April has now been and gone. It’s my favourite month, with spring really underway and lots of new life and growth. There’s lots of seeds to sow, plants to grow and warm sunny days to enjoy (sometimes).
The garden has basically ‘gone to seed’ but it’s a riot of colour loved by bees and other insects. The corn salad, cabbages, kale, garlic chives and honesty are all flowering, as well as several of the fruit trees and perennials.
There’s yellows from the cabbages, white from honesty, orange wallflowers, blue forget-me-nots, purple radish flowers and so many greens.
The meadow is also looking good. After a hard cut in March it has grown with gusto and many plants are flowering/about to flower (e.g. cowslip, knapweed, ox-eye daisy, vetch, yellow-rattle, salad burnet)
There’s lots of veg and flowers growing in the greenhouse. As and when I need space for them in the ground I’ll clear the plants that have gone over. For now, the wildlife and I can enjoy them.
The peas have rebounded after their initial snail/slug attack though I did lose several planted around the garden. The weather has been a challenge at times with warm, sunny days but freezing nights. As the greenhouse crops and tender seedlings grow and get potted on, the number of pots to ferry in and out of the house of an evening grew and grew. My greenhouse is not insulated so it doesn’t provide full frost protection. Once the tomatoes and peppers got big enough they just had a covering of bubble wrap or fleece draped over them and I crossed my fingers they’d not get hit too hard. Now I have the issue that things need planting out but we’re still likely to get some cold nights and I’m putting off using more compost to pot them on again. This is a problem I had last year (mostly because of being so busy) that I should have learned from – don’t let the plants get too cramped or their growth will be set back and they’ll struggle later.
30/04/2024