April/May 2019 45If you have a garden question send to @tobybuckland via TwitterWHAT TO
DO NOW
Encourage the lawn to
thicken by giving the grass
its first cut with the blades
on the mowers set high. Dig
up and divide congested
clumps of perennial flowers- the ideal time is when
they’re just starting into
growth as the emerging
shoots quickly repair and
it’s easy to spot areas of
dead, spent root. Use a
spade to dig up the whole
clump and two back-to-
back garden forks as levers
to tear clumps into saucer-
sized portions. Re-plant,
adding fresh compost and
watering in the roots.
Start indoor sowing
in pots concentrating
on vegetables like
greenhouse tomatoes
and chillies that require a
long season to give their
best. Hardy annuals can
be sown directly outside
in beds including lettuce,
radish and peas, plus
flowers for cutting such as
calendula, cornflowers
and larkspur.
It’s also time to buy and
start off tubers and roots
including canna lilies and
dahlias. Pot up into fresh
compost in 2l containers.
For a crop of home-grown
onions plant sets in rows
in your best, sunniest soil.
Plant with the ‘noses’ just
showing above the soil
and cover with sticks until
they grow. Plant early
potatoes in large tubs or
into trenches lined with
manure/compost.
Put the ‘zing in spring’ with
the acid yellow blooms of
Euphorbia wulfennii. What
makes this spurge such a
winner is its easy-going nature:
it thrives in poor gravelly soils
in both sun and part day
shade, while its steely-blue
evergreen whorls of leaves
are a year-round architecturalfeature. The flowers make an
ideal backdrop for spring bulbs
and, once over, cut the spent
blooms down to the ground
leaving the new to flower next
spring. Like all euphorbias the
sap can irritate skin so position
away from path edges and
wear gloves and long sleeves
when pruning.PLANT OF THE MONTH:
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii
IF YOU DO JUST ONE THING...
3UXQHEXVKURVHVFXWWLQJWKHEULDUVWRDQRXWZDUGIDFLQJEXGVRWKDWWKHVXPPHU
JURZWKGRHVQ¶WEHFRPHFRQJHVWHGDQGSURQHWRIXQJDOEODFNVSRWGLVHDVH3 ways to
re-use plastic
in the garden
- Turn bottles
into cloches
Discarded plastic drink bottles
also make great cloches,
which act as mini-greenhouses
to protect tender plants from
the cold and deter pests such
as rabbits, and even urban
deer, from nibbling at young
seedlings. Simply cut the top off
the bottle and place over the
plant. - Reuse pots
Plants bought from garden
centres are often supplied
in plastic pots, although
alternative materials such as
coir, paper or bamboo are
increasingly available. Consider
re-using these for seed sowing
and re-potting, rather than
buying new. Just rinse out with
warm water and detergent
before using again, to kill off
any diseases. - Pass things on
Think about setting up a plant
pot recycling point on an
allotment of other community
hub, where gardeners and
schools can drop off any
unwanted pots for others to pick
up and recycle.
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK/PAPHOTO: NEIL HEPWORTH/RHS/PAPHOTO: WICOR PRIMARY SCHOOL/PA