Gardening Tips for April

[Gardenman]

Lots to do this month . Let’s hope the weather holds, so you have no excuses ha ha

So let’s get on with it :

1. A good time to repair or replace your lawn .

If repairing give it a good raking with a spine rake to get rid of moss & debris , then give a good feed of lawn fertiliser sand , seed & topsoil after aerating the lawn every 6 inches with a fork or an aerator. Try to leave it for a couple of weeks

If replacing, you need to skim the grass off & rotovate it to get air in the soil , add topsoil. Level off , feed & lay good quality turf as if laying bricks

Leave for about 4 weeks or until 3-4 inches high

Then just cut the top lightly preferably with a mower with a roller on it

Some may want to not mow their lawn for a few weeks to encourage Bees & Butterflies into your garden

2. Best plants to plant in April

Fruit trees, Flowering Cherries ( especially Japanese ones)

Berries all types

Roses

Clematis

Alliums

Echinacea

Broccoli

Leeks

Lettuce

Potatoes

Onions

Peppers

Peas

Tomatoes

Asparagus

Herbs ( plant with good drainage, some gravel will do )

Plant the larger ones with a larger hole than the pot , put manure in the base & heel in . Do not leave any air in the base . It will fill up with water & rot the roots

3 Prune Cornus , Cotinus smoke tree . Sambuca

Lavenders just trim last years growth off

DONT prune Forsythia or Chaenomeles until they have finished flowering as they will form new flowers on the new growth next year

Too late to prune your hedges as the birds are nesting in them now , just give them a feed of manure or Growmore & rake into the roots

4 Mulch Roses & shrubs with 2 - 3 inches organic matter especially Rhododendrons & Camelias as they have trouble flowering next year if they dry out

5 Please don’t use chemicals on your plants. You can clear aphids off with your finger or a mild washing up liquid with water in a sprayer

For fungi take them off your trees & give them a good feed

Same for weeds , dig them out at this time of year & they will be easier for the rest of the year

6 Still there? Well done

Dead head Daffodils & Tulips taking their heads & seed pods off . You will get them back next year

I promise

7 Divide herbaceous perennials with a spade & plant again . Free plants !!!

8 Feed trees shrubs hedges & herbaceous plants with manure

9 Tie in Honeysuckle & Clematis . It will help their structure & growth

Remove black spot leaves from your Roses including from the ground, they are a fungus & go into the ground & into your plant again

10 Buy or hire a power sprayer & have some fun treating your decks , patios , paths & fences

Wait to dry out before treating your decks & fences with a wood treatment

Well , if you survived that , have a rest & get out there . What are you waiting for ?

Well as usual if you haven’t got time just use a well recommended gardener who knows a weed from a Rose . There are plenty on the Forum including Exterior Design Gardens who now operate a landscape department run by my son Oli on

07549418219 & the overflow department run by me NIgel on 07759862191 for smaller jobs like fencing , gardening small lawns maintenance, small decks patios & tidy ups

HAPPY GARDENING 🌹🙏

[Gardenman]

A few things I forgot 

 

prune figs at this time of year if you want any fruit from them & to stop them from getting to big 

Also you can divide Bamboo by digging them up & splitting the rhizomes ( roots) more free plants . Divide , re plant & water well