Garden Year
Our aim is to give you access to relevant and current information about our products and in the following pages you will find details of the entire Vitax portfolio.
Click on any of the catalogue links below for more detailed information on each of the Vitax ranges.
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Please select a month from the table below to see our hints & tips for that period.
April
For many gardeners April is their favourite month. Spring flowers are often at their best summer bedding plants are on sale, and plants in the herbaceous border seem to grow by the day. The longer days not only benefit the plants, they also provide opportunities for the gardener to work in and enjoy the garden.
The rapid plant growth this month means it is one of the busiest months of the year in the garden. If you grow your own bedding plants, these may well need daily watering and feeding while they are still in their trays and pots. Vitafeed Multi-Purpose Soluble Fertiliser (111) would be ideal for a regular feeding programme. Vitafeed 111 is an equally balanced fertiliser, which offers all three major nutrients as well as the essential trace elements. Vitafeed 111 promotes strong, healthy growth for bedding plants and flowering crops. Many established plants in the borders also require attention: staking, tying in and sometimes pruning; while in the kitchen garden vegetable sowing is usually at its peak.
The lawn now requires regular mowing, often twice a week if the grass is growing really strongly, and April is also a very busy time if you concentrate on growing any of the specialist plants such as chrysanthemums, dahlias, sweet peas, fuchsias or pelargoniums.Sow seeds of summer bedding, herbs, lilies, trees, shrubs and many vegetables this month. Some seeds may be sown directly into open ground but many benefit from being started off under glass.
Jobs that won't wait- Prick out and pot up young seedlings and cuttings before they become overcrowded.
- Start hardening off bedding plants but put plants under cover if frost threatens.
- Control pests and diseases especially slugs and snails. To protect your plants against Slugs and Snails. Vitax Slug Off is a 100% natural, non-toxic granule barrier that stops slugs and snails gaining access to plants by absorbing their mucus, preventing further movement.
- Ventilate cold frames and greenhouses whenever possible. This encourages sturdy plant growth. Remove winter insulation from greenhouse and put on shading.
- Place supports in position around perennials that require staking. If the supports are put in position early, the plants will grow through them and hide them.
- Stop chrysanthemums as close as possible to the ideal date for the type you are growing.
- Plant hanging baskets and keep them in a greenhouse or frost-free conservatory or porch. Instead of using traditional moss for the lining of hanging baskets and planters. Vitax offer a multipurpose Woolmoss to line Tubs and Hanging baskets. Vitax Multipurpose Woolmoss is made from 100% wool, it is clean and easily cut. This material will retain its attractive green colour through the life of display, then will naturally biodegrade. To help retain moisture in hanging baskets, apply Stay Wet water absorbent granules. This helps ensure minimum water loss during watering and re-watering, making it ideal for use in hanging baskets, planters and tubs. To promote excellent foliage and larger, brighter blooms, apply Vitax Liquid Feed for Tubs & Hanging Baskets. Liquid Feed for Tubs and Hanging Baskets is specially formulated with trace elements and wetting agents to improve penetration into composts.
- Apply a general slow-release fertiliser to containers; applied as a surface dressing in spring it should last plants in containers the whole growing season. An ideal fertiliser would be Vitax Organic Fertiliser for Terracotta Pots Hanging Baskets and Planters as annual top dressing. Vitax Organic Fertiliser for Terracotta Pots give a sustained release of the three major plant foods and trace elements.
- Start removing side shoots and pinching out tendrils if growing sweet peas on the cordon system.
- Feed shrubs, trees, new hedges and fruit bushes as necessary. Trees and shrubs will benefit from regular top dressings with Vitax Conifer and Shrub or Organic Tree and Shrub Fertiliser throughout their life. Apply an application of Conifer and Shrub or Organic Tree and Shrub fertiliser in spring and repeat the application in late June or early July.
- Hard prune shrubs, such as buddleia, that produce there best show on vigorous new wood. Prune spring-flowering shrubs that are over three years old once they have finished flowering.
- Protect brassicas, such as cabbages and cauliflowers, with brassica collars against cabbage root fly, and erect plastic screens in the vegetable garden to deter carrot root fly.
- Earth up early potatoes to protect them from light and frost.
- Begin mowing the lawn regularly. Frequent mowing encourages dense growth. To give your lawn a rich green and healthy appearance, apply Green Up Liquid Lawn Feed or alternatively, if lawn weeds are present. Apply Green Up Lawn Feed and Weed when growing conditions are good. For problem weeds like speedwell or yellow sucking clover use a specialist product like Vitax Lawnclear.
- Feed fish when they become active again after the winter.
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