gardenhive.com

 
 

APRIL UK

SPECIAL OFFERS

General

  • 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.

    Greenhouse

    • 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.

    Vegetables

    • 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.

    Fruit

    • 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.

    Flowers

    • 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.

    Ponds

    • 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.
       

  • Spring Books
    Spring Plants on eBay

    To add an entry, request an existing one to be altered, or report a dead link, please click here.

    Return to Top

    Home Page

    (c) Compiled by B V & T M Wood.

     

     Main Index
     Comments