Gardening with Pat Duke: Why you should plant this fruit now

In the garden:

It’s been three weeks since we have seen any significant rainfall which has meant any cozy chats with fellow gardeners has been around watering or the effects of what might be climate change. 

Lawns are baked hard already and the beds become a dustbowl if you try and apply a hoe. The clocks have gone forward and we've now got our evenings back to potter until dusk. 

Whilst this is great for keeping the weeds down, it does mean we need to think about watering more carefully or gradually introducing more drought resilient plants if some inevitably die off through lack of water. 

Asters love sunshine and can tolerate a spectrum of conditions in which they will thrive. ‘Saphire Mist’ or ‘Little Carlow’ are worth a try and seem to flower for a long season as a result. Bees love them too.

Rudbeckia are often seen as a cottage garden flower, standing tall at the back of a bed. They are, however, remarkably drought tolerant. Most plants with hair on the foliage capture moisture effectively and rudbeckia fall into this category. 

If you want something that seems to love drought conditions at the front of a bed then Gaillardia will hang around in full colour for a good couple of months from June through to October. It’s also a multi-functional plant as bees love the reliable supply of pollen and birds can feast on the seeds later in the season. 

If you have the space to plant a tiny lavender hedge then ‘Hidcote’ is the variety most gardeners would use. Don’t get caught out by choosing French Lavender as it’s not fully hardy and will often perish in the winter without fleece protection.

Many houses, particularly new ones, might not have deep soil where topsoil has been added onto surplus rubble in the building process. If you have this situation then mulching is all important at this time of year to preserve moisture and keep the weeds off. If you don’t have home made compost then even grass clippings will do a job as long as they are untreated. 

On the Plot:

Raspberry canes are now starting their fervent push of active growth now April is here along with apple trees. Both will benefit from a feed and a bucket of water at their feet now and again. Anything with a high potassium content will help them develop fruit. 

You could buy a ready-made feed from the garden centre or make your own by soaking banana peel in water for a week then using it to water around the trees or fruit bushes. 

Make sure you give growing melons a try this year. ‘Canteloupe’ are very straightforward. Sow the seeds in some good potting compost and put them on a bright windowsill until they germinate which will be surprisingly quick. 

They love warmth and light but will grow outdoors against a south facing wall or even in a pot if well fed. They are climbers so need vertical space to explore and something to climb along. 

Whilst melons are easy to grow there are some givens and one of those is that they need plenty of rich compost, and as you’d imagine given the size of the fruit and plant overall, lots of feed. 

Moist soil is their favourite and in five months you should have quite a few melons on the plant to both show off about and then slowly savour your efforts. 

They are well worth it and the taste of a home grown melon is nothing near that of a shop bought one. 

Although the current weather is not helping thirsty plants, its glorious to spend time in and where we might have been skimming over weeds we can spend rigging up water catching and saving devices to sheds and greenhouses where suitable.