Crossword

Put down your trowel, pick up a pen and exercise those brain muscles instead…

ACROSS

1 Cover these plot staples with fine netting to protect against cabbage white butterflies (9)

7 Sow a batch of these legumes now for an autumn crop (4)

8 ‘__ Girl’ is a tasty tomato often grown as a cordon (7)

9 ‘__ King’ is a colourful dog’s tooth violet (6)

11 Dahlia ‘Twyning’s __‘ has single magenta- and white-coloured blooms (7)

12 Vinca minor is commonly called __ periwinkle (6)

15 Grassland habitat with a variety of wildflowers (6)

19 ‘__ Waterer’ is a Japanese spiraea with rosy-pink petals in late summer (7)

20 Potentilla ‘Monarch’s __‘ has rich-scarlet summer blooms (6)

21 Small, thread-like pest also known as a nematode (7)

23 It’s a good time to take cuttings from fuchsias and other __ perennials (6)

24 __ japonica is also known as Japanese aralia (6)

DOWN

1 Water tomatoes daily to prevent __ end rot (7)

2 Marsh mallow belongs to this diverse genus of plants (7)

3 A natural genetic mutation of a plant (5)

4 The female reproductive organ of a flower (6)

5 Tiny biological particles that allow fungi to reproduce (6)

6 Crown __ is a bacterial disease of woody and herbaceous plants (4)

10 Second __ potatoes should be ready to harvest now (5)

13 ‘__ Rijnveld’ is a tulip with fringed, feather-like petals (7)

14 Creeping horizontal plant stems (7)

16 __ o’clock lady is a name for Ornithogalum umbellatum (6)

17 It’s a good month to __ rhizomatous irises (6)

18 Be sure to keep __ features topped up on hot summer days (5)

22 The dark-green leaves of Hosta ‘Mama __‘ have gold edges that turn cream in summer (3)