In the garden april may bring showers
STRAWBERRY SWEET Strawberries are good to plant around May and a fun project to get the kids involved with. They'll be motivated by the thought of the delicious fruit. Strawberries take 3-4 months to grow from seed, but they're easy to maintain and they'll be ready just in time for the start of summer. Strawberries usually produce their best crop by the second season. Grow them in either the garden bed or hanging baskets. A good rule of thumb is to plant at least five per family member – to make sure there's enough to go around and to avoid arguments over who gets the last one! Plant in a sunny area about 15cm apart and prune the runners for the best results.
PESKY PESTS Slugs and aphids can present a problem around this time, especially for new seedlings. Here are some natural alter¬natives to chemical pesticides. Make up a tomato leaf spray to get rid of aphids Here's how: Leave one to two cups of tomato leaves to soak overnight in two cups of water. The next morning strain the liquid out of the leaves, add one to two more cups of water and put in a spray bottle. When using remember to spray the underside of leaves where aphids are most likely to hang out. One way to help keep slug numbers down is to fill a jar with fresh beer, bury it neck deep in the soil and leave overnight – slugs are attracted to the beer and end up drowning in the jar!
FRESH FLOWERS Tidy up the summer annuals, which are probably seeing out the last of their days, and plant some snapdragon, hollyhock and poppies. Poppies are perennials and will flower for months at a time each year and snap¬dragons are hardy flowers and able to stand up to the winter frosts. Buy as plants, as poppies in particular can be quite temperamental when it comes to flowering from seed.
Cafe Frock - Garden Update
The courtyard that the Her Magazine office shares with Cafe Frock has recently had some additions of brand new planter boxes. It's early days yet but mesculin, thyme, celery, chives and rosemary (among others) will eventually supplement the dishes in our eatery. Always a supporter of locally grown produce these are literally from our back yard!
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