Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från BBC Gardeners' World

Enjoy… The Thrifty Gardener, our new GW Guide, packed with money-saving tips – in shops from 22 August or order online now. Also SAVE online with a Guides bundle – get 40% off our Grow & Cook + Your Garden from Seed bundle. Enter GWGBNDL at checkout. Go to bit.ly/guides-gw Listen to… Monty on behind the scenes at Gardeners’ World, plus highlights from Gardeners’ World Live, including chef’s table talk with Adam Frost and Michel Roux, and flower power with Sue Kent and David Hurrion. Catch new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, plus a bonus episode every Saturday, at GardenersWorld.com/podcast Save… when you subscribe to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine today – get your first 3 issues for only £5, then pay just £27.60 every six issues, saving 32% on the usual shop…

Hydrangeas are pink Hydrangeas are blue I am confused How about you? Welcome to the baffling world of hydrangeas, where the same variety – even the very same plant – can have either pink or blue flowers. And then there’s the ones that partly change colour, and those that don’t change colour at all. The hydrangeas we’re talking about are varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla – macrophylla means ‘big leaf’, and they all have big leaves. But they come in two different flower forms – mophead hydrangeas, with large, rounded flowerheads packed with four-petalled/rayed florets that never set seeds; and lacecap hydrangeas, with fewer ray florets in a ring around a central cluster of tiny seed-producing florets. Now we come to the colour – and it’s all down to aluminium. Soil…

HOT TOPIC Children are the future (of gardens) I read your debate on children’s play equipment in the garden (Over the fence, May issue) with interest. I have long been disappointed at horticultural shows, gardening’s showcase to the masses, by the lack of representation of what constitutes a beautiful garden for a large percentage of us. Namely one that includes beautiful landscaping, planting, sculpture and viewpoints – all the things we normally see at shows – but also includes space to play. How much more inclined would the next generation be to garden when they experience an outdoor space? Please continue the debate. Lucinda, by email I have a suggestion. Please could you do an article on how to garden in a school? I work at my local primary school,…

Bright and beautiful When choosing plants for shady spots, contrast is key – for instance, softer-coloured flowers such as a pale-pink hydrangea can make a dark corner feel less flat. In terms of foliage, heucheras come in endless bright variations that really pop out, such as ‘Lime Marmalade’. This teams up well with a variegated carex like ‘Evergold’, the two being ideal for partial shade alongside the trailing necklace vine (Muehlenbeckia complexa). The great thing about containers in shade is that they retain moisture for longer, so this position is perfect for porous terracotta pots while the weather is still warm. TOP TIPS WE USED ❶ Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Little Pink’ x 1 ❷ Viola ‘Deltini Honey Bee’ x 3 ❸ Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ x 3 ❹ Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’ x…

I regard all the different apple varieties like different wines, each with their own virtue and character, and each good at certain times or associations. But if I absolutely have to choose, my favourites are: Eaters ■ ‘Crimson Queening’ ■ ‘Herefordshire Russet’ ■ ’Jupiter’ ■ ‘Ribston Pippin’ ■ ‘Rosemary Russet’ ■ ’Strawberry Pippin’ Cookers ■ ‘Arthur Turner’ ■ ‘Blenheim Orange’ ■ ‘Hambledon Deux Ans’ ■ ‘Newton Wonder’ ■ ‘Reverend W.Wilks’ ■ ‘Tillington Court’…

September has a melancholy to it, brought on by shorter days and the end of the growing season. I cling to the warmth, relishing rich colours of late-flowering perennials. What was once called an Indian Summer in the UK is now the norm, with summer stretching further into the autumn months. As gardeners we notice changes acutely. British winters are on average growing milder and wetter, summers hotter and drier. Though you wouldn’t guess it from the amount of rain over the last two years! Unpredictability is a real challenge these days for growing crops. Excessive rain rotted almost all of our brassicas last winter and delayed outdoor sowing in spring. But homegrown organic food is part of the solution as it has the potential to hugely reduce our carbon…

September is a great time to start planting daffodil bulbs. It may be early in the bulb-planting season, but daffodils root in well if planted now, and buying them early means you’ll get the widest choice of varieties. Select the largest bulbs you can of each variety and check that they’re firm with no signs of the mould, which can sometimes develop in storage. Most daffodils grow best in a sunny, spot in free-draining soil. They do well in humus-rich soil too, but can’t cope with either waterlogging or long periods of very dry soil. A few varieties, such as ‘Jenny’ and ‘Jack Snipe’, will flower reliably in shade year after year. Daffodils look very pretty naturalised in grass. They can also be grown in containers and among other plants…

STEP BY STEP Transplant and pot verbena Lift self-sown verbena seedlings out of the border to grow on and plant elsewhere. Species such as Verbena bonariensis grow to over 1m high. They look light and airy, so are best placed where you are looking for impact. Pinch out the tops of the seedlings to make them bushier. 1 HOLD the seedling steady and with the other hand lever it out with a trowel. Hold at the base when placing it in a tray. 2 PUT multi-purpose compos into the bottom of a 9cm pot. Hold a seedling in the pot and add more compost. Firm into the centre. 3 WATER the pots well and put the tray in a sheltered spot with plenty of light to grow on – a frame or cold…

Save bean seeds Collect the dry bean pods from French beans and keep the seed to save money on seed packets next spring. The pods will be brown, dry and papery. They’ll open easily and you should find firm, well-formed beans inside. Check each one over as you take them from the pods and look for holes because there is a bean weevil that can bore a hole into the seed and render them useless. These weevils rarely ruin all the beans so you’ll still save enough from the pods that you harvest. Water chard Keep watering chard and spinach to stop it bolting. Thoroughly soak the ground around the plants. Check regularly and don’t let them dry out. Giving extra water should get them through this period when lowering…

September is one of the most beautiful times in the gardening year. In contrast to the zingy, fresh colours of spring, it brings the sultry, muted tones of late-summer flowers, seedheads and, hopefully, soft, autumnal sunshine. When it comes to weather, September is rarely consistent; in some years there’s rain, wind and early storms while in others – which we’ve seen more frequently in recent times – it brings a period of unexpected warmth, usually following a disappointing August. September bridges the gap between the seasons, so temperatures tend to be warm enough to make end-of-summer jobs such as seed saving and tidying up pleasant tasks. It’s also cool enough to allow us to trim hedges wearing the heavier, safer clothing required in comfort. What we certainly won’t have yet…

Q What ate my daffs and can I protect next year’s? Melanie Webb, Oxfordshire A ANNE SAYS I suspect there is more than one culprit here, but the flowers pictured have been ravaged by slugs and snails. I’ve been gardening my whole life and this spring has been the worst ever for the damage they cause. Following a mild, damp autumn and winter, this started early, on newly planted broad beans and bulb flowers. Checking after dark revealed plants that were smothered in these molluscs, so for weeks I was out there every night picking them off. I put them in the ‘wilderness’ at the end of our garden or out in the green lane where they could chomp on decaying undergrowth instead. You also have broken stems, which suggests…

Embrace the autumn ◼ Get your garden in shape with Adam’s autumn action plan ◼ Grow a bumper garlic harvest with tips on the best varieties ◼ Help hibernating wildlife hunker down for winter Expand your horizons ◼ Discover how to use grasses for the best autumn crescendo ◼ Explore the world’s best green spaces – and how to visit them Worth £12 15 FREE* Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’ bulbs when you buy an allium or tulip collection Choose vibrant alliums and tulips for long-lasting spring colour, and receive 15 free Narcissus ‘Têteà-tête’ bulbs with your purchase – one of the most popular miniature daffodil varieties. *P&P charge applies PLUS… Spotlight on house martins ◼ Hassle-free autumn harvests ◼ Climate-conscious design ◼ 50+ things to do now…

I’m writing this welcome letter fresh from a perfect weekend spent in the garden. The weather was glorious (dry and not too hot or cold), I spent hours pottering, and we had friends round for some food, which we enjoyed eating outdoors well into the evening. Yes, weekends like this are rare but, for once, the odds were in my family’s favour. The food we served up wasn’t fancy, but I was able to use a few things I’d grown – pea shoots, tomatoes and basil – to pep things up a bit, which felt great. I enjoyed nipping down to my veg beds and taking my modest bounty straight from plot to plate and felt pride when our visitors seemed to be impressed with my homegrown efforts. And that’s…

Outdoor spaces top home-buyer wish-list charts Gardens remain top of the wish-list for homebuyers in 2024. According to a new poll by AA Home Insurance, as many as 43 per cent of respondents said that a garden was their main priority when house hunting. Property website Rightmove agrees that garden demand is at an all-time high, with ‘garden’ featuring in its top 10 of most searched-for keywords, up 6.4 per cent on last year. “Usually home-movers tell us kitchen photographs are most important in a property advert, but now estate agents should consider giving greater prominence to pictures of gardens and outdoor spaces,” says Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister. It’s expected that more than one million properties will be bought and sold this year, with the average house price being…

Star performers The salvia’s tubular flowers are perfect for long-tongued bees, and many bee species, including the common carder, see purple more clearly than other colours. The open, daisy-like flowers of rudbeckia are popular feeding stations for butterflies, too. For optimum flowering right into autumn, use fertile compost, place your pot in full sun and water regularly. But before the first frost, move it into a porch or greenhouse to protect the half-hardy salvia. The rudbeckia is fully hardy and can be transplanted into the garden. We used ❶ Salvia ‘Amistad’ x 1 ❷ Rudbeckia ‘Little Goldstar’ x 1 ❸ Fibreglass cube pot, 35cm x 35cm Hot heads The open flowers of the dahlia and rudbeckia provide easy rewards for pollinators until the first frost. The verbena’s clusters of tiny,…

“We must scrutinise the activities we carry out in our gardens to ensure they are beneficial to the wider environment” Gardens have always been thought of as an oasis, a place of calm, solace, beauty. Flowers are revered and vegetables prized in our plots. We like to think that gardening is good for us but, in a world where our actions are taking their toll on nature, we must scrutinise even the activities we carry out in our gardens to ensure they are sustainable and beneficial to the wider environment. The Wildlife Trust has estimated that private gardens in Britain add up to over 10 million acres – an area bigger than all of the country’s nature reserves combined. This network of gardens has the potential to complement the nation’s…

The New Forest Collection offers five delightful hotels and inns, all ideally located in the beautiful New Forest national park. As a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine reader, you can save 20 per cent on a relaxing stay this autumn. Choose from Bartley Lodge, Beaulieu Inn, Burley Manor, Forest Lodge and Moorhill House. Plus, receive a 20 per cent discount on tickets to the award-winning Exbury Gardens, one of Europe’s leading woodland gardens with more than 200 acres of beautiful woodland glades to explore. Each New Forest Collection hotel enjoys the spectacular natural backdrop of the forest and has its own beautiful gardens and grounds to stroll or play in, making them the perfect base from which to explore the New Forest’s many attractions. Whichever property you choose, you’ll find the perfect…

Remove wandering perennials Pull out the shoots of exuberant perennials, such as stachys, if they are beginning to swamp their neighbours. Brunnera, phlomis, geranium and pulmonaria are also likely culprits. The large leaves growing against evergreen shrubs or hedges can cause unsightly dieback at the base, so keep plants clear of them. You can use a trowel but most will pull easily, roots and all, if you hold them firmly at the base. This won’t damage the plant, and it will soon recover and carry on growing. QUICK SOLUTIONS Check hedges for signs of leading shoots that are growing too tall. Strong upright shoots can quickly spoil the shape of the hedge and discourage branching if untamed. Cut back to keep the hedge the shape you want. Sow into lawn…

Give your shears a good clean, then sharpen them ready to put to good use during your autumn tidy-up. Sharp shears make trimming jobs easier, with clean cuts helping the plants to recover quickly. Now is a good time to do a final hedge trim of the year, as it will stay looking neat right through winter, and with the nesting season well over, there’s no chance of disturbing the birdlife in your garden. Reshape any topiary now too, because there’s still a few weeks of warmth left for the outer growth to thicken and recover. It’s also time to trim back any longer areas of grass. Disturb the area first by swishing with a cane, so creatures such as frogs and toads move out before you start. Afterwards, leave…

Invest in a gorgeous collection of Japanese anemones, perfect for extending the season of interest. Two are award-winning varieties that have been recognised by the RHS for their dependability and garden performance. Flowers commence in June and bloom successionally through to October on long, strong stems that will sway elegantly in the autumn breeze; they are loved by pollinators. Plant them in containers, borders and beds where they will add height and harmony. ◼ Anemone × hybrida ‘Königin Charlotte’ Height x Spread 1.5m x 60cm Flowers Aug-Oct 1 plant in 2L pot £16 (K37807) ◼ Anemone × hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ H x S 1.2m x 1.2m F Aug-Oct 1 plant in 2L pot £16 (K40971) ◼ Anemone hupehensis ‘Prinz Heinrich’ F Jul-Sep H x S 1m x 75cm 1 plant in 2L pot £16 (K36769) JAPANESE…

Scan QR code for more great deals on a range of products Transform your garden with months of vibrant colour each year. From February right through to June enjoy a dazzling array of colours and variety of shapes from these brilliant plants. Versatile and perfect for borders, flower beds, pots and containers for colourful displays, bulbs can naturalise through grass, providing bigger and better displays each year. 300-variety collection includes: ◼ Ipheion mix (90 bulbs) Height x Spread 15cm x 5cm Flowers Mar-Apr ◼ Triumph tulips mixed (15 bulbs) H x S 40cm x 15cm F Apr-May ◼ Allium moly (90 bulbs) H x S 25cm x 10cm F Apr-Jun ◼ Allium sphaerocephalon ‘Drumsticks’ (50 bulbs) H x S 90cm x 10cm F May-Jun ◼ Muscari armeniacum (25 bulbs) H x S 20cm x 10cm F…

I have been reassessing my vegetable growing. For years – over half a century and counting – I have grown vegetables as a kind of ritualistic routine, largely unquestioning as to why, where, when and what. There are variations from year to year and the occasional introduction of something new and hitherto untried, but the general drift and direction has been unwavering. Growing a well-stocked and highly productive vegetable garden has been at the core of any garden I have been associated with since I was a boy. I do not plan to change this. I love both growing and eating vegetables of (almost) all kinds and intend to keep on doing so until I am too infirm to sow a seed. But the detail does demand some scrutiny and…

LIMITED PLACES! BOOK NOW It’s never too early to think about Christmas, so why not join the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team for a day of festive fun on Thursday 12 December 2024, and immerse yourself in the wonder of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, a Belmond Hotel. During this special day you’ll learn the art of creating a stunning table display to impress your guests. There will also be a cookery demonstration, led by the talented chefs in The Raymond Blanc Cookery School as they unveil the secrets behind crafting a delicious festive dish. You’ll then join a champagne reception followed by a three-course, two-Michelin starred lunch with accompanying wines, featuring a menu that reflects the Christmas spirit in every bite. Book your place now and treat yourself to an…

Oh oobee doo.. SAVE £15 The former home of Nobel Prize-winning writer Rudyard Kipling, Bateman’s in Burwash, East Sussex, is a novel destination to channel your inner main character (or man cub). Tread between the lines of the kitchen garden, which has sweeping views of the house where Kipling penned his classic The Jungle Book, and, if you are in search of adventure, like Mowgli and co, trace the author’s steps along herbaceous borders, past tightly clipped yew trees out into the main estate to embark on inspirational rambles. ENTRY OFFER House & gardens: 2 for 1 £15. Open all year. Visit bit.ly/batemans-garden In the Knowe SAVE £6 Immerse yourself in the flora of The Manor, in Hemingford Grey, where Lucy M Boston wrote her much-loved children’s books. Here, imagine…

Part 9 The colour finale Over the last nine issues I’ve tried to share with you every useful thing I know about colour in the garden. From seasonality and succession to longevity, colour palettes, how to use the colour wheel and colour combinations that work. In this final instalment of my colour series, I want to recap on the most useful salient tips and ideas that you can apply to your garden. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to achieve desirable colour combinations, long flowerings and ever evolving seasonal displays. Turn your garden into the year-round carnival of colour you’ve always dreamed of with my inspiring but achievable garden colour ideas. But before you even start to consider the colours you want to use in your garden, it’s worth…

Where space is limited pot-grown herbs are an obvious choice for a sunny doorstep or windowsill. Most of them are best on an outdoor windowsill (they grow leggy and lack flavour indoors) with the exception of basil. Regular sowings will keep up your supply. Terracotta herb pots with those protruding pockets are fine on doorsteps and patios for things like thyme, marjoram and oregano, but make sure that the entire bulk of compost is moistened when you are watering. It is a good idea to insert a small water bottle down the centre of the pot before filling with compost. Make perforations with a skewer down the sides of the bottle so when it is filled with water it is slowly released right through the compost. Simple but effective. Pots…

There are many effective ways to preserve and store your harvest without wasting any part of it. For example, you can add fresh chopped herbs to a bowl with oil, mix them in, then pour the mixture into ice-cube trays to make your very own herb bombs. These can be used as the base for any of your favourite dishes. Another great way to use all those leftover food scraps when you finish cooking is to store onion skins and vegetable peelings in a ziplock bag. At the end of the week, you can dehydrate them, then blend them to make stock powder. You can also add different flavourings to match your taste buds. If you end up with a bumper harvest of chillies, you can dehydrate them and store…

◼ Tulipa Supri Erotic Chalky-white petals with a flush of yellow and pink tips. Perfect cut flower. Height x Spread 40cm x 15cm Flowers Apr-May 10 bulbs £8.90 NOW £7.57 ◼ Tulipa ‘Flames Mystery’ Twisted, pointed fiery-red petals with creamy base. RHS Award. H x S 30cm x 15cm F Mar-Apr 10 bulbs £6.50 NOW £5.53 ◼ Narcissus Casanova New split-corona daffodil. White and apricot-pink blooms. H x S 40cm x 15cm F Mar-Apr 5 bulbs £7.50 NOW £6.38 ◼ Gladiolus ‘Vulcano’ Dwarf gladiolus in fuchsia pink to white, with purple blotches. H x S 60cm x 15cm F Jul-Aug 10 corms £5.50 NOW £4.68 ◼ Crocus Silver Coral Elongated cups in a crisp white, brushed with soft violet. Naturalising and multiplying. H x S 10cm x 5cm F Feb-Mar 10 bulbs £5.90 NOW £5.02…

Snip the old flowerheads off any marigolds that you planted earlier in the season to deter whitefly from settling on your crops. The pungent smell coming from these plants confuses the flies, especially in a sheltered situation such as a greenhouse, and deadheading or even just brushing past them releases even more of the chemical responsible. Deadheading keeps the flowers coming for several weeks yet. Snap them off with your fingers, or use snippers, then put the trimmings onto the compost heap. Use vents for heat and air control The difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures increases at this time of year, so open vents for warm periods and close them again at night. Greenhouse temperatures can rise quickly in sunny weather and plummet at night, stressing the plants inside…

STEP BY STEP Take pachyphytum leaf cuttings Taking leaf cuttings is an easy way to propagate many types of succulents – suitable candidates include this pachyphytum, along with echeverias, aeoniums and some crassulas. Remove one or more leaves and place on a clean tray for 24 hours until the cut end dries out and forms a callus. Then insert into a pot of free-draining compost to root. 1 LOOK for perfectly formed leaves around the lower part of the stem and snap them off with a sharp tug down and away. The leaves need to have a clean break from the point where they’re attached to the stem. 2 USE a terracotta pot for these cuttings. Drainage is important so fill the pot with a loam-based propagation compost mixed with…

Overwintering gladioli The showy gladiolus hybrids make a striking impact in the summer garden, but they’re not one-hit wonders and can be stored over winter to produce a display again next year. These hybrids are not reliably hardy, so leaving them in the ground in winter isn’t an option. Instead, fork the plants out of borders and containers once the leaves start to turn yellow and before any frosts in your garden. Early autumn is the time to do this. Allow the plants to dry out a little on a rack, until the foliage turns brown. Then trim the leaves down to around 5cm and attend to the bulb-like storage organs, known as corms. A new corm will be at the top, next to the dead foliage. Keep this and…