April Showers - Are they coming?
April Showers, are they coming? I am early with my blog this month, Spring is roaring on, the daylength is noticeably longer, the clocks have gone forward, giving us the extra hour in the evening, allowing more time to spend in the garden, doing that essential maintenance prior to the onslaught of the growing season. We have already cut the lawn twice, and the shrubs are starting to spring into life.
On the nursery, we are flat out, workwise, potting plants, and despatching plants to our wholesale customers. The first veg plants have gone, we are now despatching Aubergines, chilli peppers, sweet peppers and tomatoes. For a non chilli eater, I am developing a detailed knowledge of the various varieties, together with their differing strengths of heat.
We measure heat in Scovilles, a measure of the chilli’s capsaicin content. It was first discovered in 1912 by a scientist called William Scoville, he prepared a solution of the chilli in water, which was then tasted by five people. He then increased its dilution until the sensation of heat disappeared. The greater the dilution required, the hotter the chilli.
I have a slightly different technique, but largely based on the same principle. I use the chilli to cook with, and then feed the dish to my wife. If she hiccups, then I know the chilli is extremely hot.
Returning to the nursery, the first hardy perennials are being despatched, these include Digitalis, the stalwart Foxglove, Aquilegia, Lupins, and Leucanthemum. We are also starting to send out the first Lavender Blue Spear. You know when these are being handled, as there is an extremely strong pungent smell of Lavender Oil, It is supposed to help you sleep, so you can imagine what is happening on the nursery!!
Other crops looking good include the Dianthus and Penstemon. Both are starting to flesh out in the pots, the dianthus are also starting to produce flower, a sure sign that they are ready to be despatched to their new surrogate parents, with garden borders to appreciate them in.
On the potting front, we have just received the first annuals, Osteospermum, also known as the Cape Daisey, Cosmos and Zonal Geraniums. Another nice range of plants are the Dahliettas, they are a compact busy little plant, full of flower buds when they go out to customers. They are ideal for planting in the borders, and it you are willing to deadhead the old flowers, feed a little and often, then there is no reason why they shouldn’t produce flowers well into the autumn.
Interestingly, these Dahliettas will produce tubers in the autumn. It is their survival mechanism, to allow them to overwinter, and spring back into life in the next growing season. If you want to be safe though, it is an idea to dig them up and overwinter in sand, before planting out next spring. Personally I think it is easier to just buy a new plant each year. If they survive the winter, all well and good, but if they don’t, just replace. Of course I would suggest that, as I am selling them, please forgive the bias.
Another range of plants just in, are the English herbs. We grow Chives, basil, parsley and English Thyme. These never hang around long, because once established in your garden, they can provide foliage to enhance your culinary skills for years ahead. It really is worthwhile trying to cook with fresh herbs, the tastes can change mundane food into something really tasty.
Out in the orchard, the plum blossom is a riot of white colour, a really intense drift of flowers throughout the orchard. The next flowers to come will be the apples and pears, these will have a pinkish hue. Hopefully the weather will be kind, and we avoid the late spring frosts. In some years, a late frost can decimate the plum crop before we even start.
A lot of our plum trees have daffodils around the base of the trees. They look really attractive at this time of year, with their yellow trumpets poking towards the sun. Once the flowers go over, it is best to deadhead them, to ensure a maximum amount of photo assimilate is sent to the bulbs, which will give you your crop for next year. Do that, and your daffodils will last for many years to come.
In the garden, other timely tasks will include pruning back green shrubs, sowing wild flower seed for this growing season, and pricking out young seedlings. We have just sown sweet Williams. We primed the seed before sowing to give them the best chance of germinating. You do this by soaking for a couple of days in warm water. Once the seed starts to chit, you can then prick out into a seed compost, so the young plants start to establish. You will have weeks of enjoyment once they become established in your borders. I cannot wait to see what our look like in a few weeks time.
On a note of caution, the spring sunshine can be very strong, the soil has dried out very quickly this spring. Some of our clay soils already have cracks appearing, which indicates that the clay is starting to shrink. If you have patio pots outside your house, make sure you water them if we go through a dry spell. At the moment, we don’t seem to be getting many showers, the River Avon has dropped to a summer level, so perhaps we are going to have a dry spring?
If you buy tender plants, make sure you fleece them during frosty periods. It is really upsetting to see tender young plants die back in a short sharp frost, only to look awful the next day when the sun shines. Hopefully there is something of interest in the article, if you are looking to buy plants, please look at our web site, and see if there is something that tickles your fancy.
Kind regards, Tony Rowland.