Innehållsförteckning för August 2017 från BBC Gardeners' World

• Build a library Bag yourself a year’s worth of magazines, designed for iPad, in the App Store until 31 July – and save 47 per cent. Each digital edition is packed with video clips, live links and more. Subscribe during the promotion and you pay just £25.49 for 12 issues. • Design guide Inspired by our city section in this issue to redesign your space? Don’t miss Joe’s quick video guide to his Golden Rules of Garden Design. Go to bit.ly/Joe GoldenRules • When Monty met... We brought together the programme’s biggest names, Monty and Alan, earlier this summer, to talk about life on and after the programme. Watch the results on our Facebook page. • Share your snaps With 417 gardens in our 2-for-1 entry scheme, you’ve great days…

“Bees are regarded as a good thing. But for every bee lover there are 10 wasp haters” I have a bee mentor. They’re the latest thing – personal trainers are so last year. And while Gareth may not be your man for aerobic excellence or body fat percentages, he can calm and manage 50,000 bees with uncanny ease. Yes, 50,000 bees and rising. In fact, at the time of writing, about 10,000 or so are about to swarm and shove off to bee pastures new, but as they can reproduce themselves at the rate of about 3,000 per week, according to Gareth, that shortfall will soon be made up. Last year, I gathered up a swarm that had attached itself as a seething ball to an apple tree in the…

“Genetic diversity is preserved in old crop varieties” New varieties are simply the latest point in the long history of crop development, and while horticulture needs new varieties to cope with a changing world, heritage strains are one source of genetic material from which these new crops can be developed. Heritage seeds also contain a wealth of genetic diversity, and are the result of generations of breeding and adaption to climate and conditions. Most new varieties are bred for large commercial production and the home gardener’s needs differ. We’re not so concerned with looks and harvest times; shelf life and transportability aren’t an issue if plot-to-plate distance is minimal, but what we want is delicious flavour. At the Heritage Seed Library, lettuce varieties were trialled against commercial standards, and though…

Win a garden experience A competition to find four passionate ‘Culture Mulchers’ will give winners the chance to work behind the scenes at some of Cumbria’s most spectacular gardens. Organised by Cumbria’s Living Heritage, the gardening experiences are being offered to four entrants who can best say in 70 words or less why they would want to work at one of the four gardens: Holker Hall, Holehird Gardens, Askham Hall and Brockhole. The competition is open until 20 August and the experiences will take place in September. So, get writing and send entries to: Cumbria’s Living Heritage, Hutton-in-the-Forest, Penrith CA11 9TH or email enquiries@cumbrialiving heritage.co.uk Bees at risk from garden centre plants A study of UK garden centre plants has revealed some contain a cocktail of bee-harming pesticides. The research by…

August planting plans By late summer, borders often start to look past their best, so it’s a great time to give them a little light refreshment. At our nursery, we create displays to inspire our visitors at this time of year, putting a strong emphasis on foliage as well as valuable late flower power. Here I’ve put together four easy and striking late-summer combinations to give your garden a vibrant crescendo that will last well into the autumn. FEATHERY FRIENDS WHY IT WORKS The delicate haze of bronze fennel foliage frames the papery astrantia flowers, while the purple salvia spires give the combination depth. SECRETS TO SUCCESS Deadhead the astrantias and salvias regularly to encourage fresh flowers. The fennel seedheads will look great throughout winter. In future years, cut the…

3 ideas for city chic 1 . Use accent furniture to create a colourful focal point – this set is by Fermob. 2 . Slatted trellis adds height and privacy to the space. Make your own with roofing battens. 3 . Lush planting provides year-round interest. Hydrangea quercifolia foliage picks out the purple of the furniture.…

Who doesn’t love visiting a garden, and even better if it can be combined with an exciting city break. From the UK to Europe and beyond, the GW team has selected its top gardens that can be combined with a city hop. And why not share your favourite city gardens with us – we’d love to hear about your must-visit gems. See page 19  for how to get in touch. NEW YORK HIGH LINE Elevated above the streets and skirting through Manhattan’s West Side is a beautiful 1.45 mile-long garden, built on an old rail line. Sarah, Picture Editor FOR INFO thehighline.org ALSO VISIT Central Park, to escape the bustle of the city. CAPE TOWN KIRSTENBOSCH My childhood favourite, this botanical garden is…

• The three keys to recovery are: light, water and food. • Give plants space After sitting cheek by jowl with their neighbours in a garden centre they will benefit enormously. Air circulation and light are beneficial to all plants, and allow them to flex their muscles and expand. • If the compost looks at all dry, give the plant a good soak by submerging the pot in a bucket of water for half an hour. • Decide if the plant is strong enough to be planted straight into the garden or if it should be moved into a larger pot of fresh compost first, to grow on and recover. If you’re going to keep it in its existing pot for a while, give it a liquid feed once a…

Harvest sweetcorn When your corn on the cob has swelled and the tassels on the top go brown, unwrap it a bit and press a kernel with your fingernail. If the sweetcorn weeps a milky fluid it is ready to pick. Snap it off the plant while supporting the stem to avoid damage to the cobs growing above it. Clean away all the leaves and cook it straight away for the sweetest flavour. Store cobs for a day or two in the fridge or freeze whole ones after blanching in boiling water. Add the corn to other dishes by stripping them off the cob with a sharp knife. Pick herbs for storing Pick herbs for storing on a dry day after the morning dew has evaporated. Take whole stems of…

Prune your rambling roses Rambling roses have long, flexible stems and masses of flowering side shoots. There is usually just one flush of flowers in early summer. Modern rambler cultivars have been hybridised to repeat flower, so don’t prune those until later. Summer pruning helps control vigour, allows light into the plant and encourages plenty of flowering wood for next year. When the main flush of flowering is over, all the side shoots can be trimmed back and any stragglers getting in the way cut right out. Renew the oldest main stems by pruning right back into healthy wood, but do just one or two shoots each year to keep the plant healthy and strong. VIEW FROM BEECHGROVE Trim beech hedges This far north we like to ensure that any…

Blueberries They’re pricey to buy, but easy to grow, producing delicious and nutritious harvests. Plus, they have great autumn colour 3 WAYS TO TRY • Simmer with lemon juice and sugar, and spoon onto pancakes • Freeze with other berries and serve with hot chocolate sauce • Whizz to a purée with icing sugar, then fold into yoghurt Blueberries Nutrition Extremely high in antioxidents and vitamin C, hence its ‘superfood’ status. How to grow Blueberries absolutely must have acidic growing conditions: not just lime-free (ericaceous) soil or compost, but ericaceous fertiliser too, plus rainwater for watering if possible. Grow in sun, sheltered from winds, and in deep moisture-retentive yet free-draining soil – add coarse grit to heavy soil. Blueberries make attractive container plants (in pots up to 50cm wide). Keep…

• There are 59 species of butterfly native to the UK. Although numbers of most species are in decline, a few are increasing, partly due to conservation efforts. This common blue (below) is one of the success stories and is classified as widespread, although it has suffered some local declines. • Butterflies can simultaneously focus on objects a few centimetres away and several hundred metres in the distance. This helps them to navigate accurate flight routes and spot suitable plants at great distances. • Butterflies are able to pump blood into their wings and fly within four hours of emerging from the chrysalis. • Like many insects, butterflies don’t have lungs but instead breathe through holes in their body known as spiracles. • Not only do butterflies have taste-sensitive feet,…

Bob Flowerdew Bob is an organic gardener and a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. Pippa Greenwood Pippa is one of the foremost experts on pests and diseases. She gardens using organic methods. Matt Biggs Matt trained at Kew and has been gardening professionally for more than 20 years. Q What can I plant to soften an ugly sloping shale driveway? Jean, Snowdonia A MATT SAYS You say you live in the Snowdonia National Park, and gardeners in environmentally sensitive areas such as this must be careful not to introduce plants that can escape and become invasive, or hybridise with local species to create a problem plant or muddle the local gene base. I suggest you focus on native species. Along the edges of the drive, plant…

• Border plans to copy in your garden • Advice for all locations, including shade • Get planting depths right every time Greenhouse gardening special Alan on how to make the most of your greenhouse – all year! Choose wisely with our greenhouse Buyers’ Guide WIN! 1st prize of a Gabriel Ash greenhouse, worth £8,255. Runner up prize of an upright cold frame, worth £920 – perfect for smaller gardens. Expert advice Make free plants the easy way with Carol’s guide to cuttings Create a sensory garden for health and wellbeing with Joe Why do our bees matter so much to us, asks Monty? PLUS Mobility holding you back? TV’s Mark Lane shares his proven ways to make gardening easier…

“I’d far rather see three hostas beautifully grown than 300 whose labels matter more than their wellbeing.” There is no doubt about it in my mind: men and women garden differently. You could argue that this is a totally outdated view, but I’ll bet you anything you like that it pertains to a large number of households – particularly where the occupants are of pensionable age. Where both parties in a relationship are keen gardeners then there are bound to be tensions, for however much they love one another, their tastes in plants and garden design will seldom align. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but men tend to like straight lines, and if the male in question has been in the army then you’ll be able to…

We all crave a little bit of calm in our lives, wherever we call home, but we need it more than ever, it feels, when we are in the clamour of a city. If that’s you, then you’re in the right place! We’ve put city gardens at the heart of this issue because we all passionately believe they aren’t just ‘nice to have’, but absolutely vital. They’re the lungs that keep cities healthy, bringing life and enriching our wellbeing. We know that anyone can turn an unpromising plot into a living, green oasis – you just need the right tools for the job. So we’ve asked the TV programme’s design duo Joe Swift and Nick Bailey to share their wisdom, to help us make our gardens – however small –…

‘Mrs Popple’ Well-branched plants covered in scarlet and purple flowers, sometimes hiding the foliage. H x S 1m x 1m ‘Lady Boothby’ The flowers are carried on sprawling growth, reaching 4m with support. H x S 4m x 1.5m ‘Genii’ The vivid, rich yellow-green foliage is at its most colourful in all-day sun. H x S 1m x 40cm ‘Hawkshead’ Deep-green foliage on upright growth sets off prolific, green-tinted white blooms. H x S 1m x 1m ‘Tom Thumb’ Tight, small-leaved plants carry masses of tiny red and purple flowers. H x S 30cm x 30cm The plants I pick for this series are usually a mix of new and old, but this is a case where mostly older varieties, sometimes very old, are top of the tree. Hardy fuchsias…

Help your hogs As gardeners, we can do a lot to protect our endangered hedgehogs. This includes providing wild areas, compost heaps and log piles where they can nest and forage, access to neighbouring gardens, and a sloping edge to ponds. We should allow insects to thrive and avoid using slug pellets and pesticides. Also, always check for sleeping hedgehogs before strimming, digging and mowing, and put out bowls of fresh water and food (meat-based cat or dog food in jelly or meat-based cat biscuits). For more tips on how to help, go to snuffles-rescue.com. Bridget Harper, volunteer with Snuffles Hedgehog Rescue Worthy winner I’m delighted that Adam Frost’s nomination of the rose won GW TV’s Golden Jubilee Award. My 12 old English roses are laden with blooms and their…

• Monty Don mentioned the mints to use for potatoes and one for peas, but I can’t remember which was which. dash59 • He said he used apple mint with potatoes and spearmint with peas. Dovefromabove • Why don’t you try both types in each vegetable and see which you prefer? Other recipes that use lots of mint include tabbouleh and mint sauce, where you combine mint and balsamic vinegar – add honey if you want it sweeter. Mint is also great for stomach and digestion issues; just put a bunch of leaves in boiling water and drink. B3 • Add a big bunch of mint ‘Citrata’ (eau de Cologne mint) to the bath after a long day in the garden. Pete8 • Our rabbit goes crazy for mint! madpenguin…

3 TOP PRIZES The prizes … 1 Meet Mary Berry Winner of the Best Overall Photo from all four categories, plus four friends, will get to meet NGS president, Mary Berry, in her private garden. 2 Appear in the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine calendar The winning image of the Fantastic Flowers category will appear in our 2018 calendar. 3 £500 of Stihl kit The winner of the Fantastic Flowers category will also receive £500 worth of cordless garden tools or accessories of their choice from manufacturer STIHL; visit stihl.co.uk for more about the range. The categories 1 Fantastic Flowers The BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine category, where we’re looking for gorgeous photos (landscape format) of individual plants, borders or combinations. The winner will receive £500 worth of STIHL cordless garden tools and…

OVERLOOKED Dense housing in our towns and cities means that being overlooked is almost inevitable. Closely packed homes, high-rise buildings and small gardens all add up to a feeling of being watched from every angle. To overcome this and play to our caveman instinct to seclude ourselves, there’s a range of solutions that will bring privacy without feeling caged in, and seclusion without a total loss of light. NO WILDLIFE Britain boasts some of the ‘greenest’ cities on earth, but the range of wildlife they support is often limited. The basic resources that creatures require, such as food, shelter, nesting sites and water, are often scarce, but urban gardens can potentially provide them. With careful planning, it’s possible to support many species of insects, birds and mammals in a small…

Sow winter salads Growing salad leaves doesn’t take much time or space, and freshly picked homegrown leaves taste so much better than anything you can buy in a supermarket. Salads aren’t just a summer crop – there are lots of hardy varieties you can sow now for picking in autumn and winter. Try delicious corn salad or winter lettuces such as ‘Black Seeded Simpson’, whose leaves can either be picked young or left to make crunchy hearts. More unusual salad options include winter purslane, salad burnet and peppery mustard greens such as ‘Red Frills’. I love sowing salads from scratch, but you can also buy plant plugs at this time of year. These will establish quickly and with protection will provide tasty crops through winter. You can grow them in…

Tend your melons Melons are vigorous climbers or ground sprawlers that produce masses of fruit. They are best trained on three to four main shoots with four fruits each spaced along it and pinched out two buds beyond the last fruit. Feed regularly and put straw on the ground to keep sprawling melons dry, or tie them up with loose nets on climbing supports. Keep pinching out tiny unwanted fruits and any side shoots or old leaves to avoid overloading the plant. Harvest fruits when they feel firm and smell strongly of melons. Pick aubergines before they ripen It is tricky to judge when an aubergine is ready to pick as it’s best eaten before it ripens and fills with seed. The main indicator is the skin – it looses…

While many creatures are welcome in our gardens, those with voracious appetites for our prized plants can be very disheartening. So to help you keep on top of your pests, we’ve put together a line-up of the worst midsummer offenders, explaining how to recognise them, what they do, and how to get rid of them. To control outdoor pests, an integrated approach is the most effective: encouraging natural predators, using biological and organic controls where possible, and applying chemicals with great care to minimise harm to pollinating and predatory insects so only spray when pollinators aren’t active, don’t spray open flowers or near open water and follow label instructions. Opt for organic sprays with short persistence. Vigilance is vital: catching infestations early can avoid big problems later. Mites These include…

1 Bwlch y Geuffordd Gardens Bronant, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 4JD Created from three acres of upland bog, this is a garden for everyone, with a children’s adventure garden, a sculpture park, water garden and wildlife haven. There’s also a steam train to play on, a willow den, a cave, a jungle, dragons, musical instruments and pond dipping. All proceeds from the garden go to charity. Open all year, daily, but phone one day ahead to check. Adults/ OAPs £4.50, children (2-16) £1. Single visitor discount 50p. Tel: 01974 251559; bwlch-y-geuffordd-gardens. myfreesites.net 2 Mirehouse Gardens Keswick, Cumbria CA12 4QE These wildlife-friendly, lakeside gardens offer something for everyone, with a tea room, adventure playgrounds, a nature trail and a bee garden with a heather path maze. For older…

City gardens tend to be far smaller than the average plot and are often seen as tricky spaces to plant up. Beyond the space limitations, there’s usually a wide range of light and soil conditions in a small footprint, which means that if the plants are to thrive they need to be carefully selected for their spot. We all make planting mistakes, and while these often aren’t noticed in large or rural gardens, they can be obvious in a small city plot. Over the years, I’ve seen many a plant in a city garden in the wrong place, which can mean wasting a lot of money. One of my first gardening jobs was to help remove a ‘mile a minute’ Russian vine that had smothered half of the small garden…

• Bulbs – if the top-growth has died down once their flowering display is over, but you know the plants are just resting, then you’ll be able to enjoy them to the full next season. • Ornamental grasses – as long as the roots and resting buds (in the crown) are intact, then the faded top-growth can be snipped off and new leaves will soon grow. • Shrubs that have finished flowering – when their main season of interest is over, garden centres often want rid of them, but the plants still have years of potential. • Perennials in large pots that have finished flowering, but have plenty of shoots, can often be divided to produce several new plants or used as cuttings material. • Trees that are looking a…

WHITE LEAVES • Variegated plants can produce all green shoots or, as here, shoots that appear white and thus cannot produce their own sugars by photosynthesis Confronted with masses of growth, pruning in August can seem daunting and even pointless. Often, the only time that you reach for secateurs is when shrubs, trees or perennials have become too big or have flopped over the edge of the lawn or path. This type of reactive pruning usually comes about as a result of a failure to prune a plant at the correct time of year or where perennials haven’t been adequately supported. In fact, cutting back now can often result in a lack of bloom next season and a somewhat unnatural ‘dollop’ shape – particularly where shrubs are concerned. But there…

Cut everlasting flowers Cut and dry everlasting flowers now at their peak to ensure ultimate colour quality and avoid damage from blustery weather when left in the border to dry naturally in late summer. Annuals such as clary, xerochrysum, gypsophila and statice are easily grown as a crop among vegetables or in a bed that can then be cleared and filled with winter and spring-flowering plants. From the herbaceous border, cut echinops, achillea and grasses. Trim the foliage and dry them upside down in small bunches hung in a dry and airy space. Cut back hardy geraniums Geraniums look terrible when they flop open under the weight of old flower stems and extended leaf stalks. Cut them back in early summer to freshen up the foliage and they’ll still have…

Deadhead flowers Removing faded blooms is a rewarding job that refreshes the whole garden. It also saves plants the effort of producing seeds, and often encourages more flowers. Roses are a priority for deadheading, unless you want them to produce hips. With hybrid teas and floribundas, snip off the individual flowers as their petals drop, and when the last one in the cluster has faded, cut the stem back by 20-25cm to pencil-thick wood, to promote a second flush of blooms. Ideally, deadhead any plants that don’t produce decorative seedheads, such as lilac and peonies. Snap off old flower clusters of rhododendrons, to allow the buds below to develop. Deadheading also curbs excessive self-seeding, which can be a problem with plants such as alliums and alchemilla. 6 NOT TO DEADHEAD…

Butterflies animate our gardens and pollinate our plants, but their numbers are declining dramatically. The causes aren’t fully understood, but are likely to include habitat loss, climate change and pesticides. As gardeners, we look after a cumulative domain of thousands of hectares, so what we grow and how we grow it can have a big impact on butterfly habitats and food. But we shouldn’t just concentrate on growing nectar-rich flowers for adult butterflies, instead we should try to cater for each of the four stages of the butterfly’s life cycle. Stage one is the egg, and these are laid on often very specific plants. Stage two is the larva, or caterpillar. Young caterpillars are dependent on the plant the eggs were laid on for their initial food. Stage three is…