An Hour in the garden - week by week

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 81 This week we take a quick look at what pots and containers we have used to grow vegetables Plants that deter insects pests, slugs and snails Houseplants that help clean the atmosphere And the State of the World’s Fungi report by the RHS at Kew

Welcome to An Hour in the garden no 80 First of all, so sorry for last week. (Grandchildren + bug = wiped out!) I finally got into thegarden and harvested cabbages and potatoes and spent the ‘recovery’ time watching the leaves falling, so we do into a little about how and why leaves fall - after all, it can’t just be the wind, it gets windy in the Summer too and the leaves don’t fall at all. The thing is, for many reasons, a layer of cork appears at the end of the leaf, which is more brittle, and so consequently, the leaf eventually falls off under pressure. Quite why is a different story. Many explanations are given, but they don’t always fit the bill, and it seems to me there are combinations of reasons for the effect. We go on to look at some plants I am buying this autumn Broadbean: Aquadulce for sowing now Oscar and Robin Hood for later Cabbage: Getting plants of Aprio, Wheelers Imperial and Winter Green Plus Savoy for next year, though this year I have been sowing All Year Round Carrot: Aron F1, Berlicum and and Flyaway Cauliflower: You can’t beat the old favourite All Year Round Celery: Golden Self Blanching Garlic Bohemian Rose Wight from Prague Carcasonne Wight - lovely flavour Caulk Wight - pink striped from Russia Two old favourites: Early Purple Wight and Solent Wight

Time to sow in a cold frame: Violas Lupins we’re sowing Dwarf fairy pink Aquilegia, - carulea Aconitum or monks hood or wolf’s bane Hollyhocks creme de cassis Eryngium Echinops Verbascum - I think they are like hollyhocks and lavateras seeds off outdoors now either direct sown or in pots in a coldframe. Salvias Red Hot Pokers Hardy Geraniums We have Wargrave Pink, and you can’t get rid of it! It is very invasive. But there are so many others! I quite fancy Orchid Blue and purple haze Sow where they will grow Poppies of all kinds Ammi majus (Bishop's Weed)) Cornflowers Poached Egg plant Larkspur