Gardening

Edition Twenty Five - April 2008

April is one of the busiest months in the gardening year, with seeds to sow and the garden to freshen up after the winter gloom.

I am less inclined to spend my time growing labour intensive bedding plants from seed, and often choose instead to buy plug plants for most items, supplemented with packets of 'sow direct' hardy annuals.. I bought two packs of 24 plug plants (petunias) and discovered that most cells had two plants in, giving me a total of 90 plants for a fiver - not bad! This way I still have a great display, with less of the hard work and more time for relaxing in the garden..

In idle moments I sometimes visit the Defra website, to see what`s happening around our countryside. For those interested in country matters and the environment it is a most informative and interesting place to surf; see what you think with this interesting information about bees..  www.defra.gov.uk/hort/Bees/index.htm

I know garden centres are in the business of selling plants and making a profit, but the prices vary considerably from place to place, usually depending on how glamorous their premises are. I get rather cynical when I see plants in full flower for sale at exorbitant prices, because if you go back a couple of weeks later you can pick up the same specimen minus it`s flowers but still perfectly healthy, in the casualty corner at a knock down price.. Many of my plants, trees and shrubs have been bought this way..

Jobs for the month - April

• Dead-head daffodils as soon as the flowers fade, so they don't waste their energy producing seeds. Help build up the bulbs for next year by watering in a liquid general fertiliser. And don`t fold the leaves over and tie up, leave them to naturally die down, so the bulb can produce better flowers next year.

• Check any shrubs and small trees that might have been loosened in recent gales. Firm the soil around them by pressing gently with your heel and stake them if necessary. 

• Prune forsythias hard back after flowering.

• Prune summer-flowering shrubs such as buddleia, lavatera, hardy fuchsias and hydrangeas. Don`t forget to prune the dogwoods well back before they start properly into growth, to ensure good winter colour for next winter.

• Sow hardy annuals such as calendula, nasturtium and cornflowers.  (I have sown lots of giant sunflower seeds in single cells in the greenhouse. The birds enjoy feeding on the seedheads through the winter months.)

• Bedding plants which have been raised early under glass, should now be hardened off and given fresh air by moving them outside on mild days. If you are growing them indoors, take care they don`t get too leggy: make sure they get as much natural light as possible. If they are growing in an unheated greenhouse and a frost is forecast, cover the seed trays with horticultural fleece or newspaper. Prick out the seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle.

• April is a good time to remove thatch which can smother your lawn and encourage disease. Remove thatch with a brisk raking, or with an electric scarifier. 

• An application of a spring type of lawn weed and feed should green up the lawn and kill any weeds and moss that remain. 

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  If you have a pond or water feature and intend cleaning it out, please take care that any frogs which may be spawning are not upset by the upheaval.

• If you have a female dog whose urine burns brown patches on your lawn, spend a little time encouraging her to use another part of the garden away from the lawn. My dogs will only `go` on a gravel area set aside for them, which is excellent as I know that we, or any visitors are not going to tread in anything nasty!