Why one gardener wrapped fragile plants as a late April frost looms

I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend, wherever you spent it and however much or little time you managed to spend in the garden.

It turned out to be a better gardening weekend than forecast, with some really glorious weather in the end.

However, there seemed to be the real threat of frost on Sunday night, and we were worried about the tender new shoots on some plants which have grown so fast in the last couple of weeks.

Rose ghosts, wrapped in bubblewrap (Image: Supplied)

I made a quick trip to the school to cover our tomato plants in the unheated Rhino greenhouse and to wrap our roses in bubble wrap for the night.

Despite the clear, starry night, we did not, in fact, have a frost, but better to be safe than sorry.

There is so much lovely blossom in the gardens and orchard at the moment, and we’re hoping there won’t be a damaging late frost now.

The weather turned out to be perfect for planting, and while the school has been closed for the Easter holidays, I have been busy catching up on jobs in my own garden, getting dozens of new plants into the ground in a newly cleared shady area.

Tomatoes protected from April frost (Image: Supplied)

It was a slow job because the roots of the snowberry and ground elder, which we have been trying to get rid of, had, inevitably, not been removed entirely, and they were starting to shoot again.

I suspect there will be more weeding of these invasive plants to be done over the coming months to stop them overwhelming the newly planted ferns, foxgloves, astilbe, geranium, and shrubs.

I have supplemented the new planting with plants divided and lifted from elsewhere in the garden, including a couple of varieties of comfrey which make great ground cover.

We are looking forward to seeing this area flourish over the coming months.

This seems to have been peak magnolia week in gardens across the region.

We are fortunate to have seven or eight varieties which are mature small to medium-sized trees at the school.

Tulips planted in egg trays April (Image: Supplied)

They flower consecutively for several weeks, and the flowers are every shade of pink and white.

They have such a short season but pack such a big punch that they do earn their place in the garden.

Tulips are also coming into flower, and the ‘egg tray planted’ tulips in the veg patch flowered in time for me to cut a lovely bunch for Easter.

Using egg trays meant that the bulbs were planted close together, and this has made them tall and sturdy stemmed – perfect for cutting.

We will definitely repeat this planting method next autumn.

There are some excellent courses coming up which still have spaces.

Let us know if you’d like to join one of these:

Advanced Practical Gardening – 15th April

Border Design – 16th & 23rd April

Sustainable Cutting Garden – 22nd April

Basic Bricklaying – 30th April

Gardening Under Glass – 6th May

Chaemoneles speciosa ‘moerloosei’ (Image: Supplied)

Plant of the Week

Chaenomeles speciosa ‘moerloosei’ is an ornamental quince which is later flowering than other varieties and has cup-shaped, white flowers tinged with shades of pink, from March to May followed by aromatic, greenish-yellow fruit.

It brings a welcome flush of colour to the garden in spring, when the bare twigs are smothered in flowers before the glossy, dark green leaves appear.

This vigorous, deciduous quince makes an attractive informal hedge for a sunny or partly shady site with moderately fertile, well-drained soil and looks stunning trained against a wall or fence.

It is looking wonderful right now.

The fruit can be eaten when cooked.