Wealden Times | WT170 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

WT Garden Supplement
FreeImages.com/ Sabine Simon
Jobs to do in April
Jo Arnell offers helpful advice for those about to head out into their gardens
Spring is the time for investment gardening, so the
more effort you put in now, the less you’ll have to
do later in the season. There ought to be a saying
for it - a weed pulled today keeps thousands at bay / slugs
slain tonight, gardener’s delight, that sort of thing. Many of
the tasks this month are either preparation for the coming
season and all its gorgeousness, or prevention of a disaster
yet to unfold. In short, this is a task, not a glory month
and there’s lots to do, so I’ll stop rambling and make haste.
Sow, sow, quick quick sow
April is the month for sowing hardy perennials outside,
directly into the ground, so none of that indoor, bottom
heat, laboriously fiddly work. You’ll know when it’s time
to start your outdoor sowing - just watch the ground
for the first of the weeds and self-seeders to emerge.
You can then sweep about the garden bountifully
casting seeds about the place - or be more contained
and carefully sow them in regimented drills.
The important thing is to make sure that the soil
is welcoming. Rake to a fine tilth (the consistency of
lumpy crumble topping), so that the seeds are in contact
with the soil. Cover larger seeds with soil, but those
that are tiny and dust-like are best scattered on the
surface of the soil, which should be moist enough to not
need watering (watering will wash away tiny seeds).
Once germinated, instead of pricking-out, the fiddly
job is a mean task called thinning out. This means
removing the weaker seedlings (you can try to transplant
the underdogs, but hmmm), and ensures that your best
babies aren’t overcrowded and can grow strongly.
Some hardy annuals and short-lived perennials will selfsow,
so you may only ever have to buy one packet of
seeds. This can also result in some lovely accidental plant
combinations, a happy serendipity that you might not
have thought of yourself. It also gives rise to the saying:
‘One man’s weed is another man’s Verbena bonariensis’,
as enthusiastic self-seeders can get out of hand.
Biennials like forget-me-nots, wallflowers and honesty
will be flowering now, having made all their leafy growth
last year. Leave them in place after flowering to set seed,
or if you have too many, pull them up before they get
the chance. Sow new biennials in May or June.
Pruning
Some shrubs will need pruning to keep them looking good
and to keep them healthy, but this will depend on whether
they’re evergreen or deciduous and when they flower. It’s
best to wait until the frosts
have passed before pruning
evergreens. Prune flowering
shrubs after they’ve flowered
if they flower on old wood
(produced last year); so
that’s things like Forsythia,
Weigela, Philadelphus, or
at the beginning of the
spring if they flower
FreeImages.com/ Jean Fazakas
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