Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i BBC Gardeners' World

“The garden of late winter slips into spring almost unnoticed and suddenly things become possible” It can seem impossible that a freshly dug slab of muddy ground, with rather too many weeds still visible among the puddles, could be harnessed to grow anything – let alone the fantasy of an all-singing, all-dancing kitchen garden. But trust me. It can. It will. The garden of late winter slips into spring almost unnoticed and suddenly things become possible. The first piece of advice to any aspiring vegetable grower is to work with the weather, rather than fight it. Any advice from the likes of me can only be general. Co-operate with the weather in your own plot because it influences the soil and resultant growth more than any other factor. If the…

“So many challenges to our wellbeing, community and the environment can all be solved in a garden” I don’t have many regrets, but I do wish I had found gardening earlier in my life. As part of a large family, there wasn’t much time for gardening, and my early memories were of our neighbour having a perfect lawn and immaculate borders, unlike ours, which was rather trampled on by us children. But how different life could have been if I’d asked Mr Lucas next door just one or two questions about his gardening. At RHS Chelsea 2023, schools were invited on Press Day to a picnic, attended by HRH The Princess of Wales, and they got to vote for who they thought had the best garden on Main Avenue. There just might have…

22-26 September | 4 nights/5 days from £1,459pp* This BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Exclusive Tour of Dorset and Somerset is designed to give you a full taste of the West Country’s garden life. Discover a wide range of gardens, with guided tours and inspiring talks from head gardeners, mixed with free visits for independent exploring. This tour with expert plantsman David Hurrion is not to be missed. ◼ DAY 1 Check in. Welcome drink, introductory talk by David Hurrion and group dinner. ◼ DAY 2 Mapperton House and Gardens and Mappercombe Manor. The first tour takes us to Mapperton House and Gardens, home to the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, with a guided tour of the gardens. Free time for lunch (not included) then a drive to Mappercombe Manor, dating…

Join us! 12-15 June 2025 NEC Birmingham Inspiration | Expert advice | Shopping | Entertainment VISIT bbcgardenersworldlive.com for more info and to book tickets This is one of our favourite times of year, as Gardeners’ World returns to BBC2, and we start sharing plans for our flagship Show in June! The Show is a celebration of the best of summer gardening and there’s no better place to indulge your love of plants and gardens, see top experts, shop ‘til you drop, and enjoy a day with friends a family. Bringing the 2025 Gardeners’ World Make a Metre Matter campaign to life, Nick Bailey’s headline show garden will be packed with inspiring ways to transform a metre for the good of the planet. Look out for ways to support wildlife, grow…

There are loads of ways you can make a meaningful difference, including growing plants for caterpillars and pollinators, growing veggies to cut down a little on food miles and creating a compost heap to boost your soil and help biodiversity. It really is all possible in just one metre. You’ll find heaps of inspiration on these pages in the coming months, so don’t worry if you’re unsure where to start with your metre. You’ll also find masses of metre magic at our 2025 live events (more of that on p73), along with plenty of metre-focused chat on our podcast. Best of all, there’s the chance to have your transformations featured on TV in the coverage of GW Live in June (see p74 for details). So, join us, Make a Metre…

Flowering from spring through to summer each year, aquilegia’s frilly blooms nod in the breeze above layered petticoats of clump-forming grey-green foliage. Easy to grow, these incredibly tough plants cope well with most soil conditions and are slug resistant. Perfect for filling gaps in containers, rockeries and garden borders, the blooms also make excellent cut flowers in vases and bouquets. ◼ Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Christa Barlow’ Double, rich-lilac flower heads above lacy grey-green foliage. Height x Spread 90cm x 40cm Flowers May-Jul ◼ A. vulgaris ‘Pink Barlow’ Double, pompom-like flowers, with narrow, rich-pink petals. H x S 75cm x 40cm F May-Jul ◼ A. vulgaris ‘White Barlow’ Fully double, spur-less, white blooms over mounds of rounded, grey-green foliage. H x S 90cm x 40cm F May-Jul ◼ A. vulgaris ‘Bordeaux Barlow’…

Only £10 per pack Pelargonium Jackpot Mix Masses of colourful single blooms on neat compact plants. Perfect for filling beds, borders and patio containers. Height x Spread 40cm x 35cm Flowers Jun-Oct ◼ 15 garden-ready plants £16.99 (73691) Begonia Nonstop Mixed Fully double flowers in a boisterous range of shades that jostle for attention in containers, beds and borders. H x S 30cm x 30cm F Jul-Oct ◼ 15 garden-ready plants £16.99 (73687) Petunia Easy Wave A versatile petunia with rapid growth, unique prostrate habit, and prolific blooms. H x S 30cm x 60cm F Jun-Oct ◼ 15 garden-ready plants £16.99 (KA8789) Begonia Apricot Shades Improved Versatile and beautiful, this mix produces gorgeous flowers in shades of apricot and orange that can grow to 6-10cm in diameter. H x S 30cm x 45cm…

FREE travel wallet with every booking Sicily From £1,579pp – 7 nights, 8 days Dominated by snow-capped Mount Etna, and blessed with abundant sunshine and unspoilt landscapes and coastlines, Sicily is a beautiful part of Italy, with a character all of its own. On this island there are countless architectural and archaeological riches to explore, from Piazza Armerina’s impressive Roman villa, Monreale’s spectacular cathedral and Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples. Your tour includes ◼ Return flights from a selection of regional airports with hotel transfers ◼ 7 nights in four-star accommodation, with daily breakfast and dinner, plus 1 lunch ◼ Guided tours including Piazza Armerina and Taormina ◼ Entrances to Valley of the Temples and Piazza Armerina’s Roman Villa ◼ Exploring Mount Etna, with the option to ascend to higher…

“By the end of March there’s more daylight than darkness – that’s something to smile about” Welcome, spring! While we still have some chilly days ahead, the sun is getting up earlier each morning and by the end of March there’s more daylight than darkness – that’s certainly something to smile about. With most of the winter harvest gathered in and eaten, there are still special treats to be found in the brassica bed. Purple sprouting broccoli is a favourite of mine, steamed and served with olive oil, lemon juice and seasoned with salt and pepper. I love the way that nature provides throughout the year, with both beautiful blooms and delicious food. I’m constantly amazed at how fruit trees blossom in a structured order, with stone fruits first –…

Why shouldn’t a container full of things grown to eat be just as beautiful as it is delicious? If you have a small space at home next to your back door, on a tiny patio or even just on an outdoor table, you have room enough to grow something this year that’s attractive and flavourful to pick and eat. In this two-part series, I’ll share how to create containers that look as good as they taste. Feel free to adapt them to include a favourite or to use them as inspiration to create your own from scratch. Sow and plant your pots in spring or early summer and keep them under cover until all risk of frost has past in your area. YELLOW and ORANGE You will need a big…

I hesitate to be maudlin as spring begins to evidence itself, for March is a time of renewal, of hope and the gardener’s fond belief that ‘this year will be better than last’. They say that’s the difference between farmers and gardeners, for farmers always think it will be worse. But farmers and gardeners do have one thing in common – an ability to observe the changing seasons (faster with each successive year, I know) and to mark the passing of things they have loved with a moment of reflection. After a winter of gales – one after another in indecent succession – our local landscape will have changed. Some of our ancient trees, which have characterised our towns and countryside for centuries, will not have survived the onslaught. Felled…

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold”Charles Dickens STAR OF THE MONTH Ipheion ‘Rolf Fiedler’ For some weird reason I am only a recent convert to ipheions. Maybe I was previously put off by the unreasonable number of vowels in the name (or the flagrant flouting of the ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ rule), but whatever it was, I am now madly catching up and have planted hundreds of these delightful little bulbs wherever I can. Even now, as I gaze out of the office window, there is a line of terracotta bowls poised to unleash a honey-scented drum roll of delicate colour. They are equally charming in rockeries and gravel gardens. Plant bulbs in autumn. They need sharp…

This pot is packed with early-flowering plants that provide pollinators easy access to nectar and pollen. Not only does the Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Kinshiden’) provide a lovely sculptural shape, its flowers open on bare stems allowing the windflowers (Anemone blanda), scillas (Scilla siberica and S. siberica ‘Alba’) at the back of the pot, and grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum and M. latifolium) below to take advantage of the light before it comes into leaf. Matching the width of the terracotta pot to the quince draws further attention to its form, while the colours of its blooms are echoed in the centre of the anemones. Add a layer of grit as a mulch to prevent rain from splashing the smaller flowers. Place the container in partial shade, although the windflowers…

WORTH £20 Create beautiful summer displays with this stunning summer-flowering bulb collection. Perfect planted in mixed containers, beds and borders, they will add a vibrant pop of colour to any garden. Your collection includes: ◼ Gladiolus mix (main image) 40 bulbs Tall spires of mixed bold shades. Height x Spread 100cm x 20cm Flowers Jun-Aug ◼ Freesia mix 40 bulbs Sweetly scented bell shaped blooms. H x S 30cm x 15cm F Jun-Aug ◼ Liatris spicata 40 bulbs Exotic spikes of bottle-brush blooms. H x S 1.2m x 45cm F Jul-Sep ◼ Allium moly/neapolitanum mix 40 bulbs Garlic scented sunshine flowers. H x S 25-40cm x 10-25cm F May-Jul ◼ Gladiolus murielae 40 bulbs Spikes of fragrant white flowers H x S 100cm x 40cm F Aug-Oct For details of…

FREE SEEDS* until June! Essential spring bundle: ■ Niwaki snips worth £14 ■ Gold Leaf gloves worth £22.95 Offer ends 9 April 2025 2 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE Visit buysubscriptions.com/GWNP325 Call 03330 162123‡ and quote code GWNP325 Free UK delivery Money-back guarantee Worldwide delivery Secure online payments FREE SEEDS* for subscribers Subscribers will receive an expertly selected mix of seeds with each issue until June 2025 issue. Subscribe before 2 March 2025 to receive your April issue, which includes a packet of salad onion ‘White Lisbon’ and a packet of sunflower ‘Hallo’ seeds. †This offer is only open to new UK customers subscribing to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine by recurring payment. The closing date for this offer is 4 April 2025. You will pay £26 every 6 issues, saving 36%…

Although the space you have outside may be cherished, actually growing plants in it and maintaining it can feel daunting to the point of overwhelming. I think the main reason for this fear is a lack of understanding that leads to a crisis of confidence. Another cause might be the unreasonable expectations we put on ourselves by comparing our gardens and allotments with those on social media or television. The reality is that all gardeners have had whole crops decimated by pests, made a bad cut while pruning a shrub or planted something that grows way too big, and we have all dug up or killed a plant by accident. It’s part of the learning process and it really doesn’t matter. The only material problem caused by these mistakes is…

7-11 July | 4 nights/5 days from £1,295pp** This exclusive tour for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine readers focuses on the gardens of the beautiful Scottish Borders. You’ll visit wonderful gardens, with a mix of guided tours and free visits. ◼ DAY 1 Arrive independently at Peebles Hydro Hotel from 3pm. Enjoy a welcome drink at 6pm, followed by a group dinner. ◼ DAY 2 The tour starts with a visit to Dawyck Botanic Garden, with some of Britain’s oldest and tallest trees and shrubs. Free time for lunch (not included) before heading to the attractive walled gardens at Kailzie. ◼ DAY 3 Start the day at Floors Castle, the largest inhabited castle in Scotland. Time for lunch (not included), before heading to Monteviot Gardens, which surround the early 18th century lodge.…

“Because a tree will be visible from when it is planted, the more interest it has throughout the year, the better” Trees are the lifeblood of our planet. By taking in harmful carbon dioxide and pumping out oxygen, trees make it possible for us to breathe. Without them, we would eventually run out of oxygen. Planting a tree in our gardens might seem like a tiny contribution to the overall picture of a healthy planet, but it is the combination of all trees – from a lone oak to an entire rainforest – that provide us with the air we need to breathe. Every garden is better for having a tree. Even the smallest plot can accommodate one, but the question is, which one? It is estimated there are more than 73,000 species of…

Our gardens cover an area of around 720,000 hectares across the UK, so when gardeners work together, we can make a massive impact on wildlife and the environment. One of the simplest and most effective ways to help is to grow a pollinator patch. As well as pollinating our crops, these insects (and their larvae) provide a vital source of food for birds, mammals and other animals. When we plant for pollinators, we tend to think of bees and butterflies, but it’s important to cater for as wide a range of pollinating insects as possible, including hoverflies, wasps, flower beetles and moths. All the plants chosen for this month’s Make a Metre Matter thrive in full sun, but there are many pollinator friendly plants that can be grown successfully in…

“My greenhouse is my sanctuary” It’s no exaggeration to say that I don’t know what I would do without my greenhouse. You might think that’s because it allows me to grow more crops, produce more plants and save money, but it’s rather more than that. My greenhouse is my sanctuary – a place where I can ease myself into the day of a morning, potter among my pelargoniums, removing a dead leaf here and a faded flower there, and generally feel at one with the world. Perhaps you think that’s an extravagant claim for a small glass structure that sits in my garden? Not a bit of it. A greenhouse is more than the sum of its parts and anyone who relishes the freedom of being out in the garden…

Susan Downing, Radway, Warwickshire “I’m proud of how the garden has established itself. It feels right – it suits the house and the countryside environment without being too typically cottage-like. It has a good balance.” Focusing on designing a front garden was particularly poignant for Susan Downing, having moved into the property during December 2020, on the cusp of another national lockdown. She wanted it to be sheltered enough to afford some privacy for her family, but also a space where neighbours and passersby could potentially meet on the periphery or within the winding paths and planting. Being an old, thatched property located within a conservation area in the village of Radway, Warwickshire, it was vital that the style of the garden was in keeping with the house. Susan didn’t…

Visit GardenersWorld.com/what-to-do-now for more advice on the best crops to sow and plant this month, and how to do it STRAWBERRY COLLECTION Enjoy sweet, juicy homegrown fruits. Includes ‘Honeoye’, ‘Cambridge Favourite’ and ‘Pegasus’ Height x Spread 20cm x 30cm Harvest Jun-Jul ■ 18 bare roots (6 of each) £19.99 £12.99 SAVE £7 (KH2258) ■ 36 bare roots (12 of each) £39.98 £19.99 SAVE £19.99 (KH2259) SAVE £7 Scan QR code to buy and for more great deals suttons.co.uk/SUSGW51 Call 0344 326 220* quote code SUSGW51 Please add £6.99 P&P Items despatched from March 2025 onwards. Offer closes 15 April 2025 Please note your contract for supply of goods is with Suttons Seeds, Poplar Lane, Ipswich IP8 3BU. Subject to availability. UK delivery only not including N. Ireland, with restrictions to specific postcode areas. Full terms…

SEED-SOWING KIT ANNUALS Sown now, annuals will flower during this summer. They will also set seed this year, which you can collect, dry and reuse next spring. Sowing nigella Nigella, or love-in-a-mist, is so easy to grow and looks beautiful over many months. Small seeds like this will need to be near the surface, so scatter them and just cover with a little compost. Label and water them, then watch for the first leaves to appear. My top five annuals ■ Cosmos bipinnatus ■ Nigella ■ Coreopsis x hybrida ■ Ammi majus ■ Cerinthe major PERENNIALS Perennials come back each year, although they often die down during the winter. Some will need protecting from frost during the coldest months. Planting perennials Now is the perfect time for this, preferably in…

Meadows are perhaps the ultimate example of plants growing better together. They speak of abundant wildness, beauty and a habitat rich in flora and fauna. But many gardeners fear they are difficult, complicated and take years to achieve. That might be the case if you are trying to establish a native meadow from seed in an existing grassland, but there are other much simpler and more achievable approaches. And perhaps the easiest of the lot are annual exotic meadows. I’ve established these long-flowering, colour-rich, pollinator friendly patches many times and you can, too. Annual meadows Annual exotic meadow mixes skilfully blend plants borrowed from many parts of the world to create a rich tapestry flowering from May to November. Mixes of this nature often feature the likes of long-flowering linaria…

…year-round interest ❶ Magnolia stellata All magnolias are renowned for their flowers but have so much more to offer. Our Magnolia stellata is over 40 years old, still fitting into a smallish space and, in addition to its copious starry white flowers, gives us gorgeous golden leaves in autumn. In winter, its intricate branches covered in lichen already bear next year’s flower buds – grey, soft and furry. …spring blossom ❷ Crataegus monogyna Where I come from, we call this ‘May’. In full flower, no other tree celebrates the coming of summer more whole heartedly than the hawthorn. Smothered in pure-white blossom, which when pollinated produces masses of hard, red haws or ‘higs’ as they are known up north. These scarlet fruits last deep into winter, supplying vital provisions not…

Your pollinator dos & don’ts ✓ Do include plants that cater for all parts of an insect’s lifecycle, especially the larval stage ✓ Do select a range of flower shapes to provide for different types of insects ✓ Do make sure you include species that flower in early spring and late autumn ✓ Do buy from organic nurseries whenever possible or check that the plants you buy haven’t been treated with neonicotinoids* or other synthetic pesticides ✓ Do try to buy plants grown in peat-free compost ✓ Do provide water for pollinators using a shallow container, like a saucer, with pebbles and clean it regularly ✓ Do watch out for the pollinators that visit your patch and record them on a database such as iRecord ✓ Do encourage others to…

Put out your bee hotels If you have kept your bee hotel in the shed over winter to prevent attack from birds, now’s the time to put it back up. Check for splinters and rotting wood, and remove cobwebs and spiders. Also consider replacing bamboo canes in your bee hotel, but hold onto the old ones as they have this year’s bees in them. Store them under cover, such as beneath an upturned plant pot with a drainage hole, so they’re protected from rain but can still fly out when they wake up. Fix to a south - or east-facing wall at head height. Drilling in will be more stable than hanging on a nail. Look after your frogspawn Ready your pond for spawning by removing debris. In dry conditions,…

ONLY £14.99 Fill your summer garden with this spectacular array of colourful flowering bulbs and enjoy five months of colour, year after year with this fantastic collection. Including 300 bulbs ranging across seven different varieties, this collection will bring a huge mixture of colour, shape and height to your garden. Perfect for borders, beds, pots and containers, the bulbs will naturalise in your garden, so you will get bigger and better displays every year. 300 bulbs ONLY £14.99 SAVE £15 (630130) Summer bulb collection includes: ◼ Liatris spicata (75 bulbs) H x S 90cm x 35cm F Aug-Sep ◼ Gladioli (10 bulbs) H x S 80cm x 25cm F May-Aug ◼ Allium moly (40 bulbs) H x S 40cm x 50cm F May-Jun ◼ Freesia (20 bulbs) H x S 25cm x 15cm F Jun-Jul ◼ Gladiolus murielae (45 bulbs) H x…

More varieties online Hugely versatile, easy to grow and quick to flower, these beautiful plants are perfect for creating masses of colour in your borders with the absolute minimum of effort. This selection of varieties will fill baskets and containers, climb up trellises and fill borders with beautiful blooms. All will flower their socks off through the summer months into autumn. Choose from this selection or view the full Fothergill’s range online. Antirrhinum Sonnet Mixed Height x Spread 65cm x 50cm F May-Sep ◼ 30 garden-ready plants £17.95 (50782) Sweet Pea Old Spice Mixed H x S 1.8m x 40cm F Jun-Sep ◼ 30 garden-ready plants £21.95 (52124) Erigeron karvinskianus ‘Stallone’ H x S 30cm x 100cm F May-Oct ◼ 30 garden-ready plants £19.95 (52117) Lobelia Waterfall Mixed Trails 30cm F Jun-Sept ◼…

Humaira lkran Humaira has worked as a garden designer for over 10 years and runs a garden design course. Bob Flower dew Bob is the author of dozens of gardening books, as well as a radio presenter and organic gardener. Anne Swithinbank A keen fruit, vegetable and house-plant grower, Anne was formerly the glasshouse supervisor at RHS Garden Wisley. Q Which cherry would be good centred in my lawn? Hannah, by email A HUMAIRA SAYS Ornamental cherries are usually abundant in blossom in the spring, lush and green in the summer and most of them have a good autumnal show, too. My favourites include Prunus ‘Accolade’ with its beautiful soft pink blossom. Its crown is a wide, open, loose shape and it’s one of the earliest to flower in the…

ACROSS 1 __ trays are handy for raising and transplanting crops (7)  7 Replenish stone and gravel mulches on __ gardens (6)  8 Immature form of an insect, such as a caterpillar (5) 9 Bulbs of this showy summer perennial can be planted now (8) 10 Erica ciliaris is also known as Dorset __ (5) 11 Spanish __ is a descriptive name for Yucca gloriosa (6) 14 It’s a good time to sow or plant these late season daisy-like favourites (6) 18 Narcissus ‘__ Willmott’ is a white and yellow daffodil (5) 20 __ tinus adds flowers to the early spring garden (8) 21 Organ that forms the seeds of flowering plants (5) 22 Rosa __ is better known as dog rose (6) 23 Latin name meaning stylish and graceful, as in Zinnia…

Spring starts here! ■ Make a Metre Matter Create a 1m veg patch of tasty crops and save on food miles too ■ Bring the outside in Eco-friendly ways to display fresh and dried flowers in your home ■ Beautiful and useful Plant up trans-seasonal pots of colourful, scented and productive herbs FREE SEEDS† Don’t miss your salad onion ‘White Lisbon’ and sunflower ‘Hallo’ double pack 32-PAGE LAWN SUPPLEMENT Packed with expert tips including: ✔creating a new lawn ✔mowing and maintenance ✔troubleshooting WORTH £27.96 24 FREE* perennials for every reader Fill your beds and borders with this FREE* collection of herbaceous perennials that will bloom year after year. Also great as cut flowers. Comprises of 6 each of: ■ Geum ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ ■ Echinacea ‘Nectar Pink’ ■ Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’ ■…