Not only you, but also your garden will be very happy.
1. Fighting Lice
Do the first aphids appear? Then there could be 3 things going on.
1: the affected plant does not get enough good nutrients and looks sad.
2: the plant is over-fertilized with nitrogen (so there is not the right nutritional balance).
Or 3: the plant lacks water and potassium.
The solutions are simple: no chemical junk, but let nature do its work.
Compost
Provide compost that contains all useful nutrients. This strengthens the plant and makes it less interesting for aphids. Works both preventively and curatively.
soapy water
Grandma’s remedy that works great against lice. Take a liter of lukewarm water and dissolve a tablespoon of green soap in it. Let it cool and add a dash of alcohol if needed. Spray the plant with it.
nettle extract
Pick nettles (with gloves on!) and put them in a bucket full of cold water. Let it steep for 12-24 hours, sieve briefly and spray undiluted.
2. Plant herbs, fruits and vegetables
Fill jars with all kinds of herbs and place them in a sunny spot near the kitchen door. Tasty and fun: a hanging basket with strawberries. Lettuce does well in a pot. Now is the time to start working on a vegetable garden. Provide an airy soil and plenty of compost. Place the plants in partial shade.
3. Plant summer bulbs
Spice up the garden with colorful summer bulbs. You can plant them now. Think of dahlias, Canna (flower reed), Cosmos, Crocosmia and Ornithogalum (bird’s milk). For special summer bulbs you can visit Nijssen Garden & Bulbs Heemstede and velvet†
4. Remove clover
If there is a lot of clover in the lawn, the grass has a shortage of nitrogen and moisture. Sprinkle blood meal (available at garden centers), and the enhanced grass will defeat the clover. Also a lost four-leaf clover, unfortunately.
5. Trimming hedges
These hedges may now be pruned:
- Privet
- Beech and hornbeam
- Cherry laurel
- Holly
- conifers
- Please note: the yew is not due until June
6. Attract butterflies and bees to your garden
Turn your lawn or part of it into a wildflower meadow. Grass is nice on the feet, but does little for biodiversity. A field of wild flowers, on the other hand, attracts multitudes of butterflies and bees.
That is how it works: remove the grass where you want flowers and loosen the soil a bit. Mix perennial flower seed with annual seed, then you will have a flower party the first year. On the website of the Butterfly Foundation you can see which flower seeds are suitable. You can sow now or in the autumn.
7. Making room for long-bloomers
Think ahead and make room in the garden for plants that bloom all summer long. The sunniest is of course Echinacea, or coneflower. As the name suggests, this perennial likes a sunny spot and well-drained soil.
3 beautiful new must-haves that you will enjoy for a long time:
- Echinacea ‘JS Angel’flowers from July to November white-pink with pendulous petals,
- Echinacea purpurea ‘JS Ivos Poem’has perfectly formed horizontal petals and a yellow-orange heart, flowers white from July to October
- Echinacea purpurea ‘JS Stiletto’, a real bright purple eye-catcher with almost black stems. Available at, among others, permanentplant.be (Jan Spruyt).
Any more garden tips? Order the latest Libelle Tuin&Zo.
You can attract butterflies to the garden with these plants: