APRIL UK
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- Gardening: Crocus Herbs, fruit, vegetables, plants and trees Suttons Thompson & Morgan
- DIY Bargains: Wickes, Big Bathroom Shop, Ergonomic Design
- Garden Buildings: Sheds, Greenhouses
- Garden Furniture: Jarder
- Stores: Coopers, PRC Direct, BargainFox
- PC'S & Appliances: CurrysPCWorld, Downtown Stores, PRC Direct
- Books: Home and Garden Bookshop, Gardening
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Buy and plant out seeds and plants from:
Dobies
Suttons
Keen Gardener
See all plants, tools and accessories at Home amd Garden Shop
Buy and prepare raised beds for growing vegetables and flowers from Suttons.
Continue to plant vegetables directly into the ground and under glass for a succession of crops.
Prune tender climbers and wall shrubs before leaves open fully.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs over three years old as they finish flowering.
Cut back hardy fuchsias to just above soil level as strong new basal growth appears.
Sow seeds of tender bedding plants in a heated propagator or in trays on a warm windowsill.
Plant perennial herbs such as marjoram, mint, rosemary and sage.
Lift and divide congested clumps of perennials.
Plant out bulbs grown for indoor use which have finished flowering.
Mow the lawn weekly or more often if necessary; frequent mowing encourages dense growth.
Remove winter protection from containers when the risk of hard frost has gone, and top-dress or replant overgrown or pot-bound plants adding a slow-release fertiliser.
Apply a spring fertiliser to established lawns once they are actively growing and cut grass when it is about 8 cm (3 in) high.
Sow seeds of tomatoes in a heated propagator or on a warm windowsill to grow on outdoors when all danger of frost is over.
Mulch beds and borders while the soil is moist to reduce the need for watering and to keep down weeds.
Sow green manures - phacelia, buckwheat, red clover, lupins, mustard, winter tares and trefoil.
- Sow seeds:-
- peas and runner beans
- tomatoes
- sweetcorn, marrows, squashes and cucumbers.
- bedding plants such as African marigolds, petunias, lobelia and antirrhinums.
- begonias and pelargoniums.
- quick-growing perennials.
- Remove the insulation from the greenhouse.
- Ventilate Buycold frames and the greenhouse whenever possible to encourage sturdy plant growth.
- Sow hardy annuals in a Cold Frame or unheated greenhouse.
- Make sure pots and seed trays with plants and seedlings in the greenhouse do not dry out.
- Sow broad beans, french beans, beetroot, leafbeet, broccoli, leeks, sea kale, peas, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, parsley, carrots, turnips, parsnips, radishes and spring onions.
- Fit collars around the stems of young cabbages, cauliflowers and Brussel sprouts to deter cabbage root fly.
- Earth up early potatoes.
- Plant asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, onion sets and garlic.
- Finish pruning and planting fruit bushes such as autumn-fruiting raspberries.
- Graft apples and pears.
- Continue greasebands until end of the month.
- Cover ground under pear trees with carpet mulch to prevent pear midges.
- If frosty, protect blossom with sacks or fleece.
- Inspect raspberry canes for signs of raspberry moth and other pests and diseases.
- Prune plum trees once they have started growing.
- Start to sow hardy annuals directly into their flowering position.
- Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as acidanthera and tigridia.
- Apply rose fertiliser, gently hoeing it in around the plants.
- Grow begonias from tubers
- Grow and propagate dahlias from cuttings
- Create a spring arrangement
- Prune roses removing decaying old and thin, spindly wood.
- Take chrysanthemum cuttings.
- Remove shoots that have no live buds from summer-flowering clematis and cut back late-flowering clematis hard.
- Deadhead daffodils as they fade.
- Sow sweet peas directly into their flowering position.
- Ensure the surface of ponds are kept clean by removing floating weeds and any slime algae.
- Clean out the pond if necessary.
- If present scoop out and collect mats of tiny-leaved duck weed and twirl hair-like blanket weed from the surface with a stick or garden cane.
- Put them in a heap on the edge of the pond overnight so any aquatic creatures can crawl back into the water. The next day add the heap to the compost heap.
- Put new aquatic plants in the pond either in the soil at the bottom or using special aquatic baskets.
- Oxygenate the pond with plants like Mash marigolds Palustris.
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(c) Compiled by B V & T M Wood.
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