Gardening Tasks for April

There’s an old saying that ‘Cleanliness is close to Godliness’ and the same applies to the garden. Wash and clean all growing containers, clean water butts, greenhouses, watering cans etc. Pick up twigs, dead leaves and other debris and of course endeavour to keep your garden weed-free! You will be surprised how you reduce the incidence of pests and diseases!

Brighten up your garden by planting some polyanthus or primroses in flower. They are relatively cheap to buy and very colourful.

Should you be using a broad-leaved weed killer on lawns, remember not to compost grass cuttings as chemical residues may be retained in subsequent compost.

Forgotten to sow your sweet peas? Don’t worry, you can sow them direct where you want them to flower, or buy young plant ‘plugs’ in your local garden centre.

Plan your different summer salad items by checking sowing/maturity dates on packets and sowing accordingly. Remember ‘cut and come again’ leaf salads are a great standby as they will produce harvestable crops in just 3-4 weeks!

Sunflowers can be sown direct outside in April or May. We tend to think about growing the tallest, but remember there are so many others to choose from, like those with single or double flowers, dwarf types for pots or varieties bred for cut flowers. You can even grow types for feeding seed-eating birds in the early autumn.

Finally, on the subject of garden birds, we might feel that there is now nourishment in our gardens, but our feathered friends are in the process of producing this year’s youngsters, so please keep up the feeding to support them. Happy April gardening!