Amateur Gardening

I KNOW it’s a cliché, but I can’t believe we’re in Christmas week already, with a new year and a new decade just a few days away. We may be in the depths of winter, with the shortest day upon us, but at least this means we can start looking forward t

AT the end of a momentous year, when man has leapt through space to take his first tentative steps on the moon, it may be as well to bring our eyes back occasionally from these astral horizons and remind ourselves of the tranquil happiness to be foun

PLASTIC, peat and slug pellets were major horticultural talking points throughout 2019 and look set to continue centre stage in 2020. The chemical glyphosate, sold under the brand name Roundup, is also the source of worldwide controversy after severa

THE first thing to say about Flora is that the photography is amazing. There are some incredible close-up images depicting fern spores, what goes on inside stems, cross-sections of buds, seeds, leaf structures and storage stems, to name just a few. T

until 28 Dec: Glow: RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr until 4 Jan: Glow: RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.

WHAT gardening-related gift would you really love to find in your Christmas stocking? After all, there may still be time to drop hints… I’ll bet there are few of us who would not be thankful for another decent pair of secateurs, no matter how many we

It’s Christmas and the word ‘inn’ takes me back to my infant teaching days when I cast a shy lad called John in the role of innkeeper. In rehearsals we got a mumble, which was supposed to be ‘There’s no room’. However, on the night of the performance

Beautiful pink blossom (late enough to avoid the frost) develops into a heavy yield of nuts. Trees are grafted onto a semi-dwarfing rootstock, which restricts their size and improves cropping. Pick the nuts in September. H&S: 12ft (3.6m). Arguably t

BACK in the 1970s, the Kew Seed Bank was set up as part of the Jodrell Laboratory’s Physiology section under the leadership of the section’s then head, Dr Peter Thompson. It moved to Wakehurst, West Sussex, in 1974 and in 1996 the Millennium Seed Ban

While most pitcher plants trap ants and other insects that slip down the sides of the pitcher into a pool of digestive enzymes, Nepenthes lowii pitchers attract a larger animal. The plant, which is native to Borneo, produces nectar to attract the tre

Q Last Christmas, I was given a beautiful flowering Christmas cactus. It bloomed for ages, and has grown well, but new flower buds seem to dry up and fall off before they open. How can I get it to flower again? Margaret Bishop, Saffron Walden, Essex

The paper-thin seed capsules of annual honesty are too delicate to survive throughout winter, but are worth keeping for those days early in the season when the pods are illuminated by low rays of sunshine. After flowering, both species leave behind

SOMETIMES I feel like I should find a group of like-minded enthusiasts, where we all sit in a circle, and when it comes to my turn I stand up and say: “My name is Graham, and I am a sproutaholic.” You see, Brussels sprouts are, without question, my f

I HAVE seen some odd tomato plants in the greenhouse but the devil wasn’t one I expected. Decided to eat it and, yes, it tasted good. Sir Brian Donohoe, Irvine, Ayrshire I’VE been growing crops with my stepson Harris for years, and he’s never be