Innehållsförteckning för November 2016 från BBC Gardeners' World

• Discover our app Explore our award-winning digital edition for iPad in the App Store – with video clips and links to further content. Get two issues free with a 30-day free trial if you subscribe for a year. • ‘How to’ videos We’ve crammed our new-look website with video guides, including TV clips from Monty on how to make leafmould and plant roses now. • Joe’s top tips Give your garden the wow factor next year by following Joe’s three golden rules of garden design, in our No Fuss Guide video series. • Time to discover the Secret Garden! This month’s subscription offer, of a new Peter Beales scented rose (see p24), also unlocks an exclusive area on gardenersworld.com for you. Explore extra videos, problem-solving tips and galleries in…

1 Viola ‘Sorbet Orange’ and Solanum capsicastrum One way to liven up the danker days of early winter is with a splash of zingy colour. You could wear tangerine trousers and a cerise chemise, or you could plant some vibrant bedding that does the same job without your friends avoiding you. Just like this orange viola and winter cherry combination. Viola ‘Sorbet’ • Care Grow as an annual. Can be sown all year round with a bit of heat. Not bad in part shade but best in sun. • H x S15cm x 15cm Solanum capsicastrum • Care Needs a sheltered spot to survive winter, so will do best in milder parts of the country. • H x S40cm x 40cm Discover more ideas for potted violas on…

A gardener’s best friend? I was as excited as ever to receive the October issue of Gardeners’ World Magazine, and thrilled to read Monty’s beautifully written feature, Always by my side. I have tears of joy and sadness, in total empathy with what it means to share one’s life with dogs. Our three previous dogs are all, like Monty’s, buried in the garden, all black labradors – Tilly, Megan and Polly. None of our dogs particularly enjoyed the low-key activity that gardening requires. Polly was probably the most patient and could wait around all afternoon, nosing for insects in the grass and dozing. Our current companion Dilys is happy to garden as long as I occasionally throw a stick that she can then chew to pieces, making a mess. Thank…

Glyphosate alternatives? New types of weedkiller are being launched, made from acids, as an alternative to glyphosate. With a possible future ban on glyphosate products, manufacturers have been looking for a solution to the problem of weeds. Two brands already available at garden centres or online are Bayer’s Super Fast Weedkiller, which is part of its ‘naturals’ range, comes undiluted in a sprayer and contains fatty acids, and Neudorff’s Superfast & Long Lasting Weedkiller. The latter contains pelargonic acid (found in pelargoniums) and maleic hydrazide, which is claimed to halt the development of roots. Developed this year and soon to be available on the market is Ecofective Weed Blast, containing acetic acid (one of the components of vinegar). Although a significant development, Gardeners’ World’s Nick Bailey, is unsure whether they’ll…

When you’re looking for a splash of winter colour, reach for a tray of cheery little pansies. For around 50p per plant – especially if you make the most of multi-pack offers – you’ll have flowers in all but the harshest of weather, lasting well into spring with regular deadheading. Pack winter containers with just pansies or smaller-flowered violas for instant impact, or tuck their sunny faces among other plants. They’ll brighten sombre evergreens, complement winter-flowering shrubs, and add a dab of colour to foliage displays – and all for less than the cost of a pint. Here, we’ve put together some easy container ideas using pansies and violas in combination with other plants. And if you can’t find the exact plants we’ve used, we’ve suggested alternatives. Pots available from…

Trees offer so many wonderful benefits, it’s hard to imagine life without them – but most importantly, we need them to survive. Beyond adding much welcome greenery and beauty to the environment, they also support wildlife and conservation of species, absorb harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide, and release vital oxygen into the atmosphere. They have a positive bearing on everything from farming to water management. And yet tree-planting rates in the UK have plummeted to an all-time low. It’s one of the least wooded countries in Europe – and ash dieback is now wiping out millions of ash trees. It’s a serious situation and without urgent action, trees and woods will begin to disappear from the landscape, with only a small number being planted in their place. This is…

Technology has influenced most aspects of our lives, and while we don’t need more than the very basics to garden successfully, there are many great products that can make many aspects of gardening quicker, easier and more fun. Over the years I’ve seen plenty of gimmicky products that have fallen by the wayside – upside-down tomato planters (they always want to grow upwards), the spork (a cross between a spade and fork, but not as good as either) and lawn-aerating shoes with tiny spikes that don’t really do the business. However, some products and technologies, such as solar- and battery-powered gadgets, have improved immensely, and the information you can get on a smartphone while out in the garden can be of great benefit. So I’ve scoured the market for gardening…

With the dormant season upon us, plants can be pruned without bleeding sap. But before you wield the loppers and pruning saw, it’s useful to review the basic rules. First, older wood is less productive, but often vital to a plant’s structure. By pruning out a proportion of the older stems, you stimulate new shoots from low down, maintaining the plant’s vigour and productivity. Second, the harder you prune in the dormant season, the more vigorous the growth will be in the following season. And finally, make sure you can tell the difference between the narrow, pointed shoot buds and the plumper flower buds. Pruning out the latter at this time of year may mean you won’t get blooms or fruit next season. Coming up: winter pruning apples in next…

Cut back climbing roses THE VIGOROUS growth of climbing roses can be tamed now to keep them tidy and prevent them being damaged by strong winds. Cut back thin, weak growth to the main framework. Prune stronger sideshoots by two thirds their length, cutting just above an outward-facing bud. Tie in any vigorous new main shoots that have grown from low down on the plant, bending them down to near horizontal or twining them around their supports. This will encourage flowering shoots along their length next year. Plant a winter pot BRIGHTEN UP A DOORSTEP or patio with a colourful winter container. There are lots of plants that can be used, including cyclamen, pansies, ornamental grasses, evergreen perennials, ivies and coloured-stemmed shrubs (see our pansy pots feature on p39 for…

Hardwood cuttings HARDWOOD CUTTINGS offer the cheapest and least demanding method of propagation. Anyone with a small patch of earth can root them and increase their stock with very little effort and expense. Many ornamental shrubs and trees with woody stems, and soft-fruit bushes, too, are worth propagating by this means. Even if only a few of them ‘take’, the process is hugely satisfying. Once the leaves have fallen, the plants slip into a state of suspended animation and the sap flow slows right down, meaning pieces can be removed from them with little loss of moisture. Patience is required though, as cuttings taken now will take a good year to establish a root system. During the following dormant season, they are then best transplanted to the spot where they…

Think you can’t grow great garlic? Then think again. Garlic is an easy crop that can thrive in heavy or light soil, anywhere in the UK. And because you plant it now and pick by mid-July at the latest, you can even squeeze an extra crop, such as carrots, beetroot or salads, into the space after harvesting. I first planted garlic in 1982, and my father, a dairy farmer, was horrified. He thought it would become a terrible weed, like the wild alliums in his fields. But the following summer he was won round by the size of the harvest, and how easy it had been to grow and clear. Now is the perfect time to plant garlic, as the cloves will make strong roots over winter and will shoot…

DAVID SAYS Heavy, compacted soil benefits from being dug as this will introduce air, improve drainage and increase microbial activity Q Should I dig my winter plot? As gardening isn’t an exact science, there isn’t a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to this. Whether to dig a plot of soil depends on a number of factors, so you need to assess these first before you wield your spade. Traditionally, soil in the veg plot and in new ornamental borders is dug in autumn and early winter, or during the spring, but the season that you choose and whether you should dig at all, depends on the type of soil you have. The panel opposite should help to give you some guidance on how to identify your soil type, when to…

What a creative lot you are (not that we doubted it for a moment)! For sheer inspiration, quality of planting and bags of style, the entries to our new Garden of the Year competition had it all. We launched the competition earlier this year to mark the magazine’s 25th anniversary and to celebrate the great garden-making and growing skills that are quietly being honed in plots across the nation. We were inundated with photos of amazing gardens in every size, accompanied by often deeply moving life stories showing the power of gardens to transform us. Sifting the entries was a mammoth task – my thanks to our judges for diligently working through several rounds of voting – but we’ve emerged with nine top gardens, and our Judges’ Choice (from p45).…

Crocus imperati ‘De Jager’ This vigorous form is purple on the inside and beige with purple stripes on the outside. H x S 10cm x 5cm C. sativus The true saffron crocus, it has dark-veined lilac flowers and huge red stigmas. Plant 15cm deep in rich soil. H x S 15cm x 5cm C. speciosus ‘Conqueror’ One of the most reliable and the first to flower, this has large sky-blue flowers up to 7cm long. H x S 18cm x 5cm C. pulchellus Lilac with purple veins, the wrong plant is often sold under this name, so buy from a specialist. H x S 10cm x 5cm C. goulimyi ‘Mani White’ Rare, but easy to grow, its pure-white flowers emerge with the leaves in October/November. H x S 10cm x…

“It’s hard to prevent pests moving between countries” It’s probably not worth losing too much sleep over invasive alien garden pests, because in the long run their arrival is inevitable. Given the huge volumes of plants imported into the UK each year, it’s hard for any inspection or quarantine regime to prevent pests and pathogens moving between countries. Or at least, it’s hard to imagine an effective regime that doesn’t involve unrealistically large amounts of time, money and effort. Here’s an example of what we’re up against. At the end of the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, succulents from the Kirstenbosch/ South Africa stand were donated to the RHS and moved to the Society’s quarantine glasshouse at Wisley. The plants had been inspected by DEFRA and again by RHS entomologists and…

• The Avant Gardener Channel 4 is working with autistic garden designer, Alan Gardner, on a new series to be aired this year. Following the success of The Autistic Gardener series, Alan will transform some of Britain’s most unloved gardens in three 60-minute programmes. • A night with Joe Our very own Joe Swift hits the road this autumn with his one-man show, A Man About the Garden . You’re in for a laugh-filled romp through his career as a garden designer and presenter. At theatres around England until the end of this month. Visit joeswift.co.uk for a list of dates and venues. • Tree discovery Two Wentworth elm trees, a variety thought to be extinct, have been discovered at the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, The Palace of Holyroodhouse.…

Bark and catkins Betula jacquemontii ‘Jermyns’ Birches are understandably popular, and this variety has very white bark and long catkins. Although it makes a medium-sized tree, its light canopy of small, dainty leaves makes it an elegant tree, especially attractive when the leaves turn to gamboge in autumn. H x S 18m x 10m Rate of growth fast Blossom and fruit Malus x zumi ‘Golden Hornet’ Crab apples are among the most outstanding trees for flower and fruit. Our ‘Golden Hornet’ is now a mature tree, thick with blossom in spring and laden with amber-yellow fruit each autumn. Fruit often stays on the tree well into the new year. H x S 10m x 8m Rate of growth average Wildlife, berries and…

One of the most architectural plants in the vegetable garden is Tuscan black kale, or ‘Cavolo Nero’. The stalks grow to 1m tall and have plumes of dark, bluish-green leaves that resemble Prince of Wales feathers. We have a whole bed ready to harvest from October, although it needs a frost to develop its best flavour. Pick the individual leaves from a number of plants and these will be replaced by fresh leaves all winter, so just a few plants provide a lot of meals. ‘Cavolo Nero’ is unusual in that the leaves retain their colour, taste and texture even after long cooking, although the tiny young leaves can be used raw in salads. SERVES 4 ‘Cavolo Nero’ 450g garlic 6 cloves double cream 300ml olive oil 1tbsp Parmesan 50g,…

Join David Hurrion, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Associate Editor, and draw on his own experience from 30 years as a professional horticulturist and teacher. Inspiring ideas and hands-on practical advice, whether you’re new to gardening or just want to brush up on your skills. How to prune your shrubs • Discover which plants to prune in spring • Choosing the right tools and how to use them • Where to cut on stems and branches • How hard should you cut back your shrubs • Get more flowers and fruit from your shrubs and bushes Included in your day • On arrival you’ll be welcomed with tea, coffee and biscuits • Four practical sessions led by David Hurrion • Delicious lunch (special diets may be accommodated) • Your set of…

Pick and store last chillies NOW THAT chilli plants are coming to an end, the last fruits should be picked to store for use in winter. Use snips or scissors to cut off the fruit with the green calyx and a short section of stalk attached. Place the chillies on a warm, sunny windowsill to finish ripening and dry for a week or two. String the fruit with a needle and thread, and hang in a cool, dry place to use as you need. Or chop up the fruits and freeze them. Overwinter plants MANY PLANTS can be kept alive in a cool greenhouse over winter, where they will benefit from a few degrees of frost protection. Potted succulents, such as aeoniums, echeverias and agaves, should be kept dry as…

Testing soil GETTING TO KNOW your soil is the starting point to really unlocking your garden’s potential – and it’s so easy to do! I carry out two simple tests: one to determine the soil’s texture, the other to measure its pH level, which shows whether it’s acid or alkaline. Both are useful to know when choosing plants. The texture test reveals what the soil is made of – sand, silt, clay or, the best, a mix of all three, known as loamy. For this test I simply take a handful of damp soil and rub it through my hands. If it’s sticky and forms a ball easily, it has a high clay content. Push your thumb through the soil to assess its sand or silt content. If it feels…

Matt Biggs Matt trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years. Matthew Wilson Garden designer Matthew was curator of RHS Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr, and often appears on television. Bunny Guinness Bunny is a winner of Chelsea Gold Medals and has designed everything from public parks to city gardens. Q Which wildlife-friendly hedge plants will grow under trees? Sandra Dunn, Isle of Wight AMATT SAYS Establishing new plants in this site will be tricky, as the trees will take all the moisture from the soil and cast shade in summer. For the best chance of success, plant the hedge in autumn, after leaf fall – dig a trench, clear any weeds and tree roots, then add lots of well-rotted organic…

“You can keep your ‘Labrador’s Breath’ and your ‘Hint of Cockapoo’, I’m for colours that lift the spirit rather than impress the neighbours’’ It’s easy for our memories to blend one summer with another when it comes to gardening; the exception, perhaps, being the summer of 1976, which was an absolute scorcher. I have particular reason for remembering it since, in that first year after we married, our tiny Berkshire garden was on a type of soil known descriptively as Bagshot Sand. I could have made egg timers with the thin, desiccated earth, which swallowed up moisture and manure with equal rapacity. This September produced the hottest day since 1911, we are told, and the summer holidays were, for me, among the happiest we have ever enjoyed – spent in…

“Jobs are the means to an end, and the only end that matters is to make and enjoy a beautiful garden” I am taking a sabbatical. I need a break. I shall continue a little writing, honour my talking commitments but no television presenting and, above all, no gardening – I am gardened out. This happens every year about the time the clocks go back. The garden grows stale, flat and unprofitable, and I can take no pleasure in it at all. It appears at the window like the ghost of summer past, a constant reproach for my negligence and apathy as it collapses slowly into the muddy indignity of winter. I know I have a deeply depressive personality. I know that light levels affect me greatly. I know I…

• Put up a bird-feeding station and they will soon find it. Fix up nesting boxes, too. The best thing for attracting wildlife is a garden pond. Once that’s installed – and it doesn’t have to be huge – you will find lots of creatures moving in. Ladybird4 • Make sure hedgehogs can get in by putting small holes in any fences. You may have to get agreement with neighbours for this. fidgetbones • Frogs and toads will find their way if you make a pond, but be sure it has a sloping edge or a plank or stone they can use to climb out again. Both will eat pests such as slugs. Don’t put fish in the pond as they will eat the spawn. Obelixx • I think you…

Solognac Boot Remover The no-mess, hands-free way to remove boots and shoes after gardening or roaming the countryside. £7.99, decathlon.com Haxnicks Boot Clamp Keep wellies outdoors but dry and free from creepy crawlies, with hang-up-able clamps. Online soon. £5.99, Haxnicks.co.uk AquaBrush Cleaner Rinse away mud and gunk from boots, dog paws, bikes and even carpets. Fill with water and squeeze. £9.99, jkscreations.com Muddy Boot Bag This durable nylon boot bag is handy for carrying dirty wellies or storing them in sheds! £14.99, wellywarehouse.com Fleece Welly Warmers Warm chilly toes with machine-washable fleece inserts. Available in various styles and sizes. £13.95, wellywarmas.com…

When you get a day to yourself, there’s little better than spending it amid the beauty of the British countryside. Located in the heart of England at Alrewas in Staffordshire, the National Memorial Arboretum spans 150 acres. Its unique woodland landscape is complemented by memorials dedicated to remembering the bravery and courage of the nation. Dogwood trees, known for their vivid winter stems and vibrant bracts in late spring and early summer, bring colour in tandem with tulip trees, which blossom into yellow flowers before their foliage turns a rich rust in autumn. Visitors can seek out the red and gold leaved trees at the Royal Army Medical Corps memorial. Individually dedicated to members of the RAMC, the avenue of trees stretching out beyond the memorial plinth at the entrance…

• Aftercare is key with any plant that has been moved from one place to another, whether you’ve bought it or moved it yourself, and it is especially true when the root system has been reduced, as with bare-root transplants. • Watering is important, but you can do just as much damage by turning the planting hole into a paddy field as you can by letting it dry out. Use a trowel to explore if you’re in doubt. The soil needs to be damp at all times, but not muddy. • Adding too much manure or compost in the planting hole in clay soil can turn it into a sump. Sharp grit is a better bet in such circumstances, but in light and sandy soils plenty of organic matter will…

ONE OF THE unexpected gifts that November offers is the best of the autumn colour, with the first 10 days rising in a golden crescendo flamed with oranges and reds, until the leaves succumb to wind and rain. However, everything else in the garden gets worse. The returns diminish. But simple protection helps hugely, from cloches erected over chicory to prevent it rotting, to handfuls of straw mulched around root veg and sheets of fleece draped over branches. Winter cannot be held at bay, but it can be warded off a little. And, as always for the gardener, all of the work is dictated by the weather. If there is a cold, clear spell, then the days can be fresh and invigorating, and much of the work of setting the…

30 mins to spare? CHECK ties on fruit trees and loosen any that are tight around the trunk, keeping a spacer between the stake and tree. Most trees (excluding dwarf apples) no longer need a stake after three years, so remove any stakes and ties from established ones. Sow peas now SOME varieties of peas, such as ‘Douce Provence’ or ‘Feltham First’, are hardy enough to be sown now, directly into the soil in mild weather, where they will germinate slowly and grow through the winter. Make a wide drill, around 5cm deep. Sow a double row in the drill, with a 7.5cm space between each seed. Cover seed with crumbled soil and water in. In cold weather, protect with cloches. In colder areas, sow seed in pots of…

Insulate taps OUTSIDE TAPS are vulnerable to frost damage during winter. If water left inside the tap and in the exposed supply pipes freezes and expands, it will damage the washer and, even worse, split the pipe. When fitting a new outdoor tap, make sure it can be turned off inside the house and that any remaining water can then be drained out. For outdoor taps that are permanently left on, cover the pipes with insulation, and wrap or cover the tap with bubblewrap or a polystyrene tap cover. Build homes for wildlife INSECTS AND beetles need places to shelter over winter, as adults, larvae, pupae or in egg form. Dead herbaceous stems, twigs, cracks in branches and tree trunks, and piles of leaf litter provide protection in nature, and…

Allotment magic in Newcastle This year I wanted to try something new with my allotment, so I created a wildlife area with a pond to encourage frogs, toads and hedgehogs to help keep slugs at bay. The pond went in on a Saturday and by the following week I was amazed to find frog spawn. I planted foxgloves and yarrow to attract bees, and made some bug houses. I garden organically and don’t use any chemicals. Two large greenhouses enable me to grow everything from seed, and after a bumper crop of cauliflower, beans, courgettes, tomatoes, sweetcorn, and beetroot, I was able to supply my neighbours, friends, work colleagues and the foodbank. Lee Kirkbride, Newcastle Nan knows best I would love to share my Nan’s garden with you. Nan has…