21-Dec-24

Amateur Gardening

For everyone who loves gardening

Amateur Gardening1 min read
Amateur Gardening
Editor Kim Stoddart Deputy editor Ruth Hayes Editorial consultant Sue Bradley E-mail: Editor@amateurgardening.com Website: www.amateurgardening.com CEO Steve Kendall Managing director Fiona Mercer Group publisher Gareth Beesley Group web editor Rache
Amateur Gardening3 min read
A Warm Welcome
Festive greetings to you, dear readers, one and all. As you read this I will no doubt be doing a little pottering in my garden and one of my favourite things at this time of year is to make space for a little upcycling project or garden repair. My po
Amateur Gardening3 min read
AG Strikes Gold At Annual Media Award Ceremony
Amateur Gardening has been recognised at the UK’s leading gardening media awards ceremony. The UK’s oldest gardening magazine came home from the annual 2024 Garden Media Guild Awards in London with two top trophies. AG editor Kim Stoddart was named P
Amateur Gardening3 min read
How To Grow Your Own Festive Veggies
With the cost of Christmas rising a staggering 290% in the past three decades, growing your own vegetables from seed for the festive table offers a great way to save money. Not only that, but homegrown veg tastes so much better than anything you can
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Welcome To The Year-end Garden
with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes Welcome to the final 2024 issue of Amateur Gardening, and what a year it has been. Whether we’re thinking about instability in world events or the increasing demands of climate change, it’s clear to see that we a
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Time To Think About Early Sowings
I find that one of the best ways of keeping positive through winter (apart from escaping into the garden when the weather is kind enough) is to draw up what I want to do and grow next year. Whether it’s larger projects such as designing and building
Amateur Gardening3 min read
How To Help A Snowy Garden And Greenhouse
Towards the end of November we had a snowy Thursday, which caught me completely unawares because here in South Dorset a respectable delivery of the white stuff is the exception rather than the rule, especially before Christmas. Unfortunately, because
Amateur Gardening5 min read
Forest Gardening, Soil Testing And Luscious Luffa
with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Do you feel that throwing all manner of fertilisers onto your soil is not for you? Or does the idea of going back to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle capture your imagination? Perhaps you like the idea of n
Amateur Gardening3 min read
A Christmas With A Difference
I don’t know about you, but I always feel a lot of pressure as the festive season approaches. I don’t really get swept up in the buying frenzy, certainly not before the beginning of December, as I tend to figure it all out much nearer the time. I’m n
Amateur Gardening5 min read
The Festive Garden
With expert broadcaster, author and long-standing AG columnist, Anne Swithinbank The date on our cover celebrates the winter solstice and with Christmas only a few days away, my thoughts are focussing on picking fresh from the garden where I can. Our
Amateur Gardening2 min read
How To Maximise The Space In Your Garden
With Chris Collins, Garden Organic’s Head of Horticulture Our world is dominated by hard surfaces: bricks, paving and materials that make our lives more convenient. But plants can cushion these hard edges and are a more natural way of suppressing wee
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Getting To Know The Robin
What could be more Christmassy than a robin? The lovely flash of orangey-red around our gardens that’s so synonymous with this time of year. But there’s much more to our robins than Christmas cards and tree decorations! They’re extremely territorial
Amateur Gardening5 min read
The Hottest Trends For 2025
Garden plants suffered badly from pests and diseases and poor germination in the wet spring of 2024, meaning foolproof, bombproof plants will be a big thing for 2025. With lockdown a distant memory, more people back in the office and increased demand
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Easy Everlasting Garden Greens And Greys
With Julia Boulton, Beth Chatto’s granddaughter and chief custodian of the world-famous gardens, and her team Evergreen foliage in varying shapes, sizes, shades and textures forms the backbone of the garden throughout the year, acting as a foil for t
Amateur Gardening4 min read
How To Make Best Use Of Garden Lighting
TI adore evening walks around our local streets at this time of the year, the Christmas lights twinkling quietly behind misted living room windows. Every so often I’ll come across an electrical extravaganza of illuminations glittering gloriously in f
Amateur Gardening1 min read
The Christmas Gift that Lasts All Year!
A magazine subscription is a great gift for someone special 1 Fuel their passion, help them stay inspired and informed 2 Delivered direct to their door all year round 3 Saves you money on the shop price 4 The perfect gift for that difficult-to-buy fo
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Plants For Wellbeing
Christmas can be full of fun but it can also be overwhelming among all the gift shopping, socialising and to-do lists. It can be hard to switch off when there’s so much happening, but that’s the exact time to take a few moments out if you need to. Be
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Make Your Own Herbal Salts
How you choose to dry flowers depends on how much time you have. I dry most of my flowers by laying them out and turning them occasionally so they dry out in a few days. Other ways include in the oven or microwave, a flower press or dehydrator. Magne
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Potted Garden Perfect
We moved house around five years ago just after retiring from work and now have a small rectangular garden (33x19 foot). Apart from a small plum tree when we arrived, it was all grass (mostly moss) with a few broken slabs which the estate agent descr
Amateur Gardening1 min read
The Christmas Gift That Lasts All Year!
A magazine subscription is the perfect gift: • Personal, thoughtful and fuels their passion • Provides enjoyment all year round • And saves you money on the shop price! GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS FROM £15.99 OVER 45 TITLES TO CHOOSE FROM VISIT SHOP.KELSEY.CO
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Your GARDENING TEA BREAK
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” so went Nat King Cole’s 1946 winter hit song. But what if you haven’t got an open fire – not many of us do these days? Well, you can eat sweet chestnuts raw, but they are much nicer when cooked. Try this: ■ Prehe
Amateur Gardening1 min read
Crossword… Just For Fun!
1 and 15 cross The Christmas rose (10,5) 7 Crassula ovata is known variously as the jade plant, or friendship or _____ tree (5) 8 Anger at a tier (in the garden perhaps!) (5) (anag) 9 Device for reducing tree and shrub branches into small pieces for
Amateur Gardening3 min read
How To Grow Mighty And Marvellous Medlar Trees
I have long been on a mission to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs that are both productive and ornamental, so I seek out the unusual as well as the regular suspects and the medlar fits well into the ‘productive, ornamental and unusual’ category. Like
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Five Fascinating Things About Medlars
The fruit is ready to be eaten fresh, processed to make jelly and chutney, or frozen for later use, when it has ‘bletted’. This wonderful word comes from a French word ‘bletir’, meaning ripe or even overripe. In autumn when the fruit starts falling f
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Getting To Know The Christmas Tree
It’s always a magical moment when the time comes to decorate the Christmas tree. For generations it has been at the heart of our traditional festivities, conjuring up half-forgotten childhood memories of twinkling lights, multicoloured baubles and th
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Ground-hugging Plants For Summer Colour
with Ruth Hayes, AG’s gardening expert If you are looking for a hardy perennial plant that is low-maintenance, highly colourful and ideal for covering the soil in a sunny, potentially dry spot, look no further than aubrieta. For generations of garden
Amateur Gardening2 min read
What’s On
Until 30 Dec: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Occupation Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 2LJ. Until Dec 28: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Rosemoor: Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. Until Jan 5, 2025: RHS Glow, RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Wisley
Amateur Gardening7 min read
Ask JOHN NEGUS
Q I wonder if you could identify what could be making so many holes in these cabbage and sprouts leaves? There is no sign of slugs, snails or caterpillars. They have only gone for the larger leaves, even though I netted the plants when they went in t
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Your LETTERS TO KIM
Your lovely letters, emails and social media posts continue to flow in beautifully. Every message, poem, idea and comment matters. Please keep them coming. We will send out a thank you gift for every item published in the magazine so do please send y
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Mid-winter Joy
By the time we reach the winter solstice and the daylight hours dip to their lowest, it can be hard to find much in the garden that brings sunshine. But with a little planning, there are ways to find colour, interest and cheerful flowers to lift your
Amateur Gardening3 min read
Happy Houseplant Picks
With Adam Kirtland, AG’s garden DIY ideas expert In the darkest depths of winter, I find myself turning to our houseplants for comfort. Although they too are taking a slight rest, they still give me a tremendous amount of joy during these wintry time
Amateur Gardening2 min read
The National Amateur Gardening Show is back!
You read us every fortnight, now come and meet us in person and say hello! After several years’ absence, the National Amateur Gardening Show returns in 2025. The event takes place on July 12 and 13 at the South of England Showground at Ardingly in Su
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Make The Most Of The Shortest Hours
With expert gardener and AG columnist, Stephanie Hafferty The winter solstice on December 21 is the shortest day of the year. Although we are still deep within winter, with much of the worst weather likely still to come, it is a reassuring thought th
Amateur Gardening4 min read
Festive Memories And Future Plans
Memories of Christmas past are like flakes of snow that can’t help but drift knee-deep and muddle together. The frenetic build-up to the festive season has already melted into the 10 before and been washed down with a good measure of Christmas cheer.
Amateur Gardening2 min read
Hot Off The Plant Press - My Poinsettia Picks
Your plant recommendations from expert plantsman, Michael. There’s only one plant synonymous with Christmas across a number of different countries, albeit known under a range of different names, and that’s the poinsettia. It’s a rather curious plant,
Amateur Gardening2 min read
How To Grow Strong Seedlings
with Bob Flowerdew, long-standing AG contributor, broadcaster and all-round expert. Once celebrations are over it’ll soon be time to start our new growing season. The days will lengthen, although they’re still very short and a weak sun is low in the

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