Innehållsförteckning för October 2017 från BBC Gardeners' World

• 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. • Bite-sized Monty Watch short videos of Monty’s tips for picking, storing and juicing apples. Go to bit.ly/applecareguide for this, as well as guides to pruning and training trees for bigger crops. Pruning made easy As the weather cools, it’s the perfect time to prune for better results next year. If you’re unsure of where to start, find step-by-step guides in our 132-page guide, Your essential guide to pruning. Just £7.99 at mags direct.co.uk/GWPruning17 • Share your 2-for-1 snaps Make the most of October’s soft light by snapping your favourite gardens in our 2-for-1 entry scheme – you’ll…

“Cow parsley sweeps through the garden like a glorious frothy tide” To every weed there is a season.To every weed there is a garden, allotment, plot or bed and, for all the best efforts and vainglorious aspirations of gardeners, the weeds always win. It is their garden and our plants are – ever so slightly – cramping their style. Versailles, Sissinghurst, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Kew are but momentary obstacles in their conquering march. Weeds can play the long game just as easily as they can run amok when we take an all-too-brief holiday. I have more than a sneaking respect for this. Were it not for their tendency to rampage and overrun given the slightest chance then many would be prized as garden specimens, shown at Chelsea and garlanded with medals. Hogweed…

• You could put a land drain in the bottom, but only if you have somewhere suitable to drain it to. Your clay may drain slowly – try digging a bucket-sized hole in the clay, filling it with water and seeing how long it takes to drain. If it takes less than half a day you can probably just add grit and get away with it. BobTheGardener • Improve the soil slowly. Dig well-rotted manure into the topsoil, and in subsequent years mulch with organic matter. Worms will also take it down lower and improve it gradually. My father farmed on clay for years, with the help of lots of manure and sensible management. Don’t work it when it’s wet. Dovefromabove • The only other suggestion is to put a…

Whatever your size or style of garden, there’s an apple tree for you. To make the right choice, you need to get to grips with the different rootstocks on offer (see below) – these determine the vigour and eventual size of the tree, so if you choose the right one you won’t end up with a specimen that is too large or small for your plot. The rootstocks listed below are all suitable for apples, giving you a range of options for different sizes and shapes of trees. A rootstock also determine trees’ suitability for training or growing in a pot, so keep this in mind if you want to grow yours in a particular way. There’s nothing wrong with planting in the ground orchard-style or in a mixed border,…

Whatever the size of your garden it will create biodegradable waste – grass clippings, fallen leaves, prunings and the like. If you combine this with the household waste, such as vegetable peelings, tea bags and old newspapers, it can all be transformed into a rich, crumbly compost for your plot. Composting connects you intimately with your garden, and it’s satisfying to know that you are enriching your plot and putting waste to good use – all for free, too. When added to your plot year on year, compost builds up to make it more fertile, moisture-retentive and nutrient-rich – the very basis of a healthy soil. Using compost also helps to capture carbon and put it back into your garden. Making your own reduces the number of transport miles needed…

Blue is the colour Taking a lead from the pansies, the steely blue blades of the fescue harmonises with the icy hellebore leaves to create the core of the display from October to February. In March and early April, the delicate spikes of grape hyacinth make their appearance, just as the hellebore comes into bloom to keep the pansies company well into May. The whole display is lifted and contrasted by the lemon-glazed terracotta pot, which picks out the centre of the pansies. This pot is ideal in full sun or part shade. Once the show is over • Pinch back the pansies and plant them in a partly shaded border, where they’ll produce a summer flush of flowers. • Use the grass with summer bedding plants to provide foliage…

Pure leafmould is the finest garden compost. It takes up to two years to make the perfect batch but it is the best and longest-lasting when used as a mulch and can also make good-quality potting compost. Leaves are rotted by a combination of fungal moulds and microbes that need air and moisture to do their work, so make the heap open at the sides and moist before covering with landscape fabric to weight it down and keep the heat in. Put leaves through a shredder for faster results and, if you don’t have much space, black polythene bags work well if pierced to allow air in. If you are very short of room for extra compost heaps, the leaves can be swept up and added to the general compost,…

Plant garlic Garlic benefits from cool winter temperatures so planting in autumn or winter will usually give a better crop than spring planting. A sunny site with free-draining soil is best, so if you have heavier soil, incorporate some grit first to improve drainage. Split up the bulbs into individual cloves and plant so that the basal plate (flat area at the end of the clove) is at the bottom. Plant 10cm deep in light soil and 3cm deep in heavier soil, with cloves 25cm apart. Keep weed-free at all times. Harvest and store pumpkins Pumpkins make a wonderful autumn sight in the vegetable garden but they are vulnerable to frost damage and will rot if left too long. Whether you have grown large show pumpkins or smaller culinary varieties,…

Plant new beds Now’s a great time to do the groundwork and initial planting for new beds, leaving the final planting until spring. Mark out the shape of the bed with a string line and remove any grass, plants or weeds. You can edge the bed with boards or bricks, but this isn’t essential. Weed thoroughly then dig in plenty of compost; add grit if it is poorly drained. Tread the soil down and rake level before planting. Plant hardy trees, shrubs and hedges first. Herbaceous plants and bulbs can also go in but wait until spring for anything late-shooting or tender. Mulch borders Care for your soil by adding organic mulch to the top now. It’s a multipurpose treatment that gradually feeds the soil flora and fauna. It improves…

Chillies With their quirky shapes and brilliant colours, chillies are perfect for a pot on a sunny windowsill 3 WAYS TO TRY • Mix with plain chocolate for a sweet and spicy surprise • Mash with garlic, butter and lime, then serve with a sweetcorn cob • Stir-fry with sesame oil, broccoli, spring greens, ginger and oyster sauce Chillies Nutrition Fresh, these are a rich source of vitamin C. The alkaloid compound, capsaicin, which makes them spicy, has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, and may be beneficial for weight loss and heart disease. How to grow Sow indoors at 18-25°C. Seedlings grow best at temperatures around 16-18°C. Grow on in a greenhouse or gradually harden off before moving outside. Chillies grow well in pots or in fertile, well-drained soil, but need…

Nick Bailey shows how to revive tired turf for a perfect lawn next year The trouble with turf is that it never tops the list of gardening tasks. Sure, we manage a weekly cut, but the TLC lavished on our ornamental plants is rarely replicated on the lawn, which is why many are in slow decline with bare patches, weeds, yellowing blades and pests. But it is possible to revive a lacklustre lawn in time for next year. First you must eradicate the weeds competing with the grass for light, water and nutrients. Rosette-forming species, such as dandelions and plantains, can be removed with a garden knife, but those that are more enmeshed, such as buttercups and speedwell, call for chemical treatment. Selective herbicides can be applied that will solely…

We’ve had a chuckle in the office this month at the evocative names given to apples from centuries past: ‘Hoary Morning’, ‘Bloody Butcher’, ‘Knobby Russets’ and no end of ‘Droopers’ . They don’t make – nor name – them like that any more... Supermarket shelves groan with apples, 12 months of the year, but if you find more than half a dozen varieties, you’re doing well. The names of those they do stock were dreamed up in a marketing department for fruit bred to be highly sweet and lunch-box shaped. Is this the best we deserve? Well, new research has emerged this summer that shows heritage varieties not only taste better but are healthier for you, too. So do yourself and your family a favour this autumn and find a…

Chrysanthemum ‘White Gem’ The white petals are rolled into tubes, leaving a flattened ‘spoon’ tip. H x S 50cm x 45cm C. ‘Leo’ Buds open in bright coppery tints and mature to pale yellow, 4cm-wide flowers. H x S 56cm x 30cm C. ‘Ruby Mound’ Hardy, deep-red, fully double flowers may need staking in exposed conditions. H x S 50cm x 50cm C. ‘Anastasia’ Neat, purplish-pink, flat-topped pompoms cover unusually small foliage. H x S60cm x 60cm All over the world, there are chrysanthemums in flower every day. These are special greenhouse varieties, grown using sophisticated techniques to ensure there are always plants in bloom and ready to pick as cut flowers. In the garden, flowering occurs in a much narrower window and now’s the time for hardy outdoor varieties…

Raising the game I was delighted by September issue’s Your feelgood garden, and Gardening for all abilities. I have ME so I have adapted my garden to suit my needs. Mark Lane is so right when he advises pacing yourself; it’s easy to overdo things. And his tips are essential for making things easier, too. I was finding my borders difficult so I made changes – using a raised bed to grow summer flowers from seeds and cuttings. In only a few months, I transformed a bed of bare soil to one that was packed to the brim with colourful blooms. I now have a feelgood garden – a place that helps me even on my bad days. The soft leaves, scented rose, sweet peas and the bright colours create…

Pesticide pledge Nine of the UK’s 10 leading garden centre chains have pledged to ensure that none of the flowering plants they sell will be grown with bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides. The 10th, Homebase, said it will continue to be vigilant and remains committed to taking responsible action, working closely with suppliers and partners. The move by garden centres follows a report by Sussex University this year that found 70% of plants tested from selected stores contained neonicotinoid pesticides. These included three pesticides restricted across Europe thought to put honeybees at ‘high acute risk’. B&Q will outlaw the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in its flowering plant range from February 2018. See p16 for more on bees from GW readers Nature is the best classroom GW’s Rachel de Thame has issued…

An apple a day can still help to keep the doctor away – but it’s likely to do you far more good if it’s a heritage variety. A new study by Cranfield University and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew discovered that older varieties of apples have considerably more of the nutrients that have gradually been bred out from modern apples, which are cultivated to be sweet, crisp and shiny. Professor Leon Terry, the scientist who led the research, told us: “I’m concerned that there has been a gradual commoditisation of fruit, including apples. We’re not using or appreciating the genetic diversity with the crops. It’s ironic that there’s probably more choice in supermarkets than there’s ever been, but within the category, even for something as diverse as apples, there seems to…

There are plenty of compost bins to suit your needs if you don’t have much room. Beehive Compost Bin With handy prop-and-hold lid. Height x Width x Depth 85.5cm x 75cm x 99cm £89.99, greatlittlegarden.co.uk Urban Composter City Can be kept in the kitchen to ferment scraps.H 26cm £34.95, urbancomposter.co.uk RollMix Composter Add water and roll to make compost! L x D68cm x 54cm £21.99, haxnicks.co.uk HotBin Composter Can reach 60°C for speedy composting. H x W x D98cm x 45cm x 45cm £184.99, greenfingers.com Tumbling composter 70-litre capacity, easy to assemble composter. H x W x L84cm x 60cm x 46cm £64, best4garden.co.uk…

Blackcurrant Currants, whether red, white or black, produce straight, thick stems that are ideal for this method. Fruits Jun-Aug H x S 1.5m x 1.5m Physocarpus opulifolius You can make more of this with softwood cuttings, but hardwood cuttings will root easily given time. Flowers Jun H x S 2.5m x 2m Mock orange If well-pruned after flowering, philadelphus should make nice strong canes too. FJun-Jul H x S2m x 2m Willow Orange winter stems and yellow spring catkins make Salix alba ‘Britzensis’ a stand-out display. FFeb-Mar H x S12m x 8m Shrub roses Shrub roses are slightly easier to propagate from cuttings than climbers or ramblers. FJun-Aug H x S1.5m x 1.5m Buddleia Although buddleia self-seeds, if you want more of a specific variety, you have to increase it…

Clematis  Mid to late-summer-flowering clematis can be cut hard as soon as the foliage dies back and drops. Prune to just above the lowest pair of buds, but leave pruning spring and early summer-flowering clematis varieties until after they flower next year. Honeysuckle  Deciduous, climbing honeysuckles should be trimmed in summer after flowering. If they flower late, you can prune in early autumn, shortening stems that flowered by a third. The main shoots can also be thinned, retaining the youngest ones. Grapevine  Grapevines are vigorous and need to be kept in check throughout the year. In late winter/early spring they’ll bleed sap when cut, so prune in autumn when it’s safe. Leave a framework of old branches covered with well-spaced stumps of shoots. Actinidia kolomikta  If it’s growing out of…

Collect and store seeds Many flowers in the garden will have gone to seed at this time of year and while you can’t always depend on the exact parentage of cross-pollinated seed, many come true and will germinate well when sown next spring. Pot plants such as pelargoniums are surprisingly easy, but the herbaceous border is the best source for free seeds from achilleas, echinacea and phlomis. Ornamental grasses will also germinate well. Collect seeds on a dry day by removing a few flower heads and leaving them to dry either on paper or upside down in paper bags where the seed will drop into the bags. Separate the seed from the husks, place in an envelope, then in a tin. Store somewhere cool and dry until next spring. Remove…

A great way to expand or rejuvenate your herbaceous plants is to lift and divide them now. It may be that an old clump needs renovating – in which case it should be lifted, the youngest outermost pieces replanted and the rest put on the compost heap. Herbaceous perennial plants clump up by expanding their roots, making the plants wider rather than taller every year. If pieces are split away from a main plant they instantly support themselves with roots and shoots. These can be planted in the border or potted and grown on. Fleshy rooted perennials, such as delphinium, will rot if split now, so lift in spring just as the shoots emerge. Large clumps can be heavy to lift. Get someone to help you with spade duty and…

“I think people are highly motivated to not waste veg that they’ve grown” We’re addicted to waste. We throw away 5.8 million potatoes and 1.5 million tomatoes every day in the UK. Households are binning £13bn of food, every year, that could have been eaten. And, despite the huge financial and environmental costs of this waste, it’s a problem that shows no sign of going away. Which is why chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall launched his campaign for change, with his TV programme War on Waste, and now he’s calling on gardeners to play their part in tackling the food waste mountain. “I think people are highly motivated to not waste veg when they’ve grown it themselves,” says Hugh. But it can be a challenge, when harvests all come at once, to…

Makes a 500ml jar • 400g mixed, prepared celery, chard stalks and carrot • 1 tbsp fine salt • 250ml cider vinegar (5% acidity) • 2 tbsp sugar • 1 bay leaf • A couple of sprigs of thyme or rosemary • 1 tsp coriander seeds • A few black peppercorns This is a tasty way to use up the more fibrous stems from celery and chard. The carrot adds sweetness and colour – but you can use just one or two of these veg, as long as it makes up 400g raw weight. • Trim off any green leaves and dirty or damaged bits from the celery and chard stems, then cut into roughly 1cm pieces. Peel and trim the carrots, then cut into thin half-moons or quarter-moons, depending…

Best reader gardens... WIN! A deluxe Forno Oven outdoor package from Morsø. Shrubs in pots Follow our growing guide to keep your shrubs in shape all year round Expert advice PLUS pruning trees • protecting tender plants • grow your own Christmas gifts • sowing sweet peas & more...…

“There’s no worry about weeds with an artificial lawn” Time is a currency nowadays. I could spend an hour cutting my grass, or an hour playing ‘shops’ outdoors with my daughter, and this is where the world of artificial grass could come in to save the day. The time aspect is a massive thing for me. Everyone knows that if a garden is looking a bit tatty around the edges, it can be tidied up no end by cutting the grass, but how about the garden looking that neat and tidy all the time by opting for an artificial lawn? No dragging the lawnmower out every week, or getting rid of grass cuttings. No worrying about weeds finding their way through, or having to water it after weeks of sun…

If you’re looking for ways to make light work of the autumn clear-up, you might be tempted by a blower vac. With leaf-fall season upon us, we’ve tested combination garden blowers, with vacuum and shredding facilities, to help you make the best choice. These machines blow leaves, grass and light hedge clippings into a heap, which they then vacuum up and shred into a holding bag. The products we tested are powered either by petrol engine or electric cable and our comparison test showed that weight and noise levels varied between individual machines, the loudest ones rating at a similar level to a motorbike for noise. If your garden is large, then the cable-free flexibility of petrol-driven models, with powerful motors that clear leaves quickly, make them a sensible choice.…

There is something wonderfully heartening about seeing the flowers of spring bulbs erupting through grass. After a long winter it gives us the ultimate expression of optimism. Planting bulbs in grass or permanently in beds is called ‘naturalising’. Unlike some bulbs that are dug up every year for replanting the following autumn, naturalised bulbs are left in, though many benefit from being added to each year, especially if competition with surrounding grass weakens them. That’s why not all bulbs are suited to naturalisation in grass, however many daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops are happy in such situations. Ensure the bulbs do not go short of water when flowering, and apply general fertiliser in spring to will keep them in good health in subsequent years. Experiment to find out which varieties suit…

STEP BY STEP Make new aloes by separating offsets Aloe vera can be propagated by leaf cuttings or seed sown in a heated propagator, but the most reliable way is by separating the young offsets – also known as ‘pups’. These are essentially baby plants that share part of the parent plant’s root system and occur naturally at its base. Wait until the offsets are roughly one fifth of the size of the parent plant, then separate and pot them on. The old plant can be repotted or left to get bigger to produce more pups. 1 Either knock the whole plant out or use a knife to gently cut away the offsets from around the edge of the pot. 2 Separate each offset. Use a knife to trim the…

Bird feeders needn’t be expensive. In this simple project we have used three old terracotta pots and some garden twine to create a quirky feeder that will attract a wide range of bird species. Easy to clean and refill, the birds will happily perch on the lip of each pot to feed from within it, giving you the perfect view of your garden visitors. YOU WILL NEED • Three terracotta pots, cleaned and dried • Garden twine • Bird food, such as peanuts, seed and fat balls 1 Cut a long piece of garden twine and tie around all three pots to join them together. Make sure there is a long central piece to hang the trio from a tree. 2 Fill each pot to just below the lip with…

 ‘She thinks of nothing but the Isle of Wight, and she calls it The Island as if there were no other island in the world.’ This rather carping criticism is levelled at Fanny Price in Mansfield Park and I fear that I am falling into the same trap as Jane Austen’s shy heroine. Back then – 200 years ago – its population amounted to ‘2,600 souls’*. That number has grown to around 140,000 as of 2017, and even I can’t pretend that such expansion is due to the fact that the ‘Wight Isle’ has also been known as ‘The Garden Isle’ for the past century. But in my case, that certainly helps. I spend quite a bit of my year on ‘The Island’, loving it for all kinds of reasons,…