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WHAT TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN APRIL 8th to 14th

Susan Explains Hardening Off Plants
When seedlings are grown indoors or in a heated greenhouse they are not accustomed to conditions outside. To help them withstand the harsher outdoors conditions it is best to "harden them off" for a week or two. Put them outside for a few hours on a calm, warm day. Then slowly increase the time they spend outside over the next week or two. This will strengthen the stems and get them used to outside before planting.


Asparagus
Many gardeners think asparagus is too complicated to grow but that's not true. They do take two years before cropping fully but after that weeding and feeding is all that is required. Now is the time to plant asparagus crowns (pre-grown one year old plants).

Full information can be found here, but we describe the basic process here. First, let me convince you that the taste of freshly harvested asparagus is out of this world. Supermarket asparagus is NO comparison. Home grown asparagus harvested and eaten within a few hours is one of the sweetest tastes ever. Out of this world!

Buy your asparagus crowns (see left), try about six for your first experiment. They are available online or from most nurseries and garden centres. Make sure the planting area is free of weeds, the asparagus will crop for many years.

Dig out a trench 25cm (10in) deep and 30cm (1ft wide) and (for six plants) 2.7 metres (9ft) long. Lay the crowns about 45cm (1ft 6in) apart n the trench and cover with soil.

Don't harvest in the first year, harvest sparingly in the second year then harvest for about 8 weeks thereafter. Keep the bed weeded and watered in very dry conditions. A feed of blood, fish and bone in spring and autumn will keep them going just fine.

That's about it for asparagus so get down to your garden centre now and plant some!

Seeds For Sowing this Week
Brussels Sprouts should be sown or planted this week. Remember that they will cast shade. Carrots can also go in. Sow them a few at time to avoid a glut. Do the same with lettuce. Give a thought to growing spinach, it's easy to grow and now is the time to sow seeds.

Many herbs can also be planted from now on, this includes chives, rosemary, marjoram and many others.

More Information
For more detailed information and timings go to our individual vegetable, herb and fruit pages. If you want to see a condensed vegetable advice page with planting, sowing, care and harvesting information for the entire year on one page then go to our vegetable calendar.

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