Mark shares what will be going on in his own garden this April
I love April! Flowers are appearing from every corner of the garden, and at the end of last year, I decided to plant many bulbs into large terracotta pots last autumn/winter to give us gorgeous spring displays. Hyacinths, already here when we bought the barn, have popped up, but the daffodils are yet to emerge. I’m confident that by mid-April, the pots will have a lot of colour.
I decided to plant my bulbs in pots because I hadn’t yet decided on or finalized the layout of the finished garden, let alone considered the finished planting plan. Also, the house and garden are on heavy clay; therefore, growing flowering bulbs in pots and containers is more accessible. From a functional point of view, lifting the planting area slightly up makes things a little easier for me, too. In addition, when in full flower, we can move the pots around the garden to create the best effect.
I always like to top my pots and containers with plants, such as violas, to inject colour before the bulbs start flowering. The violas started to flower prolifically at the end of January and have slowed down over the last three weeks. Knowing the weather patterns in your local area is essential, as is looking at how plants are doing in general in borders.
Flowering times
Over the last few weeks, I have been filming across the UK for the BBC and it has been fascinating to see what’s already in bloom. Statistics from the National Trust have shown that it has been the warmest February on record, and the wet winter has resulted in magnolias flowering four weeks ahead of standard bloom time. I’m still getting used to the colder, wetter weather here in north Lincolnshire, and it’s interesting to note that we’re probably c. three weeks behind the emerging blossom that I saw at RHS Garden Wisley at the beginning of March.
April, however, is the perfect time to continue feeding the terracotta pot displays with a high potash feed, such as tomato feed. The feeding regime will help maintain flowers on the violas and bulbs for as long as possible, even as the flowers start to fade so that all the nutrients and energy can go back into the bulbs for the following year. I also plant a
