Here’s What You Can Prepare in Your Garden This April 2019
Need ideas for the garden? Here’s what you can start planting and prepping in April:
- Spring is finally visible as daffodils and flowering trees start to bloom. It’s an exciting month for gardening, with indoor-sown seeds well into growth, and it’s also time to start sowing outdoors. But still watch out for frosts.
- Refresh overcrowded perennials by digging up clumps, splitting into smaller sections and replanting. When pruning perennials some plants benefit from having their flowering shoots thinned out. Although this results in fewer blooms, they are larger and of better quality.
- Get weeding, routing out invaders so they don’t settle and spread. Be vigilant now and you’ll save hours later.
- It is now time to remove tired winter bedding and plants that did not survive the winter. Check that self-seeded forget-me-nots aren’t smothering other border plants. Pull out plants if necessary. Hoe borders to prevent weeds from spreading and seeding themselves.
- Give precious plants support so you don’t have to prop them later: place support frames over clumps so the plants grow through, camouflaging them come summer.
- Towards the end of the month, in mild areas, you may be able to plant up hanging baskets for the summer. When planting hanging baskets use slow-release fertiliser and water-retaining gel.
- Be vigilant, Aphids can multiply rapidly during mild spells. Remove early infestations by hand to prevent the problem getting out of hand. Protect sweet pea plants in particular, as they can get sweet pea viruses.
- Protect young shoots from slugs and snails with copper rings or organic slug pellets.
- Remove faded daffodil and tulip flowers, nipping off the heads and seed pod at the same time. Deadhead pansies, primulas and other spring bedding plants. Pansies will carry on into the spring and even to early summer, if attended to frequently.
- Sow hardy annuals in spare patches of ground. The-can’t-fail-collection: love-in-a-mist, Californian poppy, larkspur, clary sage and dill.
