In the Garden: April

In the garden: April

[pic: kangaroo paw]

Collect fallen leaves to layer with fresh cuttings in the compost pile. Compost works best when it is layered like a lasagne, with alternating layers of green and brown material, an occasional sprinkle of lime, and the odd layer of manure to speed the process.

Enjoy the fading flower heads of perennials with their tones of caramel, beige, black or grey. Only cut back those that collapse and turn to mush.

Plant out miniature cyclamen under the shade of deciduous trees. They flower beautifully in autumn, hold their attractively marked foliage through winter and early spring, and go dormant through the hot weather.

Divide kangaroo paws to spread around the garden or share with friends. Dig up the clump and soak in a trug of seaweed solution. Cut off all the finished flower spikes and old leaves at ground level - you’ll see the underground buds of next year’s leaves and flowers. Pull apart the clump, or cut it with a sharp spade. Plant 5-7 fresh plantlets in a group in a prepared hole.

Deadhead dahlias and other perennials to lengthen the flowering season. Roses re-flower quickest if you deadhead by snapping off, rather than cutting off, the spent blooms.

Plant garlic for a summer harvest. Push cloves into the soil to thumb-depth in a sunny, well-drained spot.

Divide clivia clumps to introduce into other shady parts of the garden.

In the garden :May

[pic: justicia or begonia or hyacinth]

Take cuttings of the Brazilian plume flower, Justicia carnea. You’ll get best success with a piece with three leaf nodes. Insert into moist potting mix, or if your garden beds are moist and rich with organic matter, plant them straight into the soil where you want them to grow.

Stop watering succulents as growth slows to prevent them rotting.

Order crowns of rhubarb. Grow 2-3 rhubarb crowns for each rhubarb-lover you want to feed.

Chill tulips and hyacinth bulbs in the crisper before planting them out early next month.

Admire angels wings begonias growing in the garden - and propagate some for friends. Cut a stem on an angle, trim off lower leaves, and cut the top leaf into a wedge. Insert carefully into a container of moist potting mix and firm gentlyWater when the mix dries out. Alternatively strike your begonia cutting in a jar of water.

Spread the last of summer’s compost wherever the garden needs extra care.

Tradition says that onions should be planted on the longest day of the year. Get in early by sowing seed now to plant out in winter and harvest before Christmas.

Plant flowering herbs to keep the bees fed through the cooler months. Sweet white alyssum is a favourite. Lobularia ‘Snow Princess’ is a new variety with masses of flower. She likes some extra water and will flower on and on unless hit by successive hard frosts. Good in containers and garden beds.