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Derbyshire Amateur Gardener's Diary - April 2010

Maggie’s Blog – April 2010 The clocks have gone forward, giving us an added incentive to get out into the garden although as I write this it is cold outside and pouring down with rain! At this time of the year I take a long hard look at my houseplants. If there are roots coming out of the bottom of the pots then they need to be repotted in a slightly larger pot. If they seem OK then I remove a couple of inches of the old compost from the top of the pot and replace it with new compost. I then give everything a good feed with liquid plant food, and continue to feed the houseplants once a month until September. Remember to save the water that you boil eggs in to water the plants. They benefit from the minerals which dissolve in the water from the eggshells. I have been neatening up the shrubs in my garden, cutting away any frost damaged branches and giving the shrubs a good shape. I do not have a lot of strength in my wrists and hands so can struggle a bit with this, but this year I have used Burgon and Ball’s Ratchet Pruners. They are ideal for the job because they are easier to use than standard secateurs, as less pressure is needed. I have put my cloches in place in the garden to warm up the soil, prior to planting my peas over Easter. Mice are particularly fond of peas and can cause havoc along a row of newly planted peas. To avoid this happening, soak the peas overnight in parafin. It does not affect the peas at all but stops the mice from eating them. Another way to foil the mice and give the peas a good start is to plant them in the greenhouse in a length of guttering. Once they are established and you wish to plant them out, make an indentation in the soil and slide the contents of the guttering into place in the garden. I always start off my broad beans in the greenhouse. Once they are well established I then transplant them out in a sunny position but beware of slugs. I usually put a plastic bottle with the top cut off upside down over each plant to give it protection from both the wind and slugs. We have put up another tit box this week. The old one is used most years, although last year it was used by wasps as a nest, so this year I will be keeping a close eye on it to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I clean out the box in the spring with boiling water to kill off any mites, and to encourage the birds I put a cushion of moss in the bottom of it. The garden is beginning to look better, with the crocuses in full bloom, the daffodils coming into flower and the leaf buds swelling on the trees. Soon the blossom will be brightening up the trees, too. Happy Gardening Image: Burgon and Ball Ratchet Pruner Products related to this article: Potting Riddle Potting Riddle £9.19