Innholdsfortegnelse for 27 September 2025 i Garden News

I’m toying with switching on the central heating. I agreed with my wife that it doesn’t need to go on yet but she’s out at work today… Such are the vagaries of the wonderful weather here in the UK. Just a few weeks ago we were basking in baking sunshine and now it’s tipping it down with rain from a slate-grey sky. And it’s cold! But our gardens don’t seem to mind; until those first frosts, the late flowers will remain – and we probably need more rain to stabilise water levels. Our changing seasons play a great part in the overall health of our outside spaces and now the hot days of summer are just a memory, the cycle continues. In this issue we’ve great advice on planting shrubs…

SPONSORED BY The online specialist gardening retailer, run by gardeners for gardeners Plenty of jam and judging! Caroline Broome A plant-packed suburban garden in London that is accessible all year. The week after the London Gardens Society judging, 30 fellow horticultural society members came for afternoon tea in the garden. They loved the towering perennials; I mulched them once last autumn and again this spring, as I forgot I’d done it! Recent downpours have kept me busy supporting the taller plants, but in the current heatwave, my two hanging baskets of petchoa didn’t survive on the Catio, and a few ferns in the dry shade shrivelled. After 28 years, we finally installed a water butt, and have a compost bin, too. With regular deadheading, feeding and watering, the garden almost…

Follow Naomi's progress as she gets to grips with her tiny urban garden on heavy Bristol clay Normalising things that are a tiny bit awkward seems to be part of the human condition. Workarounds soon become habitual and often we live with a situation that, objectively, we could quickly and easily do something about if we just realised the problem was there. Garden design involves creating a sense of flow. How you move around the space is important, as are views, vistas and focal points, and in a domestic setting, the connection of the garden to the house is fundamental as it allows the space to be enjoyed whatever the weather, and as part of everyday life. In my small and rather awkward space, the sightlines and flow present a…

Courgettes don’t freeze very well on their own. Turning them into cakes or ratatouille is one answer to the problem. This cake is moist and tasty, and you’d never guess there are courgettes included in the ingredients! The recipe is suitable for vegans and the cake can be sliced and frozen, so you can just remove a few portions at a time. It’s a popular recipe on the National Garden Scheme website, so you’ll often find this cake for sale at open gardens, raising money for nursing and health-related charities. Have a look at this recipe and find more at ngs.org.uk. Ingredients Serves 6 FOR THE CAKE MIX 200g plain flour 200g caster sugar 80g cocoa powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp salt 5 tbsp vegetable oil 1…

Some of us enjoy daffodils for their simple elegance. Some appreciate their dependable colour, year after year and with little special care. For others it’s the simple flower form that appeals, the trumpet with the ring of petals behind it. But there’s one group that divides opinion, which splits gardeners into two camps: the double-flowered daffodils. The pros and cons of doubles It's true that in double daffodils the simplicity of the wild variety is lost. The trumpet fills up as the stamens of the flower become more like petals and, although limited to the same narrow range of colours as single daffs, double-flowered varieties may open to show a mixture of different colours in one bloom. On top of all this, there’s one advantage of double-flowered daffodils that may…

It’s hard to beat the taste and smell of homegrown tomatoes but buying multiple seed packets can soon add up. But there’s a simple way to save money; a single tomato can hold around 100 seeds, so with a little effort you can bypass buying packets. All you need are a selection of ripe tomatoes, a knife, glass jar, teaspoon, sieve, kitchen paper and an envelope. Pick tomatoes you’re growing this season or buy from a shop, though be aware shop-bought toms may be hybrids so could develop into different varieties. Try to save seed from traditional, heirloom varieties, known as ‘open-pollinated’ tomatoes, as they’ll be identical to the original plant. F1 hybrid varieties won’t come true to the parent plant. Tomato seed is surrounded in a growth-inhibiting glutinous sack,…

Strawberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow at home. They crop quickly, and while each plant lasts only two or three years before needing replacement, you can easily propagate new plants by rooting the runners they produce after fruiting. Strawberries prefer a sunny position. They like well-drained soil and while they don’t enjoy heavy, wet ground, they do thrive in soil that’s been enriched with plenty of organic matter. That’s why strawberries are so successful in growing bags or pots filled with multi-purpose compost. If you’re planting them in a bed, space the rows 45cm apart, with 30cm between each plant. In pots, you can plant them a bit closer together since you’ll be replacing them after a year anyway. Growing in pots or bags also helps keep…

Friendship in bloom I’ve had a beautiful show of phlox this year. This plant was given to us by a special friend in 2019, who sadly passed away during the Covid lockdown, but this has our memories of times spent together. Gillian Clutterbuck, Wottonunder-Edge, Gloucestershire Pickle perfection I’ve used this fridge pickle recipe for years. It’s always a hit and ideal for a cucumber glut. I recommend sweet, thin-skinned types like ‘Passandra’. Slice eight small cucumbers and two onions, add one cup vinegar, two cups sugar, fennel seeds and salt. Chill overnight. Keeps for ages in the fridge, though mine disappear quickly! Janice Lock, Ashford Common Middlesex Bonus from begonias Just when I think these begonia tubers won't be doing anything, they suddenly start up again – and what a…

The latest from Carol's beautiful cottage garden... plus her diary for the week! I find it reassuring how certain jobs crop up at a given time each year. Choosing and planting bulbs is one of the most significant dates in most gardeners’ calendars, filling us with anticipation and excitement about the year ahead. However many bulbs we already have in the garden at this time of the year lurking under the soil, there’s always room for some more. Although on the whole they’re an accommodating lot, each genus and sometimes each species has its origins in specific conditions. Bulbs, just like any other plants, have evolved with their environment. Although nowadays we associate tulips with the Netherlands (‘Tulips from Amsterdam’), most of their forebears come from mountainous regions, the Tien…

There are many benefits to a garden full of late-spring alliums. They’re easy to grow, add shape, height and structure to beds and pots, have a quirky charm as they bob around in the breeze and are just dazzling in an array of pastel pinks, greens, purples, blues and whites. They’re fantastic as cut flowers, pop up every year for a good few years if treated well, and as seedheads in autumn they’re a boon to insect wildlife. Plus they encounter few pest or disease problems. A true all-rounder! They’ve become quite the garden mainstay as gardeners realise how easy they are to grow. Alliums prefer to be in a sunny but sheltered spot, in fertile, well-drained, well-worked soil. The only problem you may have with these bulbous perennials is…

Helping you get your best-ever fruit and veg I’ve always tried to keep the Kitchen Garden looking attractive while still being a productive vegetable patch. I use short box hedges between the beds to divide the space into manageable sections while giving a sense of order and structure and a splash of greenery in winter when other plants have died back. However, I’ve spotted the first signs of box tree caterpillar damage and have already picked a couple of the pests off by hand. This isn’t good news, as left unchecked they can strip box plants bare. I’ll be spraying the hedges with box tree caterpillar nematodes, which should help reduce the problem, and there’s just enough time for an application. Since the pests overwinter on the plants, I’m hoping…

Professor Buczacki is a horticultural expert, writer and former chair of Gardeners' Question Time Got a problem? Our Problem Solver can help! See our contact details on page 3 #GNASKTHEEXPERTS What’s wrong with my apple tree? Janice Hoare, by email Stefan says: You have a ‘Bramley’ apple tree growing in somewhat unusual conditions. It’s in a 45cm diameter pot with the bottom of the pot cut out and planted in the ground. You don’t say how the tree came to be grown in this way, but nonetheless, it seems to have thrived for five years until this season, when you say the leaves have turned brown and the fruit are very small. I don’t think the two symptoms are related. Your photograph shows that clusters of leaves at the ends…

The radiant yellow flowers of dwarf narcissus ‘Tête-á-tête’ are produced freely and reach only 15cm in height. Undemanding and easy to grow, they are ideal for borders, rockeries and containers for a sunny windowsill, or grow them in bold drifts naturalised in grass. The neat clusters of yellow trumpets also make these narcissus flowers excellent for cutting. • H: 15cm, S: 8cm. You might also like... Iris Dutch Mixed This colourful mix of traditional Dutch iris are sure to brighten your beds, borders and containers in shades of purple, lilac, white and yellow. Popular with florists, the exquisite, architectural blooms are borne on long, straight stems which are ideal for cutting for a vase indoors. Alternatively, plant in groups for an outstanding display in late spring and early summer. •…