Gardening jobs to do in April for newbies and us oldies

annie123 · 26 March 2008 at 12:15AM

Even longer than last month! but hopefully we have finished with snow now and we can all get out in the garden a lot more now especially with lighter evenings.:D Here are some ideas to be getting on with.

General gardening

Finish any jobs delayed due to weather, from March’s list http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=771839&highlight=january
Check young shrubs and trees that might have been loosened in any gales in your area.
Remove faded flowers from your daffodils. Let your daffodils die back naturally. Next year will produce a better display. Give every clump of bulbs a thorough soaking with a liquid feed.
Prune Forsythia, Jasminum nudiflorum and Ribes (flowering currant) Spiraea, Buddleia, Dogwoods (Cornus), Hardy Fuchsias, Cotoneasters, Potentilla, Mahonia, japonica
Sow hardy/half-hardy annual summer bedding plants such as calendula, nasturtium, lavatera and cornflowers, They are very reliable and germinate quickly, and a good choice to keep children interested. Sow sweet peas outside where you want them to flower.
Bedding plants which have been raised early should now be hardened by moving them outside on mild days. To get bushy plants, pinch out the growing tips of fuchsias, pelargoniums, argyranthemums and sweet peas.
Remember to start adding fertilizer regularly all this month.
Soil should be forked over between shrubs. Add mulch around shrubs to help conserve moisture in the soil and keep down annual weeds.To determine whether your garden soil is ready for seeds, grab a good handful of it. If you can form it into a ball, the soil is too wet. If it crumbles through your fingers and reminds you of chocolate cake, it's ready for planting.
Dig out weeds before they get out of control then you will only need to hoe occasionally throughout the season. Glass of wine in one hand and hoe in the other..bliss! To suppress weeds add mulch to your borders or better still plant lots of ground cover plants.
Many summer-flowering bulbs can be planted. Start to plant groups of gladioli at intervals
Get mowing…keep the blade high. Get a lawn rake to scarify the lawn, raking out moss and debris. Afterword's, fork over the whole area to improve surface drainage. Apply fertilizer. Re turf or sow seed on bald patches…only if ground not wet and cold
Watch out for slugs and snails. Trap them under tiles or grapefruit skins and dispose of them daily. Sprinkling a layer of sand, grit or crushed eggshells around plants may help.http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=779889&highlight=snails

Kitchen garden

Cold, wet soil can prove fatal to early sowings made outside. Covering prepared beds with cloches you will warm up the soil, protect it from hard frost and keep the rain off.
Crops to sow outside or under cloches in include mange tout, broad beans, beetroot, lettuce, parsnips, onions, peas, spinach, radish, turnips brussels sprouts, summer cauliflower and cabbage. Plant potatoes, second earlies in early April, and main crop varieties to wards the end of April. Plant out individual cloves of garlic, placing them about 5cm (2in) deep. Raise sweet corn plants in pots for planting outside in early summer.
Last chance to sow chili peppers. Also aubergines, melons and indoor cucumbers need sowing now.
Pot on tomatoes when they have at least one set of true leaves, do not put them outside yet its too chilly for them. Or at least wait till the end of the month!
Sow basil, parsley, chives, lemon balm, marjoram, sorrel, coriander and dill in the greenhouse or on the windowsill.still time to sow toms.

Pond

Clean pump, divide plants into new baskets with aquatic compost and topping with a layer of gravel to prevent fish stirring up the compost. Divide and replant water lillies once they show signs of growth. Start feeding the fish, little and often is best.
If you want to make an existing formal pond more wildlife-friendly, you could phase out the fish, add ‘steps’ to counteract steep sides (so that birds, mammals and amphibians can enter and exit more easily), plant marginals (provide hiding and breeding places), and marsh marigold water mint and yellow flag.

Wildlife gardening

Top up bird feeders and put out food on the ground and bird table. Avoid chunky foods that could choke young fledglings & make your own fat balls, Keep the bird bath topped up. Regularly clean the bird bath and table
Put up a bat nesting box
Plant annuals and perennials to attract insects
Put out log, twig and/or rock piles to create shelter for wildlife
Sow a wildflower meadow, hang a bee nesting box.
Butterflies emerge as temperatures rise and sunshine increases - Honesty is a good plant for attracting butterflies at this time of year. Gardens with some nooks and crannies, and a few areas where debris is allowed to accumulate are often more insect-friendly than those composed entirely of paving, pots, lawn and bedding displays.
Remember that insects are gardeners’ friends as well as foes! They are natural pest controllers, and will keep each other’s populations down to manageable levels once your garden has got back into a natural balance.

If anyone has other tips for the month please add them here. Particularly fruit, I have limited experience which I must improve on.
Or let us know what you are doing to give more ideas.

Remember to take into account where you live/weather for timings. Long range weather forecast is not great for April, looking quite soggy for most of us.
But I'm sure that wont stop you

Happy gardening everyone

annie123 · 26 March 2008 at 10:13AM

Sorry it was posted early, but I am changing isp and will not have any internet at home from later today 'tll Monday.

[Deleted User] · 26 March 2008 at 1:47PM

Thanks Annie!

Dig out weeds before they get out of control then you will only need to hoe occasionally throughout the season. Glass of wine in one hand and hoe in the other..bliss!

Love it! :rotfl:

Jack's_mummy · 26 March 2008 at 9:23PM

Thanks Annie - still hanging on here for weather to let me do most of last months and now this months too! Where has all this coldness come from!

~Chameleon~ · 26 March 2008 at 9:33PM

Arghhhh!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: Not even started on March's jobs yet!!!!!!

arkonite_babe · 27 March 2008 at 4:04PM

Thanks annie

I have added this one to the garden year post (it's in the useful links sticky) so it can be found easily for future reference

PS the link in your first post will expire so I have linked to the thread above

~Chameleon~ · 28 March 2008 at 5:12PM

Despite it raining non-stop all day I've managed to be a little productive and dragged all my potting stuff into the kitchen to start sowing seeds

So far I've managed to do:
6 x tomato - Roma
6 x tomato - Black Russian
6 x tomato - Gardeners Delight
6 x tomato - Moneymaker
6 x tomato - Sungold
5 x courgette - Jemmer F1
5 x cucumber - Marketmore
10 x aubergine - Black Beauty
6 x peppers - Canape
8 x French bean - Blue Lake (climbing)
7 x French bean - The Prince (bushy)
6 x sugarsnap peas - Oregon
2 pots basil (green)
2 pots basil (purple)
2 pots coriander
1 pot sage
mixed salad leaves
little gem lettuce

Still to do:
carrots - Rainbow
carrots - Purple Dragon
purple sprouting brocolli
beet spinach
spinach - spinnaker
leeks
beetroot
spring onions - white lisbon
rocket
lollo rosso lettuce
lambs lettuce
mixed salad leaves

But a lot of these need to go straight into the ground so fingers crossed I can get in the garden this weekend to prep the beds and get them sown next week

Jack's_mummy · 28 March 2008 at 6:53PM

wow you have been busy - well done!

Curv · 28 March 2008 at 7:47PM

Glass of wine in one hand and hoe in the other..bliss!

My husband could have posted that. But he spells 'hoe' differently...

annie123 · 1 April 2008 at 8:50PM

I must have known something, only just got Internet up and running again!:eek:
Its going to take a while for me to catch up.

Don't worry if your only just starting many jobs can be done still from last month.

Well done cameleon:T

It looks like another cold snap coming starting from this weekend...depending where you live of course....dont plant tender or indoor sown plants out just yet.

Its so nice to see the lighter evenings isn't it, just need a bit more warmth to go with it.

Happy gardening everyone:D

annie123 · 4 April 2008 at 9:17PM

what a lovely day its been and I've had the day off work:j spent a lot of it in the garden:D

Mowed the lawn, remove the leaves...very boring, from small peach tree...got leaf curl forgot to spray it, planted some summer flowering bulbs, sowed some more seeds..run out of inside space so all hardy annuals have gone straight into the garden.

Can't believe there's going to be a frost 48 hours:eek: hope its the last one....

Gardening jobs to do in April for newbies and us oldies

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