It may well be warm and sunny now but the winter has certainly taken its toll on our wonderful Jersey Royal potatoes which not only caught the frosts (again!), but struggled to make much headway in the continued low temperatures. The first sendings from the early outdoor crop started about the third week of April, 2 to three weeks later than we normally expect. So much for global warming, I seem to be commenting on this quite a bit, am I turning into a sceptic?

As a consequence my daffodils were also much later and some are still providing a wonderful display at the time of writing (27th April since you ask). However those which have finished flowering should be deadheaded and then allowed to die back naturally. The leaves should not be mown, cut off or removed in any way as the bulb is now relying on the leaves to pass the sun’s energy back into the bulb for the following season. A scattering of bone meal will also help. If you have clumps of daffodils which are not flowering as well as they used to do and you are getting masses of leaf it may be time to dig them up and separate the clumps of bulb because it is likely that they have become overcrowded and are now too small to form a flower. Separating them will allow them to reach flowering size again.

Spring flowering bedding plants should be removed once they have finished flowering as they say a change is a good as a rest and you’ll have had enough of them by now.

You should now be getting ready for planting summer bulbs, annuals and perennials.

If you like the idea of a wildlife garden the simplest option is to let a corner of your garden grow wild and let plants go to seed but make sure it doesn’t upset your spouse (or the neighbours) otherwise you may be in for some serious hoeing and weeding, not to mention some disapproving looks.

If you are thinking about planting for wildlife plant as many different species as possible because diversity is the name of the game and the more diverse the planting, the greater the number of insects and butterflies you are likely to attract.

Almost last, but not least The Lawn (does it deserve the capitals?). With the temperatures warming up the grass will be starting to grow quickly, well it would if there was any rain to help it take up the fertiliser you have already applied. Remember a little bit of feed every now and then will keep it green, weather permitting.

Don’t forget it is still not too late for late frosts even in these days of global warming (whoops mentioned it again).

Bye for the time being.