April Jobs
Everything just seems to spring into action this month (excuse the pun) it’s almost as though the garden takes a big stretch after a long winter slumber and it slowly starts to ignite the life that has remained dormant until now. You start to see new emerging green growth from your herbaceous perennials as well as some you didn’t sow or plant, some might call them weeds.
But this is a good time of year to start sowing if you haven’t already and if you have well then it’s about watching the weather and the temperature so that you can start hardening off your seedlings. Because the weather can be so variable at this time of year with some days being warm but the evenings still having an air of frost about them, it’s a good idea to pot on you seedlings rather than planting them out and risk them being caught by the cold. But protection can help, fleecing new seedlings in the evening helps enormously if you are struggling for space.
And if you have compost bins (which every garden should be producing its own compost in my opinion) then this is when it really pays off. Adding a layer of fresh compost to a raised bed or boarder can really give the newly planted crops a good start.
April sow
Greenhouse or not this month all bets are off and you can get sowing, if the soil is warm enough for the weeds then it’s warm enough to sow.
The list is pretty endless but here are some of our favourites to sow to April;
beetroot
french beans
brussels sprouts
cabbage
cauliflower
celeriac
celery
leeks
spring onions
turnips
And there’s still time to sow some edible flowers such as calendula, borage, nasturtium and violas.
April grow
April is a fine time to get your seed potatoes in the ground, we stock six varieties here at Good Roots Barn and this is our first year supplying them so take a look and see what you think.
It’s also a great time of year to start dividing your herbaceous perennials such as hostas and daylilies. Division is a great method to increase your plant collection for free and to invigorate the plant.
April harvest
This month the produce really starts to ramp up and if you’ve been sowing all year long, this is what you can now be enjoying;
asparagus
chard
majoram
chives
parsley
mint
lettuce & salad leaves
spinach
rhubarb