Tom Strowlger
@garden_with_tom
We step into the month of April and the garden is now full of optimism and colour. The spring flowers are blooming and wildlife is busy tending to their young. This month brings us gardeners lots of floral colour and green growth to enjoy. We start to see the fruits of our labour as the growing season gets into full swing. We will see lots of the symbolic flower of spring, the Daffodil, with its showy bright yellow trumpet. A personal favourite of mine.
The lawn grass is keenly growing and looking longer however grass cutting should be on the lawnmowers highest setting to keep the grass healthy. If we spot any thin and bare patches in the lawn, then now is the ideal time to hand sow grass seed into the patches. We lightly rake the surface soil before sowing the grass seed and quilting it with topsoil or compost. The grass seed will germinate within a couple of weeks if the ground has moisture and milder temperatures allow.
April is the last month for planting out summer bulbs, tubers, corms and bare roots for establishing themselves in readiness for flowering during the summer months. We should plant into spots in the garden with well-drained soil and lots of sunshine. We can plant into pots, beds and borders Begonia, Dahlia, Crocosmia, Gladioli, Freesia and Lilies to truly delight us in summertime.
It’s time to sow by hand the seeds of Poppies, Cornflowers, Corncockles, Oxeye Daisies, Foxgloves and Borage to name but a very few into bare beds and borders, empty spaces and spots of the garden. The butterflies, bees and insects will thoroughly enjoy them and by doing this we support our precious wildlife and environment. The longer and warmer days of April bring new growth to our favourite plants and flowers, including green growth of our summer perennials. However, with it unfortunately comes pesky and unsightly weeds. Whilst the soil is still damp and soft we should lift weeds and their entire root system before they take hold and become persistent for the remainder of the growing season.
We can use the spring days to paint and maintain our garden fences, wooden benches and sleepers to smarten up the garden. It’s a good time to construct new raised beds with wooden sleepers and create new borders in time for a summer flower display. We can get our outdoor furniture out of storage to enjoy throughout the gardening season.
We can very happily garden every day now, even doing some gardening into the evenings. The longer and warmer days bring us excitement about all the floral colour yet to come. The garden is our own green sanctuary and we should fully embrace it as a happy space to take us away from our busy lives and gather our thoughts.
- Watch out for slugs and snails around plants
- Tie in and train climbers with string or wire
- Create a new compost heap with grass cuttings
- Feed hungry plants including roases and shrubs
- Give patio and decking a pressure wash