Roses are budding up, keep the deep root watering up to them , foliar feeding on fresh new leaves works well now along with slow release fertilisers too keep roses healthy.
Cut back Erica's and callunas that have finished flowering, this stops them from going woody, removing all the spent flowers will encourage them to produce fresh new green growth for summer. If you don't cut the old flowering growth off they will make their new growth out from the old growth which means they become woody at the bottom.
Cut back aubrietia rockery plant and you will get another flowering, also cut spent flowers off hellebore's to stop seeds ripening, if you want to build up hellebore numbers leave a few to drop seed.
My bantams are sitting, with one lot of chickens arriving last week to the delight of our Grandies. Bantams and hens make great pets, they are docile, easy to keep and happily consume all your kitchen scraps, converting them into delicious eggs and rich manure. They are also excellent workers with their natural scratching and pecking put to use they weed, clean up fallen fruit and eat bugs. Mine have the run of our garden because it is so large but the trick for a town section would be to devise a system where they work for you, not against you, as they can be extremely destructive in the garden when left to their own devises. A bottomless chicken wire pen with wheels on one end (a mobile pen) would allow the bantams / hens to work where needed. Don’t weed or pull out anything gone to seed as this provides food for the hens, all kitchen scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds, dust from vacuum cleaner bags, ash from the fire, hedge trimmings, weeds and any other organic material. The chickens will eat what they like and scratch and mulch everything else whilst adding rich manure to it all and with a laying box added there will be eggs for tea. Scruff our dog had the bantams running for cover when he first arrived but with a lot of SCRUFF NO! and being shut in each time he even looked at them he soon got the message.
Lawns:
keep feeding lawns when rain is about, to wash fertilisers in, a spring sowing is a thick sowing to choke out annual weeds. Spray flat perennial weeds in established lawns, annual weeds that grow up with new grass will eventually be mowed out.
Vegetables: PLANT, PLANT, PLANT plants and seeds, I have planted out pumpkin and squash plants grown from seed, with a lot of compost and old stable manure dug in, they need a large prepared area for them to ramble.
If you have a glass house or tunnel house why not plant some peppers, with stakes attached from the roof for support as they grow up. Berry kane's and strawberries are doing a lot of growing now as well, They both flower and fruit up really quickly as long as they get all day sun they will ripen fast. Berries and new seasons peas are perfect for encouraging Children into the garden they soon get to eat the results of planting.
Keep manure enriched compost up to rhubarb, if the soil gets hard and dry around rhubarb it will grow stringy dry uneatable steams.
Elder flower is blooming which for me means making elder flower cordial, this is the summer drink in the UK , so refreshing with iced water. Elder berry here is considered a weed because the birds drop the seed and it grows any where and everywhere, when it pops up here in our garden I pull it out because I pick elder flowers from a bushes growing wild. I thought I would share the very easy recipe with you all.
Elder flower cordial: 30 large elder flowers, shake to remove any insects ( Do not wash)
Ingredients: 1k /2 ¼ lbs sugar 1.5 litres / 6 cups boiling water 4 medium lemons, washed 30 large Elder flower heads, 2 oz citric acid.
Preparation: Place the sugar into a large saucepan/stockpot or a large Pyrex bowl. (I use my croc pot) pour the boiling water over and stir until all the sugar has dissolved and leave to cool. Grate the rind of the lemons with a fine grater, add to the sugar water. Slice the lemons into thick slices and add, then the citric acid and stir, finally add the flower heads and stir again. Cover and leave to steep for 48 hours. Strain through clean fine muslin cloth into a clean bowl, then using a funnel, fill sterilized bottles. Seal and store in a cool, dark place (not the refrigerator) for a few weeks or freeze in plastic bottles to keep for longer. The cordial is delicious diluted with still or fizzy water. Once a bottle is opened store in the refrigerator.
Cheers, Linda.
http://nzstyleforever.blogspot.co.nz/
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