The arrival of April brings with it a multitude of tasks to do in the garden and vegetable plot.
By mid April it is safe to place tomato plants in the borders of greenhouses and poly tunnels. There is a saying “ we are what we eat “ and what a plant grows in defines its strengths and the flavour of its fruit.
For good strong plants and especially good flavoured fruit tomatoes need to be grown in ground rich in well rotted horse manure with added lime and magnesium sulphate. For flavour tradition has it that wood ash , soot and seaweed need to be added and the fruit allowed to ripen on the truss with as much sunshine as possible to ensure maximum sweetness. Fundamentally that is the difference between home grown and commercially grown tomatoes whatever the original root stock.
Now is the time to start frost tender plants under protection pria to planting out at the end of May or early June. Essential here are courgettes , sweetcorn and runner beans.
I like green elongated courgettes but others may prefer yellow or round ones!
Plant the seeds in individual pots vertically and pointing slightly upwards. This encourages growth and prevents rotting. Good varieties are Defender F1 and Zucchini.
Home grown sweetcorn is vastly superior to anything you can buy. This is because as soon as the cob is picked the kernels start turning sugars into starch so they loose sweetness and become more mealy. So pick and eat immediately. Start off individual seeds in root trainers. The best early variety is Swift F1 and for later crops try Goldcrest F1 and Moonshine F1.
Almost every vegetable plot in the country will contain runner beans though curiously they are almost exclusively a British obsession and not widely grown on the continent.
For a long harvest start some off under cover in April for planting out in early June and at planting place a seed bean between each plant to ensure the longest possible season. Traditionally grown in a wigwam frame they actually do better with upright canes allowing sun and wind to embrace the plants.
The choice is enormous. Some modern varieties are a cross between a climbing French bean and a runner bean which results in a self fertile type which is probably best for early planting. Try Moonlight and Firestorm. Later try Scarlet Emperor and Enorma , especially for exhibiting.
Hopefully at our plant sale on Saturday 18th May these will be available.
April and May are a good time to tidy up stone bearing fruit trees such as plums, damson, peach and apricot. The main purpose is to remove dead and damaged branches and those crossing and open up the centre and to keep the tree to a manageable size as at some stage you are going to have to pick the fruit!
Another job for April is to prune and tidy up the fig tree which to me always seems a hopeless task as there seems to be no order in the way a fig tree grows! Keep the tree to a manageable size and remove dead and crossing branches. Most fruit is born on a lateral growth in its second year so try and keep 6” to 9” between laterals and keep an eye out for the embryonic fruit. Good luck!
Hopefully by the time you read this it will have stopped raining and the sun will be shining.
Good Gardening
Peter Estcourt