A Meldreth Garden

I am planting up gaps in the flower beds with potted bulbs and plants; annuals for instant colour, for scent and to add height to the display. For example after the forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica) have flowered and been removed, gaps appear. Polyanthus primrose (primula × polyantha) and hellebore seed, picked fresh, were sown as soon as the seeds were ripe. It is always interesting to see the colour-ways of the resultant plants.

I have been cutting back clumps of spring flowering perennials to ground level after flowering to encourage a fresh flush of foliage; oriental poppies, geraniums, pulmonaria and leopard's bane (Doronicumcan), to stimulate fresh growth.

I have been taking softwood cuttings of plants like hydrangeas, penstemons and buddleia, etc. Even roses can be propagated from softwood cuttings. I try to have backups of all important perennials. Collect strong healthy young shoots about 8cm (3 inches) long, early in the day after preparing pots and a propagator. Trim shoots below a leaf axil, then remove the lower leaves from the stem with a knife, dib-in the cutting around the edge of a pot and trim off remaining leaves by half to reduce water loss. Put in a propagator or in a pot covered by a plastic bag, keep damp and place in the greenhouse out of direct sunlight, these will root in a month or so.

My plant of the month is acanthus mollis, not acanthus spinosus, which is a prickly thug. Acanthus mollis has deep lobed bright green leaves and tall white and purple flower spikes in May/June. Almost evergreen, it is a tough plant that will last for years and is suitable for difficult positions. I have acanthus mollis planted in light shade at the front of the shady border behind damson trees. There is both the standard green leaved form with white and purple flowers, a white flowered form acanthus mollis 'Rue Ledan' and a golden leafed form acanthus mollis 'Hollards gold'.

The allotment is filling up nicely; a period of improved night time temperatures is getting things moving. The asparagus, first crop of the season after rhubarb, has been lovely if restrained in size. Keep flower and vegetable plants moving as they do much better without a halt. I have been potting-on plants as necessary.

A main job is keeping on top of weeds and pests, flea beetle, aphids, butterfly, etc. Flea beetle is a particular problem for radish and turnips this year. I should have covered them with enviromesh netting after planting the seed.

Activities I will consider in the Flower Garden

 Pot-on biennials grown from seed e.g., foxgloves, sweet william, wallflowers, honesty, icelandic poppies and verbascums

 Cut out reverted green shoots on hardy variegated evergreens, e.g., Elaeagnus pungens 'Frederici'

 Plant out tender bedding and tender perennials such as cannas and dahlias now the danger of frost has passed

 Fill gaps in herbaceous borders with annual bedding

 You can sow the seed of winter bedding, winter pansies, wallflowers and polyanthus, making good sized plants for planting out in October

Vegetable Garden

 Start harvesting early potatoes if they're large enough, 80 days from planting to cropping

 Sow spring onions, endive, lettuce, rocket and oriental greens and for a winter harvest kale, chicory and cabbage, etc. For florence fennel sow seed after the longest day to reduce the chance of plants bolting later.

 Plant outside cucumbers, courgettes, squash, pumpkins, sweet corn and outside tomatoes if the weather is warm enough

 Pinch out the side shoots of cordon tomatoes varieties, keep tomatoes evenly moist to avoid the skin breaking

 Transplant leeks to their final position when they're pencil thick & 40cm (15”) long

 Keep on top of weeding to stop weeds romping out of control

Enjoy your garden and take time out to sit and appreciate the fruits of your activity.

Ian McPhee

Letters to the Editor

Wildflowers

To my delight, it seems that mowing of the Fenny Lane roadside verge has ceased (for now), with wonderful consequences for the flora of the verge.

On a recent dog walk, I counted 42 species of vascular plant, with some lovely species not uncommon in wildflower meadows coming through - Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), common knapweed (Centaurea nigra), cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and cowslip (Primula veris).

Long may this trend of less intensive management continue. Hopefully this photograph does it some justice.

Gabrielle Wilbur

Editor’s note: Please see this month’s front cover for another of Gabrielle’s photographs.

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Amazon Brushing Scam

If you’ve received an unexpected ‘Suzhichou’ branded scarf (or another relatively small and light item) in the post, it’s likely that you’ve been targeted by a 'brushing' scam. Brushing scams involve dodgy sellers on online marketplaces such as Amazon submitting fake orders of their own items. After submitting an order, the seller sends a cheap, low-quality product to a random address. This generates a tracking number on the marketplace. Once the recipient receives the item, the scammer will be able to leave a fake five-star review. These 'sales' bolster the seller’s figures, helping their products rank higher in search results. A variation of the scam involves you ordering an item from a marketplace but being sent a completely different item. In these instances, the fraudster sends out a cheap product with the same tracking number that was generated by your actual order.

If you receive one of these items, it means a fraudster has got hold of your name and address. Some shoppers have reported receiving these scarves after ordering a different item from a Facebook marketplace store based in China. Alternatively, your address may have been taken from a publicly available source, been compromised as part of a data leak or been accessed as a result of entering your details into an unsecure website.

If you receive an unsolicited item from an Amazon marketplace seller, report the package to Amazon by going to Help and typing in ‘Report Unwanted Package’ in the help search. You should also change your Amazon password and set up twofactor authentication. The unsolicited package indicates that some of your personal information has been compromised, so you should check bank and credit card statements for unexpected transactions.

This article was adapted from an article on a Which Scam Alert email. To subscribe to these free emails, go to which.co.uk and look for 'Scam Alerts newsletter'.

If you think you have fallen victim to a scam, report the scam to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit https://www.actionfraud.police.uk.

If you're not sure whether something is a scam, you can talk to one of the trusted contacts in Meldreth:

Graham (01763) 260358 Linda (01763) 261405

Peter (01763) 260323 Tim (01763) 262801

You can contact Neighbourhood Watch by phoning Graham on the above number, or by emailing nhw.meldreth@btinternet.com.