APRIL has just passed and brought with it a change of fortunes in terms of weather, thankfully.
It’s a busy month in the garden by normal standards, and this year even more so, with many jobs having to be delayed until the soil dries out a bit.
A lot of progress has been made this month and there is much to look forward to in the coming months.
It’s been a cold April and not too much planting out of doors yet, but seed sowing and germination is happening at a pace now.
The Clare Garden Festival takes place this Sunday 28th April at the Ennis showgrounds and promises to be a great day with Jim Cronin, renowned for his organic growing techniques, as well as Kitty Scully, organic grower and TV presenter, Carl Wright . of Caher Bridge garden in Clare, Michael Kelly of GIY, and Jo Newton, organic gardener, all giving talks and demonstrations throughout the day.
This year is the 10th anniversary of this garden festival which is one of the first of the year, and a great place to buy edibles and ornamentals of all descriptions, as well as to attend workshops and discussions that have made the day.
The leaves have come to life on trees and deciduous trees now, and the cycle begins once again as they generate energy from the sun in their leaves that fuels growth.
With a lot of moisture in the soil and the beginning of growth, it is a good time to consider feeding the plants with chicken manure pellets, homemade compost or manure.
Established trees and shrubs will benefit from a boost to growth this time of year and will look much healthier throughout the growing season as a result.
Weeding is an important business now as the growing season, especially around newly planted trees and shrubs.
When trees are established, they can compete for water, nutrients and light, and new trees and shrubs do not have their roots established, which makes the first year after planting an important one to allow establish and become independent.
Buttercups, dockroots, dandelions, nettles and plantains are all perennial plants that can suppress new plants, and while they have a place in nature, we need to keep them under control in the garden or they can suppress intentionally planted specimens.
Many of these weeds have deep tap roots and so a garden fork or spade will need to be employed to dig them out completely, as hoeing or pulling will be a futile undertaking.
After digging up the weed roots, applying a thick layer of mulch is a good investment that serves a number of functions. It will be aesthetically pleasing, conserve moisture and suppress weed seedlings if applied thickly enough.
The grass cutting began in earnest and the mowers and strimmers were dusted and serviced after a winter of rest in the cottage.
“No Mow May” is approaching and offers a good opportunity to experiment that some of the lawn grows a little longer, to leave flowering plants such as dandelions, fiord, yarrow, clover, daisy of bue and Devils Bit Scabious, all commonly found. growing among the grass in a meadow, blooming.
These will provide plenty of pollen and nectar for pollinators if they are allowed to flower.
May is an important month for pollinating insects, as they emerge after winter and build numbers once again.
May is also a time when there is a huge growth spurt in the garden and flowering, especially of herbaceous plants, really begins.
Keeping the lawn clean and tidy is a priority for many gardeners, and once the benefits of allowing some selective weeding is achieved, then perhaps priorities can change.
The outer edge of the lawn could be mow, for example, or a few paths through the lawn created playfully, forming a pattern.
Some interesting patterns were cut into the grass at Bellefield House by Paul Smyth last summer, creating a checkerboard effect. That could be the potential for a lawn art project in the yard this summer!
The plant of the week
As we’re about to enter peak cow parsley flowering time, with all the foamy umbels falling from ditches and roadside yards, there’s an early umbel making its appearance in the herb garden.
It is Sweet cicely, or Myrrhis odorata.
This mass-forming perennial is part of the Apiaceae family and has delicate anise-scented ferry leaves and edible white umbel flowers that attract pollinators to the garden in early the year
It is not often encountered, it has the unique characteristic of adding sweetness to the kitchen so that less sugar is needed. It was traditionally cooked with rhubarb.
The leaves can be added to salads or cut and added to sauces. The young stems are particularly sweet as are the fresh new foliage.
Flowers early in the year, it sows freely in the garden, so it is a good idea to dead head before putting the seed if it is not desired.
It has a deep root that is also edible and so it is best grown in the ground and not in a pot.
A beautiful addition to beds or borders, this will grow well in sun or partial shade in moist but well-drained soil. It will reach about 90 cm in height with a similar spread.
