Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från BBC Gardeners' World

• Tips for birders Find timely reminders on birdcare tasks for this month plus useful video guides on feeding, at gardenersworld.com/garden-birds • Monty & friends The series returns in March but until then, watch video guides from Monty and the team at gardenersworld.com/ monty-don • Learn new skills Launch your gardening year by picking up new skills, or brushing up old ones, with our Seed and Pruning Masterclasses, in Hampshire and Hereford. Check dates and book at gardenersworld.com/ masterclass • Made for wildlife Our 132-page special edition, Gardening for Wildlife, will inspire you for the year ahead with 30 projects to turn your garden into a natural haven. Priced £6.99 at WHSmith or buysubscriptions.com/ gwwildlife KEEP UP TO DATE WITH US AT: facebook.com/ GWmagazine twitter.com/ gwmag pinterest.com/ gwmag instagram.com/…

 Teaching practical, sustainable food growing I often hear myself answering questions with “It all depends” … and so posed with the above choice my reaction is that such a complex issue does not lend itself to either/ or comparisons. Anyone who has tried to work out the most environmentally friendly, ethical way to eat will know that it is a highly tortuous affair. There are various tools to help us do so; but trying to make sense of such information is not for the faint hearted. “Finding the most ethical way to eat is a tortuous affair” To care about where our food comes from and its impact on the environment requires a tactile sense of connection to the earth, the soil ecosystem and the plants. For some people, the…

Squirrel-buster feeder A clever squirrel-proof bird feeder that’s easy to clean and refill. Includes a two-year warranty. £19.95, arkwildlife.co.uk Extra-large seed feeder This large-capacity feeder has a screw-on stainless-steel top to protect the seed from the weather. £9.99, birdsandbees.co.uk The Rhodes Window Feeder Attach this transparent seed feeder to your window so you can get up close to some serious feeding action. £13.99, birdfood.co.uk Acorn ball feeder Fill this feeder with birds’ favourite suet balls. Includes a metal hook and decorative oak leaf. £20, nationaltrust.co.uk Dome feeder A height-adjustable, transparent bird feeder that’s suitable for seed, mealworms or suet. £16.99, rspb.org.uk…

Veg is where gardening started for me. As a child on the allotment with my Nan and Grandad, I remember helping them plant, weed and water; as well as numerous cups of tea. But more than anything, it was the harvesting that stood out for me. There was a massive sense of pride – tasting fresh veg and fruit that I’d helped to grow. I really want my kids to experience this, too. Moving to our new home has given me a chance to make an area of the garden dedicated to growing for the kitchen. Growing veg is such a great way to try interesting flavours and enjoy a freshness that you just can’t buy. I know some people are put off by how much work is involved and…

Bottle gardens and terrariums have seen an exciting revival in the last couple of years, and with good reason. These beautiful creations can make all the difference to a stylish interior, with clever plant choices and carefully chosen accessories making for something that’s a far cry from their 1970s, even Victorian, ancestors. Combining small plants that enjoy similar growing conditions is key – drought-tolerant cacti combined with succulents is a good example. You can use virtually any glass vessel to plant into, although closed ones are best for moisture lovers and open ones best for those that like it dry. Don’t worry if you can’t find what we’ve used – just look to charity shops, the internet, garden centres or kitchen cupboards for something that takes your fancy – there’s…

It doesn’t matter how small your garden is, there will usually be plenty of space to grow climbing plants on the walls and fences that make your boundaries. In fact, the smaller the plot, the more important this area becomes. And while these plants are great for providing a cover-up and creating a green backdrop for your borders – as well as making their own display with flowers, fruit and autumn foliage – they need to be kept under control if they’re not to swamp your garden. Winter pruning is fundamental to controlling the growth of vigorous climbers, but remember that they will also benefit from being cut back again in midsummer, after they have made their flush of spring growth. Coming up: what to prune when – your annual…

Take root cuttings TAKING ROOT cuttings is the best way to propagate certain herbaceous perennials and woody shrubs. When plants are dormant, root cuttings can be taken in two ways: the thick, fleshy roots of acanthus, oriental poppies and aralia can be cut into short, chunky sections, 5-8cm long and pushed vertically into deep pots of gritty compost; while fibrous-rooted campanula, phlox, Primula denticulata and Japanese anemones are cut into short segments and laid horizontally, 1cm deep, in trays of compost, topped with a layer of grit. Get bulbs blooming WITH JUST a few degrees of extra warmth and protection from overnight frost, it is possible to coax pots of spring-flowering bulbs into bloom early to provide some much-needed colour at this time of year. Move the pots into a…

Plant a winter pot THERE ARE those who don’t venture out into the garden between November and March, but even they will appreciate a bright winter potful that can sit on the doorstep or patio to cheer you up every time you pass. There are plenty of tough plants that give their all in the dreary months of the year, many of them compact enough to be squeezed into a decent-sized pot – at least 30cm in diameter for stability and nourishment. One or two permanent residents – a small topiary specimen or a compact evergreen – can be left in place all year, and the space around them filled with occupants that might be bright for a month or two but can then be replaced by other plants coming…

As a child in the 1980s, I kept a diary of the wildlife I saw in my back garden. Every day I’d record blackbirds, wood pigeons, robins, blue tits and great tits, just as you’d expect to see now. However, what stands out is that the regular list of visitors back then also included house sparrows, starlings, song thrushes, bullfinches and greenfinches. My mum still lives in the same house, but those birds are now conspicuous by their absence. Such declines are happening in many parts of the country, in a slow, drip-drip attrition. The causes are thought to be due mainly to a cocktail of changes in the way our landscape is managed, including what we do in our urban environment. From pesticides to the paving over of gardens,…

DAVID SAYS In a cold snap, protect the roots of plants from frost by wrapping the pots with bubble wrap. This can also reduce frost damage to terracotta and clay pots in severe cold. Q Should I garden during frosty weather? A The British weather in the depths of winter can vary from mild, wet and grey to cold, dry and brilliantly sunny. It is this unpredictability that makes gardening challenging. The clear skies that let the sun in during short, winter days are the same ones that let all the heat out over the long nights. While such daytime weather makes us feel energised and alive, remember that you can go indoors overnight; your plants have to stay out in the cold and frost and, if you’ve pruned them…

School’s seasonal collage Tales from Titchmarsh is always the first page I turn to, not only for Alan’s wise words, but also the imaginative illustrations by Andy Robert Davies. Being a teacher in a small village primary school, surrounded by farmland, I am always looking for inspiration. We thought you might like to see our own interpretation of the seasons. My class of 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds really enjoyed working in groups to produce this fantastic collage. Tracey Miller, Borden C of E Primary School, Kent Winning ways I’m so proud of my husband and I’d love to show you what he has achieved in our small garden. Despite years of ill health, he has still managed to produce award-winning vegetables. Gardening seems to work wonders for him, and he’s…

The sight of a murmuration of starlings carving through the winter sky is as mesmerising as any exotic widescreen action from those glorious Planet Earth series. And that family of sparrows squabbling and nattering about their place in the pecking order is as engaging as any meerkat! Were we not so familiar with these bird antics as to think them unremarkable, there might be more outcry at the shocking plummet in their numbers. From page 100, we highlight the plight of sparrows – plus starlings, thrushes and more – as there’s so much gardeners can do to help their survival. If resolutions are on your mind, here’s three that will make a real difference: cherish your hedges, encourage insects for food and feed the adults, all year. A landmark year,…

Galanthus ‘Primrose Warburg’ Has a golden-yellow ovary above the flower (instead of green) and limeyyellow markings at the tips of the inner petals. Flowers Feb. H 20cm Galanthus ‘Armine’ Tall and elegant, with broad foliage, the inner petals of the large flowers have distinctive bold markings. Flowers Jan-Feb. H 12cm Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ Relatively large-flowered, tall, elegant, vigorous and boasting a lovely honey scent. Flowers Feb. H 20cm Galanthus elwesii Broad, greyish leaves set off large flowers with inner petals marked in green at tip and base, sometimes merging. Flowers Jan-Feb. H 20cm Galanthus woronowii Broad, dark-green leaves roll back beneath pointed flowers held at an angle and with tiny green marks. Flowers Jan-Mar. H 15cm How can you resist a snowdrop? One of our best-loved flowers, its dainty beauty…

• If you are only planting one tree, it has to be self-fertile. ‘Conference’ is self-fertile, but I don’t know how well it would fruit up north. You could train it on a wall to give it some protection. fidgetbones • Most pears need warmer temperatures than apples so the usual varieties are unlikely to do well. Pollination will also be an issue in the colder climate as there may not be many pollinating insects about when they blossom. BobTheGardener • I’m in Aberdeenshire and love pears but was advised by a gardener at Fyvie Castle Garden of Historic Scottish Fruit that pears are very tricky up here as it’s too cold. Does anyone else nearby manage to grow pears? Might be worth asking around, because if someone else can,…

90 years of garden visiting The National Gardens Scheme celebrates its 90th birthday this year and it promises to be a bumper 12 months for garden visiting. Nearly 380 gardens will open in an ‘anniversary weekend’ (27-29 May), including 12 originals that first opened in 1927, when visitors paid a shilling to raise money for district nurses. Gardens in the NGS’s The Yellow Book still raise money for what became The Queen’s Nursing Institute, as well as other nursing and healthcare charities. The new-look 2017 book is available to order online now for its February launch at ngs.org.uk, priced £11.99 Paris, London fight pollution with plants Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has challenged Parisians to increase the city’s roof gardens and living walls by 247 acres by 2020 to combat…

“I love the way winter honeysuckle catches the first sunshine of the year” “Snowdrops start as bullet heads piercing the frozen soil, but soon the tiny, white buds unfold ” I like January and February. The worst is over. The long dreary slide into the gloom of December is slowly easing and by the end of the month it is light enough to garden outside until 5pm. By the end of February, it’s 6pm. Evenings, at last, no longer begin at 4pm. The garden is responding to this extra light with the daily emergence of a few precious flowers. The choice isn’t large but there are some that ’d I never willingly be without. But if I try to provide a thread of plants that needs to run…

1 Bye-bye box! Monty Don 2017 is the year when I am going to gradually replace all my blighted box. All the hedges in the Cottage and Jewel gardens are a goner. I’ve considered all the usual alternatives, from Lonicera nitida, Ilex crenata, Euonymus japonicus and Osmanthus x burkwoodii, but none feels right, because they all seem to be just a substitute for the ‘Real Thing’. Instead, I am going to see if we can make good low hedges from yew – Taxus baccata. I know others are doing this successfully and I am intrigued by various techniques, permutations of spacing and clipping to promote a truly dense, solid hedge that will be much lower than a normal ritish yew hedge. 2 Growing by the moon Anne Swithinbank Somehow, while…

1 Put 5cm of horticultural grit in the bottom of the bottle for drainage. Add houseplant compost till the bottle is about a third full – breaking up any lumps with your hands. Choose lush foliage plants that like low light and humidity. 2 Position the plants one at a time, planting them as you would in a container – firm the compost around them. Fill gaps between plants with a layer of moss. 3 Water sparingly down the sides of the bottle as the curved sides will prevent a lot of evaporation. Ensure the compost doesn’t dry out or become saturated. Place in a bright spot out of direct sunlight. Create a desert plant terrarium 1 Put a shallow layer of grit in the base of an open container…

Deciduous woody climbers, such as ornamental and fruiting grapes, wisteria, ampelopsis and parthenocissus, are best trained over their support – a wall or trellis – to create a permanent framework of main branches. This determines the area that your climber will cover and, each year, will produce sideshoots that will carry flowers and fruit. With the framework in place, remember that there are three basic reasons for pruning in the dormant season: 1 To prune back the most vigorous sideshoots by at least two-thirds their length to help control the overall size of the plant and keep it from becoming a tangled mess. Cutting back in the dormant season, when the stems are devoid of foliage, allows you to see the branch and stem structure. It is also an ideal…

Clean out the gutters STRAY AUTUMN leaves and debris blown from trees, as well as moss, can collect in the gutters of greenhouses and conservatories at this time of year. This can block them, slowing down the drainage of water, not only causing them to overflow in heavy rain, but also to stay wet for longer, further encouraging the growth of moss and algae. Remove all debris from the gutters, then rinse through with clean water. Control pests hiding in vines THE FLAKY bark that coats the old stems of grape vines is the perfect place for greenhouse pests and diseases to overwinter. Vines are prone to grey mould, downy and powdery mildew, mealy bug and red spider mite. Removing the outermost and loosest layers of bark will help reduce…

1 Feed them healthy food The titbits you put out are a supplement to the natural food they find, but can be a real lifeline, especially now in winter. How you feed and what you feed are both key; see page 104 for advice on getting the best value for your money. 2 Clean the feeders Birds suffer from a range of diseases, which can be passed on wherever flocks gather. Prevention is better than cure so pop on your rubber gloves and shloosh out your feeders with a diluted disinfectant and rinse well in clean water. 3 Top up the birdbath You might think that a wash-and-brush-up is the last thing birds need in cold, damp weather, but it is vital they keep their feathers in tip-top condition all…

Matt Biggs Matt trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years. Christine Walkden Garden writer Christine appears on BBC1’s The One Show . She is also a lecturer and tour leader. Matthew Wilson Garden designer Matthew was curator of RHS Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr, and often appears on television. Q Which bee plants do well on a flinty, south-west facing bank? Damian Gratton, by email A CHRISTINE SAYS Your free-draining bank could support many varieties. Try the native bugle Ajuga reptans for blue flowers in spring/early summer; the low-growing Sedum acre, biting stonecrop, for pale-green mats of foliage and bright-yellow flowers; and the yellow-horned poppy, Glaucium flavum, for greyish, hairy foliage and bright-yellow flowers. Campanula glomerata is a pretty spreading…

 I have always considered gardens to be part of our artistic culture. This goes largely against the prevailing ethos of British horticulture which is largely focused on method and procedure. What I mean by this is it can seem at times that we are more interested in gardening than gardens. “Brits like self-deprecation in all things, including our gardens” I have been thinking about this a lot, particularly of sculpture in the garden, as very few of the many gardens I’ve visited over the years feature sculpture. A notable exception is Lord and Lady Heseltine’s garden at Thenford House in Northamptonshire. I filmed there last autumn and thought that their sculpture garden was magnificent, both as a garden with elegant interlocking spaces defined by hornbeam hedges and grass, and for…

Brightening the winter garden After reading ‘The Full Monty’ in the December issue, I feel determined to see winter as another gardening opportunity, rather than a reason to switch off or feel beaten. Why does Monty think, “There is only one adequate solution and that is to add as much green as possible to your winter?” I thought he would want to encourage readers to celebrate winter through a broad range of colours. How about Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’, Mahonia x media ‘Charity’, wintersweet, witchhazels, Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ and the Algerian iris I. unguicularis – and not forgetting bedding plants such as pansies, violas and primroses. Surely these would lift the spirits of any gardener until the fireworks of spring bulbs burst into life? Iona Chisholm, Staffordshire I am…

• Geoff raises £76k Geoff Stonebanks, a finalist in our Garden of the Year Competition, has won More Radio’s Fundraiser of the Year, for raising more than £76k by opening his garden for charity. With 115 openings since 2009, Geoff has welcomed almost 15,000 visitors. geoffstonebanks.co.uk • Do your bit for nature You can now contribute to a databank of flowering times by recording your own observations. The study of nature’s timing is called phenology and UK records began in 1684. To find out more and submit your flowering times go to natures calendar.org.uk • Growing wild Grow Wild, the UK’s biggest wildflower campaign, has released a beautiful time-lapse video capturing the transformation of its flagship sites around the UK. Watch the videos at bit.ly/grow-wild and find out how you…

ALTHOUGH THERE seems little difference between the first few weeks of January and the last weeks of December, I always feel it’s the dawn of a whole new gardening year, with nothing ahead but improvements. In truth, the garden hesitantly enters into the new year, testing the weather like a bather dipping a toe into a cold sea. But snowdrops, aconites and then hellebores appear, blazing a floral path for others to follow. I make a point of opening cold frames and greenhouse windows at the first hint of warmth, without mollycoddling anything beyond giving just enough protection to survive winter. For plants, as for humans, the new year air is invigorating and the hardier they are grown, the better able they’ll be to withstand any really cold weather as…

Prune large limbs from fruit trees WINTER IS the best time to cut large branches from apple and pear trees, as they will be fully dormant and the cut will have plenty of time to dry and heal before sap starts to flow in spring. But you should avoid pruning plum and cherry trees to prevent them becoming infected with silver leaf fungus. Large branches are best removed in stages, cutting off all the twigs and branches to reduce the overall weight. This will make the process safer for you and lessen the chance of tearing the bark. Remove the remaining stump of branch by first cutting upwards on the underside, then sawing down from above to meet this cut. Put up soft fruit cages now PROTECT YOUR fruit crops…

Providing fresh water is an essential part of caring for garden birds – they need it to drink and bathe in. Shallow pond edges are an ideal water source but, in the absence of that, a bird bath is a good alternative. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, and this simple project is cheaper than many purpose-made ornamental bird baths, which is handy if you’re working to a budget. YOU WILL NEED Terracotta pot External waterproof glue Glazed terracotta saucer Pebbles 1 Add a circle of glue to the bottom of the terracotta pot according to the product instructions. 2 Stick the saucer centrally on top of the upturned pot. Leave it for a couple of hours to set. 3 Place a few pebbles at the edge to provide…

While many plant diseases are spectacular – sweetcorn smut is a great example – leaf spots are among the least dramatic, but the most common. The cause can be bacterial or viral, but hellebore leaf spot is fungal: dark, blotchy areas appear on leaves and flowers, which may turn yellow and fall away, with new flower buds dying off. The fungal spores need water to move around and the disease spreads rapidly, revealing itself in wintery, damp weather, and surviving on the plant in summer and autumn. The best control method is leaf removal. You can pre-empt the disease by cutting off the foliage in autumn – if you see spotty leaves now, sever and bin (don’t compost) them. This gives you the added benefit of showing off the flowers.…

“Any derelict greenhouse saddens me beyond reason; it seems symbolic of a lack of interest in growing things” New Year resolutions leave me cold. I never stick to them so I’ve given up making them. But the start of a new year does put me in a mood to reflect on the things in gardening that, if it were in my power, make me downhearted, and that I should like to change. I was reminded of one such thing when I came across a sentence in Alan Bennett’s latest diaries Keeping On Keeping On, which really struck a chord: “One of the saddest things in architecture – a dilapidated greenhouse.” Mr Bennett and I, friends though we are, do not agree about everything, but on that score we are as…