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April Frosts & Blossom.
Late in March we had a couple
of record warm days and they were followed by some rather cold days and
nights that kept coming until well into April. In fact we had several
sharp frosts right up until the middle of April when I started writing
this article.
As April came the Allotmenteers on our site started planting their
Potato tubers, but the frosts weren’t a problem for them as the tubers
did not start shooting for a few weeks. Most people had put their Onions
and garlic in as well by then and not much else, so again the cold
didn’t prove a problem for them. Indeed, the cold seems to have held a
lot of things back a bit which, given the long dry spell that we have
had, hasn’t been a bad thing either.
The Trees seem to be a bit late leafing up this time as well, although
they are putting on quite a show with their Blossom. The Flowering
Cherry Tree on the corner of the road where I used to live has been
particularly spectacular this year and many people commented on it on
the Village FaceBook Page. This Cherry flowered before the Pear trees
both in my garden and on my Allotment, and the Asian Pear, also on my
Allotment, was later. My Quince, Apples and Medlar will start flowering
any day now as their flower buds are swelling nicely. The Peach Tree in
Moms Garden always used to flower quite early as well and because of
this the flowers of Peaches, Apricots and Nectarines are often damaged
by late frosts, so it is always recommended that the trees are loosely
covered with Horticultural Fleece at night. Do remember to remove the
Fleece in the daytime to let the insects get at them to pollinate them
though.
In fact I have just planted a Bare Root Apricot on my Plot. The variety
is supposed to one that is better suited to the English Climate and
although, I received it rather late for Bare Root, it was still in tight
bud, so I guess it might have been kept in cold storage. Before planting
the little tree, I soaked it in a bucket of water and then filled the
planting hole with another bucket full. I will have to keep it well
watered for a few months until it gets established to give it the best
chance.
Last year the Fig Leaves and Grape Vines were so badly damaged by late
frosts, that I had virtually no grapes at all, but both seem to be
coming late this time, although, the buds on one or two varieties of
Figs that I have, are showing signs of starting to swell. There are not
even any signs of buds coming on my Grape Vines at all yet though, so I
am keeping my fingers crossed that this year will give a better harvest.
My fruit trees were protected from pests by Grease Bands, or Glue Bands
as they are now called, or that’s what I thought, but when I looked at
them they had lost all of their Sticky through the Winter, so I removed
them. I should have replaced them, because the fruit buds are only now
starting to form and develop following on from the Flowers. Pests can
still get into the Buds during the Buds early formation, but as I
couldn’t get any Bands I didn’t bother. Removing the old ties that held
them however, will allow the trees to swell as they grow, because any
ties can strangle trees if forgotten and left on too long.
When handling new Glue Bands there is a simple trick to clean the sticky
from your hands, that someone once told me. Very simply you need to rub
your hands thoroughly in dry Dust before washing them with ordinary soap
and this works like magic to clean them.
A few people have used the extra time that the slow start has given them
to prepare the ground for planting their Runner beans by trenching and
composting the beds where the rows are to go in. You can see Wigwams and
stands of canes all nicely tied up gradually appearing all over the
site, but I do wonder how many have used a natural string that will
decompose when all the rubbish is cleared up and put on the Compost Heap
at the end of the season.
Sometimes the Sea Kale on my plot gets caught by the cold as it is so
early to harvest, but the Buckets have kept it warm and I have had a
fantastic crop this year. Now, I have removed all of the Buckets as the
Flower stalks are starting to develop. I won’t let the stalks get much
bigger though, before I cut them all off, after which, the Plants will
produce an abundance of large
Cabbage like leaves that will feed the plants ready for next years
harvest.
With all the cold weather we have been having, my Greenhouse Heater has
been working overtime during the frosty nights, but, although a lot of
the days have also been cold with biting winds, the Sun has been strong
through the glass keeping the daytime temperature up inside.
Amazingly though, during the cold spell that we have had in April, I
have seen the Local Garden Centre selling Runner Beans and Tomato plants
from their outside display area, not inside! There were other tender
plants on sale outside as well including Pelargoniums that are a bit
hardier, but I am sure that the Phoenix Canariensis, or Canary Islands
Date Palms, won’t stand up to Frosts. Again the Callistemons that were
on display, are a bit hardier, but they looked like they had just come
from a supplier, so they would have lots of tender growth on them. In
fact there were loads of Palms of one sort or another for sale outside,
although, some like many of the Chinese Palms would be OK. Indeed, I
have a Chamaerops Humilis in my back garden that I brought with me from
moms house that is slow growing and tough as old boots.
I do think that Garden Centres have some duty to sell plants responsibly
and I feel that the Garden Centre near to me that I visited was not
being fair to its customers by offering tender plants for sale outside,
at the wrong time of year, simply to maximise sales and profits. In the
Good Old Days you could go to a garden centre and get helpful and sound
advice about plants from people that cared about them, but no more it
seems.
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