GARDENERS' questions
Adrienne Wild offers advice on all your thorny horticultural issues
Q I want to store apples from my garden for using in packed lunches during the winter. What’s the best way to go about it?
Teri Winstanley, via email A You need a dry, dark, frost-free place and clean trays – leave new, wooden trays outside
first to absorb moisture,
otherwise they’ll draw moisture from the fruit, causing it to shrivel.
Pick the fruit just before it reaches maturity and when it easily separates from the spurs. Make sure apples are blemish-free and, ideally, have a stalk. Wrap fruits individually in tissue paper and arrange in single layers. Q I’d like to plant a forsythia hedge. How many plants will I need for a 3.6m run?
Jo Cunningham, via email A Ideally, you should have 45cm intervals between plants to make a solid hedge, so you will need about nine in total. Prune the hedge after
flowering, cutting back the
older stems by a third, to promote bushy growth.
Q What tree would you recommend for the middle of the lawn in my small front garden?
Mike Pollard, via email A Salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’ is ideal for planting in a small lawn, and will even grow in a large tub on the patio. It
has a weeping habit, and rarely grows to more than
3m. In winter, the stiffly
pendulous branches are clothed for several weeks with silky, silver catkins studded with golden anthers. Male catkins are twice as big as female. Fortunately ‘Kilmarnock’ is male!
Leaves follow the flowers
to form a green umbrella.
It needs a moist, fertile soil and full sun, but little or no other attention.