We have had a magnificent spring this year and with nights getting lighter now, garden preparations should be well advanced. Later this month it should be safe to do most of the planting although we must always be on guard against the odd late frost and a little garden fleece should help here. As well as bedding out the flower borders with plants such as geraniums and busy lizzies, petunias, antirrhinums, salvias and begonias, we should be planting up hanging baskets, tubs and window boxes. The garden centre is now full of all the traditional bedding plants with some of the latest introductions and less usual plants too. If you have a greenhouse, hanging baskets can be planted up immediately so that they are growing away well when they are put outside towards the end of the month. Don’t forget to add a little Swell-gel to composts to help conserve water. When planting containers it’s a good idea to incorporate grasses, small conifers and a few alpines. Seeds of clarkia, candytuft, godetia and nigella can be sown direct in the borders in which they are to be grown. Dahlia tubers, cannas and summer-flowering bulbs such as gladioli should be planted as soon as possible.
Runner beans, courgettes and marrows should be planted later in the month. Regular sowings of salad crops should be kept up and brassicas can be sown now. Keep on top of the weeds with regular hoeing and make sure that the vegetable crops are watered. Tomatoes must always be watered at regular intervals. The early potato crops should be ready to dig soon. It is too late to plant bare-root hedging plants now, but trees, shrubs, conifers and climbers can be planted because they are container-grown. When planting, a little bonemeal should be put in the bottom of the hole and compost should be mixed with the soil which is used to fill the hole. Plants should be well watered during the first few weeks. Roses need to be sprayed every couple of weeks against black spot, mildew and rust. Feed roses, perennials and shrubs with Toprose fertilizer but use an ericaceous feed on camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Stake the herbaceous perennials and water in dry spells. Keep the weeds down and put down mulches to help conserve water. Newly-laid turf and seeded areas of grass will need to be watered but do not water established lawns. Regularly cut the grass, but in dry weather do not cut lawns too short. Dead flowers should be removed from bulbs and a sprinkling of fertilizer will help build up the bulbs for next year.
The Malvern Spring Gardening Show is from 10-13 May (tickets 01684 584924) and the Chelsea Flower Show is from 22-26 May (tickets 0870 842 2217). The Hertfordshire Garden Show at Knebworth is on 19-20 May and the Hertfordshire County Show is on 26-27 May. Both the Saville Garden in Windsor Great Park and the RHS Gardens at Wisley is Surrey will be well worth a visit later in the month when rhododendrons and azaleas will be a blaze of colour. Locally a number of gardens will be open for charity, such as that t Great Sarratt Hall on 27 May.
Terry Simmonds