Gardening Calendar - April

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

 

Spring is well and truly here and April must be one of the most enjoyable and also one of the busiest in the gardening calendar.  The warmer days are wonderful but don’t be fooled in to planting bedding plants out, as the nights can still be very cold. So make sure you simply enjoy all the great Spring flowers, hopefully you will have taken our advice and planted lots of bulbs last Autumn and April is the month to really enjoy them especially Tulip and Daffodils. Whilst the early daffodils such as Tete-a-Tete or February Gold will have finished flowering if you planned your selection of varieties sensibly there will still be lots to enjoy throughout the month, with Tulips following on.

 

•   TREES & SHRUBS

•         Feed trees and shrubs with a general fertilizer such as growmore, sprinkle on and lightly fork in

• Tie in new growths on climbing plants such as Roses and Clematis

• Prune Forsythias immediately after flowering

• VEGETABLE GARDEN

• Work compost in to the vegetable plot to improve the soil (but not where you are growing root crops)

• Plant out chitted potatoes, and although it sounds strange the trick is to plant early potatoes late and late potatoes early, as the late varieties need a longer growing season

• If you’ve grown Asparagus start harvesting this month when the spears are 6” (15cm tall

• Twiggy sticks can be pushed in around pea plants

• Thin out early sown carrot crops if you want larger carrots, but don’t forget to thin in the evenings and dispose the thinning’s to avoid carrot root fly infestations

• April is a very busy month for seed sowing both outdoors and indoors. Outdoors sow Beetroot, Parsnips, Cabbage, and Radish. Indoors under glass Tomatoes, Sweet corn, Peppers, and later in the month Dwarf and Runner beans.

• FRUIT GARDEN

•   It’s your last chance to plant strawberry plants to crop this year

•   Protect fruit blossom with fleece to avoid frost damage

• Feed top and soft fruit with a general fertilizer such as Growmore and mulch to keep in moisture

• LAWN

• One of the busiest times to ensure you have a fine lawn for the whole Summer

• Apply a Spring weed and feed

•   Mow regularly setting the blades high to start and gradually lowering as the month progresses, but leave higher in dry conditions

• Repair bare patches with new seed mixed with compost or sand/soil mix

• Sow new lawns or for instant lawns lay turf

• GENERAL GARDENING

• Mulch perennials with garden compost

• Divide Hostas

• Propagate a wide range of herbaceous perennials by taking basal cuttings from strong shoots arising from the outside of the clump

•   Divide primrose immediately after flowering

• Forced bulbs grown in pots can be planted in the garden

• Grasse can be cut back if not already done so

• Deadhead tulips and daffodils to prolong flowering but you must leave the foliage of bulbs intact to build up the bulbs for next year

• Plants grown in containers will benefit from topdressing with new compost and a general fertilizer

• Finally invest in a water but, you’ll be amazed how quickly they fill up even with small amounts of rain

 

Forshaw Heath Rd, Earlswood, Solihull, West Midlands, B94 5JU
sales@earlswoodplants.co.uk