News + Trends
A pop of colour: Bring the outdoors to life with this colourful garden furniture!
by Léonie de Montmollin
Garden calendar: April
4.4.2017
Translation: machine translated
It's already blooming, creeping and fluttering outside. Shrubs and trees are getting a little greener every day and every day a new plant opens its flowers. Get outside - we'll show you what you can do with your garden. What are you waiting for?
Planning
Cosy little place
It's fun to dig in the soil. It's a joy to bring in the harvest. But let's be honest: what's the whole garden for? Relaxation! You can't plan happiness, but you can plan contentment. You want to have a cosy spot where you can rest, switch off or maybe even eat. For this project, you can also use the sketch of your garden that you have already used several times. Use it to create one or more oases of well-being.
If you want something bigger, where your friends can also join you, you should take inspiration from the garden lounges. It's not just children who will love a garden swing. One size smaller are the garden tables, some of which are available with matching chairs. A garden bench may also be worth considering.
For hot summer days, a parasol or sun sail is a good source of shade. Make sure you use UV-resistant material so that you don't get sunburnt in the shade. A sheet, for example, also provides shade, but hardly protects you from high-energy UV rays.
Frühbeet & Co.
In my articles from March, I raved about the raised bed:
The raised bed is ideal for starting the gardening season earlier and finishing it later. On balconies, it is the only way to get a little more growing space besides boxes on the railing. However, raised beds are also a great way to grow tomatoes or other plants on terraces.
If you have a bed available, a tunnel is a good idea. You can get started with lettuces now, as they are protected from frosty nights under the fleece and still get enough sunlight.
If you want to plant tomatoes this year, you should consider buying a tomato house. You can do without one if you can find a sheltered spot, for example on a wall under a gutter or under a canopy. Many tomato varieties are sensitive when exposed to the weather and are susceptible to pests and fungal infestation. If you no longer have a suitable spot available, a semi-open tomato greenhouse is worth considering. It offers more space than pots and also makes it possible to secure the plants from above.
General
Moving into the new pot
Overwintered plants can be freed from their protection from April. Statistically speaking, there are still an average of three frost days in April. Healthy plants can easily cope with this. Only particularly young or tender specimens should be protected again with a fleece on frosty days.
Some of your potted plants may need a new home - a larger pot. You can easily recognise candidates for the move by simply lifting the plant out of its pot. If the root tissue has grown all the way to the edge, the plant will benefit from a larger pot.
If you want to know more, our garden blogger Andrea shows you what you need to consider using exotic plants as an example.
Creating new compost
What, you haven't turned the compost yet? The warm days are an ideal time to harvest the fresh compost. It will end up in beds in need of fertiliser, where you really want something to grow this year. Simply work the compost into the soil.
You should definitely get yourself some compost. It saves you a lot of rubbish bags. And it converts plant waste into nutritious soil. Properly maintained compost doesn't stink. Madeleine shows you what you need and how to do it.
Foundation fertiliser or weeds?
I already mentioned it in the March calendar page: green manure. It's an elegant way to improve the soil in a natural way. Now you might be asking yourself: what's the difference between green manure and weeds? The answer is: the question is wrong. Weeds don't actually exist. There are only plants that you consider undesirable. Be it because they "steal" nutrients or light from the actual ornamental or useful plants, because they multiply uncontrollably or because they are difficult to remove.
An example: For me, dandelions are a weed. I don't like this coarse plant, it spreads extremely quickly and is incredibly tough thanks to its taproot. For our neighbours, on the other hand, the "Chrottepösche" are a welcome plant that they feed to their tortoises. So it also depends on the eye of the beholder as to what is a weed.
Ground fertilisers are plants that die and decompose after mowing or in autumn, returning nutrients to the soil. Some plants, such as lupins, even add nitrogen to the soil. However, this is more of a side effect. Green manure plants do their main work with their roots. They loosen the soil and improve the soil climate. Green manure also prevents unwanted weeds from spreading. The difference to weeds is also that green manure not only has positive properties, but is often also pretty to look at and is gratefully visited by insects. Another characteristic is that you can get rid of these plants relatively easily.
A selection of suitable plants:
Plants that you have identified as weeds are best controlled as early as possible. On the one hand, the plants are still young and easier to remove. It also prevents them from producing unwanted offspring.
Wild garlic
In spring, wild garlic is omnipresent in the supermarkets. Wild garlic cheese, wild garlic sausages, wild garlic crisps. You can also make your own delicious recipes with wild garlic that you collect yourself. My favourites are wild garlic pesto and wild garlic potato gnocchi. I would love to hear your wild garlic secret tip in the comments.
This year I want to try a new recipe: Wild garlic capers. Maybe you'll like it too. It's safe from fox tapeworm because it's cooked. It's simple: you just collect the buds of the flowers before they open. Timing is crucial for this recipe as wild garlic develops quickly. You need to catch the buds at the right stage before the flowers develop. As wild garlic is often found, you are sure to find a sunny hill or a shady spot where you can find suitable buds. Here's the recipe.
Plants
This can already go out into the bed
Vegetables:
Here you can take a look at the calendar page from March. You can still sow carrots, parsnips and broad beans now. You can also sow the following plants now:
- Potatoes
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Radish
Examples of flowers that can already be put out now:
Preplant in a sheltered place
In the greenhouse, in your sheltered raised bed or indoors on the windowsill, you can grow the following vegetable plants in April,
for example
You can find even more plants in our well-stocked shop. Using the filter, you can easily set the sowing time to the desired month and we will show you all suitable seeds and bulbs. Here I have already set April for you. You can refine the search even further by flower colour, flowering time, etc.
A ❤️ for animals
You no longer have to support birds. It's almost too late for a freshly purchased nesting aid. Either buy one now or postpone the project until autumn. Towards winter, your feathered friends will be happy to have a place to retreat to again.
The best way to help wildlife is with a diverse garden, preferably embellished with native plants. If you have a secluded corner in the sun free, you can pile up a heap of large and medium-sized stones there. Insects and mice will gladly accept this attractive retreat. The greatest compliment for you is when lizards settle in.
We have just renewed our cooperation with "Wildbiene + Partner". You can find two different insect hotels there or in our shop. The highlight: every year you will receive a tube with a new population. A good thing!
You could make good use of these products right now
Fertiliser
Quantity discount
CHF8.55 per piece for 3 units CHF7.25/1kg
Gesal Universal fertilizers
1.31 kg, 1 l
Aurel Stevens
Chief Editor
aurel.stevens@digitecgalaxus.chI'm the master tamer at the flea circus that is the editorial team, a nine-to-five writer and 24/7 dad. Technology, computers and hi-fi make me tick. On top of that, I’m a rain-or-shine cyclist and generally in a good mood.