Tidy, plant, and prep! April gardening tips to get your garden winter-ready while planting for beautiful spring and summer colour.
As temperatures begin to fall there are jobs to tackle in the garden to prepare for the winter season, so here are a few handy tips!
Clean out hanging baskets and plant up some trailing ivy-leaved pelargoniums for a splash of winter colour.
Divide overgrown perennials like gaura, lobelia, and phlox. Split clumps of agapanthus and dietes and replant around flower borders.
Move any shrubs and small trees that need a different position in the garden. They will have time to recover during the cooler season. Apply fertiliser and compost to the freshly dug hole, then water well.
Plant a fruit tree, such as peach, plum, nectarine, or apricot. There’s something deeply satisfying about harvesting your own fruit, and planting in autumn gives the roots time to establish.
If you haven’t planted any bulbs yet, pop some into your borders now for a fabulous spring and summer display. There is a huge variety of bulbs available at the moment—think daffodils, tulips, ranunculus, and freesias.
Sow some winter and spring-flowering seedlings like cinerarias, delphiniums, nemesia, salvia, scabiosa, pansies, osteospermums, and primroses. These add instant charm and colour during the grey months.
Don’t Forget the Veggies and Compost
Tackle the weeds! They keep growing whatever the weather! Try to leave a few seed heads for wildlife and birds—they’ll appreciate the food source during the colder months.
In the vegetable garden, after preparing the soil, plant some winter lettuce, garlic, onions, broad beans, and cabbages. These hardy crops thrive in the cool air and can provide fresh harvests deep into winter.
Plant some cool-season herbs, such as oregano, coriander, thyme, mint, and parsley in containers near the kitchen door if possible. That way, they’re within easy reach when cooking!
Prune roses to about half their size and clear any fallen leaves from around the plant to prevent fungal disease. A clean garden is a healthy garden!
Dig in plenty of compost, manure, and well-rotted leaf compost on bare soil. This improves soil structure, boosts fertility, and sets your garden up for success in the growing seasons to come.
Collect seed from late-flowering hollyhocks, zinnias, cosmos, and gaillardias. Store them in a cool, dry place ready for sowing next spring.
And if you don’t already have a compost heap, now is the perfect time to start one. It’s an easy, affordable, organic way to make compost which will enrich your garden with much-needed nutrients when spread over the soil and around shrubs, trees, and plants. Plus, it helps with water-retention—a win-win!
