Time to get out in the garden and start weeding...now why do weeds grow quicker than flowers (yesterday the garden was weeded, the grass cut (first cut of the year) and two of my unusual passion flowers (banana maracuja) were planted out.
During March/April you should be planting your summer flowering bulbs. for best display plant in groups of 6 - don't forget if you don't have a garden then use a container/pot for your bulbs and you will still get a good display. At the moment in the garden its full of spring colour, with double (rose bud) primoses, tulips, crocuses, daffodils, pansies, violas and much more.
Do you like onions? Now's the time to start planting them if you haven't already done so.
Have a greenhouse? time to get it ready for the season's crops - a good clean and I have found that using yellow sticky tape around the inside of the greenhouse attracts the aphids to it...great as I don't want them eating my plants.
What will you be growing in your garden this year? We grow a lot of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, sweet and chilli, courgettes, cucumbers, squash, cape gooseberry, rhubard, strawberries and much more.
Do you like geraniums? now's the time to start planting your seeds. Push one seed under compost (I use Miracle-gro) and start my seeds off in 4-6 cm pots generally, keep compost damp but not saturated...they can be slow to germinate..but will produce a good display in the summer months..either keep them in pots (transfer to larger pots when they have about 6 leaves) or into the ground (don't plant outside until frosts have gone).
there are so many things that could be done during the Spring months.....next month start your tomato seeds (or even now) to ensure early cropping.
Did you save your lavender seeds last year? If you haven't already done so its the time to start your seeds off. Again just pop a seed or two under compost. germination from about 7 days.
If you have any questions generally on gardening, ask here and I will answer when I can. I am no way an expert, but I have had an interest in plants for as many years as I can remember, I also run a small plant business and besides normal things grow a lot of exotics and unusual things.
I will add to this forum each month.
Snakeshead fratilleries, Acer Palmatum Disectus Purpureum and Mam's rose, Arthur Bell, given to me by her two sisters.
Snakeshead fratilleries, Acer Palmatum Disectus Purpureum and Mam's rose, Arthur Bell, given to me by her two sisters.
lovely to see some photos. re the Snakeshead fratilleries did you grow them from seed or buy the plants. I haven't tried germinating them from seed, maybe next year, but a friend has the pinkpurples ones and they look really attractive and something unsual for the garden I cold do with a larger garden (lol) shouldn't complain as its around 100 ft at the back.
I put the seeds for the snakesheads straight in the ground last year. I had actually forgotten about them so it was lovely to see them.
Planted 6 small heathers in the front garden and another 6 round the pond today.
Picture of Kerria and another shrub I've forgotten the name of. They seem to have entertwined this year.
Marigold seeds have arrived. They are unusual and quite pretty. Thank you Atlanticpearl.
What should you be doing in your garden this month? There are lots of things but here are just a few suggestions.
Hopefully there will be no late frosts.
Do you like salad? time to start sowing your seeds for things like radishes, spring onions, lettuces (remember to sow a few seeds about every 10 days to have a supply throughout the summer).
did you grow primroses? when they start to die off leave them where they are and they will die off and disapear, next year they will spring up again and usually a few more will have joined them.
Freshly picked peas...yummy, not sown your peas and beans yet, do so now, again sow every couple of weeks for a continuing supply. Not much space? why not go some of the dwarf varieties in a pot? several beans now available in dwarf a couple of my favourites are hestia (runner bean) and sutton dwarf (broad bean). I am also for the first year growing broad beans (brings back memories from when I lived in Madeira, they are served in some of the restuarants as like a mini starter with a dressing)
labelling your plants....be creative and environmental...why not create your own from the cardboard cartons that orange juice and some milks come in?
shrubs that have finished flowering can be pruned.
growing tomatoes/peppers? My tip is to feed twice weekly with diluted tomato feed, for my aubergines I feed three times a week when in flower with tomato feed.
don't forget to weed...
Runners, peas and leeks were planted out yesterday.......the garden is looking good ! 🙂
oakapple - sounds like your garden is coming along with your veggie planting i am hoping to start picking my beans end of the month
Thank you Atlanticpearl.
Got quite a few salad leaves now. Time to start picking them and sewing some more seeds.
My sister told me she had pulled out all her primroses when they finished flowering last year. One or two she missed came back. Now she knows she should leave them. 😉
Peas just popping through the soil. No sign of runner beans yet.
Tomatoes a few inches high. Bell peppers also a few inches high. Chilli peppers bitten to bits. What on earth likes chilli leaves?
Planted 3 caulies outside. Only 1/2 of one left. Must put the rest in a polytunnel.
Swedes just starting to show. No sign of carrots, parsnips or beetroots.
Leeks still look like thin blades of grass but I do have 1 in a pipe which is looking not too bad at about a foot tall. It was planted out last year.
Can't do any bush pruning as I think my blackbirds are nesting in there. Not to worry. They should have been done at the end of last year really but it got too cold outside so I didn't get round to it.
Strawberries are coming along nicely. Soon have a bowlful ready to eat. I found 6 baby Brambley apples yesterday. I planted some berry bushes but can't remember which is which but they are flowering now. I know there is a raspberry and I think a redcurrant and whitecurrant and maybe a blueberry. I did write it down somewhere but can't find it at the moment. No sign of the rhubarb.
Swedes have there first leaves as do the carrots and beetroots. Caulies, cabbages, broccoli and leeks doing well.
Bell peppers coming along but chiilies struggling after being badly bitten.
Cucumbers and tomatoes seem to have come to a halt.
And I found a big frog and a little frog in the greenhouse. Must get the new pond liner sorted out as I'd like them to stay.
Ooh, and I heard the cuckoo cuckooing this evening as I worked in the garden.
Thanks for sharing you growing successes:)
My seeds are comming up nicely as the warm weather has helped, but I'm looking for some advice for shrubs evergreen/whatever, to plant between the fence and the garden path. It's a metre wide, semi shade, even quite deep shade. I would like something of a 'upright' habbit as the path way is used regularly and so things need to be cut back when necesary. I lost quite a few of my cordorlines and so have gaps.
My soil is clay, we have tried quite a few things, but so far hydrangers, budlia, bay, holly have done well, so have a few azalias, they were in the garden when we arrived.
From my kitchen window I now have a two/three metre gap, so I'm looking for something/s to plant there. Plus I then have around 10 metres near the top of the garden to plant up.
Any suggestions?
Fudge
P.s. Forgot to say, that the whole area is covered with fabric and topped with bark. We did this to suppress the weeds and make it more managable. In the distant future we will start openning areas and underplanting the main plants with something!!!
Loving hearing about everyone's garden delights and the pictures too 🙂
Would you have any suggestions for (really) shallow stone sinks please?
Struggling for ideas of what to plant as there isn't much depth sadly. Even tempted to build up the sides with slate offcuts from the tiles we used. It might look daft but the roots need to be happy in deeper soil......:hippy:
Hi all
We have a few hazel nut trees around the house but I have not Taken any notice of them until an hour ago. I am tuned in those trees for the first time ever. and I would love to acknowlege their pesence and what they bear. They must be 30 year old atleast but they look very healthy and I have just noticed the early green buds that gow into nuts.
Any advise about care that should be given to these trees and at what stage the nuts should be picked etc. I have seen nuts lying aound the ground in the winter but they are always empty. Perhaps we should pick them before autumn or something.
I would love to know what course of action should be taken to reap a good crop of hazel nuts.
Thanks in advance
Ruby
lovely thread AP, i'll be coming in here quite often as we have a massive garden but sadly lack the knowledge.. :rolleyes:
we're doing quite well though with the veggie patch.. potatoes, parsnips, swede.. peas, brocolli, a selection of salad leaves.. red peppers, chilis and tomatoes on the go.. some grown from seed, others from plants but all seem to be doing okay thanks to the last lot of rain.. need to get in with the hoe mind - the weeds are growing too!! herbs on the kitchen window sill are doing good aswell and my lovely aloe vera had yet another baby!!
flower wise in the garden, i'm playing it very safe and have planted campanula and heathers, lillies and lobelia - looking forward to the snapdragon variety coming through (there were a couple of others but i can't remember the names off the top of my head :confused:) crocosmia are blooming and the daffs may be gone for the year but we now have white/pink/bluebells so it's lovely and bright out there..
maeshadow, we have a few of those belfast sinks outside our back door and we've filled them with pansies and viola.. common flowers i know, but they're so easy to grow and fill the place with colour.. 🙂
i love giving back to the earth, planting flowers, feeding the birds.. feed the cows too whenever we cut the grass..
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Hi all, nice to read what you are doing in your garden and I hope to be back later in the month to answer garden queries...simply at the moment I don't have time to be on the net much except to check emails as business with holistics, plants, volunteer work, social life (yes I have time for that too...just)