I WON’T LET THE WEATHER FOOL ME…
It's been a good start to the month, but I know April sometimes springs some surprises!
Well, All Fool’s day has just passed and I hope this pleasant start to April is not a trick being played on us gardeners, lulling us all into a false sense of spring only to bite back at us in the middle of the month. April is a month of contrasting weather, warm one day and frosty the next, but the month is full of wonderful expectations. For is it not said that April showers bring May flowers?
It’s a time of opening buds and blossom everywhere and there’s a sense new life is emerging from its winter slumber. The barren landscape of the allotment is soon transformed by the appearance of the green shoots of life, albeit at this early stage it’s only the green of our broad beans.
Not all the action is observed above ground, for the potatoes – as a reward for producing strong green shoots – are buried in the soil. There they’ll toil away
below the surface building root structure before erupting with the trademark strong shoot. Not too early we hope or Jack Frost may exact his revenge. Now’s not the time to rest on your laurels because lengthening days bring impetus to the plot. As the soil's warm and moist it’s crying out to receive the seeds of success for the coming season.
It’s this time of year that I wish my greenhouse was a replica of Dr
Who’s Tardis, small and compact on the outside but infinitely larger on the inside!
Daily the number of transplanted seedlings grows and space is at a premium. Not only has it got to house my early onions, tomatoes, le uce, cabbage and many more, but I also have all my annual flowers in their infancy. All these are nurtured from seed to give me begonias, impatiens, lobelia, marigolds and many more. These will give my garden borders, pots and hanging baskets that gli ering, gaudy show during the summer months. Nothing could be more pleasurable on a warm summer’s evening than to sit in the twilight of the day sipping a glass of chilled wine and absorb the stupendous colour these plants produce. The cascade of vibrant hues in the fading light is just reward for the work of the day, tending and nourishing precious plants.
I also make room on the allotment for some of this colour. It's not all about growing veg. There’s a place for fragrant sweet peas and chrysanthemums to brighten autumn days.