JOBS FOR
APRIL
After the dreadful March we have all had, here’s hoping for a better April! Usually the month famed for showers brings us longer days and milder, sunny weather along with flowering trees, cheerful daffodils in bloom and other parts of the garden starting to show more signs of life.
Read on for further April tips.
JOBS FOR
APRIL
After the dreadful March we have all had, here’s hoping for a better April! Usually the month famed for showers brings us longer days and milder, sunny weather along with flowering trees, cheerful daffodils in bloom and other parts of the garden starting to show more signs of life.
Read on for further April tips.
- Your hostas, lupins, delphiniums and other hardy perennials will be developing new shoots now. Protect them from slugs and snails using slug killing pellets, plant collars or surround your plants with copper rings or crushed garlic to deter them. You can also reinvigorate mature clumps of these plants by splitting them and replanting. While you are protecting your hardy perennials, protect your Brassicas too to not only deter slugs and snails but to prevent cabbage root fly from laying their eggs in the roots and stems too.
- Check for aphids on roses and rub them off before they have chance to turn into an untreatable infestation.
- This is your last chance to sow sweet peas this year so sow into deep pots or root trainers as they do not like disturbance to their roots. Add supports such as bamboo canes and after a few weeks, they’ll attach themselves to the supports.
- Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as gladioli, oriental lilies, begonia, freesia, crocosmia and iris for a splash of colours. Keep deadheading any spring bulbs and bedding plants in the meantime so they don’t set to seed.
- Sow hardy annuals, such as marigolds, nasturtiums, petunias, zinnia, asters and salvia in the greenhouse or undercover. Native wildflowers, poppies and sunflowers can be sown outside now in a sunny spot – they will look fantastic in any gaps in your borders in a few months. Water often and keep your seedlings protected from slugs and snails.
- If you haven’t planted up your beds yet, top them with a 5cm layer of compost and give the soil a boost by adding Chicken Manure Pellets or Fish Blood and Bone.
- Feed your hedges, trees and shrubs with a slow release fertiliser such as Hoof and Horn or Fish Blood and Bone.
- Re-pot patio and container plants if required and boost their growth with a feed of high-nitrogen liquid fertiliser (such as High Nitrogen Liquid Plant Food) for leafy plants and liquid tomato feed (diluted to half or quarter strength) for flowering plants (such as Magic Grow Tomato Feed). Keep them well watered but not saturated as the weather gets warmer.
- Whilst you are looking at container plants, refresh any that are looking past their bed, as well as looking at your hanging baskets. Replace with a brightly coloured range of bedding plants such as pansies, bellis, primrose, violas mixed with some trailing plants like fuchsia, lobelia or verbena. Do your hanging baskets themselves need replacing – we have a whole range for you to choose from here.
- Plant second-early and maincrop potatoes somewhere sunny. Exactly when you plant your potatoes will depend on where you live. You can also sow carrots, parsnips, beetroot, spinach and chard directly into the ground now.
- Broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts can be sown now and left to germinate indoors ready to plant outside once hardened off in a few weeks. Additionally indoors you can sow outdoor varieties of tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, squash, sweetcorn, beans and courgettes in pots indoors, so they’re ready to plant out in late May or June and do the same with rocket and other salad leaves.
- Fruit bushes, canes and fruit trees should be given a good feed this month with a balanced fertiliser like Growmore 7-7-7, or if you prefer, use a fertiliser that has a higher nitrogen content.
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