Recommended Tasks and Hints for April 2022

April is a busy month for gardeners !

Here are just a few of the jobs you might want to consider :-

• Divide perennials

• Stake tall growing perennials

• Protect young growth from slugs and snails

• Remove annual weeds by hand

• Deadhead daffodils but keep leaves for approximately 6 weeks - the leaves help provide the bulb’s energy for next years display

• Sow annual climbers and grasses

• Plant summer bulbs - dahlia, canna and gladioli

• Sow leeks, tomatoes and courgettes and keep sowing successional vegetables - lettuce, radish, beetroot, peas, broad beans, salad onions and turnips.

• You can now also sow swiss chard, carrots, summer cauliflower, kohl rabi, leeks, radish, peas and perpetual spinach

• Plant main crop potatoes.

• Apply an 8 cm thick layer of organic matter to rose and shrub beds to retain moisture and reduce weeds.

• Prune back Salix and Cornus to improve winter stem colour