In my March summary of jobs in the garden I said “…winter can still have the last word…”. Unfortunately, I was proved right. It feels the garden is still in hibernation and just waiting for some warm weather to burst into spring. So many of the March jobs I listed have had to wait until this month, so please read both months together.
For April:
Prune Chaenomeles (Quince), Forsythia and winter flowering heathers after flowering.
Continue to tidy, weed and feed and mulch borders, plus put in supports for emerging perennials, eg paeonies.
As the weather warms up finish dividing and replanting herbaceous plants and water new plants.
Remove frost damaged growth from shrubs.
As the soil warms up sow vegetable seeds – carrots, turnips, broad beans, lettuce and also seed potatoes. We are really looking forward to getting ours started.
‘Him Outdoors’ is desperate to get out and sort out the lawn after the winter weather and the damage done by our enthusiastic 7 month old puppy, ‘Bailey’ who thinks it is fun to dig holes in the lawn. Some areas need attention for compaction by spiking and top dressing the lawn. The moss needs to be taken out and a feed applied. Bailey’s holes need to be repaired with soil and lawn seed and watered in. The lawn can have the first cut of the season, with the mower blades set on high. For the icing on the cake, give the lawn edges a reshape to give a good crisp outline to your lawn – it makes all the difference.
