April third week in your garden:
CARING FOR DAFFODILS:
- Flowerheads: As daffodils finish flowering, remove the faded flowerheads. Species such as Narcissus cyclamineus and N.bulbocodium can be left to develop seeds in order to
naturalise, but for most hybrids the seed are of no value.
- Transplant bulbs: Now that the blooms have faded, you can dig up the bulbs and move them to another part of the
garden where they can die down naturally. It is important that bulbs have at least six weeks of growing time after flowering you remove the leaves.
- Bulb flies: The poor
flowering of bulbs can be caused by several things, including poor growing conditions and unsatisfactory cultivation techniques they may be too crowded, too shallow, too dry
or too hungary. Bulb flies can also be a cause. The large and small narcissus bulb flies attack daffodils (Narcissus), snowdrops (Galanthus) and bluebells (Hyacinthoides), among
others. A fly can gain entrance to the bulb through the hole left by the flowering stems that have died back. Once inside, it lays its eggs. To prevent the flies gaining access,
cover the bulbs with fleece. If the bulbs are in a snow bed, firm or rake the soil around the neck of the bulb. Alternatively plant in grass.
GERMINATING SUNFLOWERS (Helianthus): Sow sunflowers seeds inti 9cm pots, providing bottom heat of 20°C. Once the plants are established, grow them on in a cooler environment. Caning is essential for all but dwarf cultivars and tie in new growth.
