April 25th

We’re enjoying our tulips

With the onset of spring and the clocks going forward it’s good to have longer daylight hours in which to work in the garden. A welcome distraction from the wider world! I’m working my way round the garden weeding carefully so I don’t damage any emerging plants and bulbs. It’s good to see the garden coming back to life.

At this time of year I normally divide and pot up perennials that are spreading well to put on my plant sale table on open days and also at my local country market. I’m trying to stop myself potting up too much at the moment though because both are cancelled for the time being, but it’s a hard habit to break!

In autumn I planted several terracotta pots with tulips. All were carefully chosen to flower in May which is when the garden was due to be open – they’re flowering a bit early and they’re looking good. We’re really enjoying them.

Growing as much veg as possible is my priority this year. The raised beds were covered with weed-suppressing fabric all winter so have warmed up nicely. I’ve planted potato ‘Rocket’ together with the first sowings of parsnip, carrot and spinach. We’ve also been busy clearing nettles and weeds from our disused chicken run. I intended filling the entire area with dahlias and other flowers for cutting but have now decided to devote half to more vegetables.
Two of my favourite trees are coming into bloom. Malus ‘Princeton Cardinal’ is always the first of the crab apples to flower, its blossom is a beautiful deep pink with a wonderful scent. Prunus ‘Shirotae’ in the back garden has lovely semi-double white flowers, let’s hope the pigeons don’t peck them all off!

My Highlight

Seeing the first brimstone butterfly of the year.