Your monthly checklist for April gardening tips. Our expert knowledge and advice will help your garden flourish this month.
April Gardening Tips
Fruit & Vegetables
Continue to sow.
- Sow outdoor tomato, chilli, and courgette varieties in pots to transplant in May or June.
- Sow small batches of rocket and other easy salad leaves for a quick and fresh harvest.
- Sow companion plants such as pot marigolds and borage in the veg plot for pest control and pollination.
- Sow herbs like parsley, coriander, dill and chamomile in a sunny bed or container for fresh flavours in your cooking.
- Sow fast-growing crops like radishes to maximize your garden’s productivity.
- Sow a variety of vegetables including broad beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, beetroot, radish, spring onion, lettuce, rocket, turnip, spinach, parsnips, carrot, and onion.
Keep planting Fruit & Veg.
- Plant second-early and maincrop potatoes for a bountiful harvest.
- Plant strawberry plants in soil enriched with well-rotted manure for a sweet harvest.
- Continue planting garlic, shallots and onions every few weeks to extend your harvest season.
- Keep planting bare-root asparagus crowns and Jerusalem artichoke tubers for an abundant crop.
- Divide hardy herbs like lemon balm and chives to replant in pots, borders or a herb bed.
Protect your Fruit & Vegetables.
- Use cardboard collars to deter cabbage root fly from laying eggs on brassica stems. Click here to learn how to make a cardboard collar.
- Pinch out broad bean tips covered in aphids or use a soap-based solution to control them.
- Protect emerging seedlings from slugs and snails and learn how to deter them for a healthy garden.
- Take care of your vegetables by watering and hoeing regularly, thinning out and transplanting seedlings, and providing support to peas and beans sown earlier. Use our NEW 3-in-1 Nozzle for easy watering results.
- Feed blackcurrants, blackberries, and hybrid berries to promote healthy growth and abundant fruit.
April Gardening Tips
Flowers
Sowing and planting.
- Sow sweet peas at the base of supports, and transplant those sown in autumn into their final positions.
- Sow sunflowers in a sunny, open site, and take measures to protect seedlings from snails and slugs.
- Plant hardy annuals sown indoors during autumn outside, and continue sowing hardy annuals outside.
- Continue planting and dividing summer flowering perennials.
- Grow exotic-looking summer flowers by planting pineapple lily (eucomis) bulbs in pots.
- Fill gaps in your borders with hardy annuals, wildflowers, and love-in-a-mist seeds for an attractive garden.
- For an instant splash of colour, plant polyanthus and primulas in pots and in the front of borders.
Protect and control.
- Protect delicate plants like lupins, delphiniums, and hostas from snails and slugs by taking measures to deter them.
- Control common rose diseases, such as rust, black spot, and mildew, by spraying the new leaves with a fungicide.
- Check roses for aphids regularly, and remove them before they can develop into a major infestation.
- Remove horticultural fleece from borderline-hardy plants.
Encourage new growth.
- Keep your spring bulbs and bedding plants looking their best by deadheading regularly.
- Regenerate mature clumps of perennials by dividing and replanting them, like daylilies, asters, and hostas.
- Encourage new growth in your hydrangeas by pruning them, cutting back the old stems to a healthy shoot lower down.
- Enhance your garden pond’s beauty by adding aquatic plants, such as waterlilies and irises. Browse through our aquatics range.
- Leave the foliage of your spring bulbs for six weeks after flowering before cutting them down.
April Gardening Tips
Greenhouse
What to grow.
- Sow sweet peas in deep pots and keep them warm in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill until after the last frost.
- Plant summer bedding in hanging baskets and pots, but keep them indoors until after the last frost.
- Grow herbs such as basil, chives, parsley, fennel, and coriander in pots or trays.
- Grow nutrient-rich microgreens, such as kale and mustard, in a few weeks by sowing quick-growing seeds.
- Sow runner beans, French beans, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, and sweetcorn in pots.
Greenhouse maintenance.
- Clean your greenhouse’s glazing to maximize sunlight exposure.
- Maintain good plant hygiene by removing faded blooms and dead leaves to prevent fungal diseases.
- Improve air circulation in your greenhouse by opening doors and vents on warm days or installing automatic vent openers.
- Install guttering and a water butt to collect rainwater for watering plants in your greenhouse. View our range of Garden Pumps to make use of the collected rainwater.
Greenhouse tips.
- When seedlings produce their first true leaves, transfer them to individual pots or trays.
- Transplant greenhouse tomatoes into growing bags or large containers and tie their stems to supports.
- Thin out peaches and nectarines’ heavy fruit sets, leaving fruits about 10cm apart.
- Pinch out the shoot tips of fuchsias to encourage bushier plants.
April Gardening Tips
Garden Maintenance
General maintenance
- Keep pond water clear all summer by putting a bag of barley straw in it to discourage algae growth.
- Clean filters before putting pumps and fountains back into ponds.
- Remove old fern fronds to make way for new growth and keep your garden looking tidy.
- Keep weeds under control by regularly hoeing between rows of veg seedlings.
- Eliminate problem weeds like nettles and brambles to keep your garden looking its best.
- Keep aphids under control by wiping them off shoot tips and young leaves before they multiply.
- Keep borders clean and weed-free by doing a spring clean and regular maintenance.
Planting and lawn tips.
- Add new aquatic plants to ponds and divide established plants that have outgrown their baskets.
- Boost grass growth by removing moss and weeds from turf and using a nitrogen-rich lawn feed.
- Create a new lawn or repair damaged patches by laying turf or sowing grass seed.
- Protect young plants from late frosts by keeping cloches or large sheets of fleece handy.
- Cut away unwanted suckers growing around the base of trees and shrubs to prevent them from draining vital nutrients.
Tips in the garden.
- Ensure water butts are ready for April showers by checking that guttering on sheds and greenhouses is clear of debris.
- Continue to feed birds to help them raise their broods.
- Use a general-purpose fertilizer to feed roses, borders, hedges, trees, shrubs, and spring bulbs.
- Improve soil quality and moisture retention by mulching borders with compost from the compost bin. Use our NEW EasyMix 2-in-1 Composter for optimum, hassle-free results.
We hope you enjoyed reading about the top gardening jobs in April. If you’d like to get involved, drop us a comment below with your plans for this month!
