Garden Planning, Tips and Planting Advice

Gardening Tips: April Lawn Care

Your lawn should be mowed once a week, provided the weather is dry. Regular cutting helps the grass thicken and reduces weed. Now the grass is growing faster, you can set you lawn mower blades to a medium or low cut – about 2 cm.

The edges also need trimming with long handled shears, an edging tool or strimmer. Apart from looking good, this helps prevent grass spreading into your flower borders.

You may also need to use a lawn feed to encourage strong growth and reduce the amount of weeds and moss.

Gardening Tips: April Evergreen hedging

In April keep evergreen hedges trimmed and tidy. When trimming hedges, make sure you brush off the clippings to prevent the spread of diseases. Depending on the length of the hedge 'run', you can trim evergreen hedges with hand shears or with an electric, battery or petrol hedge trimmer. If you are using a powered hedge trimmer, use protective goggles and gloves.

Gardening Tips: April Weeding

April is the month when weeds can grow and flower quickly, spreading their offspring in the wind. It is important to destroy weeds whilst they are still small. You can use hoes and small hand tools to remove weeds from your vegetable and flowerbeds.

Gardening Tips: April Plant or transplant

To plant, the type of equipment you will need includes:

• Trowel
• Shovel
• Rake

Watering can or hose

When planting or transplanting, use compost from your compost bin, manure or purchase compost. Once you have dug a hole big enough for the plant, add 2-3in of compost or manure into the hole to feed the plant. Fill the hole with water, preferably from your water butt and let the water sink in. Place the plant in the hole and water again. Fill in the hole with soil to the top of the root ball and water again.

Examples of the type of plants you can plant in April are:

• Vegetables
• Potatoes. For planting you need chitted seed potatoes and you should plant with the shoots pointing upwards.
• Asparagus
• Broad beans
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage

Flowers

• Alpines
• Antirrhinum
• Gladiolus
• Pansy
• Sweet pea
• Summer bulbs, for example, alliums and cannas.

Prick out any of your bedding plant seedlings from their seed trays and transplant them into pots. Keep them inside or in a propagator or under a cloche until they are ready to be transplanted outside.

Sow

Note: Always check the instructions on the seed packet concerning time of sowing and transplanting. Different varieties are designed to grow at different times. The information below is a general guide for common vegetable and flower seeds that can be sown this time of year.

Vegetables

The following are examples of vegetable seeds that can be sown outside:

• Asparagus
• Beetroot
• Broad bean
• Herbs
• Lettuce
• Runner beans
• Turnips

The following are examples of vegetable seeds that can be sown in seed trays in greenhouses or propagators:

• Courgette
• Celery
• Marrows
• Tomatoes
• Flowers

The following are examples of flower seeds that can be sown outside at this time of year:

• Aster
• Nasturtiums
• Dahlia
• Ornamental grasses