April Gardening Tips 2022

Flower Garden

• Leave the foliage of spring bulbs to die down naturally and feed to build up bulbs for flowering next year.
• Plant new alpines and top up rockeries with gravel.
• Plant spring bedding and summer bulbs in pots.
• Continue to plant container grown perennials, shrubs and trees.

Kitchen Garden

• Sow broad beans, summer cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, carrots etc or plant own grown or purchased seedlings.
• Plant potatoes starting with first earlies at the beginning of the month, followed by second earlies and finally main crop at the end of the month. Earth up shoots as they appear to protect from frost.
• Look after your veg. garden. Water and hoe regularly.
• Give support to early sowings of peas and beans.
• Plant onion and shallot sets.

Greenhouse

• Ventilate the greenhouse on warm days but shut it down mid-afternoon to retain the heat at night.
• Start to harden off bedding and frost-tender veg towards the end of the month.
• Prick out seedlings and pot up rooted cuttings.
• Continue to purchase and pot up plug plants.
• Sow tomatoes or prick out tomato seedlings sown earlier.

The Lawn

• Treat moss and weeds and feed the lawn with an ‘all in one’ treatment.
• Sow grass seed for new lawns if you can’t wait until autumn or re-seed any bare patches.
• Mow lawns at least every fortnight or weekly in milder weather.
• Lay new turf.

General Advice

• Keep on top of hoeing and weeding in the garden and borders.
• Feed borders, hedges, trees, shrubs and spring bulbs with a general fertiliser.
• Feed roses with a specialist rose feed.
• Watch out for slugs and snails.
• Spring clean the pond, clean filters and pumps and feed fish if weather is warm enough.