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What to do in the Garden – First Week of April

The Flower Garden

  • Plant out perennials in groups of three, five or seven for maximum effect
  • Sprinkle fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering, or use a foliar feed
  • Sow hardy annual flowers directly into beds where you’d like them to bloom
  • Prune Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa)
  • Pick off dead flower heads from spring bulbs
  • Protect emerging shoots of delphiniums and lupins from slugs and snails using a barrier such as copper tape for pots, copper rings or garlic granules

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Sow sweetcorn in deep modular seed trays under cover to plant out in early June
  • Feed fruit trees and bushes
  • Plant out onion sets grown in pots under glass
  • Order vegetable plug plants from mail-order suppliers
  • Warm soil with cloches or sheets of polythene for early sowings
  • Plant out maincrop potatoes
  • Plant asparagus crowns
  • Sow the following crops this week if conditions are suitable: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, mizuna, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy plug plants and young bedding plants to grow on for baskets, pots and bedding displays
  • Thin out heavy fruit sets on peaches and nectarines, leaving fruits about 10cm apart
  • Sow annual climbers, such as cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea), nasturtium, Rhodochiton and morning glory (Ipomoea)
  • Grow an early crop of dwarf French beans in a large pot
  • Repot any top-heavy or pot-bound houseplants
  • Start feeding young plants about 3-4 weeks after potting up in fresh compost
  • Pot up rooted cuttings and seedlings

Around The Garden

  • Remove winter grime from patios and terraces with a pressure washer
  • Sow new lawns, choosing a grass mix that suits the type of lawn you want
  • Snip plain green shoots off variegated shrubs
  • Mow lawns on dry days if grass is growing strongly
  • Dig out couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and other problem weeds
  • Place plant supports over clumps of tall-growing perennials such as lupins and delphiniums

 

 
 

What to do in the Garden – First Week of April

The Flower Garden

  • Plant out perennials in groups of three, five or seven for maximum effect
  • Sprinkle fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering, or use a foliar feed
  • Sow hardy annual flowers directly into beds where you’d like them to bloom
  • Prune Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa)
  • Pick off dead flower heads from spring bulbs
  • Protect emerging shoots of delphiniums and lupins from slugs and snails using a barrier such as copper tape for pots, copper rings or garlic granules

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Sow sweetcorn in deep modular seed trays under cover to plant out in early June
  • Feed fruit trees and bushes
  • Plant out onion sets grown in pots under glass
  • Order vegetable plug plants from mail-order suppliers
  • Warm soil with cloches or sheets of polythene for early sowings
  • Plant out maincrop potatoes
  • Plant asparagus crowns
  • Sow the following crops this week if conditions are suitable: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, mizuna, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy plug plants and young bedding plants to grow on for baskets, pots and bedding displays
  • Thin out heavy fruit sets on peaches and nectarines, leaving fruits about 10cm apart
  • Sow annual climbers, such as cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea), nasturtium, Rhodochiton and morning glory (Ipomoea)
  • Grow an early crop of dwarf French beans in a large pot
  • Repot any top-heavy or pot-bound houseplants
  • Start feeding young plants about 3-4 weeks after potting up in fresh compost
  • Pot up rooted cuttings and seedlings

Around The Garden

  • Remove winter grime from patios and terraces with a pressure washer
  • Sow new lawns, choosing a grass mix that suits the type of lawn you want
  • Snip plain green shoots off variegated shrubs
  • Mow lawns on dry days if grass is growing strongly
  • Dig out couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and other problem weeds
  • Place plant supports over clumps of tall-growing perennials such as lupins and delphiniums

 

 
 

What to do in the Garden – First Week of April

The Flower Garden

  • Plant out perennials in groups of three, five or seven for maximum effect
  • Sprinkle fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering, or use a foliar feed
  • Sow hardy annual flowers directly into beds where you’d like them to bloom
  • Prune Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa)
  • Pick off dead flower heads from spring bulbs
  • Protect emerging shoots of delphiniums and lupins from slugs and snails using a barrier such as copper tape for pots, copper rings or garlic granules

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Sow sweetcorn in deep modular seed trays under cover to plant out in early June
  • Feed fruit trees and bushes
  • Plant out onion sets grown in pots under glass
  • Order vegetable plug plants from mail-order suppliers
  • Warm soil with cloches or sheets of polythene for early sowings
  • Plant out maincrop potatoes
  • Plant asparagus crowns
  • Sow the following crops this week if conditions are suitable: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, mizuna, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy plug plants and young bedding plants to grow on for baskets, pots and bedding displays
  • Thin out heavy fruit sets on peaches and nectarines, leaving fruits about 10cm apart
  • Sow annual climbers, such as cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea), nasturtium, Rhodochiton and morning glory (Ipomoea)
  • Grow an early crop of dwarf French beans in a large pot
  • Repot any top-heavy or pot-bound houseplants
  • Start feeding young plants about 3-4 weeks after potting up in fresh compost
  • Pot up rooted cuttings and seedlings

Around The Garden

  • Remove winter grime from patios and terraces with a pressure washer
  • Sow new lawns, choosing a grass mix that suits the type of lawn you want
  • Snip plain green shoots off variegated shrubs
  • Mow lawns on dry days if grass is growing strongly
  • Dig out couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and other problem weeds
  • Place plant supports over clumps of tall-growing perennials such as lupins and delphiniums

 

 
 

What to do in the Garden – First Week of April

The Flower Garden

  • Plant out perennials in groups of three, five or seven for maximum effect
  • Sprinkle fertiliser around clumps of tulips to boost flowering, or use a foliar feed
  • Sow hardy annual flowers directly into beds where you’d like them to bloom
  • Prune Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa)
  • Pick off dead flower heads from spring bulbs
  • Protect emerging shoots of delphiniums and lupins from slugs and snails using a barrier such as copper tape for pots, copper rings or garlic granules

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden

  • Sow sweetcorn in deep modular seed trays under cover to plant out in early June
  • Feed fruit trees and bushes
  • Plant out onion sets grown in pots under glass
  • Order vegetable plug plants from mail-order suppliers
  • Warm soil with cloches or sheets of polythene for early sowings
  • Plant out maincrop potatoes
  • Plant asparagus crowns
  • Sow the following crops this week if conditions are suitable: beetroot, parsnips, turnips, onions, peas and mangetout, broad beans, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach, radish, rocket, mizuna, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts

In The Greenhouse

  • Buy plug plants and young bedding plants to grow on for baskets, pots and bedding displays
  • Thin out heavy fruit sets on peaches and nectarines, leaving fruits about 10cm apart
  • Sow annual climbers, such as cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea), nasturtium, Rhodochiton and morning glory (Ipomoea)
  • Grow an early crop of dwarf French beans in a large pot
  • Repot any top-heavy or pot-bound houseplants
  • Start feeding young plants about 3-4 weeks after potting up in fresh compost
  • Pot up rooted cuttings and seedlings

Around The Garden

  • Remove winter grime from patios and terraces with a pressure washer
  • Sow new lawns, choosing a grass mix that suits the type of lawn you want
  • Snip plain green shoots off variegated shrubs
  • Mow lawns on dry days if grass is growing strongly
  • Dig out couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and other problem weeds
  • Place plant supports over clumps of tall-growing perennials such as lupins and delphiniums

 

 
 
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