Amateur Gardening

In this special bumper anniversary issue, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved with this important gem of a magazine in years past and present. From our fine founding father Shirley Hibberd in 1884, to previous edi

Val seeks solace in the seasonal return of these magnificent aviators Once the spring equinox has been and gone, I begin to think about the arrival of our summer visitors. They’re not very early in the cold Cotswolds, because we’re in the chilly hear

“I was relieved and delighted when ‘AG’, as we always called it, was saved from extinction. I had happy years there, becoming Deputy Editor in 1978, and have always rated the quality of the contributors and the hands-on practicality of its advice. Co

Amateur Gardening was founded in 1884 during the Victorian horticultural era of the country house head gardener. Until the world wars, gardening was epitomised by him (it was always a man) and his staff using hand tools to grow produce for the house

Fact one - we all love our plants. Fact two – we’re all looking to introduce new shrubs and flowers to our wonderful, green spaces. Yet are we making the most of every available space in our gardens? Have we fully considered every single planting opp

When we select plants for our gardens, we often use certain criteria such as size, shape or colour. Or we choose plants for a particular purpose, for example, to screen an eyesore, provide a colourful display at a certain time of the year, or give a

As with everything else, plants are subject to changing fashions and trends. Yet despite the clamour for the ‘next best thing’, several cultivars introduced during Amateur Gardening’s 140-year history have stood the test of time. Looking back on his

Hello! It’s so good to be back looking out at you from these fine pages again. And I have to say… whatever you’ve been doing since we last saw each other, keep doing it, you look amazing! It’s wonderful to be writing here again as it wasn’t something

Nurture precious green spaces around and inside you I scramble over boxes that have been sitting in my office for 14 years and counting. I am looking for external hard drives with garden photos on them, the older the drive, the bigger it is, like I’m

Q My raspberry canes are a mix of summer and autumn fruiting. I trim dead bits off the tops after fruiting and in the autumn I cut out all the brown/dead canes and cut down the remainder to 7cm (3in). I usually get a really good crop right through bu

There are said to be around four generations in a century, which means there have been six or more since the very first issue of Amateur Gardening was published. It is something to think about - our ancestors getting their hands dirty, planting, grow

Gardening is a lifeline for my mental health. As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, at times it’s hard just to get out of bed, but if I know I need to wake up and start watering my plants, it gives me a sense of purpose, an incentive

As AG reaches its 140th birthday, there are three quotes that I would like to share with you. One is philosophical, one is and one is humorous! Emerson died just two years before this magazine was born, but despite living on the other side of the Atl

When Beth Chatto OBE VMH (1923-2018) started her garden at Elmstead Market, Essex in the 1960s, the idea that garden plants thrive best in situations similar to their original natural environment, was a novel one. Ahead of her time, Beth’s ecological

Learn how to maximise the short growing season with Bob’s top advice In most older vegetable gardening books you’ll seldom find references to sweetcorn, nor space allocated in crop rotations for these delectable cobs. It’s almost solely Anglo-America