Badby & District Horticultural Society

Spring finally appears to have arrived in Badby as daffodils, the odd tulip and beautiful blossom all team-up to put warmth in our hearts  We can obviously expect a few April showers but with sunny days too, when you can turn your attention to the lawn.

It’s actually an exciting month, with indoor-sown seeds well into growth, and it’s also time to start sowing outdoors. Just watch out for frosts… Sowhardy annuals, such as love-in-a-mist and pot marigolds, as well as native wildflowers, into gaps in borders. Enjoy instant colour by planting primulas and polyanthus in pots and at the front of borders. Protect the new shoots of hostas, delphiniums, lupins and other vulnerable plants from slugs and snails. Sow sweet peas at the base of supports, and transplant those sown in autumn into their final positions. Spray the new leaves of disease-prone roses with fungicide to control mildew, rust and black spot. Take basal cuttings from clumps of perennials, such as delphiniums, campanulasand lupins. Prune hydrangeas, cutting back the old stems to a healthy shoot lower down (I must confess that I went early here!) Finally, why not Sow sunflowers in a sunny, open site, then water regularly and protect seedlings from slugs and snails