Start your sunflowers, plant your dahlias and prep your baskets – Pete Harcom says April’s the time to get your garden growing again
April … at last! The soil is slowly warming up, so now there is lots to do! Having said that, still watch out for frosts at night, and resist the temptation to sow and plant out too early. Keep an eye on the weather forecast and wait a few days if necessary. Remember to protect any early outdoor sowings with fleece if frost is warned.
A cold greenhouse will be sufficiently warm enough now to start sowing seeds … get going with annuals and biennials like foxgloves, hollyhocks, nemesia, rudbeckia and French marigolds.
Check your pots aren’t drying out: they can, even at this time of year. Also now’s the time to start increasing the watering of your house plants.
Weather permitting, sow your sweet peas outdoors now at the base of their supports, and pinch out the tip of any sweet peas that are growing in the greenhouse or cold frame (and again as they grow outside) – this encourages more flowers.
Sunflowers can be started now: sow direct on finely raked ground where they are to flower. Children love them, they are so easy to grow and there are now numerous very interesting lower-growing varieties – check out seed catalogues for ones such as Ruby Sunset, Astra Rose, Suntastic Yellow, Saluna Bronze. Or how about Gummy Bear or …Waooh (yes ‘Waooh’)! Sunflowers are good for cutting and great for pollinators, and they also provide autumn seeds for the birds.
Remove faded flowers from spring bulbs, especially Daffodils, to stop them wasting energy on producing seed, and allow the leaves to die back naturally.
Place support frames or pea sticks over tall growing perennials now, to encourage the new stems to be hidden from view as they grow. In mild areas Dahlia tubers can be planted out in April.
The lawn will need attention from now on, including sowing fresh grass seed on any bare spots. Aerate the lawn by spiking with a lawn aerator or a garden fork – this can be done a few times per year.
Primroses can be increased now by lifting and dividing – they are tough little plants and can easily be split up and spread around the garden.
It’s a good month to make up your hanging baskets in a cold greenhouse. Use a large flowerpot to stand the basket in while you plant it up. When it’s done, either hang the basket up in the greenhouse or you can stand it on a pot for support, before hanging the basket up outside when danger of frosts are over.
