Amateur Gardening 13-Apr-2019

“Do you find garden centres expensive? They can offer a large variety of plants and will stock a lot of specialist tools and nurturing products, but they are often high in price and low on value. I think many of them are more about selling scented candles, tacky bric-a-brac and food. My local centre has a food hall to rival Fortnum & Mason, but good gardening deals are harder to find. This week, Ruth checked out the plant and garden product content of all the major supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and so on, to see what they can offer and she found some real bargains. See her article on page 7. You could save a few pounds, and avoid the scented candles!”…

1 Looking after your plants well, from when they go in the ground onwards, keeps them healthy and means you’ll spend less money fighting off pests and disease, and shouldn’t need to buy replacements. 2 Nip pests in the bud before small colonies grow into large infestations that need expensive chemicals to keep them in check. Encourage beneficial natural predators, too, such as ladybirds, wild birds and hedgehogs. 3 Why splash out on expensive perennials when you can take cuttings and make lots of new plants for free? Late spring and summer are key times for softwood cuttings of perennials, climbers and shrubs. 4 Recycle plants such as forced indoor hyacinths. After dying back, they can be set outside in light shade and in future years will produce early scent and colour when…

SUPERMARKETS are increasingly catering for the gardening market, selling own-brand composts and fertilisers alongside seeds, bedding plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs. Sure, it’s convenient, and it’s usually competitively priced – but do supermarkets really provide quality goods at accessible prices, or are they offering a false economy? My own experiences have been positive; three years ago, I bought a ‘Jonagold’ apple tree, ‘Conference’ pear and a honeysuckle from Lidl, and all are thriving. Recently, I visited my local supermarkets to see what they offer, checking out Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Asda, Aldi, Lidl and Wilko. Waitrose was the only store I saw selling plants in recyclable taupe pots. Tesco had the widest range of plants, from bedding and summer bulbs (around £3) to fruit trees and shrubs (£6-£12), and Wilko came out on top…

1 Check all the pieces are present, then start fitting together the container framework using the easy-to-follow instructions. 2 Carefully tap all the pieces firmly into the plastic holders (I used a wooden mallet) – otherwise, the lining won’t fit properly. 3 Unfold the sturdy, re-usable lining and place it in the frame so the corners are all aligned. 4 Fold the liner over the framework to create a double thickness. The finished container is a generous size and ideal for larger ornamentals and veggies.…

WITH the first bank holiday since the New Year just a week away, excitement is building in the AG offices. I always think that the Easter break is the ‘proper’ start of the gardening year, when things really start to take off as the temperature warms up. Adding to this year’s anticipation is next week’s free seeds – a packet of Sarah Raven’s stunning Malope trifida ‘Vulcan. These rather unusual and eye-catching plants are laid-back and easy-to-grow, and that will add height to borders with their large, silky trumpets of reddish-pink, each one picked out by a zingy green ‘star’ at its base. Malope like a sunny spot and will attract lots of pollinators to the garden. They should also flower throughout the summer. As well as showing you how to sow your Malope…

WE’RE getting close to the deadline for sowing this year’s tomatoes now. Although plug and mature plants are readily available in garden centres, starting the from seed is easy to do and much more economical. I have sown three batches this year. ‘Shirley’ are reliable croppers and grow well in an unheated greenhouse, and yellow bite-sized ‘Sungold’ explode in little mouthfuls of sweetness. The third variety is ‘Sunchocola’, a new one to me that produce trusses of sweet, reddish-brown fruits. They all germinated, and are now growing well on a warm windowsill, and will soon be ready for pricking out and growing on. Some will grow in the garden against a sunny fence, the rest will live in the greenhouse. Tomatoes are easy to grow. Simply sow the seeds thinly in trays of…