April Gardening - 10 Jobs to do at the weekend

We’ve brought together a list of jobs to be getting on with in your April garden.

Jobs for the garden

Keep weeds under control. Getting on top early means that you should prevent them seeding and
becoming a problem. Hoe the border once a week but either dig out or use a weedkiller containing
glyphosate on perennial weeds, such as dandelions,
Lavender plants need cutting back now to prevent them from looking sparse. Give the plant a short
back and sides with secateurs to snip off old flower stems and shoot tips. Don’t prune hard into old
wood, as this will prevent new growth.
Tie in climbing and rambling roses. Bend over any upright stems to encourage more flowers – you will
normally only get flowers at the top of an upright, but if you bend them you will get more flowers along
the stem.
Sow hardy annuals, herbs and wild flower seed outdoors eg marigolds, poppies, dill, cerinthe, nigella,
etc. and harden off seedlings that have been started off indoors.
Stake your tall flowering perennials. They look better if they are staked as they emerge, rather than
trussed up later.
Start feeding hungry shrubs and roses. Feed citrus plants but don’t bring them back outside yet.
Sow new lawns or repair bare patches. Give the lawn a feed or use with a weed, feed and mosskiller
treatment.
Get sowing and planting in the veg garden. Plant onions, earth up potatoes and sow tender crops
indoors
Divide and replant species such as bamboos and waterlilies and Stipa gigantea, which struggle when
newly planted in the wet and cold of winter
Increase the water given to houseplants.