Gardening with Pat Duke: bask in the glory of spring

April is an exciting time to be in the garden, the noise from other garden users like birds and insects let us know as much as the noise of mowers and excited chatter and gossip across the fence. It’s the excitement of knowing what’s to come and April is the beginning of growth from the seeds in our biscuit tins and shoeboxes. 

All hardy annuals as well as biennials can be broadcast directly into the border to create large clouds of colour later in the season. 

Nigella, Calendula, Cornflowers, Poppies and Ammi majus can all be covered with a dusting fine compost. 

You’ll need to know where they are to prevent shaving them off with the newly sharpened hoe once they start to germinate. Be prepared to get on your hands and knees for a bit of hand weeding at close quarters to offer them as much of the life giving nutrients they need. After all, we aren't growing dandelions and dock. If only it were that easy. 

In terms of half hardy annuals like Zinnia, Nicotiana, Cleomes and Tagetes, these can start to be hardened off now by showing them the outdoors for incrementally increased periods in the day before shutting them back up before it goes dark. They really don’t like the cold so they need to get used to it gradually. 

Rooted cuttings like penstemons, violas and antirhinumms. Once they’ve become established, antirhinumms can have their tops nipped off. This teaches them to grow wider than higher and they bush outwards and all retain the same height. 

If your gladioli have become tired and given up then exchange them for a different variety or simply new bulbs. They will lift easily and the soil can be freshened up with some leaf mould and home made, sandy compost. 

On the Plot 

Winter greens, often forgotten in the exuberance of spring, can be sown this week. Sow each variety in a separate seed bed or drill. The seeds can be covered with new compost to highlight were they've been sown and give them a good start.

Kale, broccoli, savoy cabbage, sprouts and chard varieties are all robust slow growers that will bide their time with a helping hand from weeding and watering now and again until winter arrives. 

As they grow they definitely need protection in the form of bird and butterfly netting that you can reuse year on year. Keep an eye on them during the warmer months. It’s incredibly demoralising to return to the plot a day later to see the greens decimated by cabbage whites or even worse, wood pigeons. 

While you’re in the potting shed you can pop in a few seeds of Globe Artichokes. These perennial veg will offer shape and height in terms of garden design but also offer a therapeutic afternoon extracting the exquisite flesh from the leaves. Birds and butterflies will also go for them rather than the greens. They love them when they go to seed in a few months and offer food for garden visitors when there is n’t much else around. They are ideal to plant in a piece of rough ground that you don’t know what to do with. They love a bit of sun but will grow quite happily unattended. 

Keep the hoe busy and be on any emerging weeds. I often think that weed growth could be turned into food growth if removed at the right time as they’ve taken the nutrients from our vegetables. I love weeds, just not in the veg patch as were effectively intensively farming food. 

Give yourself permission to sit back with a mug of tea and just stay still, taking in the glory of spring. The noises, smells and sights are like no other time when we’re just like other animals in busying ourselves with the essential task of survival which has somehow become relaxation.