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

How to welcome in wildlife • Ruth helps you turn your garden into a natural haven

Small changes make a difference • Thoughtful planting and creating wild areas helps wildlife

Growers’ hi-tech challenge with peat-free • Peat substitutes are not usable with UK growers’ machinery says Marc Rosenberg

Houseplants in winter • Ruth suggests ways of keeping indoor plants top notch

It’s time to plant garlic • Get it in the ground before Christmas, says Ruth

Keep going straight • Ignore trendy curves and relaxed planting, says Peter

Planting out potted cuttings • It’s time my bergenia cuttings found their home, says Ruth

Ash management • Once the bonfire’s out, put the ash to good use in your garden and take care of bare patches, says Bob

Be careful what you wish for! • Val explains how her new cat is just a part-time visitor

Focus on…Raspberries • Lucy looks at the best way to plant raspberry canes

Robust roses • Now’s the time to plant disease-resistant roses to enjoy low-maintenance, floriferous plants that will fill your garden with scent next year, says Hazel Sillver

November fragrance • There’s a surprising number of fragrant flowering shrubs that you can plant now to cheer up your late-autumn gardens, says Graham Rice, as he reveals his favourites

Grow the best garlic • A culinary staple with health-giving and flavour-enhancing benefits, garlic is easy to grow if you plant the right varieties at the optimum time, says Camilla Phelps

My climber didn’t flower

Ask John Negus • John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

A Gardener’s Miscellany • Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

AG’s Garden Wall

Word search

Crossword • …just for fun!

Protected planting • Steve and Val Bradley explain how using a basket can limit damage to bulbs in your borders and make lifting the bulbs easier

The ornamental and veg garden • Richard and Ina Steele enjoy the best of both worlds in their Worcestershire garden, as beautiful borders are combined with productive vegetable beds, says Sue Bradley

Letters to Wendy • Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Garden Saboteur • Please send us your gardening-themed poems. This week, reader Margaret from Edinburgh tells us about an unusual discovery in her garden planter…

Self-sufficient bulbs • Flowers that garden themselves may sound too good to be true, but Toby has high hopes for his tulips