By April, seed-sowing should be in full swing in most places in Britain. Check specific growing suggestions for individual varieties and crops…
Many vegetables can be sown direct at this point in the year: Beetroot, carrots, chard, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, leeks, radish, turnip, spring onions, peas and perpetual spinach, etc.
Some vegetables will benefit being raised in trays, pots and modules to be transplanted: courgettes and squashes after mid April, cucumber, kohlrabi, lettuce, French beans (in deep trays), summer cabbage, sweet corn (sow into deep trays for an early crop in warmer areas), tomatoes for outdoors and more.
Sow into a seedbed to transplant: Most brassicas will do well in a seedbed and leeks, too.
Sow lots of flowers now to make sure your garden is blooming in mid summer.
April is a busy month in the garden, farm and allotment with a flurry of propagation and more seedlings than there seems to be room for. As well as a working through an extensive sowing list, there’s also plenty of bed preparation to do outside to make way for all the plants as they become ready.
Here’s some ideas to keep you busy:
– Keep on top of sowing, pricking out and potting on
– Start hardening off any hardy plants that are ready to be planted outside, things like kale, broad beans, onions and beetroot
– Keep your horticultural fleece in a handy place to protect young plants if a late frost if forecast
– Set up hanging benches to extend your propagation space and to keep seedlings like peas and beans away from rodents
– Check your guttering for your water butts is properly installed and cleared to make the most of April showers
– Weed, compost and mulch your garden beds so they’re ready for planting
– Get your supports in order so that when your peas and beans are ready to be planted outside you can add the supports at the same time
– Plant second-early and maincrop potatoes
– Sow hardy and half hardy annual flowers including cornflowers, zinnia, cosmos, sunflowers, scabious and rudbeckia
– Transplant autumn sown sweet peas into their final growing positions
– Sow companion flowers to be planted in between your vegetables like marigolds, tagetes and borage