The complete guide to spending April in the garden

For months we’ve been longing for it and in recent weeks we’ve been getting fidgety as it drew nearer… Spring has finally arrived, time to start checking the list of April garden tasks!

It is an important month for any garden, balcony and terrace, because vegetation is building up to a frenzy.

Buds appear, the first winter flowers are fading slowly as spring flowers start to bloom in turn.

Read also:

• Garden tasks for March and May

Advice for the lawn

This is the right time to push through with your spring sowing if this is a new lawn

If your lawn is already a few years old, you may need to de-thatch it. Dethatching helps the soil breathe. Find our de-thatching advice here.

You may now start mowing your lawn regularly without encountering any difficulties.

If you’ve got a patch where many spring flowers like crocus or snowdrop popped, up, refrain from mowing there until later in the season.

To increase the impact of this mini-bulb patch, go ahead and remove some of the grass by delicately pulling it out. The bulb flowers will benefit from not having too much competition, and in time they’ll cover the whole surface.

This gives bulbs time to recover nutrients for next spring.

Read also for the lawn:

• Easily renovating a lawn
• Removing moss from a lawn
• Starting a lawn from scratch

Advice on flowers

Time to plant those perennials that were purchased in pots.

Also plant summer-blooming and fall-blooming bulbs such as:
anemone, lily, gladiolus, arum, begonia , dahlia, or balisier.

Divide the bigger bunches of primroses, lavender and all the other summer and fall-blooming perennials.

Advice on trees, shrubs and rose trees

It’s the moment to cut hedges back, though there are regulations to follow if you’re in an area that’s careful to protect birds.

• It is still time to plant any remaining container-bought trees, shrubs and roses that are still in their pots.
• Follow our guidance on planting shrubs.
• Water generously
• Mulch the base of each stem to avoid weeds.

Follow our advice on how to prune correctly.

Advice for the vegetable garden

Add dehydrated manure, organic soil conditioner and compost to the soil as you spade it or rototill to prepare the ground for future seedlings and vegetable plants.

In April it is already possible to sow directly in the plot (out in the open) for several varieties of vegetables.

This is appropriate for carrot, red beet, celery, cabbage, zucchini, fennel, bean or even tomato to be transplanted at the end of the month.

Finally it’s also time to plant potato, artichoke, crosnes and asparagus.

As regards harvesting, it’s time to harvest your first asparagus (planted from the year before) and spring radish. Also, thin your spring lettuce which will give you your first salad greens, and start sowing summer lettuce.

Advice for balconies and terraces

It’s the month to plant summer-blooming and fall-blooming bulbs as well as annuals and climbing plants.

And protective winter coverings can finally be removed without fear!