April Jobs

Ornamental Garden:

• Remove faded flowers on spring bulbs but not the foliage until it has withered.
• Keep borders weed-free.
• Continue mulching beds and borders.
• If the weather is mild, trim the weak or straggly growth of sage and rosemary.
• Penstemons – cutback last year’s stems down to the new growth – if the weather is very cold delay until the end of the month.
• Check evergreens for any frost damage – lightly prune if necessary.
• Look out for early aphid attacks and treat if necessary. Pests will be active outdoors as the weather gets warmer.
• Sweet peas can be direct sown now to produce plants that flower later than those sown under glass or overwintered plants.
• Prune early flowering shrubs such as forsythia etc.
• To ensure strong growth on roses apply a general fertiliser.
• Plant evergreen trees and shrubs/move existing evergreens if necessary.
• Trim back frost-damaged foliage.
• Plant summer flowering bulbs, corms and tubers including dahlia, gladioli and canna.
• Apply a combined lawn fertiliser to combat weeds and moss while giiving a boost of nutrients.
• Pot up hydrangea cuttings.

Vegetable Garden:

• Continue planting potatoes and finish planting onion sets by mid-April.
• Direct sow vegetables such as beetroot, carrots, lettuce, radish, turnip, peas, spinach and parsnip.
• Prune young stone fruit trees such as cherries and plums as leaf buds open.
• Sow tomatoes in preparation for planting outside in the summer.