Garden Machinery
Hadleigh Gardens Personal Thoughts Last month I was hoping for some sunshine, and I am afraid that we have not seen much of that. In fact since I wrote the last column I have got very little work done outside, and the weather forecasts at the moment are not pointing to much of an improvement, however by mid April the ground temperature will be up from its present 5 Cel to about 9 Cel, and everything will be growing well. In the greenhouse lots of seeds have been sown and germinated, and I am getting short of space. Amid the gloom we have had one or two brighter days, and been able to walk around and admire the crocuses. Some varieties of crocus will seed around if they like the conditions, and I have got crocuses growing in my lawn, and in the cracks between the stones of my paths, places where I definitely did not plant them. Weather Record In February at Kersey there were 26 mm (1.0") of rain, which is about half the average rainfall, however we have had a similar amount in the first few days of March. The 3 month figure was 160 mm (6.3") which is close to average. In February the maximum temperature was 10 Cel (50F), and the minimum was -2 Cel (28F), both of which are typical. In my garden the ground temperature at writing is 5 Cel (37F) , which is about normal for mid March. Open Gardens A bit more chance to see other interesting gardens this month Sun 7th April, Blakenham Woodland Garden, Little Blakenham,IP8 4LZ Tues 9th April, Woodwards, Blacksmiths Lane Coddenham, Ipswich IP6 9TX Fri 19th April, Horkesley Hall, Little Horkesley,Colchester,CO6 4DB Sat 20th April, Tudor Roost 18 Frere Way, Fingringhoe, Colchester CO5 8BP Sun 21st April, Tudor Roost 18 Frere Way, Fingringhoe, Colchester CO5 8BP Sun 21st April, East Bergholt Place,East Bergholt,Colchrster,CO7 6UP Hints April is the month for sowing hardy annuals direct in the ground. This is an under used method of filling a garden with colour, which does not require a greenhouse. Just make sure the soil is nice and crumbly and sow the seed in lines so that you know which plants are seedlings, and which are weeds. Then thin them out when they have got a few leaves. If you have children why not encourage them to help you do this on a small patch. For this I would suggest calendula, dwarf sunflower, or nasturtiums, since all have larger seeds that are easy to handle, and make a good splash of colour. In addition nasturtiums will grow in quite poor soil. April is also the peak month for sowing vegetable seeds. it is correct for almost everything. The exceptions are the few things that want it bit more heat like courgettes, french beans, and runner beans, and even then for the beans you can get an early start by sowing seed in pots in a greenhouse or cold frame for planting out mid May onwards. Unless things improve very quickly the problem is going to be getting the ground ready to receive them. Seeds do best in a nice crumbly soil that is warm and moist without being saturated, and at the moment that is going to be difficult to achieve. The beans need plenty of moisture in the soil to give optimum yield so now is the time to improve the soil where they are going to be planted with any compost or other moisture retaining material that you have available. If you have nothing better burying shredded newspapers would help. My father in law always did this and usually had a good crop. Good Gardening, John Rye
Steve Blake
(Formerly of M. W. Partridge & Co)
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