My Garden - April 2024

Dear Gentle Reader, 

And we are in April. Geeezzzz, where did the time fly? They say, time flies when one has fun....ok, that might be true, because I have other things to occupy my time with other then gardening, however last month was the wettest, coldest month so far. It rained 29 days out of 31. Couldn't do anything outside, nor in the greenhouse as it was cold and I don't heat my greenhouses. But life doesn't stop not even if it's a bit cold and rainy outside. The little sunshine we had made plants grow especially plants I had already planted in the greenhouse. Grapes, the peach tree, lettuce, green onions, spinach, kale. I have 2 cauliflower plants in there too,so we shall see if they actually produce something (this is trowel and error thingy 😜).

Oh and let's not forget about the strawberries I have in there in a hanging basket (also a trowel and error thingy). You can see the grape bunches nicely forming on the vine, at this stage only flowerbuds, later in after the pollination the grapes will form, grow and ripen. Yummmm. I shall try to form a capopy to have some sort of shade, but warm in the greenhouse and avoid the scorching heat. Both of my greenhouses are in full sun, which can be both a blessing and a bit of a curse if the summer becomes too hot. Too hot in Ireland?, you may ask.... Well with the climate change one never knows. I shall live in hope for hot summers, but not too hot now, let's say a nice 25 will be just fabulous. 😝😜😉

All this chit-chat about the weather and hot summer almost made me forgotten about my toms that are happily growing in their bigger pots dreaming about warmer days with their caretaker, aka gardener, aka moi. 😁😜

And as we go through April and more rainy days, when the sun occasionally shows her face my garden is happy and thriving. 

Trees are blooming, springflowers are poking their heads through the (at this stage) tall grass, because if the weather the grass could be mowed since November. 

Apple, cherry, pear, crab apple trees are laden with flowers (I hope there will be enough polinators around to do their magic). In the grass among the trees in my orchard, lawn daisies, daffodils, snake head fritillary, dog tooth lily, star of bethlehem, summer snowdrops are smiling at me. Add to that the beauties that are scattered around in the gravel among violets and forget me nots, there are : alpine strawberries and calendula, that self seeded. 

As this month slowly comes to an end, despite of occasional frost, cold days and showers my garden is thriving inside and outside too. No frostbite on my plants which for a gardener is always a bonus. The sun is shining and it's nice and warmish.

There are still a few late flowering tulips in the grass. The crab apples and cherries are clad in their colourful dresses inviting many polinators for a feast. My Iris Siberica proudly stands showing off it's beauty shamelessly 😜, as for my wisteria, well what can I say it was a nice surprise to see the bloom after many years of waiting. 

Even my cat decided to join the flower parade with a tiny Violet behind her ear. Last year I bought some hybrid bluebells, snowdrops and star of bethlem to plant in my lawn and let them spread. Unfortunately I'm affraid the bluebells won't stay true as I'm surrounded by Spanish ones, and through pollination they'll hybridize too. But hey ho, polinators, bees love them so they'll stay. My Tamarix and Snowball tree is ready to bloom too. They are gorgeous in full bloom. The grapes are growing nicely just about to bloom too. 

I've mentioned before that I have some early cropping strawberries in the greenhouse, can't wait too eat them now. The confrey along with nettles are like gold for a gardener as they give us the liquid organic feed all plants need. I wish you could smell the lilac too, it's sweet and fresh with a hint of lemon. It's a simple flowering cultivar, but there are some darker or white varieties too. My soft fruit bushes are coming along nicely, loads of flowers means loads of fruit. 

Pink tree peony, simple flowered one to offer nourishment to polinators and bees are invitingly opening their dainty petals. Some pink variety of bluebell snuck in there somehow. And a lonely hyacinth hiding behind a red Japanese acer branches :) love the colour pallete there 😜

All the best until. Next time

Sincerely yours 

Anna