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GARDEN CALENDAR

April

Lawns:

• New lawns can be planted from seed or turf laid.
• Continue to mow as required. The blades may be lowered to a medium height if preferred.
• Apply a lawn seed or lawn feed, weed and moss killer.

Planting:

• Plant new trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and rock plants.

Flowers:

• Train Clematis, tying in the shoots to spread the growing shoots over the wall or fence for a better display of flowers. Beware as new shoots are easy to break.
• Dead head bulbs but do not cut down the foliage as the bulbs need this to produce food for the bulb beneath the soil so that it flowers well next year.  It is a good idea to feed the bulbs now.
• Sow annual seeds in the open soil. Do not sow too thickly and water as required.
• Early April is a good time to divide perennials that have become woody or died back at the centre. These can be split and replanted thus increasing your stock.  Dig over the area and fertilise before replanting. Water in well and mulch.
• Continue to sow summer bedding in the greenhouse and prick out sowings made in March.
• Sow Tomatoes in pots in the greenhouse or on a warm window sill.
• Plant Dahlia tubers and Gladioli.
• Grow Basil from seed in a warm greenhouse or on a window sill.
  

Vegetable Patch:

• Plant second early Potatoes at the beginning of April and main crop varieties at the end of the month.
• Continue to plant out onion sets, leaving enough space for hoeing out weeds.
• Sow Leeks, Broad Beans, Beetroot, Lettuce, Parsnips, Peas, Mange Tout and Spinach outdoors under cloches.
  

Fruit Garden:

• Apply a general plant food around fruit bushes, trees and Strawberry plants.
• If frost is forecast use horticultural fleece to protect the blossom of flowering fruit trees.