Hello April, the month we start sliding into cooler weather. I think we’ll all be grateful once the high humidity passes and we can enjoy comfortable sleeping. The early mornings and evenings will be fresher and we can look forward to our gardens slowing down.
Wait, what? Less work in the garden? I don’t think so – there’s plenty to do!
My first task is to cut back all the spent flower stems from my Japanese windflowers. Depending on the amount of wind or rain we have, the petals can easily make a mess as they disintegrate so cutting them out will make the beds look tidy again. While I’m at it, I’ll dig up some of the plants and replant them in other areas of the garden, where they’ll easily multiply and spread.
Depending on when the first frost arrives, I’ll cut back all my dahlias. This is a sad part of the year in my garden because I know I won’t see their boisterous blooms again this year. Dahlias have the flowers that make me most happy and I’m always sad to see them finish flowering for the season. Depending on how long each tuber has been in the ground, I’ll either leave it there (if it’s a new one) or dig it up and store it in a dry place until dividing and replanting it in November. I’ll also be clearing a bigger area to allow space for more tubers next season.
Removing the very last of my summer tomatoes is the next task, although I’ve already cleared two types. Tomatoes didn’t do well for me this year. I think there were too many extremes of temperature and rain for them to have stable growing conditions. I won’t be planting winter vegetables (though I might sneak in some silverbeet and spring onions) so I’ll be feeding and heavily mulching the bed until the warmer weather.
There’s plenty of planting to do, though. I’ll sow seeds of nigella, aquilegia and sweet peas so they can shoot before winter. I’ll plant hollyhock, delphinium and primula seedlings, as well as those prettiest little flowers – pansies – to make me smile during the cold weather. There are always spring bulbs to consider, too.
My camellias are creating buds, so I’ll thin those clusters into pairs to help create larger flowers. I’ll prune my crepe myrtles to keep them a comfortable size and to stimulate more flowers next year.
So, April is a month of opportunity in my garden. I’d better get started!