As April unfolds, the vibrant energy of spring truly awakens. Picture this: a tapestry of spring bulbs bursting into bloom, the delicate unfurling of leaves on trees, and a symphony of birdsong filling the air. The garden, too, stirs with renewed life, presenting a wealth of opportunities for eager hands preparing for the season ahead. To guide you through this exciting time, we've compiled our top 15 gardening tips for April.
Top 15 Gardening Tips for April
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Weed beds and mulch with compost or well-rotted farmyard manure to improve the soil structure. This helps your plants cope better with both wet and dry summer weather.
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Feed your roses and tie climbing and rambling roses back to supports.
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Once spring-flowering shrubs like Viburnum x bodnantense, forsythia and Chaenomeles (Japanese quince) have finished flowering, prune them to keep them looking tidy.
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Hard prune dogwoods like Cornus sibirica and Cornus alba so that they will produce lots of brightly coloured new stems for next winter.
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Deadhead any faded daffodils and tulips, but leave the foliage to die back naturally before cutting it off
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Water houseplants more frequently as they start to put on growth.
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Watch out for pests like aphids and slugs and tackle them early before they damage your plants.
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As the weather warms up, keep on top of weeds by regular hoeing, and dig up perennial weeds like dandelions and docks with a hand fork.
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Now's an excellent time to introduce herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses to those empty spots in your borders, adding texture and lasting beauty. If you have any perennials that have grown a little too large, you can easily lift and divide them. Just use the sharp edge of your spade to carefully cut through any tough, woody roots. This not only gives you more plants but also rejuvenates the original clumps.
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Now that there’s less risk of sudden frosts prune penstemons, cutting stems back to new growth lower down. Pinch out the growing tips of fuchsias and sweet pea seedlings to produce bushy plants with plenty of flowers.
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Want to infuse your borders with a touch of wild beauty? Consider sowing hardy annuals such as cornflowers, love-in-the-mist, and Californian poppies. Alternatively, you could even establish a charming mini-meadow in your garden by using a specially curated wildflower seed mix. Imagine the splash of color and the buzz of pollinators you'll attract!
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Sow broad beans, carrots, beetroot and parsnips outside now. You can also sow Brussels sprouts and other brassicas into seedbeds outdoors. Indoors, sow runner and French beans, squash, cucumber and courgettes in small pots.
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If you have tomato seedlings growing in the greenhouse, pot them on into larger pots as they grow. If you haven’t sown any tomatoes yet, there’s still time to do it this month.
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Plant early potatoes in the vegetable garden or in grow bags or large containers on the patio.
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Get your lawn ready for summer by giving it a spring feed and aerate it by spiking it with a garden fork or hollow tine aerator.
Get ready for a great year of gardening! Visit our garden centre in St Albans and stock up on seeds, plants, tools and all your gardening needs. Our friendly staff will be happy to help you.
