Amateur Gardening 23-Oct-2021

“Compost, both peat and peat-free, is set to go up in price next year (see News, page 6). This is not good news for AG readers, but it has been on the cards for some time. Truth is that compost has been underpriced for a long time, and cheap multi-deals have been used by garden centres and DIY centres as an inducement to get people in store. However, rising costs of growing media ingredients have reached a point where producers have no choice but to pass some of that on and we will have to pay extra. Perhaps this will encourage more people to create their own compost, which is much better for the environment.” Contact us: Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 Editorial: 0330 3903732 Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Advertising: 0330 3906566…

THE success of your garden stands or falls on the state of your soil and in autumn, after a hard summer of growing, it is time to give it some TLC. If your soil is heavy and clay-based, this is the ideal moment to dig in lots of organic matter (rotted compost or manure) and grit to open it up, improve drainage and help prevent waterlogging and flooding this winter. Digging in well-rotted organic matter will also benefit thin, chalky soil as it gives it more heft, improving its ability to retain water and hold on to any fertilisers you add over the coming months. It is also a good idea to test your soil now to find out which areas require extra attention. If plants in one patch haven’t been flowering or…

COMPOST is not only a brilliant way to save money – which will become increasingly important if the price of commercial growing media rockets next year, as predicted – but it also reduces your trips to the recycling centre and gets rid of kitchen peelings too. Space is no barrier to making your own compost. Bokashi bins can sit on your kitchen counter and gobble up peelings and cores, while plastic Dalek bins are readily accessible from DIY stores and local authorities. If you have space to have a couple of open-air composters in the garden, even better, as you can be filling one up with green and brown garden waste while the other one is rotting down. To be successful you need a mix of contents. ‘Green’ waste includes kitchen peelings, grass…

COMPOST expert Steve Harper, CEO of peat-free specialist Southern Trident, predicts industry-wide price hikes, with the cost of a 50-litre bag of peat-free or peat compost tipped to soar from around £6 to as much as £9 in 2022. Cheap multibuy offers are at risk of disappearing as prices skyrocket. Turbulence in supply chains Steve explained that the peat-free ingredient coir, a by-product of the coconut industry that’s commonly imported from Sri Lanka and India, had gone up in price by 20 to 25 per cent – a problem that has been widely attributed to the soaring cost of global shipping. Wood-fibre and bark, Steve said, had risen by 20 to 30 per cent, as manufacturers compete for these peat-free ingredients with the booming construction industry, as well as biomass energy generation. AG…

Planting time Prepare the ground for a new rose AUTUMN is a great time for planting roses and you can buy them bare-root from November onwards. Bare-root plants are young ones that are lifted from the ground and sold as they are, with the roots bare of soil and not contained in a pot. It is an economical way of adding to your stock and they will quickly get established and grow well when the weather warms up in spring. Roses are voracious feeders, so a few weeks before you plant them enrich their soil with lots of well-rotted compost and manure. They are also prone to replant disease, when they fail to thrive in ground where roses have been growing previously. You can get around this problem by replacing the old soil with new and planting…

AS deciduous trees continue to lose their leaves and enter dormancy, the sap withdrawing to their deepest recesses for winter, we can start to take hardwood cuttings. This is the most reliable way of propagating trees and shrubs, though it can take up to a year to see results, and is used for a wide range of ornamental and edible plants. Roses, currant bushes, figs and many ornamental spring and summer-blooming trees and shrubs can all be grown from hardwood cuttings. It also works on evergreen shrubs including holly, skimmia, cotoneaster and privet, though these cuttings are best treated as if they are semi-ripe and grown in a pot of compost that has been sealed in a plastic bag and placed somewhere light and frost-free undercover. This is because evergreen shrubs are more…