Nicking, Notching and Rubbing

May is full of wonderful surprises and is always a welcome month after the rigours of winter and wet early springs. There is plenty to be getting on with, but there is also still just time to finish off the jobs that were not done at the end of April. One job, which should be done about now is "nicking" and "notching" in the apple orchard. Traditionally, apple trees were pruned more than once through the year and this is one of those jobs you can do alongside "rubbing". If you are not sure what I mean, then I shall endeavour to explain.

If you have a tree which is lacking or is sparse in bud then notching is your game. Simply cut a small triangle of bark above a dormant bud to stimulate growth.

If you have a tree with odd or no bud growth toward the end then nicking is your man. Simply cut a small triangle of bark below an active bud to prevent its growth and thus allowing sap to rise further along the branch.

Rubbing is the age old practice of removing flower buds from the over burdened branches. This will help the fruit form in a more healthy manner and allow for a larger fruit! You can do this by simply rubbing the flower off the branch with your thumb.

If your tree is still refusing to give any fruit, then you may have a problem with suitable pollinators. Check the Brogdale National Fruit Collections to see if your variety needs specific treatment. One last thing, remember the golden rule of all fruiting and flowering branches: Vertical promotes growth, horizontal promotes fruit!

-- Guy Deakins

Protect your plants

These past few weeks we have been having so much trouble in the garden. An animal is coming into the garden at night and digging up all our seedlings and plants. Our broad beans have gone missing and some of our leeks have been destroyed. To make things worse some of the soil has had newly sown seeds which has been scattered everywhere, so who knows what plants are going to pop up where!

Since then we have foiled their nocturnal escapades by using bamboo structures covered in netting and small polytunnels! I didn’t realise how versatile netting can be so it’s a great thing to have on standby and best of all it’s very cheap to buy. If you don’t have any, I advise you to get some.

-- Gemma Dray

Hanging Baskets

Want to know the secret of beautiful hanging baskets? Read on...

Properly planted hanging baskets are a glorious sight, so it’s a pity that all too often they end up looking like abandoned bird’s nests. A fabulous basket can be yours with a little preparation and lots of easy aftercare.

Plant a basket at the beginning of May to give it a fortnight or so to thicken up before hanging it in place. It can be left in a porch or a cold greenhouse or even in a sheltered spot protected with polythene.

To plant…
• Balance the basket on a large flowerpot or bucket
• Line it with a fibrous liner
• Make sure all the chosen plants are well watered in their trays or pots
• To retain moisture, place a circular piece of polythene in the base of the basket on top of the liner
• Use a soil-less multipurpose compost and mix with water retaining granules
• Put a little compost in the base of the basket
• Take each of the plants which are to form the first layer, tip it from its container and squeeze the rootball to make it small enough to fit through the basket mesh and liner - you’ll need to push a hole through the liner with your fingers first. Never feed the foliage from inside to outside, always feed roots in from the outside as the plant will suffer less damage.
• Space the plants between 10cm / 4inches and 15cm / 6inches apart around the edge of the basket
• Build up layers of compost and plants
• When the basket is filled to within 2.5cm / 1inch of the top, plant up the top with bushy plants.
• Water the basket well and make sure it never dries out. Lack of water is the biggest cause of failure. Once hung in place water every single day!
• Feed with dilute liquid tomato fertilizer once a week to keep it flowering well

NOTE: Don’t forget to check your brackets and chains before hanging. You don’t want all your hard work unceremoniously dumped in a heap on the path below!

And some plant suggestions...
Trusty Trailing Plants
These bedding plants come in beautiful trailing varieties.
- Lobelia Bidens
- Ivy-leaf pelargonium
- Lysimachia
- Fuchsia

Brilliant Bushy Basket Toppers
These cast their stems out sideways making them suitable basket toppers.
- Verbena
- Petunia
- Begonia
- Pelargonium
- Fuchsia

-- Rob Amey

Getting Some Salad on the Go!

May Flowers:  The spring colours are so vibrant - especially with a bit of sunshine

Drought? What drought you might be thinking - it doesn’t seem to have stopped raining here in East Anglia although one helpful news report said recently that it would have to rain continuously for about six months before the drought would be officially called off! I have been taking the opportunity to make sure that my raised beds are getting as much water as possible ahead of planting out salad crops at the beginning of May. I mentioned before that I am going to concentrate on the two raised beds near the greenhouse and not cultivate the ones in the main part of the vegetable garden, due to the problems with irrigation so I am drawing up a plan to plant crops close together from seed to see how this works - a new idea for me as I usually grow seeds in the greenhouse and then plant out the seedlings when they look nice and strong! Watch this space to see if this works!

Salad leaves are always a good starter as they germinate quite quickly (some within three weeks) and as long as it warms up a bit and the soil is at a decent temperature then we should have success! On a sadder note this month, I have to report the loss of four of my five ‘girls’ due to a visit from a very nasty Mr Fox. Up to this point the beauties lived in a barn with a locked stable style door and chicken wire fence but this doesn’t seem to have deterred the wily critter. Much to my upset my two black rocks had completely disappeared and the two mid-sussex were left behind - which makes it even worse as the violence seems to be somewhat gratuitous. The only one left is my bluebell who has a useful habit of getting into the rafters - a skill that obviously saved her this time round.

As horrible as it is, I can’t be without my lovely girls as they give me so much pleasure and lovely eggs, so a chicken coop has now been purchased and new girls introduced. The coop is much nearer the house and whilst small, is only used at night as the girls free roam during the day. When it stops raining I will take some pictures so I can show them off. Until then I leave you slightly damp around the edges! See you next month.

-- Jane Dubinski

April Garden Projects

April is the month when our thoughts turn towards the garden. It’s easy to be overwhelmed at the size of the task ahead but the simple solution is here...

What you need is a project, one which can be achieved in a morning or an afternoon and which improves a few square metres. You’ll feel you’ve achieved something wonderful and if you break the whole garden into a series of small projects it suddenly appears more manageable. Here are three to get you started...

Strawberry Pots
You don’t need a huge patch to enjoy growing strawberries. Plant a few in pots as a treat. Buy young, rich green plants certified virus free. Plant 3-4 to a 12 inch (30cm) clay pot. The crowns (where shoots meet roots) should be level with the compost surface. Water them in and stand in the shelter of a house wall. If you have a greenhouse or a cold frame they will establish more quickly and fruit earlier. Pinch off any runners (slender, horizontal stems) which form.

Seating
Don’t forget an all-weather seat so you can sit and contemplate all your hard work over a cup of tea or a nip of something stronger. Teak from renewable resources is fantastic but cast iron or aluminium is good though you’ll need a cushion to protect your posterior on cold days! Position it in a sunny area. Buy a few flowering daffodils, tulips and pansies and plant them in a pretty pot next to the bench...lovely.

Grass
Lawns always look bedraggled after the winter. Remove dead grass by raking the surface with a wire toothed rake. Improve drainage on heavy soil by spiking it with a garden fork every 6 inches (15cm) or so to a depth of about 4 inches (10cm). Give the fork a good wiggle each time. Sweep sharp sand into the holes with a broom. Then mow the lawn with the blades set on high and remove the clippings. Two weeks later apply a combined weed killer and fertilizer. If you’re lucky it will rain within 24 hours. If not just water it in. Mow weekly to keep the lawn thick and healthy.

Beware the frost- even in April!

So, Oestre has been and gone. That famed pagan festival we all celebrate by eating chocolate eggs and dressing up as rabbits or chicks. It is also the time many people descend on the local garden centre to buy their summer colour, veg seed and other things which perhaps are later regretted.

With the weather we have been having recently, we could be mistaken for believing it was summer already! But, there is an old lore, which you must be made aware of: The Blackthorn Winter. If you are unaware of this small piece of country wisdom, then now is your chance to out-do your neighbours.

It is said, (and I am one who says this regularly), when the blackthorn is in flower, then you will have a second winter. If you are unsure of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), it is the tree or shrub with the horrendous thorns and white flower. It's bark is a dark almost purple hue. It is also the plant we get sloes from to make that wonderful gin. (Thinking of Christmas already? Surely not). If you are a keen naturalist, be aware these thorns easily break off and harbour a fungus which can cause blood poisoning, so carefully does it!

So in these times of cooler air, be of the knowledge the frost season is still upon us. Many would say it is not gone until early to mid May, so look after those tender plants. Keep the fleece at hand should Old Jack threaten to visit. It may be 23 degrees in the day, but the soil is still not warmed. So it also advisable not to mulch your borders lest you trap this cold into the soil. Wait awhile. If you are again unsure of just when, touch your elbow to the soil as you would a baby's bath water. If it is cold, then do not mulch. If it warm, then add that all important improvement. (Mid May should be okay).

-- Guy Deakins

Round the garden in April

1. Encourage hedgehogs, frogs, toads and thrushes into your garden to keep snails and slugs at bay. Bird baths are good to attract thrushes. A small garden pond will encourage frogs and toads. Attract hedgehogs by ensuring you have a safe place for them to nest, such as compost heaps, pile of leaves and twigs to nest in. Leave food out for hedgehogs at sunset, don’t put out any earlier or you’ll attract flies laying eggs and always collect anything uneaten in the morning. Hedgehogs like cat and dog food, chopped peanuts, crunchy peanut butter, muesli and any leftover cooked or raw meat.
2. Check anything growing under cloches to ensure it is not too dry and check if they need watering. Air your greenhouse on warm sunny days and open the vents mid-morning and close after lunch.
3. Enjoy your vegetable and salad garden this year, by sowing direct this month carrots, peas, spinach, chard and beetroot. Sow quick growing half-hardy annuals like basil, French beans, sweet corn, squash and pumpkins. April is the month for planting potatoes too.
4. You can get going this month with some salad by sowing undercover or in your greenhouse or conservatory – rocket, spring onions, radish, chard and lots of different variety of lettuces. Keep growing further batches of lettuce, beetroot, peas, spinach, spring onions and radish every 2 weeks so you have a regular supply over the summer.
5. Deadhead larger bulbs such as Tulips, Narcissus, and Hyacinths. Be sure not to cut the foliage! This will encourage bulb development and better flowers next spring.

6. April is the month to get on with planting trees, shrubs, roses, strawberries and perennials. Also get dahlia tubers potted up.
   
7. Keep on top of weeding. Use hand tools and get down on your knees to pull out the weeds, rather than using chemicals. Aim to get rid of perennial weeds early whilst they are young and their roots can easily be removed before they set to seed. Wearing Town and Country kneepads makes this task comfortable and easy.
8. Containerised plants need plenty of fertiliser and frequent watering, especially during warm weather.
9. After the last chance of frost, (around mid-April but can vary) you can start planting hardier annuals. Start growing your own flowers this month – Marigolds, honeywort and poppies are favourites for me. Seeds can be directly sown outside and any seedlings you’ve been nurturing indoors can be planted out.
10. Tie down roses so that they keep growing healthily and produce good flowers in the summer. Bend over upright stems, this will produce more flowers. If you don’t bend uprights over, you’ll only have a flower at the end. Tie them in so they lie horizontal.
11. Directly sow herbs under cover. Favourites are dill, fennel, coriander, chives and chervil.
12. Give your lavender plants a haircut this month – short back and sides and shape them into domes. It helps them from looking sparse. Don’t prune hard into old wood.
13. Plan for possible water shortages by installing water butts and adding mulch to borders to conserve soil moisture.

-- Rob Amey