Easter weekend gardening

The joyous period of Easter is upon us. Easter is always a special time for us as we reflect and renew the daily hope that Christ died, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and saved us all from sin.

The Easter holidays are also about family and spending some much-needed time around the people we love and cherish. Whether it’s going to the beach, camping, taking a trip, having indoor celebrations, the Easter holidays unite us.

For this Easter weekend, after church, why not take the opportunity to catch up on some to-do activities in the garden. The past few months have brought lots of extremely hot and dry days, and this is no better time to get your family involved in the joy of gardening.

With all hands on-deck, the first on the list will be trimming and pruning plants. It is particularly important to remove all the yellow and brown branches and leaves that would have gotten extremely dry from sun stress. Secateurs and gardening gloves will be needed.

If the plant simply looks like it is too big for its pot and the roots are growing out of the drainage holes, this is the key indicator for repotting! You will also notice water sitting on the top and not being absorbed, and the soil is dried out or looks like it is disintegrating.

You will need to choose a larger pot and fill it with potting mix. Carefully remove the plant from its old pot, prune the root ball, untangle old roots, and place the plant in its new pot. Water it generously and one week later apply a little fertiliser and you can be guaranteed that your repotted plants will look as if they are just from the garden shop.

Easter flowers are everywhere. Make it a family outing and take a road trip to your favourite garden shop.

By now, it’s no secret that annuals produce exceptionally beautiful flowers and will add life to your garden immediately. You can plant your annuals in pots, hanging baskets and garden beds to adorn your desired area. They also attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Some popular annuals are  marigold (Tagetes erecta), angelonia (Angelonia), vinca (Catharanthus roseus), begonia (Begonia), coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides), gazania (Gazania), impatiens (Impatiens), pentas (Pentas lanceolata) and my favourite, petunia (Petunia).

A must do this Easter weekend is to spruce up your vegetable garden. For those who haven’t started, container gardening is simply growing plants in any container. It is ideal for those with no or little garden space.

Obtain a suitable container, create holes below for drainage, fill with a rich soil mix and plant your desired crop. The taller the plant grows, the bigger the container it will require.

An assortment of vegetable seedlings can be found at your garden shops and the more herbs and vegetables that you can grow in your backyard will be of high benefit as we soon will enter the rainy season with skyrocketing market prices. Saving on your market bill starts by planting at home.

I would like to wish you all a happy Easter and I pray for good health, prosperity, and peace for you and your loved ones.

Send questions to rayannaboodram@hotmail.com