Vegetables
This month you can begin sowing outdoors in earnest, including peas and broad beans, spring onions, beetroot and carrots. Cover seeds with sticks, twigs or cuttings from blackberry bushes to protect from birds. Fine netting is probably the best thing to use to keep your plants safe, but you could try items like hanging foil and old CDs. Feeding the birds their favourite food might also help to reduce their interest in your tender plants.
Frosts are possible in April so keep an eye on the forecast and make sure you have cloches and fleeces ready to protect tender shoots. Also, protect early potato shoots by regularly hoeing up soil.
Flowers
Because spring weather and temperatures can be unpredictable, only hardy annuals
should be sown directly into the soil outside. These include cornflowers and poppies, fragrant sweet peas and sunflowers. Half-hardy annuals such as cosmos and tobacco plants should be planted inside, or under glass. They can be transplanted outside later.
Lawn
Lawns are growing fast and will need feeding this month. Choose a feed product with a high nitrogen content to encourage plenty of green growth. Wait to feed until you have mowed the lawn a few times and after you have done your thorough spring moss raking.
Other work
As well as plants, weeds are also growing fast this month, so regular hoeing is required to keep on top of the problem in the vegetable and flower garden. Mulching can reduce weed growth and helps to keep moisture in the soil as the sun gets stronger and the temperatures rise.
If not already done, now is a good time to check, repair or replace any parts of your water retention system; check gutters and water butts; or consider investing in upgrading your system, to make the most of any April showers!
