In the garden: Bulbs you can plant now for summer days

April in the garden, and growth is beginning to zip along at a pace now.

The tulips are beginning to shine and bring welcome pops of colour everywhere they appear. It’s lovely to see the petals open in the sunshine, really looking like they are basking and enjoying every minute.

The cherries are having a moment also and looking resplendent in the spring sunshine. They provide very welcome softness, cheer, delight, and beauty for spring, after a long and grey winter.

It was also great to get some sunshine to enjoy them this week.

The garden is buzzing with life and activity now, as birdsong prevails morning and evening and insects awake from their slumber. Ladybirds are frequently encountered when working through beds and borders, our aphid controllers in the garden are always a joy to encounter.

Their larvae feed on aphids and look quite like baby crocodiles, so keep an eye out for them when gardening later this spring and into summer, particularly under the protection of glass or plastic, where they are most welcome to keep vulnerable young plants healthy by gobbling up pests.

Good housekeeping and hygiene from the outset this spring will ensure successful growing.

Compost heaps are being emptied now, and beds prepared for planting this spring. It’s time to begin sowing seeds in earnest as the temperatures are rising and conditions for growth are becoming more favourable.

Light levels continue to increase and the clocks springing forward last weekend is always a milestone. It’s always good to have some extra light in the evening to entice you out into the garden.

Regular turns around the garden are important now, as there is so much appearing, particularly if spring flowering bulbs went into the ground late.

There are still plenty of daffodils performing as well as early flowering perennials such as Pachyphragma macrophyllum, which is a wonderful plant for a shaded dry corner, producing white flowers that light up dark corners on spring days.

The trusty biennials are also producing flower early in their second year of growth, and one of my favourites is Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’, or the honesty, which has a purple flower and dark red foliage.

Sweet Williams, wallflowers and foxgloves are also getting ready to produce a display.

Spring is so full of promise in the garden of all that is to come this year.

Now is a good time to consider planting summer flowering bulbs like gladioli and lilies, to produce splashes of colour during the summer months.

It is a good idea to plant these bulbs in pots and use them later in the summer to fill gaps that may appear in beds and borders.

One of my big resolves this spring is to get the fork to any dock roots and nettles in evidence growing among the herbs around the polytunnel. Both of these plants are early colonisers, and with the soil having been disturbed around the polytunnel to install new plastic, these plants have seized the opportunity to move in.

Dock roots are typically associated with compacted ground and nettles with good, fertile, humus-rich soil. Dock roots have a tap root and nettles develop more fibrous roots near the surface of the soil.

Both these plants are often associated with growing together, they support a lot of wildlife, and should be allowed grow in wilder parts of the garden if space allows. However, they are no good when trying to grow and harvest herbs, competing with the herbs and making harvesting difficult.

While a sting from a nettle can be painful, they are said to help with inflammation and can be beneficial for arthritis, and the antidote many of us reach for are the leaves of dock roots which are said to alleviate the sting somewhat.

Use the youngest leaves of the dock root which are unfurling at the centre and apply them to the sting, using an older dock leaf to seal the sap from the young leaf around the sting for best results.

The young tips of the nettles can be harvested now to make soup, which is not only unexpectedly delicious but also really good for you, packed full of beneficial vitamins and minerals. It was commonly consumed in springtime to provide a tonic after the winter months.

The young new growth of so many wild plants are edible and at their best in springtime, but foraging for these plants is only advisable if you are with an experienced person, because mistaken identity or harvesting from unwise locations can have serious consequences.

Thankfully, nettles are easily identified, if perhaps not so easily harvested - gloves are advisable!

Enjoy either harvesting or weeding out nettles this springtime, or maybe both.

Plant of the week

A native of New Zealand, this evergreen small tree or large shrub requires a sheltered spot in the garden.

Sophora microphylla, or the weeping kowhai, has small pinnate dark green leaves and produces yellow pea-like flowers in clusters in spring.

It will get to about six metres tall, with a similar spread as it has more of a spreading than upright habit.

It makes for a rewarding plant given the right position in the garden, sheltered from cold winds and south-facing ideally, while this plant is a good candidate for wall training also.

It will grow best on free draining soil and is not fussy about pH.

Producing lots of colour at the start of the growing season, Sophora microphylla helps to bridge the gap between spring and summer, and its evergreen foliage adds structure to the garden also.