Amateur Gardening – 21 May 2019

46 AMATEUR GARDENING11 MAY 2019

SOMETIMES

perfectlyhealthy

asparagusspears

emerge,butthenfor

noapparentreason

theystarttobendor

curve– eventotheex

of bendingbacktothesoil.They’re

perfectlyedible,butlessappealingon

theplate.So,whydotheybend?

Oncespearsstarttogrow,theydoso

quiterapidly.Theyarealsosensitiveto

injuryfrominsects,frostdamage,

knockingwhenweedingnearby,or

evenwind-blownsandorgrit.The

injuredpartsgrowslowly,whilerapid

growthontheoppositesidecausesthe

shootstobendtowardstheinjuredside.

Avoidcultivatingthegroundcloseto

thecrowns.Controlanyinsectpests.

Andif yourgardenis coldorexposed,

applya lightfleeceonnightswithfrost

forecast,andpreventsandblasting

damagebyerectinga windbreak

during the harvesting period.

Myspears

are curved

Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers,Graham Clarke

S R A E P S M A L E

E T E N D E R A C A

S V T H L A V R S D

U L I O L I O P E E

O A H S T W A G S H

R T W S N R R T H C

B E E R A E E A O N

I F E G E A P I O A

F F U N M N D X T L

T S E V R A H S E B

Thisweek’skeywordis ..........................................................................................

Name........................................................................................................................

Address....................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

Postcode..................................................................................................................

Email.........................................................................................................................

Telno........................................................................................................................

TIsolely to process your competition entry.MediaLtd,publisherofAmateurGardeningwill collect your personal information

HOWTOENTER:Enterthisweek’skeywordontheentryform,

andsendit toAGWordSearchNo466,AmateurGardening,

Pinehurst2, PinehurstRoad,Farnborough,HampshireGU14

7BF,toarrivebyWednesday 22 May2019.Thefirstcorrect

entry chosen at random will win our £30 cash prize.

No:

Word search^466

Thiswordsearchcomprises

wordsassociatedwith

asparagus.Theyarelisted

below;in thegridtheymay

bereadacross,backwards,

up,downordiagonally.

Lettersmaybeshared

betweenwords.Erroneous

orduplicatewordsmay

appearin thegrid,butthere

is onlyonecorrectsolution.

Afterthelistedwordsare

found,thereare11 letters

remaining;arrangetheseto

make this week’s KEYWORD.

ASPARAGUS

BLANCHED

CROWN

EXPENSIVE

FERN

FESTIVAL

FIBROUS

GREEN

HARVEST

LATE

MALE

SHOOT

SPEARS

STEAM

TENDER

WHITE

HistoricalGardeningEvent

OfTheWeek: 10 May 1893

BEFOREthisdate,tarifflawsin the

USAimposeda dutyonvegetables,

butnotonfruits.It meantthatthe

statusof thetomatowastobecome

a matterof legalimportance.

On 10 May1893,theUSSupreme

Courtsettledthiscontroversyby

declaringthatthetomatois a

vegetable,basedonthepopular

definition:quitesimply,it was

decreedthata vegetablewas

somethingthatwasgenerallyserved

‘withdinnerandnotdessert’.

Sothat’ssettled,then– the

tomatois a vegetable!Well,no,

becausetheholdingof thiscase

appliesonlytotheinterpretation

of theTariffof 1893,andthecourt

acceptedthat,botanically,the

tomatowasprobablya fruit!Err...

Justtothrowextraconfusion into

thebotanicalnightmare

watercressis not

reallya vegetable

butan‘aquatic’

plant’,while

asparagusis

technically

a ‘fern’!

Prize draw

Howtoenter

Sendyournameandaddressonthebackof a postcardtoMiracle-Gro

Rose& ShrubPlantFoodDraw(11May),AmateurGardening, Pinehurst2,

PinehurstRoad,Farnborough,HampshireGU147BF.Oryoucanemail

[email protected],headingtheemailMiracle-Gro

Rose & Shrub Plant Food Draw (11 May). The closing date is 17 May 2019.

WIN

£30

Rosesarea greatwayto addvibrant

andboldcoloursto yourgarden,andto

ensurethatyourrosesflourishthis

seasonandcreatea gardenoasis,

Miracle-Grois givingsevenlucky

AGreadersthechanceto wina Miracle-

GroRose& ShrubContinuousRelease

PlantFoodjar.Theuniquecoating

enablesthefeedto becontinuously

releasedwhenplantsareactively

growing, so just one application will last

forsixmonthsandyour

roseswillflourishintothe

autumn.Miracle-GroRose

& ShrubContinuous

ReleasePlantFoodis

suitableforallvarietiesof

roses,andcanbeusedin

pots,bedsandcontainers.

WehavesevenMiracle-GroRose&

ShrubContinuousReleasePlantFood

jars to give away, each worth £4.50.