twisted petals and the failure of the Virus diseases in crocuses are spread
3 Stand the pots outside and, if

you have a cold greenhouse,
when the flower buds show colour
flowers to open properly, can be the
result of virus infection that also
causes blotching on young leaves.
by aphids (greenfly, blackfly) which are
often hidden on the undersides of the
leaves. Controlling aphids will be a big
move the pots inside to flower. There is no treatment, but it pays to help in preventing virus infection.
Alternatively, stand them near a
path or door so you can admire
them as you pass. If you move the How to plant
pots into the house the stems will n There are two approaches to
stretch and the flowers will fall over. planting. You can plant in clumps of Scatter crocus corms and plant where
they land for a more natural look
10-12 corms, about 3-4in (7.5-10cm)
deep, with the pointed side facing
upwards and about 2-3in (5-7.5cm)
Where to buy apart. Simply use a trowel or spade to
dig one broad hole, work some grit into
Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery the base if the soil is heavy, make sure
 bluebellnursery.com the base is at the right depth and then
✆ 01530 413700 space out your corms and refill.
n Another approach, especially if you
Burncoose Nurseries prefer a more natural look, is to scatter
 burncoose.co.uk the corms and then plant each one
✆ 01209 860316 where it falls.
n Even better, with a little careful
Larch Cottage Nurseries thought, you can replicate the throw- apart, so you can make sure there are
 larchcottage.co.uk and-plant technique by placing the no large gaps.
✆ 01931 712404 corms in a random pattern – some n Never plant crocus in rows, as they
closer together and some farther just look silly.
Ask John Negus John has been answering
reader queries for 50 years
John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week
Sweetcorn grows well in fertile soil
Future
Sweetcorn success
Q Can I plant leeks after sweetcorn in
the same soil?
Sue Mann (via email)
Start begonia tubers in pots
of compost (inset) and they
will soon sprout A Ideally, if you are practising a three-
year rotation of crops, sweetcorn is
best followed by root vegetables –
beetroot, carrots, chicory, parsnips or
Success with non-stop begonias potatoes –for which the soil is revitalised
with a general-purpose fertiliser two
Q My non-stop begonias weren’t a

success last year, but I’m giving
them another go. How can I be
with a bright warm room being ideal.
When the new shoots are a couple
of inches high, pot up the tubers into
weeks before sowing.
If, however, it’s not practical to do this,
you can follow sweetcorn with leeks.
successful with them? containers of a suitable size and They need the same soil treatment –
Mary Deerley, Staines, Surrey continue to grow them on. Reduce the well-rotted manure dug in, in autumn or
temperature slightly to encourage winter, followed by an application of
A The best time to start begonia

tubers is in March or April. Pot
them up into the smallest containers
the plants to start the process of
hardening off.
If you start your tubers well into April
fertiliser two weeks before sowing.
possible on fresh compost that has you won’t need to have them indoors for Low temperatures may have
been dampened. so long before starting the hardening off damaged this ivy
The tubers should be placed hollow process in earnest, and this potting
side up and some people say they could be into their final containers.
shouldn’t be buried, while others say If you plan to plant them directly into
they should be covered in compost. We the soil you may need to pot them up
have had good results with both, so it’s once more to harden them off properly,
up to you – you could try both! before planting out once the danger of
Keep the pots at 16-21°C (60-70°F), serious frost has passed. Future
How do I sow black-eyed Susan?

Please help my ivy
Q I have seeds from my black-eyed Susan
(Thunbergia alata) plants that I collected
last year. How can I get them to germinate? Q For many years I have had a large
leaf ivy covering an area of my
Maureen Quantick (via email) back wall, but now a large number of
leaves have developed brownish areas
A I am delighted that you have saved some

Thunbergia alata seeds. Encourage
them to germinate well by consigning them to
and are dying off. Is there a remedy?
Mary Davis, Portsmouth
pots or seed trays of seed compost. Add a

A I am sorry that your large-leaved
quarter part, by volume, of coarse grit to the Black-eyed Susan ivy, which could be Hedera
compost, level it and firm it gently. (Thunbergia alata) are easy colchica, is looking a little sad.
Sprinkle seeds on to the compost surface and to grow from seed Thankfully, its discoloured foliage is
just cover them with a thin layer of perlite. Water them in, due to low winter temperatures and
using a watering can with a fine rose attached, to avoid disturbing seeds. Then your plant will recover.
consign them to a propagator heated to around 70°F (21°C). Simply remove dead and dying
Cover the pot or seed tray with a pane of glass or cling film to keep the leaves. New, healthy growth will appear
compost damp. Seeds will germinate within 14-21 days. and your climber will be restored to its
former handsome self.
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
Quick questions
& answers
Q How should
I sow
Future
Mimulus
cardinalis?
C. Hewitt
(via email)
A Sow the
seeds in
fresh seed compost,
seal the pot in a plastic bag and
position it in the middle of the fridge
Pruning grape vines in autumn for three weeks.
will keep them healthy Then germinate the seeds in a
propagator heated to around
Are there remedies for vine mildew? 18°C/64°F. Seedlings should appear
within one-three weeks.
Q Our vine is growing well, but it developed mildew in autumn. What should
I do now?
Jonathan Cains (via email)
Q What is this? It flowered early
in our new garden.
A Normally, grape vines are pruned in

autumn when you shorten fruited
and non-fruited laterals to two buds from
fruiting laterals to sprout from them.
You can help to prevent mildew
reappearing by treating the plant with
Jemma Andrews, Dorchester,
Dorset
Future
the base (or the ‘trunk’, from which they Vitax Yellow Sulphur, which is widely This is
have sprung). If you tackle pruning now, available in garden centres. This helps common
there is a big risk of ‘bleeding’, when the plant to resist the fungal disease. Puff lungwort
shortened shoots seep sap and growth it over the leaves at 8-10 day intervals, (Pulmonaria
is weakened. starting in spring when the leaves are officinalis).
For the moment, tie in stems as fully expanded, and continuing Naturalised
horizontally as possible, to encourage throughout summer. in scattered
localities
throughout England,
Please help our fight against earwigs Wales and southern Scotland, it has
great charm and cheers the spring.
Q Last year earwigs ate our leeks

and clematis shoots. This year
they have also come into the
There are many cultivated
varieties with deep-blue, white,
pink or red flowers, and it is widely
conservatory, where I start a lot of my stocked in garden centres.
seeds off and they are eating the
seedlings as they emerge. We try to
garden without chemicals. What can
we do to resolve the problem?
Christine Joyce (via email)
There are several ways of tackling
earwigs, but they do eat pests Q What is this
shrub,
please?
Tom Hill
A I am sorry that earwigs have

invaded your house and garden.
exoskeleton. Insert rolled-up
corrugated cardboard into the soil
(via email)
They aren’t normally a nuisance but,

in this instance, they certainly are.
There several natural controls, but
which, when damp, attracts them to
reside within it. Examine cardboard
regularly and dispose of creatures
A It is a
form of
broom (cytisus),
do remember that earwigs will eat lurking there. Fill bean or tuna tins with probably Cytisus
aphids and other pests so you may vegetable oil, which earwigs love, but scoparius f.
prefer to collect them up and move end up drowned in it. Sink tins rim- andreanus. Discovered growing
them into the garden. level in the soil. wild in Normandy, France, it has
Sprinkle gritty diatomaceous earth If you wish to use a synthetic great charm. Indeed, many richly
around infested areas. The creatures insecticide, try Vitax Py powder, which coloured varieties have been bred
recoil from it because it damages their is dusted where the creatures reside. from this species.

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

with a fungal spray
Rusting fuchsias
Hydrangea petiolaris is self-supporting and Q Our fuchsias had rust last year,
but have healthy new shoots
appearing. How can I protect them
a beautiful way of covering a wall
this year?
Emma Bartlett, Trowbridge, Wilts
What can we plant to hide an ugly wall?
Q What can we grow up a shady, ugly 6ft (1.8m) wall to make it more attractive
and interesting?
A You may not have to discard
them. Start by removing and
binning or burning infected foliage,
Lizzie Watson, Cambridge then feed them with a high-potash
tomato fertiliser to boost vigour.
A The fact that your wall is in deep

shade precludes you from growing
most flowering climbers. However,
Choice among suitable ferns
are Polystichum polyblepharum,
Adiantum venustum, Polypodium
Additionally, spray with FungusClear
Ultra, a systemic remedy which should
be effective at eradicating the disease.
firethorn, which should be trained as an cambricum ‘Richard Kayse’ and It protects new growth from infection
espalier, with horizontal branches tied to Adiantum capillus-veneris, which for more than three months.
taut plastic-coated wire, should flourish. is the true maidenhair fern.
So should Hydrangea petiolaris, a All these ferns will romp in damp soil,
self-clinging species that needs only a so work in plenty of moisture-conserving
modicum of support in its infancy. organic matter.
Thereafter, it will happily attach itself to They can be bought from Fibrex
the brickwork. As for planting at the base Nurseries, Honeybourne Road,
of the wall, I suggest you grow ferns as Pebworth, Warwickshire, CV37 8XP.
there many splendid kinds. & 01789 720788, 8 fibrex.co.uk.
Why should we plant ‘in the green’?

Caper spurge is attractive,
Q Why is it recommended that but its sap is toxic

Future
snowdrops should be planted ‘in

the green’? I would have thought the
worst time to plant or move flowers
was while they are flowering. Does
Be wary of spurge
this apply to all bulbs?
Martin Fisher (via email) Q This keeps appearing in my garden.
What is it and should I keep it?
Michael Griffiths (via email)
A The reason why snowdrops are

best planted ‘in the green’ – in
full leaf – is that bulbs harvested when
You get better results planting
A This is caper spurge (Euphorbia
lathyris), a native of central and
snowdrops and some other bulbs
the leaves die back can desiccate and just after flowering southern Europe widely naturalised in
Future
die when stored over summer for Britain. A biennial – it flowers and dies in
autumn planting. its second year – it is architecturally
If, therefore, snowdrops are lifted bloom unfailingly the following year. handsome and makes an arresting
when flowers are fading, not when Other bulbs, such as daffodils, tulips feature. However, all parts of the plant
they are in bloom, and replanted and fritillaries, are propagated when are poisonous, so handle it with gloves.
immediately, they recover quickly and the foliage has died down and the bulb If you pull it up, wear safety goggles to
make strong plants and fat bulbs that is fully dormant. prevent its milky sap splashing into your
eyes and causing temporary blindness.
All our yesterdays
from the AG archives
Starting a mixed border

Christopher Lloyd looks at planning and planting a mixed border
R
ATHER than devote one
border to shrubs, another
to herbaceous plants and a
third to annuals, I can strongly
recommend those who are starting
from scratch to combine the three in
one by making a mixed border. By this
TI Archive
condensing process there will be the Christopher Lloyd
greater likelihood of the one border at Great Dixter
being a good size, and I am not thinking
of length so much as width from front
to back. This, if a longish season of
interest – say, three months – is going
to be maintained without a ‘thin effect’
developing, should be 10ft (3m), while
15ft (4.5m) is not too much.
Narrow border, short season The long border at Great Dixter,

If the border must be narrow, say, 6ft East Sussex, where herbaceous
plants, bulbs and shrubs provide
(1.8m), then one should aim for it to look year-long interest
really good for a short season of six
weeks or so, and not worry too much
about before and after. Annuals and Weigelas, such as this ‘Bristol Ruby’, are invaluable
herbaceous plants mainly contribute at the back of the mixed border
colour, while the bold and individual
shapes of shrubs are the backbone to
the scene. They will look pleasing even
in midwinter.
The siting of the border should allow
it to get a fair share of sunshine, but if
part is shaded there are plenty of good
plants that will welcome this condition,
as long as ample moisture goes with it.

Shelter is absolutely necessary; so is a
dark background to show the flowers up
and the two can often be combined.
Evergreen shrubs such as yew or the
quicker-growing Lawson’s cypress fulfil
these functions best and they both
respond well to clipping. There is, of
course, no need for the border to be
straight. Curves spell informality and the
background will then most probably
consist of a mixture of unclipped composted vegetable matter and, in couch grass from among established
evergreen shrubs. certain cases, a spring feeding with a peony crowns. So it may be advisable to
Thorough initial preparation of the general fertiliser. Winter cultivations will grow annuals only on the site for the first
mixed border before planting is vital, for only be necessary where annuals, year or even two, thereby enabling a
(unlike the herbaceous border that can bedding plants and dahlias have been full-scale offensive against perennial
be completely overhauled every so cleared away, or certain herbaceous weeds to be launched before the
often) the opportunity will never recur. subjects need splitting and replanting. beginning and after the end of each
This is, of course, an advantage and It is, then, worth double-digging the growing season.
makes for much less work in the long border if your back can possibly stand
run. Having planted one’s shrubs and the strain, incorporating well-rotted Make sure of the weeds
certain disturbance-hating herbaceous compost or farmyard manure into both If very much infested, it may be best to
plants like dictamus, peonies, Japanese spits. A long undisturbed period can only treat the whole area with weedkiller
anemones and oriental poppies in well- be accorded to the plants that like it as when the weeds are in full growth (not
prepared ground, they can be kept long as they do not become infested dormant) and then wait six months
healthy thereafter for the next 25 years with perennial weeds. It is, for instance, before planting. If the border is given
or more merely by surface mulches with impossible to eliminate ground elder or over to annuals for the first year or so,
In this extract from AG 14 March 1957, Christopher Lloyd, 138 years of practical advice
of Great Dixter fame, looks at starting a mixed border from scratch 1884 The World’s Oldest Gardening Magazine 2022
one has the chance to collect material Group small shrubs, like Phlomis fruticosa, in threes and fives
together for its permanent planting. As
these plants arrive they can be lined out
and grown on in a spare plot until one’s
plans have been made. A preliminary
paper plan drawn to scale will save much
heavy slog-work in the long run. In the
comfort of a fireside chair, one can
shuffle the plants and groups around
with a pencil and rubber, long before
the border has its first tenant.
Shrubs being the most permanent
of all plants require the greatest
forethought in their choice and
positioning. It is wise not to go for very
slow-growing kinds in the mixed border
as they will for so long be in danger of
being choked by their more vigorous
herbaceous neighbours. Winter and
early spring flowerers are also
unsuitable, unless their foliage makes a
contribution in the summer months.
Shrubs are especially valuable in the
back row of a border of reasonable
width, as tall herbaceous plants of
quality are few. Weigelas, philadelphus, Add summer and autumn-
deutzias, hardy clerodendrons, flowering bulbous plants
hydrangeas, spiraeas, shrub roses and like Lilium henryi
the tree mallow (Lavatera x clementii
‘Rosea’) are all good for tall and medium-
tall specimens; one plant of each will be
enough in most cases, although two
together now and again makes for
emphasis in the design. The different
shrubs can go 8ft (2.4m) apart on
average, though one does not want to
do anything with too much regularly. Dahlias are indispensable for giving
Small shrubs towards the front substance to the border from mid-July onwards
can often be grouped in threes or
fives. Those with grey foliage like
Senecio cineraria ‘White Diamond’, your friend’s garden. If it seems to be border. However, spring-flowering bulbs
S. laxifolius, santolinas and Jerusalem one of those like cerastium or like tulips are seldom a success. Unless
sage (Phlomis fruticosa) are especially goldenrods, a little quiet dumping will planted very thickly, too much bare
useful as foils to bright colours and for save a lot of trouble later. soil surrounds them at their time of
their pleasing appearance in winter. I consider dahlias indispensable for flowering, and afterwards, unless they
Other good lowish shrubs are cistus, giving substance to the border from are lifted and lined out elsewhere, the
caryopteris, Ruta graveolens ‘Jackman’s mid-July onwards, and they are most dormant bulbs are in constant danger
Blue’, the shrubby veronicas (Hebe effective in groups of one variety. In from tools of cultivation.
rakaiensis) if your climate is not too these rather competitive surroundings, Annuals and bedding plants will play
severe, perovskia, Hypericum x they need more than usually generous an important role even when the
hidcoteense ‘Hidcote’, many preparation of their soil every winter, permanent material is well established,
penstemons, olearias, rosemary and and feeding and mulching when at the since a number of them flower flat out
fuchsias both large and small. height of their powers. for four months at a stretch, which is
Herbaceous plants one will mainly more than can be said for many hardy
collect at the start as bits from friends; Summer bulbs are excellent perennials. Indeed, whatever type of
there is no need to be too selective at Summer and autumn-flowering bulbous plant one is selecting for inclusion in the
first, as it is so easy to make changes. plants like montbretias (crocosmias), border, one must always be largely
However, it is a good idea to try, without crinums, Zephyranthes candida, influenced by this question of getting
appearing ungrateful or suspicious, to galtonias, Lilium henryi and L. regale are good value from it over a long period,
find out how the plant was growing in excellent for grouping in the mixed especially where space is short.
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.

A Gardener’s Miscellany
Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke
This
week
Soils and The Victorians
did it properly!
it’s: digging BETWEEN 1750 and around the end of
the Victorian era in 1901, large country
We dig up some dirt about houses were springing up all over
the medium that we rely Britain. Their gardens were generally
massive, and it was quite normal for
on for our plants to grow 10, 20 or even 30 gardeners to be
FANS of archive radio comedy will know employed to tend them. Traditional
the programme Beyond our Ken, which herbaceous borders were a prerequisite
aired on the BBC Light Programme from for these estate gardens, and they were
1958-64. One of the characters in it, frequently long and wide. And, it has to
played by the comedian Kenneth be said, very deep!
Williams, was a gardener called Arthur Most of the best borders were made
Fallowfield. His response to any on soil that had been cultivated down to
gardening question put to him was more than 3ft (90cm). Digging to this
always: ‘The answer lies in the soil’. depth was done in stages, by adopting a
He wasn’t wrong! procedure known as ‘trenching’. Its
As gardeners, we think of soil as that purpose (and, of course, of any form of
dark, crumbly, gritty layer we can see on digging) is to aerate the soil and improve
the surface of our beds and borders. which can sometimes go down several drainage, while removing every scrap of
To a professional land worker or soil metres before hitting rock. It generally perennial weed root.
scientist, however, it is not just the top contains no plant nutrients, organic In trenching, the soil was also
section (the ‘topsoil’) that we should matter or worm activity. So let’s take a ‘deepened’ by digging into the top layer
worry about. There is also the ‘subsoil’, sideways glance at soil and its properties. of the subsoil. Well-rotted manure would
be added and dug into this subsoil,
5
making it fit to support the growth of
garden plants with the deeper-rooted perennials.
■ When a truly impenetrable barrier,
‘clay’ in their name such as solid rock, made deep trenching
impossible, these old-time gardeners
would fall back on an inferior technique
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern) Osmorhiza claytonii
(American sweet cicely)
known as ‘bastard trenching’, in which
the topsoil was dug to just one spade’s
depth only (see page 49).
Herbaceous border at Floors Castle,

Scottish Borders
Camellia x williamsii
‘China Clay’
Acacia glaucoptera (clay wattle) Claytonia sibirica (pink purslane)
Top topsoil
IN a typical topsoil, solid matter essential sets of ingredients. First, it
(predominantly sand, clay and silt) makes must contain water for plants to absorb.
up around 45% of the volume. About 5% Second, there must be oxygen present
will comprise organic matter (plant and (air for plant roots to ‘breathe’). Third,
All photographs Alamy
animal remains), while the remaining there should be nutrients to sustain the
50% is made up of water and gas in fairly plants as they grow. A soil deficient in
equal measure. A topsoil that is suitable any one of these will cause 99% of plants Topsoil allows plants to thrive
for supporting plant growth needs three to languish, and almost certainly perish.
A Gardener’s Miscellany
Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke
JUST
Moles and The fine soil
FOR
FUN AG’s Garden Wall their holes
of molehills
LL PEPPER Alan Tony Monty MOLES are small

mammals that eat
GEOFF Sandy Chalky Etroot earthworms and
other invertebrates,
An Clay Acid
No: 053
HEAVY and cause unsightly
It’s time for our just-for-fun puzzle – AG’s connections to look for, one for each course. soil mounds in lawns. So,
Garden Wall. This wall comprises 12 bricks in You may find that some words have more they are pests, right?
three courses. Each brick has a different word, than one connection to other courses, but Well, as they progress through the
or phrase on it. The first brick in each course, there is just one correct answer. You’ll either soil, they help to fertilise it by mixing in
with BLOCK capitals, is cemented in place and find this puzzle fiendishly difficult, or plant litter and faeces. Meanwhile, with
cannot be moved. Just rearrange all the other incredibly easy! Answers below.
bricks, so that the four words in each course of Hint: In one of the courses, the bricks are their burrowing, they allow air into the
bricks are linked. There are three different all types of soil! soil, and create passageways for water
to run through. In fact, old-time country
LL PEPPER gardeners who grew mushrooms
encouraged moles. Ordinary garden soil
GEOFF was not considered good enough for
HEAVY growing the best mushrooms, but he soil
from fresh molehills – known as ‘maiden
soil’ – was deemed to be perfect. So,
presenters of Gardeners’ World on television); HEAVY = Sandy, Chalky, Acid (all types of soil).
‘Be’); GEOFF (Hamilton) = Alan (Titchmarsh), Monty (Don), Clay (Jones) (all are the Christian names of current or former
where fine lawns were not so important,
Answers: LL PEPPER (bell pepper) = Tony (betony), Etroot (beetroot), An (bean) (all make gardening sense if preceded by
moles were not treated as pests.
WIN
£30 Word search No:
611
Historical gardening event of
the week: 11 March (every year)
This word search comprises G A S O I L S T O R IN the USA, this date every year is
words associated with soils, dedicated to a homeless wanderer,
fertilisers and digging. They are D N L U T D P S E E who travelled barefoot across the
listed below, and in the grid N I I K B L I S C T continent, with a cooking pot on his
they may be read across, head and apple seeds in
backwards, up, down or D O G H A S I C L A his hand! He is the
diagonally. Letters may be folk hero Johnny
shared between words. G I I G C L O S A W Appleseed. His
Erroneous or duplicate words A A R T I N I I Y Y exploits are said
may appear in the grid, but to have caused
there is only one correct O I S T A N E N L D orchards to
solution. After the listed words spring up in many
are found there are seven W O R M S R G R E N states, bringing Johnny Appleseed
letters remaining; arrange L E V A R G E I T A prosperity. statue in Virginia,
these to make this week’s It is actually based on USA
KEYWORD. F E R U N A M A L S nurseryman John Chapman (1774-
1845), who did in fact introduce
SOILS HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and
ACID send it to AG Word Search No 611, Amateur Gardening, Future
apples to large swathes of the US.
AERATION Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, He became legendary, even during
AIR Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Wednesday 23 March 2022. The his lifetime, due to his kindness,
ALKALINE first correct entry chosen at random will win our £30 cash prize. compassion, generosity, faith,
CLAY conservation practices, and for the
DIGGING This week’s keyword is........................................................................................... importance he gave to apples.
DIRT Name......................................................................................................................... This may not be as commendable
FERTILISER as it sounds! Food expert Michael
GAS Address..................................................................................................................... Pollan reckons that Chapman was
GRAVEL opposed to grafting his fruit trees,
...................................................................................................................................
MANURE which meant that his apples were
SANDY Postcode................................................................................................................... not of an edible variety. They were
SILT
SUBSOIL Email.......................................................................................................................... only fit for making cider. He says:
TRENCHING ‘The reason Chapman was welcome
Tel no.........................................................................................................................
WATER in every cabin in Ohio and Indiana
Future plc, publisher of Amateur Gardening, will collect your personal information
WORMS solely to process your competition entry. was, he was bringing… alcohol!’

Crossword
Additions and additives
THE large country house gardeners
of yesteryear put organic matter
...just for fun!
into the soil like it was going out of 1 2 3 4 5
fashion! In an age when horses
were still used for transport, and
pigs, cows and hens were kept
nearby, manure was always 6
available and plentiful. One or even Manure – great for
two barrowloads would be forked into the garden
every square yard of freshly dug soil. 7 8
To make heavy clay soils more workable, gardeners
would add coarse sand, wood ash, lime, bone meal and 9
basic slag (the stony waste matter separated from metals
during the smelting or refining of ore) to the soil. Other 10 11 12
additions included ‘shoddy’ (the leftovers from woollen
yarn manufacture) and even unwanted meat (something
which, on health grounds, is not recommended today). 13
An unnecessary apology!
14
IN 2015, Alan Titchmarsh was being

interviewed on BBC Breakfast when ACROSS DOWN
he used the term ‘bastard trenching’ 1 The root vegetable 1 The subject of this
(see page 47) – which has been Tragopogon porrifolius (7) week’s Miscellany! (5)
used for many hundreds of years
6 Combining two or more 2 A single piece of
and is in all of the old gardening things in order to become Lactuca sativa foliage! (7,4)
books. The naïve producers in the more effective, such as
BBC studio insisted that Louise Alan Titchmarsh 3 Sterile firs to feed plants!
manure with 1 down (11) (11) (anag)
Minchin, the interviewer, apologise for
‘some of the language used by Alan’. 7 A gastropod of whisky, 4 Natural process in which
He was just about to protest that it wasn’t an offensive perhaps! (4) the top layer of 1 down is
term, when the interview was suspended! Dozens of 8 Shrub genus, sometimes carried away by wind
viewers complained – not at Alan’s use of the term, but at referred to as shrubby and/or water (4,7)
the BBC for what they saw as an unnecessary apology. veronica (4) 5 Aquatic photosynthetic
9 Tomato, bacon and a 2 organisms, whose sizes
down, in a sandwich, is more range from a single cell
popularly known as this! (1,1,1) to giant seaweeds (5)
10 The highest point of, 10 Fruit of the oak tree (5)
say, a garden shed or a 12 Used in Latin plant
greenhouse (4) names to mean ‘black’ (as
11 Zea mays is in the popular bamboo
sweet ____ (4) species of phyllostachys,
13 This is applying too much in reference to its black
of 3 down to plants (11) stems) (5)
14 Genus of the royal fern (7)
Earthworms in soil
Wow! I didn’t know that...

12 Nigra
DOWN 1 Soils 2 Lettuce leaf 3 Fertilisers 4 Soil erosion 5 Algae 10 Acorn
13 Overfeeding 14 Osmunda
There are more micro-organisms in a handful of soil than ACROSS 1 Salsify 6 Integrating 7 Slug 8 Hebe 9 BLT 10 Apex 11 Corn
there are people on earth. ANSWERS TO ABOVE CROSSWORD
Digging a 23x13ft (7x4m) plot of land, one spade’s blade
deep, means lifting more than 4 tonnes of soil.
The numbers of earthworms living in an acre of topsoil
KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 606 (5 February):
can vary from 8 million per acre in fertile New Zealand RUSTLING
pasture, to a modest 20,000 per acre in flinty soils in the AND THE WINNER IS: MRS S FORD, WOMBOURNE,
middle of a continental land mass. SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE

Advanced gardening You can listen to
Steve on alternate
Sundays 10am-2pm
on BBC Radio Kent’s
Sunday Gardening
New series on advanced gardening techniques with Steve and Val Bradley (BBC Local)
The best time to divide agapanthus

is spring, says Steve, as there’s
more chance the plants will flower
the same year
If you want your agapanthus to flower well,

make sure the top of the rhizomes receive a lot
of sun – the plants don’t have to be pot-bound
How to propagate agapanthus

Steve and Val Bradley banish some of the myths about propagating agapanthus
A
GAPANTHUS are very popular problem with agapanthus is lots of throughout the year and are less hardy,
plants for the garden, whether leaves and no flowers, which is the result but still capable of tolerating cold down
in the border or growing in of being buried too deeply so that no to -5°C. They have broad, thick, fleshy
containers. They are happy in sun reaches this area. leaves and tend to be larger than
either, as long as the soil or compost is deciduous types.
free draining. For many people, their first Different varieties Note that these hardiness
introduction to these stunning plants In colour, agapanthus range from temperatures relate to plants growing in
comes on holiday in Madeira, where deepest blue to pure white, with free-draining soil or compost. Plants
they grow profusely. However, don’t be several bicolours. New cultivars are growing in wet conditions often fail
tempted to bring them back with you for introduced regularly, with a number of to survive even a mild winter.
two reasons: first, bringing plants into nurseries in the UK and on the Continent
All photographs by Chris Bradley, copyright Future PLC, unless otherwise credited
the country without the proper constantly striving to improve the Ways to propagate agapanthus
permission is illegal; and second, the selection of plants available. There are There are three main ways to propagate
variety that grows in the warm climate six main species, but there has been agapanthus. First, by sowing seed,
over there will struggle here. quite a bit of interbreeding between which is used mainly to create new
species to try to capture the desired cultivars. Second, micropropagation,
Rhizome needs exposure characteristics from each. which is carried out in laboratories to
There are myths around agapanthus, increase the numbers of new cultivars
particularly the one that says they only Two main groups rapidly. And third, division, which is used
flower well when pot-bound. This is not For practical purposes, agapanthus can by gardeners to increase the number of
true. What they do need is hot sunshine be split into two main groups: plants in their garden and (like other
on the base of the stem/top of the 1. Deciduous types that die down for the herbaceous perennials) to keep the
rhizome to initiate flower buds for the winter and are generally hardy down to a plants healthy and productive.
following year. When grown in a pot, as temperature of about -10°C. These plants
the plant expands it pushes up out of the can be identified due to their thinner and Agapanthus are not bulbous
compost, which exposes the part that narrower leaves. You often see agapanthus bulbs offered
needs the heat. The most common 2. Evergreen types that keep their leaves for sale, but these plants actually have
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.
Step-by-step guide to propagating agapanthus

1 Start by
trimming
away any old,
2 Remove the plant from its containers
and clear away any surplus compost.
dead leaves
and remaining
flower stalks.
3 Use a sharp tool,

such as a spade,
large knife or old saw,
and cut the clump into
segments, such as
halves or quarters.
4 Aim for about four

to six segments
from a large plant.
5 Wash the divisions

to get rid of the
old compost and
6 Leave the cut surfaces to
dry until the following day
to reduces the chances of rot
expose the rhizomes establishing in the cuts. Repot
and fleshy roots. This or plant out the divisions and
also helps to get rid of leave them to establish.
any vine weevil grubs
hiding in the roots.
rhizomes (underground stems, often garden soil (or in the wilds of Madeira) to divide agapanthus, because the
growing horizontally) with thick fleshy could never be propagated or flower flower buds will have formed and there
roots and it is these characteristics that well. Leaving a plant in a pot until the is a good chance the divisions will flower
help the plants cope with drought. rhizomes are starting to rise out of the in the summer of that year.
The myth about the plants needing container leads eventually to poor vigour Make sure each segment of the
to be pot-bound to flower well is and poor flowering due to congestion division has growth buds visible on the
sometimes extended to the right time and lack of nutrition. rhizomes in order to form new plants,
for dividing them, too. If it were true and when repotting or replanting, avoid
that you should only divide them when Spring for dividing positioning the divisions too deeply as
the roots are completely restricted, it Although division can be carried out at there is a danger they will produce
would mean that plants growing in almost any time, spring is the best time plenty of leaves but few flowers.
Ask Anne!
Anne Swithinbank’s masterclass on: when to divide perennials
Alamy
I will cut down the old

stems of Echinacea
purpurea before lifting Anne’s Four plants
the crowns crowding a
young tree. These divide
picks to divide
well in spring and flourish
in moderately fertile, right now
Division in spring helps to well-drained soil
make more of spaces, with
the likes of hardy
geraniums like ‘Rozanne’
(above), daylilies and sedum
Basal cuttings from

new spring growth,
such as that of
1 Elephant’s ears (bergenia) is
easily propagated by forking
into the side of a clump and cutting
Michaelmas daisies,
the rhizomes with secateurs. I prefer
TI Media
will root easily

to do this in spring.
Dividing your perennials

Q To fill empty spaces in the garden,
I plan to divide some large clumps
of perennials. Is spring or autumn the
March and May, or wait until early
autumn when the weather is cooler and
rain has moistened the soil. Knowing
best time to do this – and when making the soil and climate of your plot will help
large groups, how many plants per when deciding which to choose. In drier
metre should I use?
Sam Muirhead,
Nether Heyford, Northampton
regions on thin, sandy soil, dividing and
moving plants in spring can mean extra
watering while plants settle during their
2 Established agapanthus from
borders or pots form a solid
mass of thick, entangled roots best
first season. Autumn might be a better separated by cutting between
A Hardy herbaceous perennials

such as Lysimachia clethroides,
Michaelmas daisies and Sedum
choice, especially as light soils don’t
usually suffer from winter waterlogging.
In wetter regions with clay soil,
growths using an old long-bladed
kitchen knife (see also page 50).
spectabile, are plants that die back dividing and replanting in autumn is
in winter and grow again in spring. possible. However, get the work done
Versatile and long-lived, they eventually promptly, so roots can grow into well-
spread into large clumps with all the aerated soil before winter rains, and
healthy flowering growth around the make slightly larger divisions than usual.
outside and a bare patch in the middle. If there is any chance of waterlogging,
Fortunately, these perennials take consider mounding beds or raise them
kindly to being forked up (usually while slightly so that damaged roots are sitting
dormant), divided into chunks and
replanted. This is good news when you
have spaces to fill, especially as larger
just above the general lie of the land.
Mulching newly planted perennials
while soil is damp is a good way to
3 Late-flowering actaea can be
divided using two forks pushed
in back to back. The handles, prised
swathes and repetitions of favourites enrich soil and conserve moisture. I apart, separate the roots. Create
like hardy geraniums, agapanthus suspect most of your plants will take well portions about 6in (15cm) wide.
and daylilies are easy on the eye. from divisions made now. If you leave
Most gardeners lift and divide some alone, don’t forget basal cuttings
All photographs John Swithinbank/Future unless otherwise credited
summer-flowering perennials between from new spring growth root easily.
More to divide in spring

Alamy
I OPT to move Japanese anemones such as Anemone x

hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ in spring, as their long, thick
roots dislike autumn disturbance on our heavy soil.
4 Clumps of perennials like these
All panel images: TI Archive
Red hot pokers (kniphofia) and crocosmia take well in New England asters respond
spring – as well as perennials of Mediterranean (or well to division by knife. As long as
similar) origin, including phlomis, Salvia forskaohlei Japanese anemone the soil is not saturated, cut portions
and Origanum laevigatum ‘Herrenhausen’. ‘Honorine Jobert’ is best heal quickly and most take well.
moved in spring

Letters to Wendy
Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road,
Winnersh, RG41 5TP (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com
Please note, prize monies will be sent approx 10 weeks after publication
Apricot seeds must released from their
hard shell. Some people allow the
Star
seeds to sprout before planting letter
WIN
Please continue to send us £20
your poetry contributions.
As we head into spring, reader
David Chapman says it’s time to
smell the daffodils…
My garden
awakes
It’s rising from its sleep
My garden.
Like my dog’s first
morning stretch.
Seeds breaking through
to peep.
Alamy
Time to stop and listen

Patience rewarded To my garden.
G
ARDENING can be very and again uncovered for checking. So I
Buzzing here, buzzing
rewarding at times but you have looked to see if the pot still had a seed there the scent explorers.
to be patient to some degree. and that it had not rotted. After what Against the dark soil the
It’s not the first time I have must be six months, the apricot seed has
tried to remove a seed from an apricot germinated. It is still sitting there in a
daffodils glisten.
but last summer, I had another go. I had a frozen-over, unheated greenhouse!
good white, but slightly marked, seed. I think I’m going to grow an apricot Time to sit and stare
Most advice is to sow straight away, so tree, what a journey.
that’s what I did. The pot has been kept Mr M Lambert, In my garden.
on the greenhouse bench covered in a Congleton, Cheshire In all our lives we look but
clear plastic food container, and left to its do not see.
own devices. The plants that I have are Wendy says Growing from pips can be
covered over with fleece which are now so satisfying, I had success with a lychee Will that blossom really
become a pear?
We’ve lost a gardening friend... Time to wander and
PETER Seabrook was a great him, yet through his column in AG, I feel I smell
ambassador for gardening: he was have lost a gardening friend, who talked
tireless in promoting the UK horticultural sense and had a clear understanding of
In my garden.
industry, in schools enthusing the gardening essentials. Get up close and block
young – the seedbed of future He will be sadly missed. the fumes,
gardeners – and in Bob Musgrave,
encouraging and advising Walton, Somerset Dally a while, flowers can
amateur gardeners.
TI Archive
make you well.

In recognition of all these PETER was such a good
services he should have been Peter will be gardener who really knew what
knighted a long time ago. Down sadly missed he was talking about, I enjoyed Time to wake up to all
to earth (literally) he was, truly, the reading his page in AG. that’s good
Nation’s gardener. My sister and I had the great pleasure
Richard Green, Egbury, Hants of meeting him a couple of years ago, so
In our gardens.
friendly and welcoming like he had David Chapman
I WAS very sad to read that Peter known us forever, a true gentleman.
Seabrook has died suddenly. I never met Barbara Lawrence, Chalgrove, Oxon
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 415, Winnersh Triangle,

Photo Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP
Editorial:
of the Editor: Garry Coward-Williams
week

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
Editorial assistant: Lesley Upton
Picture Editor and Letters: Wendy Humphries
Photography All copyrights and trademarks are
recognised and respected
Advertising Media packs are available on request
Ad Manager: Jackie Sanders, & 07899 882370
email: jackie.sanders@futurenet.com
Amateur Gardening is available for licensing and
syndication. To find out more contact us at licensing@
futurenet.com or view our available content at
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Head of Print Licensing: Rachel Shaw
Reader Material
Subscriptions
Frank’s pillar box style nest box Email enquiries: amateurgardeningsubs.co.uk/subsave
UK orderline & enquiries: & 0330 333 1113
Overseas order line & enquiries: & +44 (0)330 333 1113
Watching while propagating

Online orders & enquiries: myfavouritemagazines.
co.uk
Subscription delays
Disruption remains within UK and International delivery
HERE is a photograph of a lovely bird nest box in due season. I hope so! networks. Please allow up to 7 days before contacting us
nesting box. Dorothy my dear wife Often, I sit for long periods in the about a late delivery to help@magazinesdirect.com
bought it for me to fix in our back greenhouse and plan the different Circulation Retail Category Director: Ben Oakden
Production Group Head of Production: Mark Constance
garden. I can see it from my jobs that need attention. But I also Senior Production Manager: Matthew Eglington
greenhouse on the opposite side. enjoy working there, propagating my Advertising Production Manager: Joanne Crosby
Perhaps the tricoloured postage bird free Amateur Gardening seeds. Digital Editions Controller: Jason Hudson
from South West Namibia will visit the Frank Rowley Director of Group Finance: Oli Foster
Editorial Director: Rhoda Parry
Managing Director: Jason Orme
Aster la vista!
Group Managing Director: Sophie Wybrew-Bond
Printed by Walstead Group
Distributed by Marketforce (UK), 121-141 Westbourne
Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6JR. marketforce.
I WAS so pleased to see the first free co.uk & 0330 390 6555.
seeds of the year were Aster ‘Milady We are committed to only using magazine paper
which is derived from responsibly managed,
Short stems – no Mixed’ as I had great success last year. certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture.
The paper in this magazine was sourced and
problem The plants flowered profusely for produced from sustainable managed forests,
conforming to strict environmental and
months on end and also lasted really socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing
paper mill and printer hold full FSC and PEFC
well in the house. They had short stems certification and accreditation.
but this was not a problem as I have a All contents © 2022 Future Publishing Limited or published under
licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used,
receptacle for every eventuality! stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company
Deborah Swainston, Lincolnshire number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered
Both Reader Material
office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information
contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we
“Aster ‘Milady Mixed’ flowered for months Wendy says I too grew China asters last
are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept
any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are
and lasted really well in the house” year – first time for me. I was also advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to
the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and
impressed, they had real staying power websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We
are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates
to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any
way with the companies mentioned herein.
If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/
Reader’s Tip or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and
you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish
your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of
publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated
MOLE menace can easily be resolved websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material
you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken,
without the expense of special neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees
shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material
purchases, merely by placing is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit,
something with a pungent smell down

amend, adapt all submissions.
the trail. If you do not want to kill them,

top of the list has to be a few
mothballs, failing that, try a few drops
of Olbas Oil or even a few drops of
diesel on a piece of rag, they will then
make a hasty retreat to your
“Repel moles with pungent smells”
neighbour’s lawn.
TI Archive
Cyril Jones Evans

Toby Buckland
Plantsman and BBC gardening presenter
Toby’s trivia
If you want to cultivate plants and trees around
a pool or pond, consider the best options for
exposed flesh as well as water maintenance
Architectural plants like

yucca may look amazing,
but anyone who stands too
close in a state of undress 1 Only use catmint as an edger on
wide paths. Anything under 3ft
(1m), and you’ll be brushing through
may come a cropper
the sprawling stems, potentially
annoying the bees that forage
among the flowers.
Paulownia tomentosa can be cut

back hard in late winter to create a
parasol-like leaf formation
Pool paradise
Toby is thrown in at the deep end when asked to pick
plants for a pool. Luckily, things go swimmingly… 2 Position berry-bearing trees, like
crab apples, away from patios
as there is a chance the fruits can
T
HE closest thing to a swimming Just as when choosing plants around stain the stone.
pool at Buckland Castle might a pond, deciduous trees should be
be an old bucket that collects picked with care. Some, like sweet gums surface that you have to sweep. Arching
rainwater off the shed, but (liquidambar), drop over months and over the drive where I park my Bugatti,
when my friend David asked me to help mean the water needs netting/clearing there’s a holly tree that I and the
choose plants for the terraces around right through autumn and into winter. blackbirds love, although it’s the worst
his 12x30-footer, I jumped right in. Better are species like catalpa and choice for the spot. Year-round, the
Top of the list of plants to avoid are paulownia that have a ‘here today, gone dome-like canopy sheds blossom cases
those with razor-sharp leaves, like yucca, tomorrow’ habit of shedding all at once. and petals in spring, berries in autumn
or those that bleed toxic sap such as Best of all, if the bare stems are pruned and leaves every month between.
euphorbias. But there are less obvious hard down to knee-high stumps in If I were the kind of person who
no-nos – not just for the other half’s winter, the lobed leaves grow to prized a tidy drive or had a swimming
pools but for places where you park the parasol-esque proportions. pool, it would be a nightmare. As it is,
car, sunbathe or walk around in shorts. Leaves aren’t the only consideration the aggressive spiky foliage harmlessly
With flowers the colour of a around water or, for that matter, any hard fills that bucket by the shed.
Californian sky and silver leaves that
thrive in the sunshine and reflected heat,
lavender and catmint seem perfect
partners for any sunny seating area. But
Perfect plants to try
be warned: the summer blooms brim IF you’re looking for plants to put
Try cypress
with high-protein nectar that attracts around a patio (or pool, if you’ve won trees and
bees by the thousand. So, while they the lottery) then architectural plants are clipped
are a must for helping pollinators, these a go-to. These are shrubs/trees with evergreen
are not plants for sunbathing near while bold shapes and luxuriant leaves, like hedging
you are in your Speedos. phormiums, palms and hardy Musa (box), plus
raised beds
basjoo bananas – but can also include
clipped conifers like cloud-pruned yew,
“Plants and trees columnar Mediterranean juniper or
topiary box. Not only do they contrast
must be picked beautifully with the stone paving,
All photographs Alamy
brickwork and buildings, but they also Crucially, they don’t drop large
with care” cast beautiful shadows and enjoy the
heat reflected from the hard surfaces.
amounts of leaf litter, saving you the
job of sweeping up after them.

.
9000 9027

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£2.10 12 MARCH 2022

How to grow crocuses

“Here is my top selection of sunflowers Gardening wisdom

“For the last few weeks, I have been

into the ground, I am never entirely certain

Cover: Sunflower ‘Russian Giant’ (pic: Thompson and Morgan)

New clematis shoots

1 I removed the top 2in (5cm) of

Springing back to busyness

A quartet of spring tasks and left another open

Growing, feeding and cutting back, plus caring for wildlife

1 It’s time to start potting up your

3 Garden wildlife will be busy nesting

1 Carefully dig around the plant and

4 If the plant has an old, woody

12 MARCH 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING 5

Impatiens Downy Mildew wiped

Busy lizzies are back in business!

Breeders worked to solve problem

stopped selling n Order Beacon impatiens from

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Rose care tips

Tie in the shoots of

1 Suckers are stems that grow from

How to get the best roses

1 Without disturbing any

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Removing flowers My salvaged pot plants are being

Old compost added Back on track

Salvaging last year’s plants mini greenhouse is filling up again.

1 Carefully lift each plant and make

3 Cut them back to healthy leaf

10 AMATEUR GARDENING 12 MARCH 2022

1 Once seeds have germinated,

Zinnia ‘Jazz’ are bright and brilliant

Making a song and dance

1 Fill a pot or tray with fresh seed

If you plan to sow the seeds directly,

3 Gently scatter a thin layer of

12 AMATEUR GARDENING 12 MARCH 2022

Bob’s top tips

Enthusiastic gardeners can

Grow more varieties of

If you want to harvest show-stopping veg such as

Special treatment 2 With an old sharp blade set

“It really will pay the difference between a half-dozen

Wait for the weather

here. We rarely get soft-green foliage, as

Add ammonia of sulphate pellets

a generous canopy. Once this stage is

into autumn to bulk up to their best

1 Fight late blight: Very destructive,

create new young stock.

in summer they’re not a fan of being

20 AMATEUR GARDENING 12 MARCH 2022

Greenhouse ‘growing-on’ zones

Step Make a stale seedbed

1 Locate areas where

Planting for insects

Phacelia tanacetifolia Achillea ‘Terracotta’ Stachys macrantha ‘Superba’ AGM

Lavandula x intermedia ‘Gros Bleu’ Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum

Salvia officinalis Thymus vulgaris