20-Jan-2024

Amateur Gardening

For everyone who loves gardening

Amateur Gardening2 min read
A Warm Welcome
As we nudge our way through the grim gloom of January we get that little closer to the warmer, lighter and kinder days ahead. Slowly, but surely, each day offers a little more light, a little more inspiration for the garden in 2024. A little more eve
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Amateur Gardening
Editor Kim Stoddart E-mail: Editor@amateurgardening.com Website: www.amateurgardening.com CEO Steve Wright Managing director Steve Kendall Group publisher Fiona Mercer Group web editor Rachel Harper Subscriptions marketing manager Claire Aspinall Ret
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Getting Ready For Spring’s Arrival
I don’t know how winter has treated you so far, but here we have been given a mixed bag of weathers. I can’t remember such a wet end to the year as we experienced at the close of 2023, and the sharp, sudden freeze of late November came as a real shoc
Amateur Gardening3 min read
What Goes Round, Comes Around
This week found me sitting down with pen and paper working out what crops to plant where in our raised beds. Crop rotation is a skill as old as cultivation itself, done to keep the soil healthy and prevent a build up of pests and diseases, such as cl
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Winter Care For Wildlife
With so much environmental doom and gloom swirling around, there is an extra special sweetness to any time and effort given to caring for wildlife in our gardens. As natural habitats shrink, gardens become increasingly important resources for insects
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Canny Compost Planning
It’s a bit optimistic to be sowing much yet. We still have such short days with the sun low and dim. Without extra growing lights, warmth or cover most of our crops and bedding would struggle started this early. Sure, the seeds may come up but they c
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Better Breeding For Bees
I am truly blessed, because I have two daughters and four grandchildren. Whether they like it or not, my daughters, my three granddaughters and my grandson have all inherited some of my genes. Yippee! I love them all. And the great thing is, they are
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Getting Ready For Spring
It’s immensely satisfying to get your greenhouse all set for the growing year ahead. While some folk do this job in autumn, I prefer to complete it now, so that I can be sure no pests or diseases have sneaked in on my overwintered plants. Starting wi
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Your COMMUNITY GARDEN NEWS with Tracey Dockery
We have a place where local people come together to garden, grow food, socialise, craft and much more besides. Local residents take part for many reasons; to make new friends, to aid recovery from ill health, to learn to grow their own food, to fill
Amateur Gardening6 min read
The Closed Loop Garden
Plants, both living, and dead are miraculous things. There are some out there that can kill a person (such as the yew), herbs that will firm the skin (like ladies mantle) and trees that cure headaches (willow and feverfew), but we don’t always see th
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Right Plant, Right Place
Do you remember the nursery rhyme, ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?’ I certainly do. Now, not knowing Mary, I can’t fairly quantify how great a gardener she is, but judging by her response of ‘with silver bells and cockleshells
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Meteor
■ Lightly scented Floribunda Rose producing bi-colour blooms of orange-yellow and red. Sunlight intensifies the red flushed petals. Glossy, bushy foliage with excellent disease resistance. Repeat flowering throughout the season. Suitable for pots and
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Successful Seed Sowing
The transition away from peat use in horticulture is in progress. The move is seen as a necessary part of fighting climate change and biodiversity loss. But for us gardeners, it does mean making some adjustments. Understandably, the key concern for m
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Proudly Sponsored By Dalefoot Composts
■ Dalefoot Composts makes peat-free growing products for every gardening need - seed sowing to potting on, vegetable and salad growing to tomatoes. Its organic Wool Compost range needs less watering, and high levels of natural nutrients means there’s
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Subscribe Today
In our second issue of the new year, you will find all our regular columns and features to inspire your gardening plans in 2024, plus practical content from your favourite columnists, including Bob Flowerdew, John Negus, Ruth Hayes and Anne Swithinba
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Consider Growing Apricots And Peaches
With their exotic scent and juicy flesh, it is difficult to beat the taste of a perfect ripe apricot or peach. But how many shop-bought punnets have you thrown away because the fruit simply did not ripen? When you grow your own you don’t have that pr
Amateur Gardening7 min read
A Rainbow of Roses
Whether you lean towards rich reds, sunshine yellows or intriguing oranges, there are vibrant roses of almost every colour from which to choose. And with winter upon us, there’s no better time to be ordering and planting bare-rooted cultivars ready f
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Create A Life You Love
♥ Save up to £48* ♥ Delivery directly to your door in 100% plastic-free packaging ♥ Never miss an issue ♥ Complete control – manage your account online ♥ Free weekly e-newsletters VISIT SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/PYHA OR CALL 01959 543747 and quote code PYHA
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Ready, Steady, Snowdrops
On a cold, crisp, sunny winter day snowdrops cheer any garden or park. They ignite the hope that spring is just around the corner. Large parks, gardens and churchyards can be places to roam through, enjoying large swathes of nodding snowdrops, and th
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Your MONEY SAVING with Ruth Hayes, AG’s gardening expert
Save money with our easy propagation tips Houseplants are as beneficial to our health and wellbeing as their outdoor cousins so looking after them is time and money well spent. In winter, most varieties will be taking their winter rest before returni
Amateur Gardening1 min read
The Uk’s Longest Established Hillwalking Magazine
Britain’s original outdoor magazine is packed full of stunning photography, top class writing and brilliant walking and backpacking routes, along with authoritative gear reviews from the country’s most experienced team of testers and essential skills
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Garden Winter Wear
That old adage of ‘putting the garden to bed for winter’ doesn’t mean we can’t still get out and enjoy some gardening during the colder months of the year. While the neighbours’ curtains may be twitching at the thought of me outside in the wind, rain
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Your GARDENING TEA BREAK
■ Monday (25 January) is Burns Night, celebrating the birth in 1759 of Scotland’s ‘national poet’. His most famous poem with a gardening connection is A Red, Red Rose. Many think he is also responsible for the ditty “Roses are red, Violets are blue,
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Crossword
1 Genus of the so-called ‘glory bush’ from Brazil (10) 7 Vascular tissue in plants primarily responsible for the distribution of water and minerals taken up by the roots (5) 8 Pertaining to the countryside, as in the rambler rose ‘_____ England’ (5)
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Talking Tomatoes
There are so many options for growing inside a polytunnel, but for me, my favourites are tomatoes and chillies. Compared with what is available in supermarkets, the choice available to the home grower is astonishing. I love choosing off-the-wall vari
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Too Much Water
Rainfall patterns are changing. Many places have experienced record-breaking wet years. We are unfortunately likely to experience more extreme rainfall events with more heavy, monsoon-like downpours as our planet warms. Why does a garden flood? Water
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Ask JOHN NEGUS
Q We inherited a camellia when we moved house and have never pruned it. When is the best time and how do we do it? A Though camellias don’t have to be pruned, it may be necessary if they grow too large and outgrow their allocated space. In which case
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Improve Your Health
Top Santé is the leading health magazine for women over 40; packed with realistic, life-enhancing tips on everything from health and fitness to food and beauty. With a balanced diet, effective exercise and a positive mindset you can stay younger for
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Your LETTERS TO KIM
Your lovely letters, emails and social media posts continue to flow in beautifully. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying receiving them. Every message, poem, idea and comment matters. Please keep them coming. We will send out a thank you gift for e
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Peach Fuzz fantastic
Have you heard the news? ‘Peach Fuzz’ is the new Pantone Colour for 2024. Pantone does a great job of predicting the tones that will be used in interior and exterior design for the upcoming season. However, on this occasion, I really feel that garden
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Green Shoots
Our ‘meanwhile community garden’ is taking shape in Colchester with the first tranche of planting, carried out in December, settling in nicely. We are designing the garden on a budget working with locally available materials which means mainly planti
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Pruning Fruit Bushes
We might be in the depths of winter but now is the perfect time to wrap up warm and grab loppers and secateurs ready to prune fruit bushes. True, the likes of black, red and white currants, gooseberries and hybrids such as worcesterberry and jostaber

Amateur Gardening

More Issues From Amateur Gardening