Amateur Gardening 18-Aug-2018

EARLIER this year, Mr Fothergill’s announced the launch of its Optigrow range, which uses revolutionary Swedish seed-priming technology. The company claims that Optigrow seeds ‘promise superfast germination’, producing more uniform crops, better harvests and quality vegetables. It also claims that ‘germination becomes possible under a wider range of conditions, allowing gardeners to sow Optigrow seeds in colder, warmer and drier conditions than the ideal’. Intrigued by this, we at AG decided to put this new range to the test by sowing four Mr Fothergill’s Optigrow varieties alongside their untreated (‘standard’) equivalents (see AG 10 March). The seeds were Cauliflower Triomphant F1, Leek Cairngorm F1, Parsnip Gladiator F1 and Tomato Ferline F1. The story so far I have detailed when each batch of seed was sown and how it germinated elsewhere on these pages,…

WITH their mix of perennials and annuals, our borders have been a picture this summer despite the hot, dry weather. A few plants have perished (a couple of nemesia and one or two nicotianas keeled over in the arid conditions) and the sweet peas aren’t as prolific as usual, but everything else has survived so far. I’m amazed the beds are looking as good as they are, as most of our saved water (grey water poured from washing-up bowls into watering cans) has been given to the tomatoes and other fruit and veg. The rest of the garden has been watered with the hosepipe just once or twice, giving plants a good dousing in cool evenings or mornings. I’ve also been keeping up with weeding, as most are more robust than cultivated…

Our slightly crazy wildlife garden, with its wild areas, unmown lawn and emphasis on native and insect-friendly plants, has loved the hot weather. Because our soil is thin and chalky, we grow plants suited to harsher conditions – they have thrived and attracted many bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths. Silvery stachys, or lamb’s ear, has furry leaves that help it cope with arid conditions, so it doesn’t need much care or watering. It flowers for months, is a wonderful plant for texture and contrast in borders, and its elegant spires of pinky flowers are a magnet for butterflies. Herbs, thistles, daisy-like flowers such as marigolds and echinacea, and hardy native plants can handle adverse conditions and will bring in pollinators and pest predators.…

SUMMER is a good time for rock garden plants and alpines, when many are flowering well and looking their best. Although they are tough plants that are used to inhospitable climates, they dislike our dismal winters, when constantly wet ground can cause low-growing varieties to rot. They usually thrive in warmer weather, flowering well and spreading over the rockery. This summer has been a tough one even for robust alpines, which are starting to look rather weary. Water when you can and keep removing weeds that will take any available moisture and nutrients from the soil. Low-growing, mat-forming plants such as aubrietia may have collapsed outwards, leaving their straw-like heart exposed. Cut them back hard and water well and they should soon recover. If you look carefully, you should be able to spot new…

FEW things are as beautiful or quintessentially English as a froth of mauve or white wisteria flowers cascading down the sunny wall of a house. However, these vigorous climbers have a reputation for being reluctant to flower, possibly because those grown from seed can take up to 20 years to bloom and young grafted plants that have already flowered can be prone to attacks by mice and birds, and may lose flower buds to late frosts. Encourage your wisteria to flower by pruning it at the right time. Tidy it up in late winter so flower buds won’t be obscured by foliage, and remove long whippy shoots now, in late summer. Summer pruning simply involves reducing the current year’s growth to five or six leaves once flowering has finished in July or…

A FOUR-YEAR restoration project has culminated in the reopening of the pagoda and the recreation and restitution of the 80 dragons that first adorned the building 257 years ago, writes Garry Coward-Williams. The Great Pagoda has been an important feature of Kew Gardens since it was built in 1762. It was the second tallest building in Britain at 163 feet high, and a design project so extraordinary that many believed it would collapse. It was seen as a miracle of Georgian engineering and a strange wonder from the exotic east, like an erstwhile London Eye, but it was not accessible to the general public — only to guests and friends of King George III. Those lucky enough were able to enjoy never-before-seen views of the countryside, reaching out to London in the…