April is when the garden really shows its potential for growth, gathering momentum as day length, light intensity and temperatures increase. In our garden, a row of ancient multi-stemmed hazels come to life, creating an edge-of-woodland setting that I feel is perfect for celebrating spring.
- Here are the best April flowers for your garden
Underplanted with white bells of Leucojum aestivum and cascading flowers of Ribes sanguineum White Icicle (= ‘Ubric’), a mixed carpet of blue and white Anemone blanda is peppered with charming Fritillaria meleagris. Brunnera macrophylla and its white-flowering sister Brunnera macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring’ complement the planting, while the zesty blooms of Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae and Papaver cambricum add spring vibrancy.
While refreshing, this month can be busy for the gardener, and I concentrate on completing any last-minute jobs from late winter, such as vegetable-bed preparation. If not already finished, then you should be staking and mulching now, before border plants expand too much, making these tasks more time-consuming. I like to use natural materials to offer plants support – jute string, coppiced hazel bean poles and pea sticks work well when staked, tied and woven together, adding natural interest before they disappear among the growing plants.
It’s also a time to look forward, planting and sowing seeds for the growing season ahead. The combination of moist soil and warming weather make perfect conditions for planting hardy herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses, which will quickly establish. For trees and shrubs, I prefer to plant a little earlier in the year or in autumn (especially for evergreens), to ensure they have more time for root growth before the summer heat arrives.
As always, soil conditions and local weather will dictate when you can complete tasks. Waiting to avoid any damaging late frosts will prove fruitful in the long run, though leaving planting until late spring can result in having to do a lot of additional watering. It’s a balancing act, and, like your plants, conditions can rapidly change from one week to the next, making timing and observation crucial this month
For more monthly inspiration, head to our piece on gardens to visit in April and what to plant in April.
Aaron Bertelsen: One crop I always sow under glass in March is peas, but other candidates for early sowing include sorrel, lettuce, Swiss chard, perpetual spinach and my beloved beetroot. The trick is to harden the plants off as soon as you can, and get them outside. Cover with fleece if the nights are still cold. This way, by the time the soil has warmed up, you will have a whole army of plants hardened off, ready to plant out into the garden where they can burst into growth.
Gardening jobs for April
Gardening jobs in the kitchen garden
In the warmer weather, weeds start to spring up. Keep on top of them with regular hoeing. I use a Dutch hoe with a good, sharp edge. AB
Start sowing warmer weather crops, such as French and borlotti beans, pumpkins, squashes and courgettes. If you’re pushed for space, old egg cartons on a sunny windowsill will work very well. AB
If you haven’t done so already, start sowing salad crops. I like to do it in small batches every three to four weeks, so that I have a succession of crops throughout the summer. Stick to lettuce, or a seasonal salad seed mix, and avoid rocket or mustard, as these are very susceptible to flea beetle if sown too early. AB
Potatoes should go in now. Increasingly, I am growing my new potatoes in bags, rather than in the ground. It’s so much easier to earth them up, and to harvest them at the end – just up-end the bag and the potatoes will tumble out. Just remember not to overcrowd them – as a rough guide, each potato will need around ten litres of compost. AB
Keep a close eye on emerging seedlings to make sure they are not going mouldy or damping off. This is caused by sowing too thickly and over-watering, but is easily rectified by thinning out the tiny plants. AB
Fruit trees will be kicking into growth now, so give them a good feed and weed around the base. I like to use blood, fish and bone. AB
If you grow globe artichokes, this is the time to propagate them by making slips. Dig up the plant and, using a sharp knife, cut away sections from around the edge, making sure that each one includes a healthy root and shoot. The newly planted slips are unlikely to produce artichokes until the following year, so to ensure a good supply I dig up and propagate half my plants one year, and half the next. AB
At this time of year container gardening comes into its own. The beauty of growing in pots is that you can move them around to make the most of the warmth and sunlight and cover them easily – or even bring them inside – if the temperature drops. This is also the time to tidy up any perennial plants in pots. Remove any winter damage and top-dress by scraping off the top 4cm or so of soil and replacing it with high-quality, fresh compost. AB
Gardening jobs in the ornamental garden
Weed prevention As garden plants come into growth, so do weeds, and catching any undesirables now will save you time later in the year. Mulch or hoe borders and bare soil to prevent annual weeds, and hand weed perennial species. BP
Feed containers To promote healthy growth, top dress containers with fresh compost or feed with an organic option such as seaweed. Or make your own liquid feed with comfrey and nettle. BP
Prepare for summer containers Plan your summer container schemes now, ordering any seeds or plants. I often use cuttings of pelargoniums, plectranthus and salvias, although small plugs can be bought now and grown on for planting out next month. BP
Prune mophead hydrangeas To maintain shape and size, and encourage flowering, remove old flowers, lightly pruning to the first or second set of buds below. Also remove a quarter of the oldest stems at
the base to encourage new growth. BP
Grow on plants for summer Prick out and pot on seedlings into modules or larger pots, so they become strong and vigorous for planting out later in spring. Banana palms, begonias, cannas and dahlias you’ve been overwintering in a greenhouse should also be potted and lightly watered now to promote growth. BP
