The Potting Shed

April 2021

Happy Easter

British Summer Time is here - Enjoy the longer days and the colours of Spring

Working

Jobs to Do in the Garden this Month

April

  • Tender annuals and vegetables will certainly need to be kept frost free at this time, but many of the perennials that are bursting into leaf may also need a bit of horticultural fleece or newspaper over them to protect those tender shoots if the weather turns cold.

  • Continue to divide congested perennials. For most, wait until the first signs of growth then lift and split. Discard the dead or woody centre of the clump and replant the younger vigorous parts from around the edges. Hostas should be divided before they break into leaf. Save any spare plants you have as we are still hoping to have a Plant Sale for the Club in late May

  • Start to sow Runner Beans, Sweetcorn, and Curcurbits (squash, courgettes, pumpkins, etc) under cover now. These will germinate and grow qucikly and will be perfect for planting out in mid-May once frosts have passed

  • As the days continue to warm, be careful to keep plants well-watered. This is especially true for salad crops as water stress will encourage lettuces to flower rather than continue to grow leaves.

  • In the vegetable garden, it’s time to direct sow carrots, parsnips, radishes into previously watered soil and to plant out any onions, shallots, or garlic that has been started in pots under glass.

  • The warming days and nights will also give your lawns a burst of growth but keep the cut set higher than normal for the first few cuts.

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Keep salad plants well watered

Relaxing

What's Looking Good in the Garden

Use the arrows on the pictures to browse

  • Daffodils (Narcissus) and Tulips interspersed with:

  • Arabis ferdinandi-coburgi 'Old Gold'

  • Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum'

  • Mahonia aquifolium

  • Magnolia

  • Viburnum tinus

  • Camellia, Camellia japonica

  • Pansy, Viola x wittrockiana

  • Forsythia × intermedia

  • Heuchera 'Marmalade'

  • Primrose, Primula vulgaris

  • Amaryllis

  • Primrose, Primula vulgaris

  • Heuchera 'Lime Marmalade'

  • Pieris japonica 'Ralto Rose'

  • Camellia, Camellia japonica

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Thinking

This month's wordsearch with some topical words

Visiting and Seeing

Places to Go and Things to Do - In Person or On-Line

  • Plant Heritage continue to have a varied selection of talks including, Geraniums, Shrubs, Spring Flowering Quince, Trees, and Peonies. Please see their website for more information on all the talks, the cost (typically £4), and the timings which vary between talks.

  • There are several gardens around Guildford that opening in April as part of the National Garden Scheme, including the Tulips at Dunsborough Park, Ripley on the 8th April, Lower House, Godalming on the 22nd April, and the bluebells at Hatchlands Park on the 25th April. Prebooking essential.

  • Hever Castle Tulip Festival runs from 19th-25th April. Tickets available from the Hever Castle website.

  • BBC Gardeners’ World has restarted on Friday nights at the later time of 9pm, BBC2.

  • With the promise of a gradual lifting of Covid restrictions, tickets for the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival are available. Running from 5th-11th July, it promises to be a welcome return for the RHS shows and events.

  • We are still hoping to hold our own Plant Sale at Worplesdon Memorial Hall, but this will now be after the 17th May when the Memorial Hall facilities re-open. Please keep on collecting any excess seedlings and divided perennials for the sale and final details will be in the May Newsletter.

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Sharing

What's been happening on our Facebook page, Blog, and Elsewhere

From Facebook...

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Remembering

The Old 'Potting Shed' Pages

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