Blue Daisy Blog

April usually brings with it an injection of colour in our gardens, the spring bulbs are usually out in force, other plant leaves are unfurling and trees are often awash with blossom at this time of year making it feel as though life is most definitely stirring!  The birds are usually singing, insects are usually starting to show themselves and often the bees are out making the most of the early nectar from the spring flowers. 

Keep your eyes open for any pests like slugs and snails and the dreaded vine weevil.   

Chances are you've been reticent about getting tender plants or seedlings outside but if you have ventured out take care still as frosts can still damage them so have some horticultural fleece or even an old newspaper at the ready to cover them during those colder nights.  If you don't have either and can bring them indoors remember to take them back out the next day.

Spring is a great time for scent in the garden and if you don't have anything now is the perfect time to go out and buy yourself something that will add another dimension to your garden at this time of the year. Some to consider are, for example, Viburnam, Philadelphus, Daphne, Wisteria and Magnolias but be sure to double check before you buy because not every variety of these plants has a scent.

If you have a vegetable garden you'll be a busy bee making sure the ground is prepared and heated sufficiently enough to plant those tender seedlings that will hopefully produce an abundance of tasty treats for you later in the year!  Remember though the trick is to sow seeds every few weeks or so to make sure you get an ongoing supply of produce that you can cope with rather than being inundated with things like courgettes...yes, we've all done it with courgettes!!

Some of the jobs that can be done in your garden this month are:

• Dividing perennials - any plants that you didn't get to last month, now's the time to replant them around your garden to increase your border stocks (or give to friends if you don't have any space in your own garden!)
• Keep weeding the borders, annual weeds should be easy to pull out by hand but the perennials will need digging out
• If you haven't cut back your ornamental grasses yet this is the last chance to do it or there may well be a chance of damaging the emerging shoots
• Get sowing your annuals

The last two heatwaves and serious lack of rain has had severe consequences on water availability in many counties in the UK and our gardens have really suffered.  With reports of heavy rain and possible flash flooding in the next few days there are a few things we can all do to ready our gardens and not waste that very precious resource – water!

When soil is parched through lack of water it becomes compacted and the gaps between particles gets smaller and smaller, as such any rain that falls won’t be able to penetrate and be absorbed by the plants or grass that are desperately in need. Instead, it will just run off causing the flash flooding they have said is highly likely. 

There have been some major growth spurts going on in our gardens this year and one of the biggest problems for gardeners is to make sure things don't get too much out of hand.  As ever deadheading is the order of the day for August along with watering. Don't forget to try to water late afternoon or evening if possible, avoiding the heat of the day (although roses do prefer a morning drink!).  Some summer pruning is also on the cards to help keep things under control along with the usual August jobs:

Red – evocative of so many emotions, often extreme but always powerful; some find red a really difficult colour to use in a garden but when it is used well it can really add a zing factor to your outdoor space.

Red, of course, is one of the primary colours (along with blue and yellow) but unlike blue – a cool colour – which recedes, red – a hot colour – tends to advance, or look closer than it really is.  That quality can be used to great effect in a garden, for instance you can trick the eye into thinking something is narrower than it is by the use of hot colours.  For instance by planting hot colours at the back of a border with cooler colours at the front, it would look like the border wasn’t as deep as it is, and the reverse is true too – plant hot colours at the front and cooler colours behind to make a border look deeper.  Red will help you accentuate an area too because it will draw the eye and grab the attention of the viewer so if you want to bring attention to a certain area, swathe it with red.