Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från BBC Gardeners' World

Buddleia Why do we grow buddleias (or Buddleja to use the scientific name)? Two reasons: because they look wonderful and because they attract butterflies. Oh, and they’re fragrant. That’s three reasons. They also have a long flowering season, and tolerate a wide range of soils, as long as the site is sunny. Pruning couldn’t be easier. So that’s six reasons to grow buddleias. But wait. According to a company that specialises in the control of invasive plants, buddleia is now “undergoing a reputation reconstruction”. What on earth does that mean? Well, I suppose it had to happen. Buddleias produce huge amounts of windblown seeds unless deadheaded regularly. And we’ve all seen them growing along railway lines and in other sunny, well-drained locations where their seeds land. A favourite site is…

Handy crop-protection tips I have a couple of simple but effective tips to share, to help deter slugs and to protect cherries from birds. The first is my son Tim’s idea – use a piece of sandpaper to make a scratchy barrier no slug will want to slide across. Simply cut it to the size of your plant pot with a ‘keyhole’ in the middle for the plant stem. I find that both new and used sandpaper works. The other tip is my gardening buddy Sheila’s brilliant idea, to help protect a crop of cherries from voracious birds. Just secure an open umbrella at the top of your tree, to hide the cherries and allowing netting to be easily draped over the tree. John Senior, Norfolk Joining forces for good…

There’s a groundswell of opinion pointing us to only growing single flowers, so that we can do as much as we can to support our dwindling numbers of pollinators. But, as in all areas, variety is the spice of life. Consideration for pollinators should be paramount when we’re planting, but we also need to feed the human soul. This is where double flowers come into their own. Some people will only be drawn to single flowers, but the ‘stop you in your tracks’ kind of flower will often be a double. If we’re trying to get more people to connect with nature, to connect with plants, then it’s often the slightly over-the-top doubles that get noticed. Here I’m thinking of multi-petalled roses and huge-flowered dahlias such as ‘Café au Lait’.…

A resilient summer planter This adaptable planter combination is ideal for our unpredictable climate, including hot, dry spells. It showcases drought-tolerant, colourful perennials that bloom well into autumn with minimal watering. With pollinator-friendly verbena in the mix this varied height display also offers long lasting nectar support. Sustainable planting is also factored in via hardy perennials that die back in winter but should return readily in spring. While frost-hardy santolina can either keep interest going in the container or be planted out as a great dwarf evergreen shrub. It also outperforms less pestresilient options such as box. TOP TIPS WE USED ➊ Erigeron karvinskianus x 2 ➋ Oenothera lindheimeri Geyser White x 2 ➌ Verbena bonariensis x 2 ➍ Symphyotrichum novibelgii ‘Lady in Blue’ x 2 ➎ Santolina chamaecyparissus x…

This is ideal for kids who like to see change happening before their eyes. It also entails sowing large numbers of seeds in a small space, which children seem to love doing. Variations include creating shapes rather than letters, growing out of eggshells, and trying different coloured microgreens. Tools and materials Tray with drainage holes Peat-free seed compost or coir Microgreens seeds Clear tray with no drainage holes (to act as a lid) Plant mister Tasty microgreens to try ■ Mustard ■ Kale ■ Pak choi ■ Pea shoots (these get big!) ■ Broccoli How to make your microgreen letters Choose a tray with drainage holes and fill it with damp peat-free seed compost, or you can use coir. Gently make an indent of the letter you want into the…

If we’re lucky, August usually gives us the very best of summer with warm days, lots of flowers and plenty of crops to eat. Tomatoes and courgettes are in full swing for us and part of our daily routine is to pick, prep and enjoy! I have to confess, though, with tomatoes I mainly pick and enjoy straight from the plant. There’s something about this month that feels more relaxed than others because most of the hassle of gardening is front-loaded to spring, allowing us to savour the result of our work now. For me, there is nothing better than sitting at the top of our garden of an evening with a plate full of organic food we’ve grown, looking out at the birds, bees and butterflies whizzing around the…

It’s wonderful having a tiny assistant to pick tomatoes for me daily, and they’re going into everything from the pasta dish this month to quick 10-minute curries with ginger and spinach. For the curry – my sister’s favourite – you just fry thinly sliced onions in hot oil with lots of freshly grated ginger, garlic and a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and when the onions are a lovely golden brown (about 10 minutes, stirring frequently), add in halved cherry tomatoes with salt and a pinch of chilli powder. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes – you want the tomatoes softened but not broken down – then add about 300g of roughly chopped young spinach. Let it wilt in the pan, prodding a few times, then add the juice of half a…

Move foxglove plugs to pots Biennials such as foxgloves, sown in trays earlier in summer, are ready to move to individual pots once they have started to develop a good root system. Gently turn the tray on its side to loosen the plants, then pot them into 8cm or 10cm pots of peat-free multi-purpose compost. Water the plants well and grow them on in a sheltered corner for a few weeks as they put on more roots, then plant them out towards the end of next month in a semi-shaded spot. Take care of exotics Give exotics some extra attention now. The ground temperature stays high, which means they carry on growing into October. Keep deadheading for more blooms. Soak them regularly, adding a liquid fertiliser once a week. Give…

Take coleus cuttings Make more coleus plants by taking cuttings of these leafy, tender plants. Taking cuttings ensures that you get exactly the same rich leaf colours as the parent plant. Find a plastic bag and wet it inside before snipping off long shoots and putting them straight into the bag. Choose the best coloured and healthiest shoots – the thicker the stems, the better. Cut them off with scissors above a pair of leaves so the plant can recover and grow more shoots from that point. The key to success is keeping the cuttings from drying out. If you can’t make the cuttings straightaway, keep them cool in the bag until you can. Storing them in your fridge salad drawer overnight is fine. Coleus, now named Solenostemon, come in…

Support developing melons Melon fruits can get quite heavy as they swell, and while the short stalk attaching them to the stem is strong, the stem itself can buckle. So it’s best to make a support for each fruit – old fruit nets are perfect, or use pieces of mesh or breathable fabric, such as hessian. Tie them to a strong support, letting the fruit sit in them like a hammock – don’t force the fruit up, just support it where it is. Expect up to five fruits per plant. Remove any further flowers, to help the existing fruit develop well. Don’t forget □ Remove greenhouse shading at the end of the month to give your plants maximum light levels□ Cut off some of the lower leaves from tomato plants□…

For me the magic of a UK summer can’t be beaten. Admittedly, the weather doesn’t always behave itself but, when it does, there’s something glorious about summer at home. I think it could be linked to the long summer break from school and, even though my days in education are long gone, everything always feels more relaxed and less frantic when school’s out. Of course, summertime is usually when we use our gardens the most, and if the weather’s fine they become playgrounds for kids or an entertaining space for friends and family. Our summer gardens are also that place for a quiet coffee before work or a glass of wine at the end of the day. Put simply, life in a summer garden is good. So why not treat…

A phrase in July’s The Full Monty column struck a massive chord with me: “Money can buy you the world’s most wonderful garden, but not horticultural happiness. “Having only started to garden in the past five years and beginning with a blank canvas and small budget, I have had to buy small. I’ve learned how to take cuttings rather than buy plants and I’ve used all my seeds from this magazine. I’ve also learned to work with the shade/sun, soil and pots that I have. I now feel justified with Monty’s piece reiterating how we create our own individual garden and how it’s not a competition. The magic that happens in the garden amazes me every day. Karen Jackson, by email What a lovely article by Monty in July’s edition…

AI prompts winds of change in gardening Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionise the world of horticulture. With applications as diverse as water-efficient crop production, robot mowers that can ‘learn’ your lawn, automated plant recognition and creative inspiration for garden design, it’s an area of technology that’s packed with potential – and evolving fast. “AI means different things to different people,” explains Tom Heseltine, Chief Technical Officer at AI Consultancy, Deeper Insights. “Since around 2014, AI has come to mean any software capable of machine-learning based on ‘deep neural networks’ – a technology that is able to mimic the human brain to a certain extent, as opposed to a computer programme that’s crafted according to very precise instructions. “One of the latest innovations is the use of computer…

Plant of the month Plants to look out for at Great Dixter in August include dahlias: ‘Magenta Star’ plays a leading role, alongside phlox and penstemons. Christo was almost wholly responsible for bringing back the dahlia from the relative obscurity of the vegetable plot and show bench to centre stage in our borders. August is the time to see them at their best. Combined with some of the showiest salvias, they’re an expression of this time of the year when our gardens are at their zenith. Fruit is ripening and the vegetable garden is at its most fecund. It’s a celebration. Take notes! Attracting wildlife The range of habitats at Great Dixter means that not only is a diverse range of creatures and plants catered for, but visitors can gather…

Creative, fun and messy – everything that children enjoy. This project allows your child to pick the vegetables they want to use, create shapes, and design something they can keep forever. If you don’t have a vegetable patch, store-bought veg is fine, or use other plant parts such as different-shaped leaves, petals or whole flowerheads. Tools and materials Selection of vegetables Knife and chopping board (requires adult supervision) Non-toxic acrylic paint Ceramic or terracotta pots Fruit and veg to try ■ Carrots ■ Potatoes ■ Cucumber ■ Peppers ■ Courgettes ■ Spring onions ■ Apples ■ Broccoli How to make your veg print pots Harvest your chosen vegetables – firm root vegetables, such as potatoes and carrots, work well. Cut the vegetables into shapes of your choice or use them…

■ Don’t overwater – only certain flowers with firmer stems, such as hydrangeas and lilacs, like deep water. Most softer stems will not enjoy this. ■ Always cut the stems on an angle. This increases the surface area so more water can be taken up. You can also split woodier stems down the middle. Removing unwanted leaves from the stems means that the flower will be the priority. ■ Revive wilted stems and help prolong their life by plunging them into a few inches of just-boiled water for between 10 seconds and one minute, depending on the thickness of the stems. Another technique is to burn the ends with a lighter. ■ Keep the water clean with a quarter tablet of Milton steriliser if required, which will stop the build-up…

Water well in summer Use a watering can to soak big containers, pouring until you see water running out from the base. Water smaller pots by submerging in a bucket of water for 30 minutes, then let them drain. Feed flowers and fruits Most compost mixes only include enough slow-release nutrients for up to six weeks. Supplement flowering or fruiting plants weekly with a high-potash liquid feed until they finish cropping. Remove spent plants Take out spent plants and put them on the compost heap, freeing up their pots for other crops. The nutrients from this compost can help support future crops. Collect ripe seeds Borage is a good example. Seeds turn from green to dark brown when they are ready to harvest. On a dry day, tap the seedheads…

Sow cornflowers Sow hardy annuals such as cornflowers now, so they have a head start and germinate this autumn, then overwinter as young plants and flower early next summer. Sowing annuals is a really cheap way of filling an area with summer colour. Choose an area that can be cleared of other vegetation or create some gaps in perennial borders. These annuals need plenty of sunshine and good drainage, but they grow well with little nutrition so there’s no need for added fertiliser on most soils. The seeds will germinate within a few days. Thin out the seedlings to 10cm apart, water them in dry spells and protect from slugs and snails. Sowing now is particularly good if you’re growing for cut flowers, as the plants will bloom a bit…

Despite being the peak summer season, August is a time when the garden begins its slow wind-down into its autumnal stages. So late-summer flowers are coming to the fore, foliage – especially grasses – are starting to turn ochre and fade, and when the wind picks up, long stems may begin to flop. Gardens that are frequently deadheaded, well staked and tidied can come into their own at this time, and visually this is my favourite season if planned and prepared for. Birds usually stop nesting now, so hedge-cutting season can begin again (after you’ve checked the hedge carefully), and it’s getting towards the end of the pruning season for anything tender that needs to heal over before colder autumn weather arrives. Flopped and faded herbaceous perennials can often be…

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“August slipped away into a moment in time”Taylor Swift STAR OF THE MONTH Zinnia ‘Swizzle Scarlet and Yellow’ For no particular reason I am oddly attracted to plants that begin with unusual letters. I am a sucker for a xanthoceras, a xanthium, a zizia and, of course, a zinnia. They are native to the wide American prairies but are remarkably compliant when it comes to hybridising, so there are loads of different varieties that we can grow in our gardens. They can be a tad temperamental as they dislike root disturbance, but sow direct and persevere as they are a bundle of brightness. They are also, as you can see, very good for encouraging pollinating insects. Give them lots of sunshine and warmth. The better the summer, the happier your…

This spring and summer I have made a tightly mown and evenly green lawn. This is slightly surprising because I have long been on record for advocating replacing lawns with long grass, ideally filled with naturalised flowers. The more wildflower meadows we have, the better it is for insects and thus the better for our ecology. A wildflower meadow looks beautiful and greatly enhances the quality of life of the gardener, as well as the garden and its wildlife. I visited Great Dixter in early June – my first visit there for 30 years – and the meadows were breathtakingly beautiful. My visit to Dixter was part of the grand tour around the British Isles that I have been making over the past 12 months for my new TV series,…

Whether you’ve got your eye on a rudbeckia or you’ve been checking out a cosmos, or maybe you’re just looking for a great deal, this month BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine readers can save 20% when shopping with our partner Hayloft. Based in Worcestershire, this established nursery offers a wide range of unique and rare bulbs, perennials, annuals and shrubs – the perfect reason to try something new today. 2 EASY WAYS TO ORDER 01386 426245 Quote code GWAU hayloft.co.uk Use code GWAU at checkout Please add £4.95 postage to your order Terms & conditions: Offer excludes delivery and some products; not valid with any other offer. Offer closes 31 August 2024. Please note your contract for supply of goods is with Hayloft, Manor Farm, Pensham, Worcs WR103HB. Please add £4.95…

Knights’ delight Situated near Coventry, Kenilworth Castle is the archetypal Elizabethan garden. Once considered a formidable fortress, it was transformed by Robert Dudley to impress Elizabeth I. It still delights to this day, with its painstakingly restored garden, colourful planting and spectacular views from its tower. It is the perfect place for history buffs and horticulturalists, and has plenty of activities including jousting in July and a knights’ tournament on 24-26 August. ENTRY OFFER Castle/garden: 2 for 1 £14.50, single reduced by 25%. Booking recommended: use code BBCGARDEN24124 for 2 for 1, BBCGARDEN2525 for single.* Visit english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworth Beauty awakened For half a century, Lowther Castle, in Cumbria, was little more than a scattering of ruins among the rugged Lakeland hills. Starting in 2008, these ruins were transformed by RHS Chelsea…

Want to instil a sense of independence and wonder in your child? Simply set them up to create a mini world for wildlife, such as ladybirds and bees. We used edible herbs as part of our mini landscape, which Annabel loved, but let your child’s imagination run free using wildlife-friendly plants and flowers. Tools and materials Large pot Peat-free compost Small wildlife-friendly plants x 3-4 Gravel Small pot saucer Miniature figures (optional) Fun plants to try ■ Variegated trailing ivy ■ Thyme ■ Rosemary ■ Miniature rose ■ Marigold ■ Trailing campanula ■ Brachyscome ■ Erigeron ■ Viola ■ Blue pimpernel How to make your mini wildlife world Fill a large pot three-quarters full with the peat-free compost, leaving a space for topping up. Take the wildlife-friendly plants out of…

Allium Red Giant Star Giant flowerheads in deep-red/purple. A magnet for pollinators. Height x Spread 30cm x 20cm Flowers May-Jun 5 bulbs £3.75 Narcissus ‘Sailboat’ Creamy-white petals and a gorgeous scent. H x S 30cm x 10cm F Mar-Apr 10 bulbs £6.90 Tulip Nightmare Darkest tulip available. H x S 60cm x 15cm F Apr-May 3 bulbs £9.90 Amaryllis ‘Terra Mystica’ Earthy tones of burnt orange. H x S 50cm x 20cm F Dec-Jan 1 bulb £14.90 Fritillaria ‘Helena’ Primrose-yellow crown imperial. Flamboyant and classy. H x S 80cm x 25cm F Apr-May 1 bulb £8.50 Tulip ‘Callahan’ Large double flowerheads in copper, orange and deep pink. H x S 40cm x 10cm F Apr-May 5 bulbs £7.25 Muscari Alaska Powder-blue grape hyacinth. H x S 10cm x 5cm F…

Tidy up heucheras Give your heucheras a makeover by cleaning them up now, when there is still time for them to send out fresh new growth. Trim back the old flower stems, then snip out the oldest, tatty leaves right at the base. Remove whole shoots if they’re really past their best. Then pick out any debris that has settled in and around them too, as it provides cover for slugs and snails. This quick and easy tidy-up will let light into the plant and stimulate more leaves. These will have the strong foliage colour that attracted you to the plant in the first place. Prune wisteria to keep it in check Trim back the whippy shoots of wisteria that have grown after the flowers finished. Cut these stems back…

Tie in squashes this month Squash plants being trained up supports need regular tying in through the month as the stems get longer and stronger, to help support the plant and prevent stems from becoming tangled. While squashes will naturally climb using their tendrils, help is needed to keep heavy stems with developing fruits firmly in place. Tie the stems using soft string or twine and secure them without tying so tight that growth is being crushed. Having a secure, trained plant makes it easy to see developing fruits, so support them with nets or even old tights before they start to get heavy. Prune raspberries Cut out old raspberry canes now that they’ve finished fruiting and tie in the new canes for next year. The old canes are mid-season…

Bring in the harvest ◼ Monty shares how he grows apples and pears at Longmeadow ◼ Alan picks his favourite herbs to grow for flavour ◼ Preserve your produce, from pickling and drying, to the best kit ◼ High-yield, low-effort crops to harvest, sow and grow now We share our ultimate spring bulb combos 100 FREE* allium bulbs for every reader, worth £23.51 Add height, and create contrasting shapes and textures with these striking alliums. A great addition to the spring and early-summer garden, they look especially good when planted among herbaceous perennials and as cut flowers, too. *Just pay £5.95 postage PLUS… Visit a small-space garden ◼ Support garden wildlife ◼ More family projects ◼ Over 50 things to grow now…