Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från BBC Gardeners' World

PROGRAMME 1: Venice & Veneto Villa Barbarigo, Veneto This garden was made between 1664 and 1689 and remains almost unchanged. It was created after the owner vowed that if his family survived the terrible Venetian plague in 1631, he would make a garden as an act of thanksgiving. The garden is a spiritual progression towards enlightenment. It is measured out in allées and paths of easy and honed proportion, carved out of box hedges exceptionally high, paths exceptionally right in their width and a balance of grass and sand everywhere, water stretching, arcing, looping, playing, teasing and cooling. Despite the underlying spiritual earnestness, the journey to perfection did not exclude larks along the way. The garden entertains with a 400-year-old labyrinth and practical jokes such as jets of water triggered…

Succulents are among the most straightforward of plants to propagate. For a start, because their leaves are minireservoirs, water loss is not a problem as it can be when taking cuttings from many perennials and shrubs. I found out by accident just how easy it was to increase aeoniums, when a large top-heavy plant of Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ fell over in a storm, breaking several of its branching tree-like stems. Each of the rosettes was severed with an inch or so of its stem, pushed into gritty compost in modules up to its hilt. Not only did they all root but, after a few weeks, the denuded framework of the plant sprung into life making new rosettes on each cut stem and even unattached pieces of broken stem sprouted new rosettes.…

This is the trickiest month for garden birds, as natural sources of food, such as berries and seeds, have all but dried up, and they need to get into shape for breeding in a few weeks’ time. That said, you may spot tits inspecting your bird boxes and robins displaying courtship behaviour, whereby the female lowers her wings and quivers, and the male feeds her. Plant bareroot berrying shrubs and trees, such as rowan and hawthorn, to add to their food stores for next year. If it’s mild, hedgehogs may emerge from hibernation, but natural sources of their food – beetles and caterpillars – will also be in short supply. Leave out a dish of water and meat-based cat or dog food such as kitten biscuits, to boost them after…

For beginner gardeners, getting to grips with the fundamentals can seem daunting. But in this 12-part exclusive series, Alan Titchmarsh is sharing his wisdom to help you master the skills that really matter. This month, it’s back to basics with one of the most fundamental gardening skills: sowing seeds. Discover how easy and joyful it is to grow both ornamental and edible plants from seed with Alan’s expertise You’ll learn about: ✔ How to sow seeds for success every time ✔ When to sow for better germination ✔ How to look after your seedlings “The thrill of raising plants from seed is far greater than buying them in pots, and a darned sight less expensive, too” Sowing seed There is something magical about sowing seeds. After all, how can anything…

This month 134 Gardeners’ Question Time The BBC Radio 4 experts answer this month’s pick of readers’ queries, including: Reviving hellebores and cyclamen Pinching out sweet peas A red apple for Snow White Pollination and fruiting You may think it’s a funny time of year to be writing about pollination, which mostly happens in spring and summer, or fruiting, which is generally a summer and autumn thing. But these events, like so much in gardening, are more successful with a little planning. We’re rarely aware of pollination taking place – a dusting of pollen on a stigma that will lead to the fertilisation of the flower and then fruit set. But when it doesn’t happen and no fruit forms – a barren apple tree or bare callicarpa – we start to…

ACROSS 1 Enjoy the nodding blooms of this winter gem (9) 7 The gorse genus (4) 8 __ nests may disrupt the roots of plants (3) 9 Another name for hazel (3) 10 Latin word meaning creeping, as in Ceanothus __ (6) 12 __ helenium is also known as elecampane (5) 13 Japanese blood grass is a vivid name for Imperata ‘__’ (3,5) 16 ‘__ Ample’ is a widely grown raspberry (4) 19 __ buds form at the angle between leaf and stem (7) 23 This long green-skinned member of the gourd family is a veg plot staple (6) 24 Picea __ is better known as Serbian spruce (7) 25 The beet genus (4) 26 The edible starchy tuber of a tropical climbing plant (3) 27 Sow __ of crops such…

Listen out… for our brand new podcast series on great ways to garden more sustainably this year, with Arit Anderson. See GardenersWorld.com/podcast Learn… how to plant fruit trees, perennials and more, the reliable and economic way with our Essentials bareroot planting class, online on 8 February. It’s £8 for this 30-minute class plus Q&A – see GardenersWorld.com/offers/travel-and-events Create… a great-value, highimpact garden with our 132-page special edition, Your Garden from Seed – a full guide to the seedsowing year. Order now for just £7.99 (+P&P), at magsdirect.co.uk/YGFS22 Explore… some of the UK’s finest coastal gardens on our deluxe cruise, this September. This 12-night trip includes the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides and Orkney. GardenersWorld.com/british-cruise Keep up to date with us at FACEBOOK @GWmagazine INSTAGRAM @gardenersworldmag TWITTER @GWmag PINTEREST @GWmag Looking…

1 COSTA RICA COMES TO KEW Escape the chilly weather with a walk among Costa Rica’s orchids and bromeliads at Kew’s annual Orchid Festival, 5 Feb-6 Mar. bit.ly/kew-orchid-festival 2 GW EVENTS GO LIVE GW events due to return this year include GW Spring Fair in Beaulieu, Hampshire, 29 Apr-1 May, and Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham, 16-19 June. Find out more on pages 45 & 131 3 FLOWERS ‘KEY TO BIODIVERSITY’ Over a million species of insects owe their existence to the explosion in flowering plants 66 million years ago, scientists have found. 4 BLOOM GOES BEDDING-FREE Traditional bedding plants like begonias are out of favour with Britain in Bloom judges. New RHS guidelines encourage more sustainable perennials or pollinator-friendly plants. bit.ly/britain-in-bloom 5 ECO-FRIENDLY DISPLAY London’s Osterley Park…

“Visiting gardens tells you so much more than just horticulture. It is a fascinating way to observe people, their culture and lives”…

“Succulents need little care, providing they are given plenty of light, protected from frost and grown in free draining compost. Often what starts as an impulse buy turns into an addiction” All plants have evolved within their environment to ensure their survival. In some parts of the world, plants have to cope with arid conditions, often not just dry but hot too. One of the adaptations plants use is to store water in their leaves. They go by the name of succulents from the Latin sucus, meaning sap or juice. Succulents belong to many different plant families but share the common device of using their leaves and, in some cases, their stems as reservoirs so that in times of drought they remain turgid and can survive. Most cacti don’t have…

The results of our annual garden wildlife review are in – Kate Bradbury, our Wildlife Editor, reveals what’s thriving, the species in decline, and what we can all do to help our wildlife Readers of BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine have always loved garden wildlife. In 2020, more of you were at home to enjoy it and spent much of your lockdown time creating more habitats, such as bird boxes and hedgehog homes, for a variety of species. In 2021, wildlife sightings were down slightly on the previous year, presumably because many of you returned to work and simply weren’t home as often to see who was living in your garden. However, your love for wildlife continues to increase, which is very good news indeed. A whopping 78 per cent of you*…

For me, this time of year is all about refreshing and resetting the garden. By now I’ve reached my threshold for time indoors, so I pick a crisp, bright, sunny day and start with my window boxes, which give my home curb appeal long after the Christmas decorations have come down. Not only do window boxes give instant satisfaction when putting them together, they also offer continued joy whenever you come back home. Much like planning a new border, I consider aspect and maintenance practicalities when I’m putting my window boxes together. I also like to use a combination of three types of plants: evergreens to give my arrangements a central structure, flowers for focal points and fillers for loose texture. I also try to stick to complementary colours and…

Frances Tophill shows you how to get summer-fowering shrubs back in shape ready for spring The garden in February is a place of hope and promise of things to come, though it can still be bitterly cold. This is a month of tidying up in earnest and pruning the last of your deciduous shrubs or trees before their new leaves start to emerge Summer-flowering shrubs that flower on the current season’s growth, like Buddleja davidii and perovskia, should be cut back now. Also cut beech and hornbeam hedging, but avoid clipping tender shrubs like melianthus, choisya or tender lavenders until April. Rose pruning can be done now, including climbing roses, which may need tying in if winter storms have blown them loose. Cut back your winter display plants once they…

I can see it! I can actually see winter’s dormancy slowly coming to an end. How? Just by looking and listening to my plot, which is starting to speak volumes about the new growing season that’s just around the corner. I note that the annual weed seedlings sheltering in the nooks and crannies are always the first to pop up. But as I scan the area, I wear a satisfied grin knowing that any weed seed that may have settled will have now been smothered by my thick carpet of green manure. Thankfully, that’s a few less weeds to worry about come spring. For now, though, the plot is on the back burner and I’ll do more soil prep towards the end of the month. Instead, I will concentrate on…

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. ASPARAGUS ‘GIJNLIM’ CROWNS Grow your own asparagus and enjoy tasty harvests for up to 20 years. Spears appear mid to late April, continuing to crop heavily until mid-June. Height 100-150cm 5 crowns £9.99 (KB2058) SAVE £2 10 crowns £16.99 SAVE £6.99 (KB2059) Please add £5.99 P&P Call 0844 573 6054* Order online Dobies.co.uk/SUDGW1 Terms & Conditions: Items despatched from March 2022 onwards. Offer closes 14/03/2022. All offers subject to availability. Full growing instructions included. All height and spread sizes indicate full grown sizes and not size supplied. We reserve the right to substitute varieties if necessary. Images for illustrations purposes only. Regretfully we are unable to ship live plants to the following areas:…

What should a gardener have for breakfast? It is not as simple a question as you might think. I mean, there are so many things to take into consideration. Gardening takes energy, and to produce energy the body needs carbs and protein. The thing is, after loading on board the nutrition, one has to be able to move about. It’s a tricky balancing act. Let’s consider the options available. The most obvious choice is a bowl of cereal. But what? Cornflakes? Not really substantial enough. Rice Krispies? Ditto. Delicious and crunchy though they are, the majority of their bulk is comprised of fresh air. I am a devoted Shreddies fan myself, but their boast of keeping hunger locked up until lunchtime is optimistic if you plan to be energetic in…

Have your say on peat The government wants to know what you think about getting peat out of gardening. It’s asking all gardeners to contribute to its consultation on the use of peat in horticulture ahead of legislation to ban peat in potting compost by 2024. Environment Minister Rebecca Pow told GW she is keen to hear as many opinions as possible. “We’re trying to bring everyone with us,” she said. As well as a ban, other proposals include mandatory labelling for plants grown in peat and exemptions for specialist plants like carnivorous plants, which can struggle to grow well without peat. However, Jim McMahon, the UK shadow Environment Secretary, said the government has been dragging its feet, pointing out that the amount of peat sold rose during lockdown. “That…

This month, our Subscriber Club members received TWO FREE packets of seeds with their magazine. You can join them from our March issue, getting FREE seeds with your magazine every month until June (worth over £31 in total). Subscribers will be sowing their rudbeckia and carrot seeds shown here this month, so why not start your bumper year of growing vegetables and flowers with us? Turn to page 26 to find out more and how to subscribe. Rudbeckias are best sown straight away so you can enjoy their flowers for as long as possible. Try sowing the carrot seed in batches, so you can harvest a few at a time over a longer period. Alternatively, sow outdoors in spring. Get free seeds* Join our Subscriber Club before 1 February to…

Last May, on the very first day that travel was permitted, I set off from my bubble at Longmeadow to start filming a series on Adriatic gardens. This had been delayed by a year due to the pandemic and during that time I had barely left the garden at all, other than to take the dogs for a walk in empty fields. So Heathrow was a culture shock (and a fiasco – we weren’t allowed to check in because a form had been filled in an hour too early, falling just outside the 24-hour window). So, off to a hotel and another flight the next day, this time involving a change and innumerable checks on paperwork before finally starting to film – a day behind schedule. As well as a…

1 Kleinia stapeliiformis Pickle plant or candlestick plant are other names. The flowers are big and a bit like hawkweed, to which it is distantly related, being in the daisy family. It spreads underground, throwing up new stems. 2 Crassula ovata ‘Minima’ A scaled down version of the widely grown ‘Money Plant’ or ‘Jade Plant’ with thick, fleshy, egg-shaped leaves, brilliant green with crimson edges. Its trunk and branches are thick and sturdy. This easy, rewarding plant is a member of the stonecrop family. Almost all the popular crassula we grow as houseplants originate in South Africa. 3 Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ One of the most well-known and popular of tender succulents and one of the biggest for indoor use, it’s sometimes called Aeonium arboreum, meaning tree-like and it is often referred…

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Gardens are havens for wildlife, but much of it we never see. Wouldn’t you love to know what enjoys your garden when you’re not there? Perhaps you have nocturnal visitors like badgers, hedgehogs and foxes or naturally cautious creatures such as birds and deer that you want to watch without disturbing or scaring them? Then a wildlife camera is the answer. Also known as trail cameras, these digital cameras are designed to be set up outside and left to film or photograph. Usually contained in a sturdy, waterproof, camouflaged case so they can be left outdoors in any weather, they’re powered by battery or solar panel, and the majority work in daylight, low light and at night. Most have motion sensors or are triggered by heat, so they start filming…

Having a permanent evergreen focal point in the centre helps me adapt my window boxes to the seasons without too much wastage. I interchange and transplant annuals around this, depending on the time of year. Watering and feeding are crucial for long-term success – the plants have relatively little compost and limited nutrients, so they need watering regularly, especially in warm weather. I also add slow-release feed to the compost to ensure they don’t suffer nutrient deficiencies. To make your window box as light as possible, put Hydroleca clay granules in the base before the compost. These reduce the weight and aid aeration. ■ Hellebores In late spring I move the hellebores into a shady border, where their evergreen leaves add interest all year round. They do best in fertile…

We might have snow, ice and wind in February but none of that stops all the fabulous first bulbs from appearing and breaking into bud. Snowdrops, crocus, early daffodils, primroses, intense early irises, muscari and scillas are all irresistibly flowering. There is a sense that none of this can be reversed and nothing can stop the surge towards light and spring. But all our tender plants still need protection and will do so until May. However, dahlia tubers can be potted up towards the end of the month and forced into growth, with extra heat to produce material for making cuttings. These cuttings will then grow on and make flowering plants by the end of summer, which both extends the season and replenishes tired stick. Any peatfree compost will do,…

Head gardener Lucy Chamberlain manages a walled kitchen garden within a 100-acre estate. Inspired by its success, she has followed the key design principles in her own, much smaller garden, to create a beautiful and highly productive fruit and vegetable plot. The addition of any fruit or veg to a garden gets a huge tick in my book. My hope is that last month, fuelled by part one of this series, you put pen to paper and drew up a design for your dream edible plot. Now it’s time to take those plans, whether grand or modest, and get started on building your kitchen garden. In this issue I’ll explain how to start adding all the fundamental areas to your plot, including the all-important growing spaces, and why a greenhouse…

Niwaki Garden Snips are the ideal tool for fruit, veg and flower maintenance, while the Soft Touch Gold Leaf gloves are comfortable and durable. The Burgon and Ball stainless steel trowel features a wide, deep dish and lifetime guarantee. FREE Seeds for subscribers Subscribers will receive double-packs of seeds with each issue until June 2022. Subscribe before 1 February to receive the March magazine which includes Tomato ‘Roma’ and the California Poppy. Veg, flower & herb favourites, worth over £31¬ Extra subscriber-only offers PLUS exclusive How-to videos ¬ Find out more at GardenersWorld.com/free-seeds Offer ends 17 February 2022 2 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE Call 03330 162123* and quote code GWSP222 Visit buysubscriptions.com/GWSP222 1 FREE delivery directly to their door 2 Secret Garden access, a special Subscriber-only area of gardenersworld.com 3…