Innehållsförteckning för Oct-22 från BBC Gardeners' World

Save £££s… when you subscribe – you’ll enjoy 3 issues for just £5 and receive every issue direct to your door. Then pay £27.60 every 6 issues thereafter – 25% off usual shop price. See p67 Listen out… for our new wildlife series, with experts telling the stories of creatures that share our gardens – from hedgehogs to bees and wasps, at: GardenersWorld.com/podcast Explore… our new GW Guide Your Happy House Plants and transform your home into a lush oasis. Order online now for just £7.99 (+ P&P) or buy in shops from 29 Sept – read more about it on p109 Discover… the glorious gardens of the Cotswolds that you can visit through our 2 for 1 scheme, on p26. Order your copy of the 2 for 1 Entry Card…

Japanese maple What are maples famous for? Syrup? Okay. Bark like snakeskin? Yes. Filling the gaps left by dead elm and ash trees? That would be sycamore – which is a kind of maple. Veneer? Okay, I’ll give you that. Guitar necks, smoking food, baseball bats… and for dramatic autumn leaf colour maples are top of the list. And which maples do we look to in particular for spectacular autumn foliage? The Japanese ones: Acer japonicum, A. palmatum or A. shirasawanum. Let’s be clear when mentioning sycamore and Japanese maple in the same breath – Japanese maples are ideal for today’s gardens as they never grow too tall. There’s space for one in every garden. However, sycamores become so huge that not only would you be mad to plant one…

WORTH £22 RRP How I Garden, by Adam Frost In this new book from Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost, he takes you through his process for getting the most out of a garden space, whatever its size – whether it’s a window box, a terrace with a few pots or a bigger space with dedicated veg plots and borders. Offer ends 20 October 2022 3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE Call 03330 162123† and quote code GWNP1022 Visit buysubscriptions.com/GWNP1022 Post your completed order form to the Freepost address at the top of the form Experience more as a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Subscriber Club member with: 1 FREE delivery direct to your door 2 GardenersWorld.com Premium, giving you access to special subscriber-only content 3 Rewards pages and Your Extras section, sharing bonus content in every issue 4 Exclusive…

Brighten up your shady areas with this collection of hardy perennials that thrive in poor light. Perfect for shady borders and containers, or for creating a woodland garden, they’ll add low-maintenance beauty, colour and texture. ◼ Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ Winner of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year in 2011, this woodlander produces nodding blooms that are white with a dusky mauve on the reverse. They shine in low light. Height x Spread 45cm x 45cm Flowers May-Nov ◼ Lamium orvala Small pink orchid-like flowers open among heart-shaped, velvet-textured foliage. It forms neat clumps and is ideal as ground cover. H x S 50cm x 50cm F Apr-Jun ◼ Liriope muscari ‘Okina’ This striking evergreen perennial’s young foliage emerges white, becomes speckled, then matures to green. It sends up…

Gather it together You don’t need a bin to make compost, although using one is tidier. Your local authority or waste-disposal company may sell cheap, subsidised compost bins; if they do, this is almost certainly your best bet. I find the most convenient is a one-piece recycled-plastic truncated cone with a removable lid. Top tip Get at the compost by lifting the whole bin off once your compost is done. Set aside any undecomposed material on the top and put back in the same bin, or add to a second bin. Add your weeds Your heap will not get hot enough to kill seeds, roots or rhizomes of weeds. The best defence against weed seeds is vigilance, so that weeds are composted before setting seed. Top tip Deal with roots…

Plant a winter container Fill a large pot nearly up to the brim with peat-free multi-purpose compost and choose plants such as winter pansies, heathers, evergreen grasses and small evergreen shrubs for a winter display. Soak them before potting, then select a plant as a focal point and firm it into the pot’s centre. Space the smaller plants around it. If the compost level drops as you firm, use more compost under the plants, making sure the roots are just covered and the compost surface is a few centimetres below the rim of the pot. Place the pot in its final position, then water it thoroughly. Plant sedum in border edges Brighten the edge of your border with some edging plants in front of taller ones. They can be upright…

Make repairs to your lawn Keep your lawn in tip-top condition by carrying out a few simple maintenance tasks now before the grass freezes or is too wet to work on. Lawns are made up of thousands of grass plants grown close together, and after a year of mowing and being walked over they need a bit of extra care to recover. Clear fallen leaves regularly. Shred by running a mower over them and pick them up for composting or rake them up separately to make leafmould. When leaves are left on the lawn surface it traps a layer of moisture that risks the establishment of fungal disease. Where the lawn needs repair, sow new seed to fill any gaps. The soil will still be quite warm from the summer,…

Bring the outdoors in and curate your own cut-flower garden. For bunch and bouquet inspiration on your doorstep, combine these graceful thalictrums and the platycodon for elegant sprays of pure-white and pinkish-purple flowers. These perennials are ideal for mixing within planting schemes and to enjoy in the home Buy 4 for HALF PRICE ■ Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’ Height x spread 2m x 75cm Flowers Jun-Jul 1 plant in a 2L pot £12.99 ■ Platycodon grandiflorus ‘Twinkle White’ H x S 20cm x 20cm F May-Sep 1 plant in a 1L pot £8.99 PLATYCODON OFFER 6 plants for £26.97 HALF PRICE ■ Thalictrum ‘Splendide White’ H x S 1.5m x 75cm F Jun-Jul 1 plant in a 2L pot £12.99 THALICTRUM SAVER COLLECTION 4 plants (2 of each) in 2L pots £25.98 HALF PRICE…

Editor of the Year: Homes & Gardens Autumn came early this year – as early as August – with spent foliage and falling leaves after heat and drought unseen for a generation. But recent weather records suggest it’s unlikely that 2022 is a once-in-a-generation event. From Kew Gardens to our back gardens, we’ve all spotted unseasonal change and many of us have lost treasured plants. So change we must, to boost our gardens’ resilience against extremes of heat and cold, floods or drought. Daunting? Well, take heart that change in the garden is nothing to fear: it has always been a part of gardening. The cycle of life is what makes gardening so involving. What’s coming next is always more interesting than what has been before, however cherished at the…

Re Christine Winborne’s letter about grass verges (Clippings, August issue): the parish council at Highnam, Gloucestershire, has been very forward thinking and earlier this year installed pathways bordering the roadside kerbs around the village. The borders are allowed to grow naturally during the summer and wildflower patches have been left to help the insect population. The pathways have also increased the amount of walkers, who are making new friends in the process. Everyone – insects and people – are benefiting from the habitat, exercise and mental well-being the pathways are providing. Stewart Evans, Gloucestershire I was interested to read about the tensions caused by ‘No Mow May’ between councils and residents (August issue). Where we live in outer London, this campaign resulted in the whole borough looking shabby during the…

1 JEZ WOWS JUDGES AGAIN Former GW Gardens of the Year finalist Jez Young has scooped this year’s B&Q Gardener of the Year award. Jez, a construction worker in Ceredigion, has spent the last 30 years creating his quirky, wildlife-friendly garden using upcycled materials. 2 MONSTER GARDEN A spectacular garden with a 12m waterfall is thriving 35m up on a decommissioned oil rig at Weston-super-Mare. SEE Monster, one of 10 installations across the country, is free to visit. seemonster.co.uk 3 PLANT THERAPY GW’s Adam Frost has designed the first of several Healing Gardens to open in hospitals all over the UK. Located in Lewisham, the joint NHS and RHS project has memorial spaces and community growing areas. bit.ly/rhs-healing 4 PEONY RESCUED A scented peony found in Co Durham is this year’s Plant Heritage Threatened…

All gardeners make organic waste as they deadhead, tidy, harvest and prune, and while making garden compost is beneficial to the environment in many ways, simply throwing away organic waste is actively detrimental. Efficient home-composting is the most responsible way to deal with garden waste and it brings great benefits in the form of a product that will revitalise your plants and soil. Go to: GardenersWorld.com/growing-greener COMING UP in Growing Greener ■ NOVEMBER: (Not) digging the dirt How to store carbon, improve biodiversity, reduce flooding and grow better plants. The answer is in the ground beneath our feet. ■ DECEMBER Tree-mendous Trees cool our overheated cities, soak up pollution, sequester carbon, house wildlife and provide sustainable food, and there’s one suitable for even the smallest plot. HEAR about how we can make…

Were autumn to ask me what I have learnt from summer, my answer would be: “spadefuls of patience”. I enjoy being firmly in sixth gear at the height of spring, busy sowing, pricking out, planting and ticking off the umpteen other jobs. But this year I did grab the chance to sit down on the pallet bench and simply enjoy the view that I have created. It’s wonderful taking a moment to appreciate how the plot has evolved into a colourful, productive cottage-garden style allotment. But enough of these nostalgic thoughts and back to the here and now. The plot needs a final bit of attention from me before it goes into hibernation. Green manure is sown: soon the whole plot will be covered with dense foliage, which will last…

Step-by-step guide Cold frames are like mini-greenhouses, and they’re incredibly useful bits of kit. Use them to overwinter seedlings or as a halfway house between your windowsill and the open garden when acclimatising young plants gradually to outdoor conditions. You can even grow melons in a large one. Off-the-shelf cold frames are often on the small side and have lights (windows) made of polycarbonate plastic, but you can make your own deluxe zero-carbon version, as big as you like, for just a few quid. 1 FIRST find your window. They’re widely available second hand – online, from architectural salvage yards or (with permission) in building skips. Then make a box to the same dimensions from planks or used pallet wood. 2 MAKE the corner posts taller at the back than…

JUST £7.99 Your Happy House Plants has everything you need to succeed with house plants ◼ Discover easy house plants for every room ◼ Steal our clever styling ideas for any budget ◼ Find the best plants for long-lasting displays ◼ Get plants for free with our propagation tips ON SALE in shops from 29 September (for a limited time only) PRE-ORDER NOW online* magsdirect.co.uk/magazine/gwghp22 Subscribers SAVE 25% online For details, see Subscriber Rewards on pages 28-29 *Online sales incur a £2.25 P&P charge (UK mainland). See Mags Direct for overseas charges…

Great for borders and as long-lasting cut flowers With exotic lily-like blooms in an array of vibrant hues, Alstroemeria Garden Hybrids Mixed adds a bright splash in borders and pots through summer and into autumn. This hardy perennial mix is easy to grow in sun or partial shade. Height x Spread 75cm x 60cm Flowers Jun-Oct ◼ 6 bare roots £13.99 £9.99 SAVE £4 ◼ 12 bare roots + 6 FREE (worth £9.99) £41.97 ONLY £19.98 YOU MAY ALSO LIKE… Agapanthus Blue & White Collection Blue Agapanthus ‘Queen of the Ocean’ and white ‘Polar Ice’ make a striking two-tone display in pots and borders. Their large spherical blooms are also great as cut flowers. HxS 1.2m x 60cm F Jul-Sep ◼ 6 bare roots (3 of each) £17.99 ONLY £11.99 SAVE…

Tie in stems of climbers Pull the stray stems of climbers into their trellis or support structure to train them and tidy this year’s growth. Try to pull them down and tie them in horizontally in order to restrict the sap flow a little – this will encourage those shoots to bear more flowers in the future. Use soft string or twine to secure them instead of wire, which can damage the stems and leaves. Tie them in with the knot against the trellis rather than the stem. Cut back the soft tips of these shoots to a healthy bud. Mulch borders Add a 5cm-thick layer of organic matter to your borders to improve the soil, suppress weed growth and conserve moisture. Tidy through the border first, cutting back any…

Removing oxalis If a weed is a plant in the wrong place, then I have countless weedy oxalis plants in my veg plot. They love the friable fertile soil that has resulted from years of mulching with well-rotted compost. In my unheated greenhouse the shamrock-shaped leaves pop up in the bed between my tomato and basil plants. Digging down, I often find a stubby white taproot, ready to sprout new leaves if I merely cut off the old ones. Three main types of oxalis weeds grow in the UK, two of which produce plentiful seeds, (O. corniculata and O. latifolia). With these, hoeing the ground before flowers are produced is essential, if you don’t have time to dig them up. And in the summer veg plot there is often little…

I can remember, in my dim and distant past (though it actually feels like yesterday), when October was the month that we came to slowly ‘put the garden to bed’, with summer a memory shrouded in autumnal mists. Not any more. There is a chance you’re reading this as the nights are prickling with early frosts – but I doubt it. October frosts are now as rare as a sodden summer. The climate has changed, the seasons shifted and the weather wavered. So, we must adapt. Gardeners are actually rather bad at this. Our inclination is to weather the storm, to trust that next year will be kinder, to look forward with hope as much as experience. But everything is changing – and permanently so. Our gardens must adapt and,…

Let us know what you think about BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine to enter our prize draw Every two years, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine carries out research on behalf of BBC Studios that invites readers to share their views about our magazine and other BBC Studios titles. This essential research is used by the BBC and editors to shape future content and direction for the magazines. We would really appreciate your time in helping us with this research. To take part in the research and be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Amazon Voucher, please visit: bbcstudios.com/survey The survey will take less than 10 minutes and is being conducted according to Market Research Society guidelines. All of your responses are completely confidential. Terms and conditions: The prize is one £250…

Dr Ken Thompson is an ecologist and gardener keen to demystify the science behind our daily gardening practices Garden composting is carried out for free by an army of bacteria, fungi, worms, woodlice, molluscs and insects, requiring no extra input at all, and while many local authorities collect garden waste for composting, doing it at home has the added benefit of no ‘compost miles’. Better still, it needs no fuel for processing and produces a valuable (free!) soil improver you can use in your garden. Almost half the food waste in the average rubbish bin could have been composted. Each home-composting bin means approximately 150kg per household per year* of organic waste that doesn’t need to be collected and processed elsewhere. In turn, home-composting reduces the need to buy in…

Fill your borders and pots with Farmer Gracy’s inspiring range of spring bulbs. Enjoy free P&P on all orders, choosing from the entire range of beautiful varieties, including some intriguing rare finds. Visit the new-look website at farmergracy.co.uk/springbulbs to see the full range. SAVE £4.99 ◼ Tulip ‘Aphrodite’ Silken red petals with bright pink flames. White-edged foliage. Height x Spread 45cm x 15cm Flowers Apr-May 10 bulbs £5.90 ◼ Narcissus ‘Snowtip’ Snowy white flecks at the edges. Hghly fragrant and long-lasting. H x S 40cm x 15cm F Mar-Apr 5 bulbs £7.50 ◼ Muscari Softest blue, romantic shades. Subtle and delightful fragrance. H x S 15cm x 5cm F Mar-Apr 15 bulbs £3.75 ◼ Tulipa praestans ‘Shogun’ Up to six fragrant flowers per stem. Very early flowering. H x S 25cm x 5cm F…

SAVE £7 on Acer palmatum ‘Taylor’ This Japanese maple will make a striking focal point in your garden with its salmon-pink spring foliage that matures to variegated green and cream with a touch of pink. In autumn the leaves turn completely lime green, lighting up the garden before falling. Slow growing and medium-sized, it is best suited to a partially shaded area to provide the shelter, lower light and moisture that pink varieties prefer. Feed each spring and avoid exposed sites as leaves can suffer with windburn, especially if the plant is dry. Supplied as an established plant in a 13cm pot, ready to plant. Height x Spread 2m x 2m ◼ 1 plant in 13cm pot £17.99 SAVE £7 (511247) YOU MAY ALSO LIKE… BLOOMING FAST ACER FEED To give…

Gather a final tomato harvest Trim off all the leaves covering tomato trusses to expose the last fruits to the maximum amount of sunlight, to aid ripening. If you’re keen to clear the plants out of the greenhouse, then either settle for some green fruit or snip off the whole truss and hang it up somewhere dry and bright to ripen a little more. Harvest the tomatoes as the colour turns. If you have to pick green fruits, there are recipes to make the most of them, including stews, pickles and chutneys. Check progress of cuttings Check rooted cuttings and snip off any signs of fungal growth. Take off any leaves that are dying and shoots that are trying to flower. Over winter they must be kept just ticking over…

Harvest pears and remove sick leaves Pick pears before they drop off the tree. They should be firm and have changed colour slightly just before they ripen fully. The sure way to check is to pick one and try it. Pick off any leaves with spots and blotches to reduce fungal infections. Don’t let leaves stay on the ground beneath the tree because they’ll infect new growth next year. Pick them all up and dispose in the municipal green waste bin, where material ends up in a very hot composting system that kills the spores. 20 MINUTES TO SPARE Take hardwood cuttings of currant and gooseberry bushes to make more plants for free. Insert thick, healthy, undamaged stems, 20-30cm long, into deep pots of gritty compost or in trenches, with grit…

Anne Swithinbank A keen fruit, vegetable and house-plant grower, Anne was formerly the glasshouse supervisor at RHS Garden Wisley. Ashley Edwards As a head gardener with charity Horatio’s Garden, Ashley enjoys spreading his love of plants to others. Pippa Greenwood Pippa is one of the foremost experts on pests and diseases. She gardens using organic methods. Q How can I deer-proof my red, white and blue bed? Geraldine Senior, WWII US Air Force Museum, Suffolk A ANNE SAYS Repellents such as Grazers will make shoots and leaves taste foul and put off the deer. These have to be re-applied at least every six weeks and concentrations for diluting into water are usually more economical than ready-to-use sprays. We can also learn from the natural landscape, where young trees are protected…