Gardening Jobs for April

Your garden will be starting to take shape once the rains and warmer spring weather arrives, however this will also bring with it an invasion of slugs and snails. Here we'll give you the lowdown on how to protect your garden together with some other key tasks for April.

Pest prevention

Prevention is the best policy when it comes to garden pests and if you catch the problem early, you can get control before they really take a hold. Slugs and snails are the real troublemakers and a few pellets sprinkled around your plants should keep them at bay. However there are also a few organic ways to tackle them such as nematodes watered into the soil to attack them. You can also rely on nature's predators such as hedgehogs, toads and thrushes, so encourage them to visit.

Handy Hint!
An old remedy that works a treat is the beer trap; a jar sunk into the ground and filled with beer to attract slugs.

Keep on top of the lawn

Mowing regularly will help strengthen your grass and discourage coarser grasses, however if your grass is long make sure your mower blade is at its highest setting to avoid turning the grass yellow. You can also tackle any moss problems by aerating the lawn with a fork and raking out any dead grass. This will make it harder for moss to take a hold.

Aquatic Plants

The warmer weather signals the time to plant up aquatic plants in your pond. You'll need a special container for aquatic plants, made from fine mesh. Simply fill them with Aquatic Compost, place the plant in the container and fill around it with the compost to about 2.5cm short of the rim. Then finish with Coarse Grit to prevent the soil from floating away. Make sure you include oxygenating plants to prevent algae developing!

Handy Hint
Planting waterlilies now will ensure a lovely floral display for the Summer!

Prune 

Nows the time to prune back your flowering shrubs to encourage new growth for next Spring. 

Thin out Seedlings

As your kitchen garden develops, you'll need to thin out seedlings otherwise crops will become straggly and wont crop well. Check your seed packet for the ideal distance between seedlings, it will depend on the type of crop. Dont forget to water seedlings before and after thinning if the weather is dry. To keep a succession of crops, this month is the perfect time to sow tomatoes, sweetcorn and courgettes, although its best to sow towards the end of the month. This is also the latsest month to plant maincrop potatoes.

Handy Hint
You can usually transplant most vegetable thinnings except root crops. These tend to mature a little later than the other seddlings so you can enjoy a rolling succession of crops.