Indholdsfortegnelse for 23-Aug-2025 i Amateur Gardening

As the garden pushes forth with late summer harvests and beautiful blooms, we can savour these abundant moments with delight. We know what’s round the corner, but it’s a good while away yet so let’s soak up the sunshine as best we can in the interim. Let’s bask in the glory of the garden, its wildlife and the nicer weather we’ve enjoyed for much of the year - compared with last year, obviously. There are winter crop seeds to be sown, as Lucy Chamberlain and Chris Collins outline on pages 12 and 15, there are flower seeds to start off and cuttings to be taken, all full of promise for the next spring to come. These connections bind us to the future as much as the here and now and…

I am going to use my pages in this issue to suggest some gardening tasks for the bank holiday weekend, but first I need to relate a rather extraordinary wildlife adventure that befell the Hayes household the other night. I was awoken in the early hours by a strange noise, and lay awake for a while listening out in case it happened again. All stayed quiet so I was drifting back to sleep when I heard a quiet dusty sneeze, the sort a kitten might make, and the patter of little feet, which gradually drew nearer until they stopped right next to my side of the bed. Fearing mice or, worse, a rat, I turned on the light and saw… a hedgehog! I am sure you can imagine my husband’s…

Living in Essex, which is notorious for being one the driest counties in the UK, and having a plot on sandy soil, you can probably understand why I’ve spent a good few years trialling crops to see how drought and heat-resistant they are. Luckily I’ve had some great results! I’m particularly interested in edibles that yield plentifully, suffer from few or no pests and diseases, and taste great – because what’s the point of growing anything else? So, dear reader, if your plot has been suffering with the prolonged dry spells of summer, you can benefit from all my experimentation. So, what has been performing well, with very little irrigation? Let me list my favourites: ■ Tree spinach – this green leafy plant has shoot tips tinged with hot pink,…

Make edible flower ice cubes Duration 20 minutes + freezing time Benefits for you ■ Making edible flower ice cubes is a creative way to appreciate what’s growing and create something fun and novel for your drinks. ■ Picking flower heads and creating ice cubes involves gentle physical movement, working on your dexterity ■ You get to learn which plants are suitable to use, as part of lifelong learning, which supports our wellbeing Items you will need -Edible flowers-Ice cube trays-Water-Scissors / secateurs (optional) Step 1 - find suitable flowers to use The most important part of making edible flower ice cubes is being confident the plant you use is safe to eat. These are some flowers that can be used: Borage Lavender Osteospermum Pansies  Violas Nasturtiums You could also…

H. paniculata ‘Limelight’ H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’ H. arborescens ‘Incrediball’ H. macrophylla ‘Ayesha’ H. macrophylla ‘Stargazer’…

What’s made our daylily flower so brilliantly? The dry spring has kept certain pests at bay Q For many years our hemerocallis has not flowered. The buds have been falling off without opening, which we assume is due to the gall midge. However, this year there has been no problem! So what has changed? Is it the weather? Peter and Jenny Twitchett (via email) A I am sorry to learn that previously your hemerocallis appears to have suffered from gall midge damage, which reduces its ability to flower. But I am pleased now that it’s performing normally this year. I suspect that it is indeed our very dry spring has had a deleterious effect upon this minute insect and that its numbers are far less than in previous years. If…

Summer isn’t complete without a trip to Ball Colegrave, a wholesale company in Oxfordshire that grows out its whole catalogue of plants each year in glorious technicolour. It’s basically a showroom where garden centres can browse and shop, and I was lucky enough to make a visit recently! I’ve picked out eight of the most interesting specimens, most of which should be available in garden centres, or through mail order or shopping television, from next spring. Yay! Hebe Kiwi Series A familiar plant in the garden centre, but which has recently undergone a lot of interesting breeding, specifically in New Zealand, where the climate is actually very similar to ours. Hebes are tough and durable as garden shrubs, but did you know that the bees lurrrve the nectar-rich flowers too?…

Growing our own is simplest with the crops that are eaten when freshly picked as they mature, like strawberries and salads for example. However, there are others that we want to use later on, so we want to store them, often for as long as possible. Luckily, a few such as leeks, Savoy cabbage, kales and hardy broccolis can be left standing in the garden right through autumn and most winters, and we never dig up Jerusalem artichokes until we want to cook them as they don’t store well at all. Similarly, most root vegetables such as carrots can be left in the ground until wanted, though if you hope to eat any when the ground is frozen you’d better either cover the row with layers of insulation, or dig…

August is the perfect time to sow tasty leaves such as lettuce, spinach, kale and Asian greens like pak choi. While the soil is still warm, but before the first frost, seedlings will get off to a strong start and you’ll have bundles of delicious leaves to cut before you know it. Many of these plants will stand in the veg plot over winter (with a little protection from eco fleece or cloches) and start to sprout again in the spring. For me, they’re a real money saver and, as supermarket greens are often sold in single-use plastic, they’re also a great way of reducing plastic waste. Some greens are more sensitive to hot temperatures than others, so if it’s still scorching out there, hold off sowing until September or…

Red cabbage must surely rank amongst the most giving of veg. With a little coleslaw or an autumnal braise in mind, a tight, rounded head is cut in half and slicing begins. Before you know it - and barely a quarter in - sliced strips multiply into a huge mound. Luckily, hearts store well when wrapped and placed in the fridge. Maybe because of the colour or perhaps the sheer density of the head, caterpillars rarely make a mess of the leaves. Although I’ve always sown red cabbage in spring, there’s a good argument for sowing in autumn for an early summer crop. Our kitchen garden compost bins simply made from pallets tied at the corners with baler twine are accessible and make a fascinating feature. During the drought of…

The Country Smallholder is a monthly magazine focused on all aspects of owning and maintaining a smallholding, offering practical advice and information on hobby farming, poultry care, organic gardening, and much more! SAVE UP TO 56% * GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE: ■ Never miss an issue ■ Save up to 56% * ■ Look forward to delivery direct to your door ■ Receive our free bi-monthly e-newsletter EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE VISIT SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/CSH6XAD Call 01959 543 747 * and quote CSH6XAD Use this QR CODE to go directly to our website Terms & conditions: UK Direct Debit or Continuous Credit Card offer, you will pay £19.99 for your first 6 issues then £28.99 every 6 months thereafter. * Savings are based on the standard basic rate, which includes the cover price of £4.99 plus…

Carrots in colour Carrots are one of the most useful crops you can grow – and if you have a light or sandy soil you would find it difficult to not grow large, long, tapering roots! ■ You can chop, boil and mash carrots. Or roast them, or puree them. Or use them in stews. And you can even juice them. They’re now being pulled in gardens and allotments all around the country. ■ But carrots aren’t just orange! They come in shades of white, yellow, purple and near-black. Actually, the first documented carrots were in hues of purple and white. ■ The orange carrots we know today were developed after a genetic mutation caused purple carrots, which have a yelloworange core, to lose their exterior colouring and turn into…

It’s easy to forget that the first gardens were actually forests. Our ancestors migrated with the seasons and woodlands provided material for shelters and fires, along with food and medicines. Subsequently forests were managed. I’m not presenting a romantic idea of the past or calling for us to go back to forests, but our ancestors knew the importance of caring for the land, and that is something we have lost. The UK has far fewer trees than other European countries. The average tree coverage in a European country is 38% but in Sweden it’s 70% and in Finland, it’s 75%. In the UK we have approximately 13% of land covered in trees. Mini food forests, where we combine trees with edibles, es, in our gardens and communities could help boost…

Your lovely letters, emails and social media posts continue to flow in beautifully. Every message, poem, idea and comment matters. Please keep them coming. We will send out a thank you gift for every item published in the magazine as soon as we can, so do please send your address and contact details when you get in touch. Hooray for our recent feature on Hollyhocks Dear Kim How wonderful in the 9th August AG edition to read Rosie Irving’s article about Hollyhocks. I have always loved them. Seen very rarely these days. I am all for a ‘Bring Back Hollyhocks’ campaign. By the way, my husband always looks forward to my magazine arriving on Saturday because he knows if it doesn’t, I am grumpy all weekend. Karen Trembeth Kim says;…

When pottering in the garden I’m spending an increasing amount of time looking at my feet. This isn’t because of a ‘gardener’s back’ or an onset of crippling shyness. It’s the fear of looking up and clocking something I’d rather not see. One of my favourite features at ‘Buckland Castle’ - and a reason we bought the house - is a mature birch tree that grows right up against the brickwork. No-one would have planted it so tight to the walls and my guess is that it rose from a seed some 80 years before the building was converted into a dwelling. All I know for certain is that it pre-dates the un-nuanced tree planting advice doled out by fear-mongering home insurance companies. Fair enough, a weeping willow worrying your…

Girlguiding UK celebrated the launch of its new Gardening badge by designing the organisation’s first ever garden at a major RHS event. Members of the 82nd Doncaster Rangers designed and planted a garden feature, known as a community cube, called ‘Girlguiding Grows’, for RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse. The girls were the first Rangers to be awarded Girlguiding’s new Gardening badge, one of several included in a new programme, having completed the necessary badge activities as part of the preparations for the flower show. The Gardening badge, which was created in collaboration with the RHS, challenges Rangers (girls aged 14 to 18) to discover the wonderful world of gardening. Participants learn how to plan and maintain a garden through the year, become sustainable gardening gurus and practise planting at home…

Hylotelephium x mottramianum ‘Herbstfreude’ (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’) A favourite, midgreen sedum with inflorescences which start pale green, slowly turn pink then add splashes of crimson to borders or plants in containers. Plant alongside ornamental grasses and late-season perennials (H&S: 60cm/2ft). Sedum acre Also known as golden moss or biting stonecrop, this mat-forming sedum is ideal for containers, alpine troughs and for plugging cracks in paving. It’s adorned with tiny yellow flowers in spring and summer, before its foliage becomes a burnished bronze in late summer (H&S: 10cm x 45cm/4in x 18in). Hylotelephium ‘Chocolate Cherry’: As tempting as its name, this seductive mix of chocolatecoloured stems and foliage contrasted perfectly by cherry-coloured flowers is a late-season treat. Show off its dark beauty alongside Chartreuse-hued heucheras, sedums or Alchemilla mollis. (H&S: 20…

Climbing plants bring an extra dimension to the garden. They add to the vertical view and can supply framework and structure, even during winter. Climbers can disguise ugly fences, walls and buildings and soften hard vertical lines. They can clothe pergolas, arbors and obelisks. Although there are plenty of climbers to choose from, I think it is important not to plant one that is too vigorous for your garden. Otherwise, you may create a load of pruning work to try to keep it within its allotted space, and run the risk of it intruding into your neighbours’ gardens. Years ago, I made the mistake of planting the very fast-growing climber Russian vine (Fallopia baldschuanica) to soften and disguise the side of a small, but rather ugly, shed. Within three years…

For the 19 years before our beloved pet cats shuffled off this mortal coil, one of the most delightful events in the gardening calendar was giving our catmint bushes their Chelsea chop. In mid-May there I was, shearing them back to keep them shapely, and before I knew it our two girls would appear from nowhere and behave in a completely bonkers fashion, rolling around on and chewing the cut stems and generally getting in the way. By the end of it, our elegant feline manageresses had completely zonked out and were in a state of blissful stupefaction. There are many types of catmint and Nepeta cataria is the ‘real’ catmint that cats (and humans) adore. It is a must-have garden perennial because its fragrant leaves and violet flower spikes…