06 April 2020
A Garden Tip from Helen...
So here we are in April and what a strange year it has been. The virus has us relegated to our homes, and the weather continues to be fickle. But, there is good news, too. The leaves are beginning to come out as they do every year, some varieties of daffodils are still blooming, and the lilacs and other flowering shrubs are showing color. Fortunately, there are some things you can still count on!
Feed the Daffodils
Create a reminder for yourself to feed the daffodils with bone meal or a bulb booster after they finish blooming. When you gather your daffodil blooms to bring into the house, do not snip them!! Just grab them at the base and pull. The stems are hollow, so when you cut them, those same stems can fill up with water and eventually rot the bulb. Strange, but true!!
Feed Your Roses
Toward the end of the month you can start
feeding the roses. For those of you who are true rose fanciers, this homemade fertilizer concoction can be made in a 5-gallon bucket full of water:
12 oz. alfalfa meal
3 regular aspirin tablets
5 tablespoons fish emulsion
4 ½ tablespoons Miracle-Gro
10 tablespoons Epsom salt
Mix with the 5 gallon bucket of water and let stand for a day or two before using 1 ½ cups per bush.
Work That Vegetable Garden
Now is the time to really get to work in the vegetable garden. Plant lettuce, spinach, red beets, turnips, scallions, and any other greens you fancy, such as mustard or microgreens. The Southern Exposure Seed Exchange website (southernexposure.com), in an article under “Garden Advice”, has excellent recommendations for what to grow during very hot summers. Every year I’m hopeful to have tomatoes and lettuce ready to harvest at the same time out of the garden. Maybe this year!!
And, don’t forget to keep the strawberries and blueberry bushes weeded!
Helen