2-Jan-2021

Amateur Gardening

For everyone who loves gardening

Amateur Gardening1 min readArchitecture
Editor’s Note
“Happy New Year to you all, and let’s hope 2021 will bring a solution to Covid 19 and people will be able to get back to relative normality. In the meantime, I’m starting my gardening year with some housekeeping tasks. First on the list is an unhappy
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
Stocking Up And Taking Stock
LAST year gardening became a national occupation as millions of us turned to growing things to soften the edges of lockdown and supplement kitchen store cupboards. John Negus’s ‘agony uncle’ postbags were full of questions starting ‘I am new to garde
Amateur Gardening3 min readArchitecture
This Year, I Resolve To…
IF I was to make a list, here, of my gardening resolutions for 2021 it would be so long and frightening that I’d probably retire to bed and not emerge until 2022 was well underway. However, it’s time to grasp the nettle (in a gloved hand) and look at
Amateur Gardening3 min read
T&M acquires Suttons Seeds
THOMPSON and Morgan has bought renowned national brand Suttons Seeds Ltd and its three subsidiaries Suttons, Dobies and the Organic Catalogue. This brings the well-known companies into the ‘super firm’ of BVG, which also owns T&M, bird food retailer
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
Soil Prep For The New Season
IF you are feeling a little stodgy after the festive season (you’re not alone), get out and start prepping your borders for the year ahead. A half-hour or so of forking, weeding and digging (make sure you have warmed up well beforehand) will leave th
Amateur Gardening2 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Reusing Your Festive Rubbish
WE spend all year trying to be green and environmentally conscious, then the aftermath of the festivities sees us ankle-deep in paper and packaging, polystyrene, envelopes, uneaten food and a sad Christmas tree. All this before we take into account t
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
Looking Into The Future
USUALLY in early January, I look into the future, but not having foreseen the mid-March lockdown and its implications, my last January forecast was a bit inadequate, to say the least. What is pretty certain is that the coming gardening year will see
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Great Expectations
A COMFORTABLE way we can improve our gardens during these dark evenings is to sit in the warm and plan on paper (or on your screen). The idea is make a rough plan of your garden Show things that are hard to change in bold, such as walls, buildings, c
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
Sow And Grow Sweet Peas
EVERY garden needs sweet peas in summer and now we are at the coldest, darkest days of winter it’s an excellent opportunity to think optimistically and sow some of yours. Of course you may have already started some off last autumn, in which case you
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Bird Watch: The Carrion Crow (Corvus Corone)
IT always lifts our spirits when Russell and Sheryl drop in. They are the pair of crows (or a succession of pairings we have named the same) that live in the pine trees behind the house and often perch on our TV aerial for an evening grooming session
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Please The Bees
I WAS lucky enough to have a gardening grandmother, so I started early in a London garden in the 1950s. We were still living in the shadow of the Second World War and many a garden still had an Anderson shelter, a few chickens and a vegetable patch.
Amateur Gardening5 min read
Focus On…Greenhouse Care
OPINIONS are changing about how we should protect our plants during winter. Gardeners are more concerned about the environmental impact of their actions, so pumping harmful waste gasses into the atmosphere or buying yet more plasticbased items are fr
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Cast A Spell With Witch Hazel
IN nature, it’s all about survival, which is why Chinese witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis) has developed the ability to fire its seeds at a speed of around 12m per second, propelling them a distance of up to 33ft (10m) before they land on (hopefully) fe
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Wonderful Witch Hazels For…
Flowers Makes a strong, upright plant with months of twisted, slightly crisped petals in rich yellow, toning to orange at the base. Also offers attractive yellow autumn colour and a good scent. H: 111/2ft (3½m). The best red-flowered variety, ‘Diane’
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Why Not Grow With…?
The dappled shade beneath witch hazels suits snowdrops to a T. Plant them either in a broad drift of a single variety, or in clumps among spring perennials. Be sure to clear any fallen witch hazel foliage before the snowdrops emerge. A witch hazel ca
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
What To Sow In January
NOW that the Christmas decorations have been packed away for another year, it’s time to start thinking about the garden, and looking ahead to spring and summer planting plans. Most gardeners are champing at the bit to do something green-fingered by n
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
6 Flowers To Sow Now With Heat
Yarrow is a perennial that will flower in its first year from an early sowing. Blooms come in a range of pretty pastels that look equally good in borders or pots; the stems also make long-lasting cut flowers to brighten the house. H&S: 2ft (60cm). A
Amateur Gardening1 min readArchitecture
3 Flowers To Sow Without Heat
To prevent mice eating the seeds, start them off indoors, sowing into tall pots or root trainers to give the roots room to develop. Once they are growing strongly, move seedlings into a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. HxS: 8x11/2ft (2.5mx45cm). Ic
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Veg Crops To Start Off Now
Super hardy broad beans can be sown into 9cm pots in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse over the coming weeks. They will be ready for planting out in March, when they’ll grow away strongly to crop in late spring/early summer. While outdoor tomatoes
Amateur Gardening2 min readArchitecture
Whatever Your Soil, Plant Winter Heathers
THERE’S an old song that goes: “And we’ll all go together/To pull wild mountain thyme/All around the bloomin’ heather”. I always thought there was something not quite right about those lines; and as soon as we start to think about heathers, it become
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Heavenly Heathers For…
Flowers A taller type, grouped under E. x darleyensis, with rose pink flowers opening from white buds over many winter months. Ideal for adding a little extra height amongst the many lowergrowing types. Flowers: Nov-Mar. H: 16in (40cm). Deep green fo
Amateur Gardening1 min read
5 Planting Companions
Large and rounded, the ruby red winter leaves of ‘Eric Smith’ (above) or ‘Bressingham Ruby’ will contrast attractively with the finer foliage of your winter heathers. Pink flowers follow in spring. H: 1-11?2ft (30-45cm). Dwarf skimmias – especially v
Amateur Gardening7 min read
Ask John Negus
John will reply personally to all your gardening questions every week Q We have two Hypericum, grown from cuttings some years ago. They are healthy and bloomed well last summer, but have a large amount of dead wood from the ground upwards, underneath
Amateur Gardening7 min read
Plants Connected With Birds
This week it’s: WE generally think of wild birds as welcoming, friendly, often colourful, occasionally playful, and mostly vulnerable creatures. We love to watch them and, because of this, many plant breeders name flower varieties after them. There a
Amateur Gardening3 min readFashion
Winter Gardening Gloves
COLD fingers make gardening in winter a misery. Keeping the rest of your body warm with layers of clothing and a hat will help, but the best remedy is a good pair of gloves. Winter gloves should be thermally lined to hold in body heat, and ideally wa
Amateur Gardening1 min readFashion
Best Buy…
(Plus delivery £5.94) 020 7501 1104 safetygloves.co.uk Waterproof work gloves with leather palm and fingers, Thinsulate thermal lining, latex stitching, fabric back with knuckle guard, and Velcrofastened cuffs. Sizes: 8, 9, 10 and 11. Wipe-clean leat
Amateur Gardening3 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Get More From Foraging
Q My new year’s resolution is to forage more leaves and flavours from the garden, starting with weeds. Which weeds, herbs and flowers are your favourites? Annabelle Johnson, Brighton A Foraging from your own plot is a satisfying and very natural thin
Amateur Gardening3 min readArchitecture
Natural Priority
Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7BF (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Star letter AS a relatively recent devotee o
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Amateur Gardening
Editorial: Editor: Garry Coward-Williams Email: garry.coward-williams@futurenet.com Gardening Editor: Ruth Hayes Assistant Editor: Janey Goulding Art Editor: Al Rigger Picture Editor and Letters: Wendy Humphries Features: Kathryn Wilson, Lesley Upton
Amateur Gardening3 min readArchitecture
The Shady, Sloping Garden
DETERMINED gardeners Jacky and David Lumby knew they had their work cut out when they moved into their home on the edge of the New Forest 14 years ago. A site with green sand, a slope and mature trees meant that coping with dry soil would become a wa
Amateur Gardening2 min read
From Cake To Compost…
AFTER all of the feasting Chez Buckland, a diet would probably be a good idea, but who would finish the unwanted stollen and orange cream Quality Street still rattling round in the tin? ‘Waste not, want not’ is what I say, and going without may not b

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