April
April is an excellent time to undertake work in the garden. The days are cooler and there should be a reasonable amount of moisture in the soil. Early planting and replanting of trees shrubs and perennials will enable them to make root growth before the cold winter when root growth is usually dormant.
Applications of nitrogen based fertilizer should stop now and superphosphate and potash based fertilizers used to ensure good hardy growth to take the plants through the winter.
Edible Garden
Fruit
Ornamental Garden
Propagating
Glasshouses
Lawns
Applications of nitrogen based fertilizer should stop now and superphosphate and potash based fertilizers used to ensure good hardy growth to take the plants through the winter.
Edible Garden
- Plant cabbages, cauliflower, winter lettuce, leeks and silverbeet.
- Cut asparagus fronds of before seeds drop and top drees beds with compost
- Cultivate the vegetable garden.
- Harvest beetroot and preserve
- Harvest onions
- Harvest potatoes and place in cool dark place
- Harvest Parsley and chop it up in a food processor, place in plastic bag and freeze for easy use
- Sow Broad Beans and Silver Beet.
- Remove spent tomato plants, beans and other finished crops.
Fruit
- Harvest fruit before it is fully ripe and preserve.
- Fertilize Citrus trees and look to protect them from early frosts
Ornamental Garden
- Sow early Sweet Peas
- Plant winter and spring flowering annuals - polyanthus, pansy, wallflower, myosotis.
- Plant spring flowering bulbs: tulips, daffodils
- Plant lily bulbs.
- Lift gladiolus.
- Prune spent flower heads off perennials.
- Start lifting and dividing perennials and replanting them in position for next year.
- Lift and divide rock garden plants
- Wrench trees and shrubs that you want to transplant around the garden.
- Plant new trees and shrubs so that their roots can take hold of the ground before winter. Make sure the ground has sufficient moisture in it before you do this.
- Trim hedges
Propagating
- Hardwood cuttings of deciduous and some evergreen plants can be taken as soon as it is cool enough.
- Collect seed from plants that you wish to grow. Store in Cool dry place until sowing time
- Sowing time so seeds needs to be checked for many plants. Some like to be exposed to cold temperatures before germination others dont.
Glasshouses
- Harvest the last of the tomatoes.
- Remove shade from glasshouses.
- Cleanup the soil and keep clean ready for next year. If you change the soil now is the time to do it.
Lawns
- April is a good time to sow an autumn lawn.
- Spray lawns for weeds
- Ensure good moisture content of the soil.