We are at the tipping point of the growing season when buds burst from bare stems and spring bulbs double in size and abundance overnight as spring gathers momentum. This is good because the garden should be a really cheerful place to be with so much blooming and growing going on. On the gardening front it changes the jobs that can and can\u2019t be done; \u2018winter tasks\u2019 should have been completed by now as the dormant season is over. For example, it really is pretty late to be planting anything bare-rooted so, if you have to do it this late, keeping the plants very well watered throughout their first growing season is imperative.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the stirring perennials in your garden deserve, in fact demand, a little feeding. If the soil is dry enough then a gentle surface forking of the borders, removing any weeds as you go, together with a sprinkling of \u2018blood, fish and bone\u2019 fertiliser will get the emerging herbaceous perennials off to a good start and growing away vigorously with the April showers. If you didn\u2019t get a chance to do it over the winter season then a surface mulch of sterile (i.e. weed seed free) organic matter over the forked and fertilised soil helps to \u2018lock-in\u2019 moisture and suppress weed growth.<\/p>\n
With rising average temperatures and a diminishing risk of hard frost there\u2019s more opportunity to sow hardy annuals this month than there was last. Also sowing lawns from scratch can take place now, following rigorous seedbed preparation, as long as you can provide some sort of protection from heavy downpours which would otherwise wash the seed and fine tilth away.<\/p>\n
On the subject of lawns; you may have already achieved your \u2018first cut\u2019 as there were some ideal dry spells and frost-free periods towards the end of March this year. If not then you certainly will need to start cutting the lawn in April applying the usual common sense, gardening relies mainly on the application of common sense, to avoid doing it during wet weather or if frosts are likely. Make sure whatever sort of mower you have is cutting proficiently and, where possible, set the cutting height a good notch or two higher then you would normally. Getting the lawn back under control is a real \u2018feel-good\u2019 task and sets the rest of the garden off to perfection.<\/p>\n
Plants which have been wrapped up in fleece, to fend off the worst of the winter cold, can be unwrapped during mild spells.\u00a0 Keep the fleece close at hand for rapid deployment when frost threatens. Open up cold-frames, greenhouses and conservatories, whenever it is sunny, to encourage ventilation and begin the hardening off process. If you took tender perennial cuttings in the autumn, and they are still in pots or seed-trays, then these should be separated out and potted up as soon as growth resumes.<\/p>\n
Herbaceous perennials can be propagated easily, before they are too advanced in growth, simply by chopping sections out of the clump while they are still in the ground or by lifting the whole stool and carving it up with a sharp spade. Pot up some sections into fresh compost, creating new plants, then replant the remaining third, or so, incorporating a handful of general feed into the planting hole. Remember to water in well, to settle the roots, even if the ground is already wet.<\/p>\n
Here in the south west, especially if you are fortunate enough to live within a stone\u2019s throw of the coast, the risk of frost is diminishing now but it\u2019s still too early to rule it out completely. For this reason it is too early to plant out really tender bedding plants, no matter how tempting the garden centre displays may be, as they could, literally, be wiped out overnight. Having said that, because there is a danger that the choicest varieties may sell out before optimum planting conditions are with us, if you do buy them now they can be potted into larger pots, once you get them home, and kept in a frost-free place until all danger of frosts has passed.<\/p>\n
The same goes for planting up containers and hanging baskets. You can steal a march on the season if you have room, maybe a porch or conservatory, to keep things well lit but protected until they can go outside. It\u2019s very satisfying to plant up your summer containers with tiny plug plants, or bedding you have raised yourself from seed, so that they can establish well, and practically double in size, before they go outside next month. If you have large, deep, pots then a layer of summer flowering bulbs below your surface layer of bedding just increases the impact and, in the case of lilies, can add a real hit of scent for those balmy summer nights that are ahead of us (we hope!).<\/p>\n
Before signing off I guess it\u2019s worth remembering that, while it\u2019s good to see all the plants getting into their stride, you also need to keep a look out for their accompanying pests which tend to have procreation on their tiny minds. Nipping them in the bud, before they get too numerous, will prevent a lot of the damage which would otherwise ensue. Observation and timeliness are key to keeping a garden healthy as pests and diseases can usually be controlled by cultural methods, if spotted early enough, and then chemical control (assuming you are not organic) can be used as a last resort. It is a sweeping generalisation but, from experience, most control treatments marketed as \u2018organic\u2019 are little better than \u2018snake oil\u2019.<\/p>\n
It really annoys me that proper chemical control, which is tightly regulated and goes through rigorous testing before being allowed onto the shelves, gets a bad press whereas consumers may be lured into spending similar amounts of money on a so-called \u2018organic\u2019 preparations, claiming to do the same job, but which will prove largely ineffective. I still maintain that chemical control, used sparingly but effectively, is much better than\u00a0 letting ignorance scare you into paying lip service to \u2018organic gardening\u2019.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never come across an organic gardener who tries to keep clean without resorting to chemicals (what else do you think washing up liquid, toilet cleaner, dishwasher tablets, laundry powder, shampoo, conditioner etc. etc. are?) so why only apply the \u2018chemical free\u2019 rule to your garden? Makes no sense at all. Enjoy your garden…….responsibly!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We are at the tipping point of the growing season when buds burst from bare stems and spring bulbs double in size and abundance overnight as spring gathers momentum. This is good because the garden should be a really cheerful place to be with so much blooming and growing going on. On the gardening front […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-2181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-gardening","tag-russell-jordan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}