My April Garden

Lisa Hunter • April 7, 2021

April’s here and spring has sprung at last! As the weather warms up and early flowers start to bloom, all of a sudden there’s a load of jobs to do outside.

This month, there’s plenty to sow and grow in your garden and greenhouse. But there’s lots more to do besides sowing and planting out. Here are your main garden jobs this April:

Start with these four garden tasks this month:

Order annual plants like geraniums, begonias and petunias online now for summer bedding and hanging basket displays - it's your last chance!
Give your greenhouse a thorough scrub with hot soapy water. This will get rid of pests and diseases and let in more light.
Prepare beds for the growing season. Dig in a 5cm (or more) layer of compost or well-rotted manure. You can also work in a general-purpose fertiliser, such as pelleted chicken manure, or fish, blood and bone.
Check your patio plants aren't drying out. The warmer weather will quickly affect soil moisture levels - try mixing water storing granules with compost to improve water retention in containers.

Here's what to be getting on with in the flower garden this month:

Lift and divide established border perennial plants now to improve vigour and create new plants for your garden.
Pinch out the tips of fuchsia plants and sweet pea plant shoots, to encourage bushy growth this summer.
Divide primroses once they have finished flowering.
Feed trees, shrubs and hedges with a balanced, slow-release fertiliser, by lightly forking it into the soil surface. Roses, in particular, are greedy plants and will greatly benefit from feeding as they come into growth.
Finish cutting back any dead foliage on perennials and ornamental grass plants to make way for new growth.
Trim winter-flowering heathers as the flowers disappear, to prevent plants becoming leggy.
Tie in new honeysuckle and clematis stems. These plants will be putting on growth now, and you’ll need to train them along their supports.
Continue to remove faded flowers from winter pansies to stop them setting seed. This will encourage flushes of new flowers throughout the spring.
Deadhead daffodils and tulips as the flowers finish, but leave foliage intact, allowing it to die back naturally.
Apply a layer of mulch around your perennials and biennial plants, trees and shrubs before the hot weather arrives. Use organic matter such as well-rotted manure.

Get busy with these vegetable garden tasks this April:

Prepare vegetable seed beds by removing all weeds.
Dig a 5-cm layer of compost, well-rotted manure or green waste into beds.
Cover prepared soil with sheets of black plastic to keep it drier and warmer in preparation for planting.
Harvest asparagus spears when they’re no more than 18 cm tall.
Support pea and bean plants now. For quick and easy pea supports, push some twiggy sticks around your plants.
Thin carrot seedlings to achieve good-sized carrots; do this in the evening when fewer carrot flies are around.

Here's what to do in the fruit garden this month:

Protect fruit blossom from late frosts by covering them with horticultural fleece on cold nights.
Spray the emerging leaves of peach and nectarine trees to prevent peach leaf curl. Sheltering your plants from the rain will also help reduce the risk of peach leaf curl.
Mulch fruit trees with well-rotted manure or garden compost, taking care not to mound mulch up around the trunk.
Top-dress patio fruit-trees with fresh compost and a slow-release fertiliser.
Feed raspberry canes, fruit bushes and fruit trees to encourage good crops this season. Apply a slow-release fertiliser around their base.
Try hand pollinating peaches and nectarines with a soft-bristled paint brush for better crops this year.

These are your lawn-care jobs for April:

Sow lawn seed now on well-prepared soil and keep the soil moist while it germinates.
For an instant lawn, lay new turf this month, and keep it moist until it’s established.
Repair any bare patches in your lawn — try sowing lawn repair grass seed.
Apply a high-nitrogen fertiliser to your lawn, for a boost at the start of the season.
Apply specialist lawn weed killer to your lawn wherever moss and weeds are a problem.
Brush away any worm casts on dry days.
Mow your lawn more regularly, as required. Lower your mower blades towards the end of the month.

Lastly, here are some of the garden tasks you can do from the comfort of your armchair, while you’re dodging the April showers:

Keep track of what you have sown and planted in your diary — it will really help you out later in the year.
Give your houseplants some TLC — the warmer weather and longer light hours will encourage them to grow and they may require more water.
Buy vegetable plants as plugs to free up window-sill space and avoid the hassle of sowing seed.

For more advice, tips and to order your plants, vegetable seeds and shrubs, visit Moss End Garden Village today and we’d be only too happy to help.

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