April 2012

April was a roller coaster ride. We had a drought declared and a hosepipe ban introduced and then almost immediately we had the wettest April for over one hundred years! The garden and paths were flooded and the knock-on effect for me was the limitation in the work that I could do.

You can’t stand still as a gardener so I began clearing away all of the nettles at the top of the garden to try and encourage more grass to grow. I managed to cut the lawns (in between the rain) and also spread some ‘weed and feed’ once the growing season had begun. The fruit trees are budding nicely so more apples on the way.

The greenhouse filled with seedlings

The greenhouse was bulging with new plants grown from seed, and again whilst it rained I was able to use that time to transplant the seedlings ready for growing on and planting. Once I was sure that the last threat of frost had passed I planned to begin planting out around about week 3 in May.

Choisya (Mexican Orange)

Some of you may have noticed that I removed all the old bark and wood chippings from the front of the building, and after re-laying the weed suppressant sheet I covered it with pea shingle.

I think it makes the front look much cleaner and it also makes a great surface to show off some new shrubs, two bright yellow Choisya (Mexican Orange) shrubs in blue ceramic pots.

That’s it more news from the garden next month.