My Garden Journal April

What strange weather we are having yet again, this being the third year with unseasonal weather making gardening such an unpredictable pastime. Butterflies appear every time we have a warm sunny day while bees, hoverfly and wasp numbers are increasing day by day. Ladybirds come out from their winter hiding places as he sun warms them up.

By mid-month we are regularly visited by three species of warbler who entertain us with their songs – Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

I began by writing a few words, “April means tulips, tulips ……” and at the end of the two pages, “……. and yet more tulips.”

I continued with the theme of bulbs and even included two more shots of tulips. The other photos were to show different bulb flowers and wrote, “Tulips are not the only bulbs to be giving colours this month, although some tulips come later than others like T. Purple Parrot.”

On the opposite page I considered some of our gardening tasks we managed to tackle in this month, and I wrote, “This month presents us with so much to do in the garden because everything is growing away so quickly – especially the weeds.”

“Potting up our dahlias and brushing up birch catkins blown down by strong winds.”

Weed burning gravel areas and taking bubblewrap down in greenhouse. Edging the grass paths after mowing.

Preparing the summerhouse for the new seasons to come. Tidying up a new plant before planting.

“Tidying up the Prairie Garden and planting a new shrub in a pot.

In the next two pages I will look at clematis already blooming and on the opposite page fruit blossom.

On the top of my page concerning flowering clematis I noted that, “Early flowering clematis are usually blue with a few pinks and every shade in between.”

On the page opposite I shared photos of the blossom on our apple trees. I wrote, “Fruit trees are full of blossom, but sadly a few seem to be blind this ear.”

Crab apples are so good at multi-tasking. The blossom is beautiful and attracts pollinators and predators. They help in pollinating culinary apples.

We grow a dozen heritage varieties of apple. They taste so different to each other.

We have reached the final page for April where I wrote, “We always plant violas in our pots to accompany shrubs and perennials because they come in such a vast range of colours and they flower for several months. This winter they performed better than ever.”