April.
Most of the hardy annuals may still be sown this month. Those sown in March will be coming up, and you must remember what we told you about the importance of thinning out. In some gardens nearly all annuals are raised in boxes, and pricked out in the borders where they are to bloom. We tell you this because you may belong to a garden where you can get all the annuals you need given this month in the shape of little ready-made seedlings. You must plant them several inches apart on a showery day, and shade them from the sun at first; a tent made of four sticks and a newspaper will serve when there is no wind. As soon as they have taken root, and look well established, it is a good plan to pinch off their tips with your thumb and finger, because then they will make spreading side shoots, and give you more flowers. You can pinch most of your annual and herbaceous plants in this way when they are young, but you must not do it to any plant growing from a bulb or a corm, such as a Lily or a Gladiolus. Some tuberous plants, such as Dahlias, may be pinched with advantage.
Roses are pruned in March or April, but the different varieties need different treatment. You must get some good advice about your special kinds, or be content to cut away the dead-looking wood. The green fly begins this month, and you should keep your Roses free from it, either with an aphis brush or by spraying with quassia chips and water as recommended on p. 126.
Weed hard this month, as you do not want any weeds to seed themselves, and they will do so if you neglect them.
May.
The leaves of your early-flowering bulbs will now begin to look shabby, but you must put up with that if you do not mean to throw away your bulbs or to lift them carefully to the wild garden. Daffodil leaves may be tied up with string or raffia if they are sprawling over seedlings, or over plants you want seen. Weeds grow fast this month, and should be diligently removed. Gardeners weed with a Dutch hoe, but it is an implement that does more harm than good if unskilfully used. You will find when you first try to use one how easy it is to damage the young shoots of your treasures with a hoe, and that in a crowded corner it is far safer to weed with a knife or a small hand-fork.
The middle or the end of May is an exciting time in gardens, because we then bring out our half-hardy plants. Dahlias, delicate annuals, and bedders are all put into the borders when the early May frosts are over. If possible, this should be done in showery weather. Two or three dull, damp, warm days save a gardener a deal of trouble in shading and watering at this time of year. In case the weather is fine and dry, however, remember that a great deal can be done by planting each plant in a little puddle of water and shading it with a flower-pot or a box, or any little tent you can invent. When the nights are warm these coverings can be removed at sunset and replaced in the early morning. You will have to judge in each case how many days of such care a plant requires. When its roots are well established, it will look after itself by day as well as by night.
You know, of course, that plants must never be watered when the sun is on them. Nevertheless, if ever you see a plant flagging badly in the sun, and plainly dying for a drink, you may give it one carefully at its roots. Do not let the water touch its leaves, and, if possible, shade it for the rest of the day.