Banja Luka, a hybrid darwin tulip and Goldflame Spirea (Tulipa 'Banja Luka', Spiraea x bumalda 'Goldflame'). Photo Amanda Jarrett
April Garden Chores
Garden Seminars - Need Help? - Job Postings
April Introduction - April Plant Combo - Amanda's Garden Blog - April Garden Chores
Plant Police - What to Plant Outside - Hardening Off - Sowing Seeds Outdoors
Planting Indoor Seedlings Outside - Lawn Care - Hate Your Lawn?
Feeding Plants - Weeds - Slugs - Got Bugs? - Speaking of Compost
April Flower Arrangement - For the Tropical Gardener - Plant of the Month: Aubretia
April Introduction - April Plant Combo - Amanda's Garden Blog - April Garden Chores
Plant Police - What to Plant Outside - Hardening Off - Sowing Seeds Outdoors
Planting Indoor Seedlings Outside - Lawn Care - Hate Your Lawn?
Feeding Plants - Weeds - Slugs - Got Bugs? - Speaking of Compost
April Flower Arrangement - For the Tropical Gardener - Plant of the Month: Aubretia
Bishop's Hat, Epimedium × versicolor 'Sulphureum' is a great groundcover for shade.
Please note that any text that is coloured is linked to another page on this website or another.
Some of the pictures are linked to other websites.
Some of the pictures are linked to other websites.
LEE VALLEY TOOLS
Garden Seminars For Spring
|
Gardening in the Spring
Saturday, April 21, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This session provides a step-by-step approach to setting up your garden in the spring for a productive growing season. Join Amanda for lawn care, insects, diseases, fertilizers, soil care, planting, sowing seeds, pruning and more. Includes a PowerPoint presentation and a Spring Gardening Guide. Fee: $30.00, link |
Starting the garden off right in spring is worth the effort.
|
Make sense of garden design with some expert tips.
|
Landscape Design for a Fab Garden
Saturday, April 21, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Turn your garden from drab to fab with Amanda. Learn how to convert your outdoor spaces into garden rooms and discover your garden's potential. Topics include plant selection, creating a basic garden plan, design tips and tricks, and how to reduce your garden maintenance. Includes a PowerPoint presentation and a Landscape Design Basics guide. Fee: $45.00, link |
|
Need Help?If getting your garden ready for growing seems a bit daunting, and you don't know where to start, Amanda will show you how. Want help on how to create a vegetable garden? Want to grow from seed, but don't know how? Need help trying to figure out how to get the garden ready for spring? Get Amanda to teach you the ropes in your own garden by making an appointment here.
|
Dunbar GARDEN CLUB PLANT SALESaturday, April 28
10:00 am to Noon 3806 W. 37th (at Highbury), Vancouver |
Job PostingsFor landscapers looking for work and landscape companies looking to hire.
If you are looking for work or if you wish to post a position please go to Job Postings. |
April Intro
Flowers, flowers everywhere!
No matter where you live in the northern hemisphere, gardens have awoken from their winter’s slumber and are embracing the warmth of the returning sun. Spring is back in town! As vividly coloured spring bulbs take centre stage steeling the show, look for the precious baby leaves on trees and shrubs as they gently unfurl in colours of red, pink, yellow and green. Although gardening chores are ramping up, spring’s allure makes me do a double-take, especially when driving. It’s difficult not to rubber neck while I ogle gorgeous camellia in someone’s front yard or a park’s planting of hundreds of colourful tulips. And it is only going to get even more difficult to pay attention when May arrives. So instead of rubbernecking while driving, I hope to get down and dirty in my own garden. There’s lots to do this month. Just wish I wasn’t so allergic… achoo! .... Cheers, Amanda 
Rhododendron stamineum.
Prospect Point, Stanley Park.
|
Amanda's Garden Blog
A yellow Crown Imperial, Fritillaria imperialis.
|
April Garden Stars
Sue Jervis primrose (Primula vulgaris 'Sue Jervis'), grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) prefers part sun.
|
Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia), flowers best in full sun.
|
Star Magnolia (M. stellata) is a small tree growing to 10ft. x 10ft.
|
Pulmonaria (lungwort), likes shade & moist soil.
|
Bishop's Hat (Epimedium x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten') is a good evergreen groundcover for shade.
|
Pissard flowering plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii') has maroon summer leaves.
|
April PLANT COMBO
Zurel Tulip and Helleborus
Ask Amanda
Sages will often suffer from winter damage and will need a little trim to make them look purty.
Question: I have had a sage plant in my back yard for a few years. I wanted to know the most recommended way of taking care of it. Over the winter it sits there with dried leaves, and then new leaves come from other places in the spring. Do I snap off the dry dead leaves and stems? When to do it? Before the winter, during winter, or spring time. I also have a Gogi berry bush, which has been wonderful and comes back every year for 3 yrs. I was told that its not really goji berry but its probably wolfberry. Is there a way I can tell which one it is? thx
Answer: Concerning your sage plant, it is normal for sage plants to suffer from some winter damage as they are more adapted to a Mediterranean climate. All you have to do is cut off the damaged growth in April. Usually I would say March, but we've had some frosty March weather in the past few years. Use scissors or pruning shears for a nice clean cut to remove all the dead stems and foliage. The plant should regrow from the existing stems and roots. Goji berries and wolfberries are the same thing, that's the trouble with common names. Many plants have more than one and this is why we use botanical names to eliminate confusion. It's correct botanical name is Lycium barbarum. Glad to hear it is doing so well. You must have a green thumb! plant police
Bare soil leads to erosion and starving plants.
Erosion from rain and repeated use of a leaf blower has blown away soil along with the leaves. Mother Nature doesn't like bare soil. It's supposed to be covered with a layer of leaves, a ground cover or mulch. To bring life back to this garden mix in 2 to 6 inches of compost, composted manure and/or SeaSoil. Top it off with 3 inches of an organic mulch to reduce erosion and weeds. Mulch also insulates soils, retains moisture and adds nutrition to the soil as it decays. A nice ground cover would be a great addition as a 'living mulch'.
What to plant outside
Plant sweet peas either directly in the ground or start them inside.
Plant trees, shrubs and perennials, but it’s a bit too early for tender annuals and vegetables. Nurseries are overflowing with impatiens, petunias, tomatoes and peppers, eggplants, basil, cucumbers, melons and other tender, non-hardy annuals this month. Go ahead and purchase them for the best selection, but do keep them protected against frost. At this time of the year, temperatures often plunge at night. Bring them inside or cover them with a bed sheet, tablecloth - not plastic as it has no insulating value.
Before purchasing bedding plants and vegetable transplants, check with the nursery staff to make sure they have been hardened off before you spend your money, especially if their bedding plants originated from California. If they haven’t been acclimatized to the local outdoor conditions, give them a pass or harden them yourself (see below). The timing of planting veggies and bedding plants depends on where you live in the world. If in doubt of which plants to purchase and plant now, read plant labels or ask the nursery staff as it is different depending on where you live. In the temperate south of British Columbia, plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, petunias, begonias and other warm season plants at the earliest in late April. For the rest of the Canada wait until mid-May. Broccoli, kale, chard, sweet peas, alyssum, snapdragons and other cool season transplants can be planted this month, as long as they have been hardened off, as previously mentioned. For sowing seeds outdoors, see below. Which Seeds to Sow Outside
Kohlrabi are pretty cool looking plants. Sow seeds outside now.
There are many vegetable and flower seeds that are suitable to sow directly outside, but not everything. Check the back of the seed packages for planting preferences, depth of seeds etc.
Vegetables: arugula, broad (fava) beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, endive, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onion sets, pac and bok choi, parsley, parsnips, peas, seed potatoes, radicchio, radishes, scallions, spinach, turnips. Herbs: borage, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic cloves. Flowers: calendula, cleome, cosmos, foxgloves, marigolds, nasturtiums, poppies, sweet peas, sunflowers. Planting your Indoor Seedlings Outside
These mature seedlings can either repotted into their own 2" pots or planted in the garden 'as-is', after they have been hardened off.
Those seeds you started in February and March should be ready to put into their own individual pots by now. It’s time once seedlings develop two to three sets of true leaves. Plant each seedling into their own 2 inch pots with potting soil, not garden soil.
After about 3 to 4 weeks (maybe less, maybe more depending on the plant and the conditions), roots should be well established with adequate leaves and stems. Hardening Off Plants
These seedlings have been repotted in individual pots and are being hardened off before being planted in the garden.
Plant broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower and other cool season crops once they have been hardened off. This process gradually acclimatizes them to the outside world.
Set them outside for an hour in a shaded protected spot. Each day thereafter, increase their time outside by an hour or so, their light and wind exposure until they are outside all day and night. Check on them often during this process to make sure they are not suffering and have adequate water. They will let you know they are unhappy. Lawn Care
If you want a healthy lawn, you have treat it right!
Timing is an important factor in lawn maintenance and lawn health. Before May, fertilize with a high phosphorous fertilizer, preferably organic or a slow release one. Choose a plant food high in the middle number, like a starter fertilizer to encourage roots, not foliage.
If you haven’t had your lawn core aerated you should do so. A core aerator removes plugs of soil from the lawn. This allows air and water to penetrate into the grass roots. This relieves hard, compacted soil, which is a common problem with lawns due to foot traffic. Either rent an aerator, or even better, hire someone to do it as it is a difficult job. Keep lawns mowed to 2 ½ to 3 inches high. If you cut any lower, you are depriving the lawn of vital food needed for deep roots and vigorous growth. Try to remove only 1/3rd of leaf blades at each mowing, which means more mowing- sorry about that, but your lawn will love you for it. At least it is good exercise. To stop emerging weed seeds in the lawn, apply corn gluten. It’s organic and adds nitrogen too. It will kill any seedlings, including grass seed, so don’t use it if you have already put down grass seed. Apply dolopril lime on lawns if you didn’t do so already, according to the package instructions. Reseed any bare, sparse and ugly spots. Before sowing grass seed, add some compost and bone meal and mix it into the soil. Add the grass seed and keep them moist until the seeds germinate. 
It's a great time to repair the lawn.
Hate your lawn?
Microclover is getting good reviews as a lawn alternative.
Too shady and wet? Too sunny and dry? Consider your alternatives: living groundcovers, microclover, garden or patio.
Convert the lawn to a garden easily by using the lasagna gardening method, then select plants suitable for the conditions. Or you could try microclover. Miniature clover provides a green ground cover that favors bees as they love the flowers. It requires much less maintenance: less mowing than grass and fertilizer too, as it grabs nitrogen from the air and fixes it on its roots. Hot and sunny are good sites for a veggie garden. If the conditions don't even allow for a garden, convert it to a patio with containers full of plants suitable for the conditions. Too mossy? You can try to get rid of the moss, or just go with the flow and encourage it. Add a few shade loving plants and you have a moss garden. 
If you want to embrace moss, keep it watered during the summer and don't let it dry out.
Feeding Plants
Plants need food now as they rev up for spring. Synthetic fertilizers are not good for soil health but if you wish to use them, at least go with the slow release kind. They are gentler to the soil and the soil microorganisms. Compost is a much better alternative. It feeds beneficial soil organisms, improves soil structure, provides a slow but steady supply of nutrients, and is an essential to build soil health. It is fantastic stuff. The plants and microorganisms get fed as well as those cute little wiggly earth worms.
Spread one inch or more of compost on top of the soil, especially around plants. Don't forget trees and shrubs, and go beyond the end of plant canopy (dripline) as that is where the feeder roots are. If you have the time and patience, mix it in to the existing soil. One of the big problems with adding compost to the soil is there just isn’t enough of it to go around. SeaSoil, well-rotted sheep, llama, steer and cow manure are other options as well as their composted manures and wood chips. And don’t forget to keep the soil mulched as it also provides nutrients as it decomposes. 
Red wiggler worms are a sure sign you've got good compost.
|
April Garden Chores
In Fort Langley a gardener dons traditional clothes. Certainly more elegant, but a tad more impractical than stretchy jeans.
A daily walk through the garden is a nice habit to get into as nature kicks it up a notch in April (May struts her stuff too).
Quickie Checklist:
A seasonal display at Art's Nursery in Port Kells.
What to Prune
The perfectly straight branches are suckers and should be removed.
Trees & Shrubs: Once spring flowering trees and shrubs have finished flowering give them a trim, but only if it needed: dead and damaged growth, spent flowers as well as any suckers or water sprouts.
Roses: Cut back rose all canes by 1/3rd when forsythias are in bloom. Remove all dead, spindly, broken, diseased as well as old unproductive stems. Cut off canes that grow towards the plant’s centre and those that are crossing. 
Buff Beauty hybrid musk rose.
Learn How to Prune:
Register here for Amanda to come to your garden to teach you how and what to prune. Weeds
Field morning glory also known as bindweed.
Keep pulling out the weeds making sure you are getting all their roots and runners. Don’t let them go to seed; remove their flowers and seed heads.
Mulch stops weeds: Apply a 3 inch layer of organic mulch on top of the soil. Use chipped up fir, hemlock, recycled wood pallets or shredded leaves. Purchase mulch in bulk or buy bagged mulch available at most garden and home hardware centres. Before placing the mulch on top of the soil and around all the plants, pull all the weeds out by hand first. Do not place landscape fabric or weed block down as it defeats the many benefits of the organic mulch. Avoid burying plants and keep it a few inches away from tree trunks. Weeds will grow through mulch if it is not deep enough, so make sure there is a good 3 inch layer at least. Maintain that depth every year by adding more mulch in spring and/or fall. Don’t rake or remove plant debris from beds as this also adds to the mulch layer, which is a good thing. It is also less work for you too. Leave the leaves! When horsetails and morning glories (bindweed) peak out of the ground, pull them out, don’t dig them out as it spreads them even faster. Don’t allow them to take a breath. Keep pulling as soon as they emerge. Conquer them! Be strong. Weeds Seeds: Are weed seeds sprouting everywhere? If so, apply corn gluten as it stops seeds from germinating. Since it doesn’t differentiate between weed seeds and veggie, lawn or flower seeds, don’t apply where desirable seeds already have been sown. 
Many aggressive weeds spread by seeds and underground runners, just like bindweed.
Slugs..
A slug saloon protects slug bait from rain and animals.
Get slugs under control with a margarine container with windows cut in the sides. Place slug bait in the container and attach lid. Bury container so the bottom of the windows are at the same level as the soil line. The slugs will smell the bait and enter the container through the windows. Copper strips and netting are also effective. Just wrap them around the plants to deter those slimy critters.
Got Bugs?
This wee caterpillar has an appetite for cauliflowers and cabbages.
Don’t go on a rampage and start spraying chemicals when you see bugs feasting away on your plants. Usually insects only cause damage during one stage of their life cycle. After all, butterflies were once caterpillars. So assess the situation before you come out with chemicals ablazin’.
Caterpillars leave ragged holes and small brown droppings in their wake. A few here and there shouldn’t be a problem, however, if they are out of control spray with Bacillus thuringiensis. It is a bacteria that only kills caterpillars. Aphids only attack new growth. If you are heavy handed with the nitrogen fertilizer (first number on the fertilizer labels), aphids will not be able to resist your garden delicacies. Nitrogen promotes new, lush tender growth and that just happens to be aphids’ favorite meal. Just squish those critters with your hand while hosing them off. It is less gross that way (I think). Remember to leave some for the lady bugs as aphids are their favorite meal. Everyone’s got to eat. 
This ladybug won't go hungry on this aphid infested tomato leaf.
Speaking of Compost.....Don’t forget to check your compost bin. Do you have some that is ready at the bottom of the pile? If so, take the top non decayed layers off and retrieve the good compost from below. Spread the finished compost in the garden. Replace the uncomposted material back into the compost bin to start again as it adds beneficial bacteria and fungi that will help ‘seed’ the next batch. Add water if it is dry as nothing happens without water. It should be moist but not drenched.
The beginnings of compost.
April Arrangement
Peppermint Stick tulip, Banja Luka tulip, bleeding heart, lenten roses, daffodils
English bluebell, bridal wreath spirea, basket of gold, perennial candytuft, solomon's seal
ornamental flowering cherry
|
Plant of the month
aubretia, purple rock cress
Aubretia is an easy care evergreen groundcover.
This white aubretia is a perfect backdrop for some Purple Prince tulips.
Right after flowering, remove the spent flowers with scissors as aubretias will reflower.
A pink cultivar of the purple rock cress.
|
Common Name: aubretia, purple rock cress
Botanical Name: Aubrieta deltoidea Form: prostrate, low spreading Family: Brassiceae (mustard family) Genus: Aubrieta Species: deltoidea Plant Type: evergreen, herbaceous perennial Mature Size: 2 foot spread, ground hugging Growth: fast Origin: Southern Eugrope to central Asia Hardiness Zone: 4 to 9 Foliage: evergreen, green oval shaped often lobed Flowers: pink, violet or white flowers with four petals Fruit: hairy 2 cm silique (a long capsule that splits open) Exposure: fun sun, light shade Soil: light, well-drained soil, pH tolerant, drought tolerant once established Uses: groundcover, rockery, container, window boxes, Propagation: seeds, plant divisions Pruning: deadhead with some scissors right after flowering so they will re-flower, cut back scraggly plants by 1/3rd after flowering Problems: doesn’t like soggy soil and needs sun to flower well Cultivars: Red Cascade’, ‘Royal Blue’, white ‘Purity’ or violet ‘Doctor Mules’. Comments: A ground hugging mat that smothers the ground and looks good even when it is not in flower. This non-invasive, easy care groundcover also looks great spilling over planter rims and oozing over retaining walls and cascading rockeries. A great plant for bees as they love the masses of flowers. 
Aubretias, grow flat, smothering the ground with flowers and evergreen foliage.
|
Purple simple blossoms with yellow stamens define aubretias.
|
Aubretias bear lots and lots of flowers.
|
A close up of an individual aubretia blossom.
|
Aubretias are hardy evergreen perennials and don't mind a touch of frost.
|
THE GARDEN WEBSITE INDEX
|
Container Growing 101Monthly Flower Arrangements
Growing Roses Introduction Mulching & Types Introduction |
for the tropical Gardener
While working in Florida as horticultural consultant, it became apparent that there was a need for a book on tropical shrubs. There are so many wonderful shrubs to choose from, so I wrote a reference book to make the selections easier. Ornamental Tropical Shrubs includes pictures in full colour and information about the plants in point form. So if you live in the tropics and subtropics and need a reference book on tropical shrubs, or you just want to have a look-see click here.
|
|
Copyright 2017 The Garden Website.com, Amanda's Garden Consulting Company - All Rights Reserved