Amateur Gardening

Every week, Amateur Gardening is the first choice for both beginners and knowledgeable gardeners looking for advice and easy-to-follow practical features on growing flowers, trees, shrubs as well as fruit and vegetables. Be inspired, by our beautifully illustrated features covering plant and flower groups, both home grown and exotic, and take a sneak peek into some of the most beautiful private gardens around the country. Plus, every week we feature expert opinion and tips from some of gardening’s most influential exponents including Toby Buckland, Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Peter Seabrook and Jo Whittingham.

Editor’s note

Give your soil autumn love • Feeding the soil will benefit your whole garden, says Ruth

Prepare soil for planting

Green manures

Testing soil for top results • Check the pH and nutrient levels of your soil

Stop digging • No-dig for healthy soil

Understanding crop rotation

Gardeners lose their parliamentary voice • Matthew Appleby asks whether lobby group is acting in gardeners’ interests

Emergency with a phormium! • Ruth tries to salvage shoots from an old fading plant

Potting up phormium offsets

Rose care • Preparing your roses for winter

Blocking winter moths • Protect your plum trees with grease bands, says Ruth

Boxing clever • Replacements for box hedges

Fixing a greaseband or using painted grease

Sew a patchwork of colour • Phlox is a must for easy scent and colour, says Ruth

Sowing phlox undercover

What’s On

A feast of flowers • Edible flowers will brighten up your mealtimes – and you may have been eating them without noticing, says Bob

Bob’s top tips for the week

Earth, wind and fire • Gardens and wildlife have suffered this year, says Val

Focus on… Autumn-planted garlic • If you want plump, flavoursome cloves, look no further! Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow. Lucy explains how satisfying it is to grow a bountiful bulb harvest

Ultimate 3-Tree Mini Orchard • Pick your own bumper crops of scrumptious apples, pears & plums for less than 1p per 11b for life!

Why plant a hedge? • Hedges make great boundaries, they’re ornamental and are good for wildlife, so what’s not to like? Camilla Phelps looks at which shrubs and trees make good hedging plants

Enjoy spring crocuses • Crocuses bring colour to spring and can be planted in lawns, borders, under trees or in containers. Camilla Phelps offers her selection of the best for all options

This week… Tulips • For a wide range of colours and a variety of shapes, choose tulips as your spring flower

Ask JOHN NEGUS • John will reply personally to all your gardening questions

Vegetables with a pinch of salt • Tony Venison looks at the seashore weeds from which many of our cultivated vegetables are derived, including cabbages, carrots, parsnips and leeks

A gardener’s MISCELLANY • Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

AG’s Garden Wall

Word search

Crossword …just for fun!

Anvil secateurs • Steve and Val Bradley put six models to the test

Ask ANNE SWITHINBANK • Masterclass on: Creating a white winter moon garden

White options

Your LETTERS TO WENDY

A takeaway

Amateur Gardening

Robin reliance • When it comes to turning the compost heap, you can rely on the fact that you’ll make friends with a robin, says Toby

Toby’s trivia

Emptying the compost heap