Your Garden In April
By Colin Dale, Notcutts Garden Centres
If you have a heated green house you will be able to get ahead this month by visiting your local garden centre to choose from the wide range of baby bedding plants available. These plants are ideal to go straight into baskets and wall containers, grown on in the greenhouse until risk of frost has passed. Do not over water the plants and remember to open the vents in the green house as often as possible to allow maximum air flow. April is also an ideal time to plant up grow bags with tomatoes and cucumbers to be grown inside.
The vegetable garden is a busy place through spring and early summer! A visit to your local garden centre will inspire you with ideas to raise your own food crops from seed. Choose from everyday vegetables and some of the newer, unusual ones as well. Remember to sow little and often for quick maturing crops such as salads and soft herbs.
If you only have a small garden, there are many varieties which are suitable for growing in containers as well as the ground. Watering the base of seed drills before sowing often results in faster germination and ensures that the seeds do not dry out as they begin to shoot.
Lawns will benefit from attention now and a visit to your local garden centre will enable you to purchase a lawn weed and feed that can be applied this month. Rake out the dead grass and moss which has accumulated over the winter, and apply the feed when rain is forecast to green up your lawn for the summer!
Tulips and late Daffodils will still be flowering now. Dead head all of your bulbs as the flowers fade and wait six weeks before cutting off the old leaves from Daffodils, so that they can build up a good bulb for next year. Tulips can be lifted and heeled in to die back on a spare piece of ground if they are in the way.
Congested perennials can be lifted now and divided. Discard old woody growth and replant some of the young pieces to rejuvenate the plants. Apply a general fertilizer around the new crowns and water in well.
Remember to prune spring flowering shrubs, such as Forsythia and Ribes, when they finish flowering, by removing some of the old, flowered growth to the ground. Reward the plants with a feed of general fertilizer and mulch around the crowns to improve the soil.
Most gardens will have room for some Sweet Peas and who can resist them - just a few stems will scent a room. Grow them on a support in a sunny border, on a sunny fence or in a large container. Sow the seeds now, where they are to flower and give them a support to twine onto. Don't let the plants go short of water and remember to pick the blooms each day to stop the plants running to seed.
Top Ten Tips for April
1. Visit your local garden centre to choose from the range of summer bedding plants which are available now. Half hardy perennials have amazing flower power through summer and autumn - ideal for your containers and baskets! Plant now and protect from frosts.
2. If you own a heated green house, tomato plants can be purchased and grown in large pots, gro bags or the soil. Acclimatise the plants by leaving them in their pots in their new environment for a week before planting them out. Why not plant some herbs at the same time?
3. It is still not too late to plant potatoes and onion sets in the garden. Tread onion beds down well, to compact the soil before planting, and remember to revisit the rows each day until the sets are rooted, to replant any that the birds have pulled out!
4. Visit your local garden centre and choose from the wide variety of vegetable seeds available. Sow salad crops, summer brassicas, leeks, peas and beans now.
5. Don't worry if you didn't have time or space to plant spring flowering bulbs last autumn. Your local garden centre will have a variety of these for sale in pots now. These can be stood in gaps in your borders and planted out after flowering, to give years of early colour.
6. Lawns will benefit from attention now, with a vigorous raking to remove dead grass and moss, which has accumulated through the winter. Increase the cutting times as the grass grows away and apply a weed and feed next month.
7. Summer flowering perennials can be divided now and the fresh, outer growth replanted after discarding any old woody material. This will rejuvenate the plant and increase flower production. Complete the job by giving the plants a feed with a general fertilizer and watering in well.
8. Fast growing, summer flowering shrubs, such as Buddleja, that flower on the current year's growth can be pruned back hard now if space is at a premium. They will quickly grow away and provide plenty of scented flowers for the butterflies to enjoy!
9. Sweet Peas are one of the easiest annual climbers to grow and reward for months with their super scented flowers that can be picked for the house. Sow the seeds now, where they are to flower and protect from mice by placing prickly trimmings along the rows.
10. Your local garden centre will be full of nursery fresh stock and spring is an ideal time to plant new borders, to give you many years of colour and enjoyment. Mix shrubs and herbaceous perennials to get maximum year round interest.