Garden Notes for April 2024.

The frosts this winter have taken their toll of many shrubs, so take a careful look around and prune out any obviously dead growth. Silver leafed shrubs such as lavender, sage and santolina should be cut to within 5cm – 10cm of the ground, once new growth is visible at the base. On old woody bits, it is better to go easy and cut back to last year’s growth. Generally speaking, spring flowering shrubs like forsythia, winter jasmine and flowering currant should be pruned after they have flowered.

Sow hardy annuals such as marigold, nigella, candytuft, cornflower and nasturtium direct in their prepared beds. Sunflowers can be started too. Sow 15cm (6”) apart for a crop of long stemmed flowers. Sow them further apart (about 30cm) if you want a succession of flowers on shorter side shoots.

Pinch out the growing tips of coleus, fuchsias, pelargonium and petunia to encourage bushy growth. Leave a can of water in the greenhouse to warm up before you water, this will reduce plants getting a shock from icy cold water. If you are sowing fine seeds (like nicotinia) – water the compost first. This avoids washing the seed deep into it.

Now is the time to cut off the flowers of hydrangeas that have been left on for winter protection. Shorten any thin of old shoots of H. macrophylla (mopheads or lacecaps) to their lowest bud. To get large flowers on H. paniculata cut the main branches to within two buds of their base.

Divide chives or mint if they are crowded (dispose of the roots carefully, they are invasive). You should finish planting main crop potatoes, and earth up any early growth. Frost is still a clear and present danger!

In unheated greenhouses sow Brussels sprouts, calabrese, summer cauliflower, kale and lettuce. In outdoor beds you can sow broad bean, beetroot, early carrots, chard, kohl rabi, parsnips, peas, radish, spinach, spring onion and turnips. Plant out onion sets. Peas can be started in a length of guttering in the greenhouse. When the seedlings are ready to go out, the compost will be held together by their roots and the whole row can then be slid into position.

Remember to pot on any rooted cuttings as they develop, don’t let them become pot-bound.

The Capel Horticultural Society Plant Sale will be held on Saturday 11th May in the Village Hall starting at 10 a.m. This will provide an opportunity to get well grown bedding plants, shrubs and even vegetables for the summer season at competitive prices. So make a note and be sure to turn up promptly as all sales are on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Garden notes for March 2024

Snowdrops that have stopped blooming should be lifted and divided as soon as possible. Unlike other bulbs they should be multiplied whilst their leaves are still green. It is a good idea to do this at least once every 3 or 4 years as the bulbs may become too closely packed together to give a good show the following year if it is not done.

In order to give the best germination of any seeds that you want to start, make sure that the soil, or seed compost, you use is as warm as possible. So put out cloches over the area in the garden where you intend to start early crops. Do this at least a week or so before sowing in order to warm the ground. Equally, if you are using a seed compost such as John Innes No.1, bring it in to a shed or greenhouse before making up the pots or seed trays so that it has been thoroughly warmed through. Most seeds need a soil temperature of at least 10ºC (50ºF), and do better if it is about 15ºC. This is a very general rule of thumb, and there are many differences for different species, but it is true for a lot of the plants we grow.

Watch out for drying winds and days that are sunny in March and try to get on the garden as soon as possible after that, because it is almost certain that rain will follow and you will not be able to do anything. It is all very well to give this advice for those who are able to follow the weather, but very difficult for the weekend gardener! Our clay is a very fertile medium if you can manage it properly. Over time the addition of humus from garden compost, farmyard manure and so on will help but it is a long term and continuing process.

Towards the middle or end of March, depending on the outdoor temperature, you should prune roses. If you want large blooms, prune severely, cutting all strong young growths back to 3 or 4 buds from where growth started last spring. For general garden purposes leave 5 or 6 buds. This allows for re-growth should any late frosts nip off the earliest growth.

Make sure that your garden mowing equipment is serviced and ready for use as the weather improves and the grass starts to get back to growing.

Sweet peas that have been growing in pots should be hardened off for planting out in April.

Dahlia tubers should be started off in gentle heat to get the shoots that will form the plants for growing on.

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Garden notes for February 2024

This year is a leap year so we have an extra 24 hours this month to get the garden going! As the days start to draw out, and it does not seem so gloomy the urge to get plants started is almost irresistible. Any seedbeds that have been protected under cloches or garden fleece can be started to be sown with hardy vegetables such as parsnips. You can also start to consider sowing some early cabbage and brussel sprouts. Divide and replant chives towards the end of the month.

Dahlia tubers should be started in gentle heat towards the end of the month for most of us. Remember your house-plants on cold, frosty night. Keep them on the room side, not behind the curtain. Plants are most likely to die from drastic temperature changes between a heated room in the day and a frosty sill at night.

Plants to prune this month include winter flowering jasmine, buddleia (towards the end of the month) and all the dogwoods.

Do not forget your garden machinery. Look over mowers, hedge trimmers and so on. Make sure that they are ready for the onslaught when the grass and the hedges start to burst into life again. If you are like me, and not very good with machinery it is best to get them serviced by a reliable supplier. As the saying goes, ‘Look after your tools, and they will look after you’.

Most of the garden centres will be selling fuchsia cuttings, and this is a good way to get the plants you want as they can be brought on in the greenhouse without much heat, although they must be kept frost free.

Chrysanthemum stools that you brought in under a cold frame in January should be making good growth and cuttings should be taken to be potted on. Watch out for greenfly and the dreaded whitefly that can also hatch out with slightly warmer days. Use a drenching of ‘Provera’ (made by Bio) as a precaution. Provera should also be used for lilies to keep the lily beetle under control. It is also useful for indoor plants to stop the fruit fly hatching out.

Towards the end of February, start of March, bush roses should be pruned. Use sharp secateurs. Cuts should not be more than 5mm above a bud, and should slope away from it. Prune die-back to healthy wood. Remove all dead, diseased stems and burn them. Trace suckers back to the roots from which they are growing and pull them away. Always wear protective gloves, the scratches from rose thorns can be nasty.

That reminds me, everyone, but especially all gardeners, should make sure that they keep their tetanus inoculation up-to-date. It should be done at least once every 10 years. It is available on the NHS and it really is important to be safe rather than sorry.

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Garden Notes for January 2024.

January is a good time to plan ahead. The short days and inclement weather mean that it is difficult to do a great deal but it need not stop you from going out and having a good look around and seeing how it will all develop in the coming season.

At the first opportunity when the lawn surface is reasonably dry, sweep it with a birch besom so as to scatter the worm cast and to remove dead grass.

Look carefully at trees, shrubs and roses planted during the autumn and if they have been loosened by wind or frost, re-firm them thoroughly.

Clear away the stems and roots of savoy and other green crops that have finished and push on with the winter cultivation whenever this is possible.

Sow onion seed under cover for early crops. Preparation of the seed bed for onions that will be planted out in March will always encourage good growth. Onions appreciate wood ash, so sprinkle the ash from your log fires (not coal fires) over the area where the onions are to grow, and lightly prick it into the soil to make sure it is well incorporated.

If you have a greenhouse, consider some early salad crops that can be raised with a little gentle heat to get them started. When seed potatoes are available keep them in a place where there is no danger of frost penetrating, and stand the tubers eye-ends uppermost in shallow boxes to begin the sprouting process. Old egg trays or boxes are a good way of providing the right support and separation required.

Towards the end of January prune fuchsias. Cut back all side growth hard, to about 2 mm from the stem.

Herbs, like sage and thyme, can be replanted in the last week of January. Large clumps can be pulled apart into smaller pieces, keep the roots attached. If the frost has killed any of the top growth of the sage, it can be pruned back and new growth will develop later.

Azaleas can be increased by the technique known as ‘layering’ in January. Choose branches of last year’s growth that can be easily bent down to soil level. Then make a slit halfway through the branch on the lower side where it touches the soil. Peg it firmly into the ground in a mixture of peat and sand.

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