April in the garden

Making rhubarb cordial and killing all my tomatoes.

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April was undeniably a very gorgeous month. Without a doubt always one of my faves, where seed sowing and garden greenery starts to really flourish.

The tomato massacre

We’ll start with the worst part of the month, because the rest of it was very lovely and there’s so much good stuff growing. But this month I also have a very sad update: all fifty of my tomato plants died.

I put most of my effort into tomatoes this year, because honestly, tomatoes on toast is pretty much all I want to eat all summer. I’ve nurtured those babies from tiny seeds in winter, keeping them cosy under clingfilm next to the radiator and watching them eagle-eyed every day for progress.

At the start of the month, the baby plants looked like this:

Gorgeous and green, sunbathing in the spring warmth and generally thriving.

Once they were officially too big for their tiny pots, it was time to upgrade their living space. And it was at this point that it all went wrong. I always sit cross-legged on the grass to do my repotting, because I love to take my time and get comfy with it, rather than awkwardly hunching over my potting table in the greenhouse. I moved all my tomato plants into slightly bigger pots, fed them tomato feed and pinched out all of their side shoots.

Over the next week or so, the new growth started to look a bit… odd. By mid-April, every single plant was fully deformed. The new leaves were all curled up and mangled like weird little aliens, and honestly didn’t even resemble tomato leaves at all:

After a few Google searches I learned about herbicide drift. Essentially if weedkiller has been used in the general vicinity, tiny droplets or vapour can then drift through the air onto your plants. And apparently, tomatoes are delicate guys and they are very, very susceptible to being poisoned by even a few lil particles of weedkiller.

Anyway, I’ve grieved and it’s time to move on.

Seed updates!!

Here’s how everything I’ve sown is growing so far:

• Tomatoes = dead.

• Potatoes ~ Thriving! I’ve popped them in 5 grow bags and they’re looking lush.

• Cucumbers ~ Only two survivors from twenty seeds. Sigh. But they’re looking lovely in pots in the greenhouse for now.

• Carrots ~ Just sown straight outdoors into the new bed, watch this space!

• Beetroot & Swiss Chard ~ I planted these straight into the back raised bed and they’re already looking like lovely lil seedlings.

• Beans ~ I found a few random beans so planted them to see if they’d grow, and they did! I’ve now potted them up outside next to my sweet peas. They’re looking a lil bit weedy and weak, so I’m not feeling very optimistic.

• Feverfew, echinacea and butterfly pea ~ Literally about two seeds from each pack germinated at all (bear in mind there are literally hundreds of seeds per pack).

• I’ve also sown my other salady leaves and flower seeds straight outdoors, but it’s too early to give a confident progress update yet.

My favourite time is right around the corner. The reason I do any of this at all… to eat stuff!

Tiny green strawberries and raspberries have started to appear. The baby lettuce and basil plants are almost ready for picking. The apple and cherry tree have been covered in abundant baby pink blossoms. My trusty rhubarb has started to turn into an absolute beast, so I’ve already been making stewed rhubarb and delicious rhubarb cordial with rosemary and thyme. Good times are coming.

The new bed in action

My last update for April is that I finally finished building and painting the new raised bed, and it has its first official occupants!

The new pallet bed has lettuce, basil, mini strawberries and nasturtium planted in the side trays, and two different types of carrots sown in rows in the main section. I ended up buying 8 new tomato plants from the garden centre, so once they’re a bit bigger and any risk of frost has passed, I’m going to plant them up in between the carrots.

And that’s it for April! I’m manifesting that May will bring plenty more warm sunny days and absolutely no more frost. And then it’s officially time to get everything growing outdoors!

Happy gardening,

Mollie x