Monthly Garden Diary - April 2008

Introduction

Summer time is now with us and suddenly sunset is an hour further into the evening, many of us can look forward to some extra time pottering in the garden when the weather is mild. Emerging weeds will indicate when the soil is warm enough for general seed sowing and flowering trees and bushes will be encouraging lots of pollinating insects to start work.

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Ornamental Gardening

Annual weeds will be popping through bare soil ready to make a mess of your flower bed before you get a chance to sow flower seed or put out bedding plants. Early treatment when they are small will save you time and energy, especially if you prefer hand weeding and the hoe versus chemical weed control. In mixed borders weeding with a hoe can sometimes damage shallow rooting plants and do more harm than good. That’s why I prefer to use a simple contact weedkiller such as Weedol 2 or the ready-to-use Weedol Gun! (both contain diquat) to clear these first annual weeds. I can see results in a few days and I can carry on sowing or planting as soon as the leaves have dried. For those of you who prefer not to use traditional chemical weedkillers there are some new ones on the market that are based on fatty acids.

Weedol MAX is one such new contact weedkiller. It contains pelargonic acid, a molecule found in many plant cells, but when concentrated and sprayed onto plant leaves becomes a powerful weedkiller. It is fast-acting, showing visual effects in just a few hours and kills the weed in a day. So if you want to unleash the power of nature look out for Weedol MAX in your local garden centre or diy store in a concentrate form or a ready-to-use sprayer called Weedol Gun! MAX.

Tough easy flowers such as clary, echium, calendula, cornflower, gypsophila, candytuft, larkspur and poppy can be sown in garden soil where they are going to bloom.

Protect the newly emerging shoots of herbaceous perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, lupins, hosta, dicentra and aquilegia from slugs with SlugClear Advanced Pellets. Alternatively why not use a liquid slug killer such as SlugClear that leaves no visible residues on the soil or plants.

Plant lilies, gladioli corms and other Summer flowering bulbs such as Ixia, Freesias and Nerines. Towards the end of the month plant out dahlia tubers so that they are ready to produce a Summer display.

Patio Gardening

Sort out the pots and containers that you will use for this Summer’s display of tender plants such as fuchsia, geraniums, petunias, osteospermums and marguerites. Empty any compost from last year’s display and check to see if you can find any grubs of the black vine weevil. They are creamy white, legless grubs, up to 10 mm long with a light brown head. If you spot any, then your garden has a vine weevil problem worthy of attention.

To help protect new ornamental container grown plants from attack they need to be grown in fresh potting compost. During the Summer watch out for the distinctive symptoms of adult vine weevil - they eat the leaves of plants such as fuchsia, rhododendron, auricula, euonymous, lilac and peony, leaving notches around the edges of the leaves. The adults that do the damage to the leaves are nocturnal and you may be able to spot the culprits if you visit these affected plants with a torch after dark.

The adults aren’t really the whole problem though. Underground in the compost there will be hundreds of white grubs busily eating away the roots of your favourite plants. To get rid of these unwelcome visitors simply drench the compost with a solution of BugClear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer. It contains a new systemic insecticide called acetamiprid which will kill off the grubs and give internal protection of the whole plant against sap sucking insects such as whitefly, aphids, red spider mite, mealy bug and scale insects.

The Lawn

The lawn is still the heart of most family gardens. And although not always appreciated because it needs mowing regularly, it is still a green haven of soft comfort for relaxation and a useful contrast to the many colours of Summer flowers. It’s a shame that only about 1 in 8 lawns ever get more attention than being mowed. Untended lawns may look good from a distance, but they are normally riddled with moss and weeds and any remaining grass is a pale imitation of its possible greenness. Just one lawn care treatment could transform any neglected lawn. It’s not as if it takes a long time or costs a fortune. You can treat the average size lawn in about 10 minutes and it will cost you less than £10.

The secret of success is a simple-to-apply triple-action treatment with something such as EverGreen Complete. Just one application and your grass will quickly become greener, thicker and weed and moss free. If your lawn is average sized or below, then the 100m sq hand-held spreader is just right for you. Three days after mowing, choose a dry day to open the spreader and walk up and down the lawn to spread the granules evenly over the lawn area. Each granule contains rich nitrogen to turn the grass green and enough weed and mosskiller to get rid of most weed problems.

Wait another 3 or 4 days after application to mow the grass again and then wait for the transformation. In a week the grass will start going greener and in a couple of weeks the weeds will be twisting into the last throes of dying. You can sit back and admire your handiwork.

Mowing the lawn is a necessary evil, but it can be a satisfying job if you don’t cut it too short. Leave each blade of grass at least 2.5cm (1 inch) long as this gives the plants enough energy to fill in the gaps left by dying weeds and to grow into a thicker, lusher lawn. For a great finish re-shape lawn edges using a half-moon edger to give a sharp freshness and a clear transition between the lawn and the flowerbeds.

Roses, Trees and Shrubs

Few plants can stop you in your tracks like a thriving rhododendron or azalea in bloom. Covered in flowers, the display is breathtaking. Like other ericaceous plants (camellias, heathers and citrus fruits) they need an acid soil topped up with a regular feeding programme containing all the essential nutrients so that they can produce a stunning display year after year.

Unfortunately if the soil contains lime then these ericaceous plants cannot thrive - the growth slows down and the leaves turn yellow as the plant cannot take up iron to maintain green, food producing leaves. Anyone can stop yellowing leaves with a special plant food for lime-hating plants such as Miracle-Gro Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron Soluble Plant Food or Miracle-Gro Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron Plant Food Liquid. Both feed the plants and supply chelated iron to help prevent leaf yellowing. Just wet the leaves and soak the soil in Spring and a couple of times through the Summer and you’ll create plants that carry beautiful blooms and have a deep rich leaf colour.

Remember that while you are safe-guarding expensive shrubs such as rhododendrons and azaleas there are other plants that appreciate an ericaceous feed. Gardenia, honeysuckle, magnolia, acers and hydrangea all welcome this feed and petunias both in the garden and in hanging baskets seem to grow stronger and more vigorously.

If the soil in your garden is completely wrong for ericaceous plants then you’ll have to go really potty to enjoy their beauty. If acid-loving plants really can’t tolerate you soil, then try planting them up in containers of Levington Ericaceous Compost. It’s ideal for all acid-loving plants and if fed subsequently with a Miracle-Gro Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron Soluble Plant Food they will thrive.

Roses will be growing fast in the warmer weather, especially if they were pruned back hard at the end of Winter. To protect the new soft foliage from blackspot disease spray your roses with a new systemic fungicide that gives long lasting protection. Regular spraying with FungusClear Ultra every 2-3 weeks will give disease protection for over 3 months. This revolutionary new disease fighter is recommended for use on roses and all other flowering or decorative plants and will give protection against blackspot, powdery mildew and rusts. Now at last we have an answer to blackspot on rose and the rusts so often found hiding on the underside of the foliage of pelargoniums, asters and hollyhocks. Just a few sprays should put paid to severe infections and the resulting premature leaf drop. For best results spray new foliage in early in Spring and repeat every two weeks for season-long control.

Fruit and Vegetables

April is the time for planting early potatoes. If scab is a problem in your garden soil, line the trench with organic matter such as Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner or Miracle-Gro Eco Sense Soil Improver. A good dressing of a general fertiliser such as Miracle-Gro Slow Release All Purpose Plant Food raked into the surface will ensure strong growth.

If you are trying to grow your home-produced vegetables more closely with nature then Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Fruit & Vegetables Plant Food is ideal. Sprinkled over the soil surface it is a rich source of balanced nutrients all obtained from recycled animal and vegetable materials enriched with nutrients naturally extracted from rock sediments.

Sow some short-rooted carrots if the soil is crumbly and can be broken down easily into a friable texture. Try Early Nantes, Amsterdam Sweetheart or Systan if you have fine soil. If the ground is stony, try Rondo, which produces golf-ball shaped carrots of good flavour.

Make sure all fruit trees and bushes have had the benefit of a generous dose of fertiliser using a controlled release plant food such as Osmocote Controlled Release Plant Food or Miracle-Gro Controlled Release Plant Food for long lasting results and a good crop. Strawberries will now start to flower ready for a May crop and the open flowers will need protecting against hard frosts with layers of newspaper when severe cold weather is forecast.

If you have a greenhouse or growing conservatory, plant up tomato plants in a Levington Original Gro-bag or a Levington Tomorite Giant Planter with Seaweed. Water them well and make sure the greenhouse is frost-free or you may loose your valuable plants to cold.