garden
April in the Garden
By Ronnie Ogier
Ronnie is a passionate gardener and now loves sharing her years of experience of success and failures in her own garden and sharing it with you. Also a keen runner, having been bitten by the ‘Couch to 5K’ bug!
APRIL’S HERE, THE GATEWAY TO SPRING, WHEN WE CAN GET A SENSE OF FREEDOM IN OUR GARDENS. BUT THIS FEELING IS ACCOMPANIED BY A REAL SENSE OF URGENCY, PREPARING FOR SUMMER. IT IS THE MONTH WHEN MOST HAPPENS IN THE GARDEN
I
t is the month when most happens in the garden. It is close enough to winter for every warm sunny day in short sleeves to be a bonus, but unpredictable enough not to be taken for granted. Certainly, what we see in our gardens and around us at the beginning of the month will be very different from what we see by the end of the month. In April last year I wrote about the ‘value of weeds’ in our garden, and I would still suggest that they do have a place - not all weeds but certainly some do have a value. Just a very brief recap on last year’s suggestions for weeds: ▪ They provide a useful indicator about our soil types. ▪ Nettles are rich in nitrogen - a ‘soup’ made from nettle leaves will help plant growth. ▪ Comfrey is rich in potassium, so a ‘comfrey soup’ is excellent to encourage plants to flower. ▪ ‘Mares tail soup’ can be used to treat peach leaf curl, scab, and rust.
And yes, weeds can be composted, so don’t hate or ignore them; accept them, and use them. For the rest of this article, I shall focus on growing vegetables, as at this time of year it is vital to get vegetables started to give a long enough growing season to enjoy one or even two crops. But don’t get too carried away with my enthusiasm for this month, it is the busiest time for sowing, both in the ground and under cover, though it’s still too early for warmthloving plants such as runner and French beans. But some half-season vegetables such as beetroot, carrots, and spinach can be sown now, and again later in the season. Sowing seeds is really quite straightforward. You can sow in drills - a straight line - either in compost or in the ground. Make a small drill trench, sow your seeds, recover, and water gently. Alternatively, you can scatter seeds on the ground surface and gently rake it to cover them. Only do this if you have plenty of
space, very few weeds, and the seeds were less expensive. But remember if you use this approach, it’s harder to distinguish between weeds and plants - I lost a crop of small brassicas when someone helping me thought they were weeds! In addition, it’s harder to manage spacing and in the end to harvest the crops. All in all, I would advocate straight lines in the potager; in the end it saves time and effort. Your seedlings, either inside or outside sown, will need thinning out and setting out to their most appropriate distance for final growth and harvesting. Still do this even if you leave it too long - with just a little care small plants hardly notice the move and romp away. Once you can see two true leaves - these are the leaves you will recognise as belonging to each different plant not the two leaves which appear at germination and look the same on virtually all plants - your seedlings are ready to transplant. Bury all the stems when planting so that the roots are in moist compost and will be less susceptible to being rocked by the wind.
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