Amateur Gardening

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1 Make sure your snowdrops in the green are healthy, with firm bulbs and good top grow. 2 Plant at the same depth theywere growing before - you can tell by the tidemark of soil around the stems and leaves. 3 Cover the roots with soil, firm it down th

1 Cut back ornamental grasses in spring, removing dead fronds from evergreen varieties, but leave Pennisetum and Miscanthus varieties until late March/early April. 2 Divide congested clumps of Carex grasses, cutting them into healthy sections, each w

As if this time of year isn’t tricky enough, there are now so many stressful things happening, you’d be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed and at times, extremely bleak about it all. As a journalist I need to keep abreast of the news, but I am finding

1 Start filling a container with a mix of multipurpose and John Innes No3 compost with added fertiliser. 2 Set the lilies on the compost so they are roughly at three times their depth and bulb’s width apart. 3 Cover the bulbs with more compost until

I am trying to avoid walking on the lawn because it squelches sadly every time I do. However, trips to the compost heap are unavoidable and a narrow area of grass is rapidly turning into a quagmire, and something must be done. That ‘something’ is the

1 Mow around spring-flowering bulbs growing in the lawn. They need their leaves to feed the bulbs, so let them die back naturally. If the browning leaves offend, dig them up and plant them somewhere less obvious. 2 Deadhead spring bulbs when the flow

In every issue of Amateur Gardening, 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 Gardening will celebrate its 140th birthday this year and I’m proud to have contributed to its pages for 25 years. In that time, our children have grown up, my parents who helped in the garden have passed on and I’m not as limber as I used to

Q What does bare-rooted mean? A These are trees, bushes and shrubs that are planted over the colder months, when they’re in a dormant state. They are dug up as required and sold online or by mail order. When they arrive they’ll have no soil around th

1 Start by filling a pot with seed compost and grit or vermiculite. Wet it and set it aside to drain. 2 Remove a length of last year’s healthy growth from your chosen shrub. Remove the tip and cut into 4-1in (10-30cm) lengths. 3 Dip the bottom of eac

1 Cane ends can start to rot after a summer in the ground so clean off the soil and wipe them down with oil. 2 Use white spirit to clean writing off plastic plant labels, then wash off the chemical, so they can be used year after year. 3 Always wash

1-2 Feb: Colesbourne Park Snowdrop Gardens Pre-booked Group Tours, Colesbourne Park, Colesbourne, Near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 9NP. Tours 11am and 2pm, visit colesbournegardens.org.uk to book. 2-4 Feb: The Wye Valley Sculpture Garden Snowdr

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

As winter lingers on and impatience for spring seriously builds, there’s no better time to embark on a thrifty DIY journey, restoring garden tools to their former glory. Although the idea of cleaning tools may appear initially daunting, the reality i

1 The process of bringing your hand tools back to their finest, should always start with a clean and polish. 2 Begin by brushing off any dry debris or soil with a soft brush. Then once that’s done, give the rusty parts a spray with WD40 and let it so

1 To also offer hand forks and trowels some TLC, give them a wipe or brush down to ensure they are clean and dry. 2 You can then prepare a tooldeep bucket of sand with a top layer of oil (just enough to coat the top of the sand). I use food-safe mine

As we finally find our feet in this New Year, we slowly but surely start turning our backs on the winter and striding into the garden in search of any sign of spring. For many, this will mean the welcome emergent buds of a faithful winter perennial s

Gesneriad. No, I’m not sneezing, I’m telling you about a plant you might not have heard of. Although you probably have. The Gesneriad family feature many old favourites-from Streptocarpus to Saintpualia and I’m recommending them as the perfect way to