All things bright and edible

In episode 3, Dan and Julia discuss how to grow awesome asparagus, go crazy for Japanese kenzan, celebrate a much-overlooked foliage plant and bemoan the fate of the suburban front garden. Julia explains how to get more bang for your buck when buying pot-grown herbs from the supermarket, and Dan reveals the top jobs to do in your garden over the next fortnight. You'll find these listed below, along with details of the plants, products and events mentioned in the podcast.

Dan and Julia's jobs for the next fortnight:

1. Plant potatoes - dig a trench or use a bulb planter to get them in, and remember to earth them up when the shoots emerge to protect them from frost.
2. Sow sweetcorn, courgettes and pumpkins, butternut squash, basil, coriander, and other tender herbs and sunflowers under cover. Beetroot, carrot, chard kale, lettuces, radishes, pak choi, leeks, spinach and broccoli can now be sown directly outdoors.
3. Sow annual flower meadow mixes into prepared soil, which should be weed-free and raked to a fine tilth, like a crumble mixture.
4. Deadhead daffodils, unless you want them to seed.
5. Water pots and containers, even when it's been raining.
6. Cleaning patio furniture and terraces on a dry, sunny day.
7. Tie in clematis, which will be growing vigorously now.
8. Stake perennials, including peonies, lupins, phlox and delphiniums.
9. Check for bugs and encourage predators such as ladybirds by leaving material in your garden that they can find shelter in.
10. Remove rhubarb forcers, and don't put any further strain on forced crowns by continuing to pick the leaves.
11. Start hardening off plants if you live in milder areas.
12. Remember to wear sunscreen! The April sun is fiercer than you think.

Plant List

• Dichroa' Long March' (Chinese quinine)
• Delphinium' Blue Tit'
• Lathyrus vernus' Rainbow' (spring pea)
• Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican flea bane)
• Baptista australis (false blue indigo)
• Ocimum basilicum 'Sweet Genovese' (sweet basil - as you will find in supermarkets and atop pizzas)
• Ocimum basilicum 'Crispum' (lettuce-leaf basil)
• Ocimum basilicum var. minimum (Greek basil)
• Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora (Thai basil)
• Ocimum basilicum var. purpurascens x kilimandscharicum (African blue basil)
• Asparagus officinalis 'Gijnlim''Pacific 2000'
• Solenostemon's Burgundy Wedding Train', 'Lord Falmouth', 'Pink Chaos', 'Wisley Tapestry', Henna', 'Campfire'

Useful Links

• Songbird Survival charity
• Artisan nesters
• Great Comp Spring Fling Plant Fair
• Green Rooms Market
• Arundel Castle Plant Fair
• Alitex open morning

https://www.dancoopergarden.com/

https://www.parkers-patch.com/

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