Garden calendar April

Planning, design and construction

Are you not completely satisfied with the design of your garden? Then create a free garden design with our garden drawing program during a trial period .
Finish the ground work quietly if you have installed a watering system.
Find a place where you can make a compost pile.
Purchase knee pads in case you want to work on your knees.
Clean up your storage room or shed; make sure it's organized so you can easily find garden tools and other supplies.

Before planting, remove all weeds and old roots. Spit out the soil well and enrich it with compost.
Create a wish list of new plants.
You can still plant Lavender or Heiligenbloem in a sunny spot in early April.
At the end of this month you can plant a variety of summer bulbs/tubers. Think Dahlia, Abyssinian gladiolus, Begonia and Anemone. Gladiolus and Lily are also a real asset.
Have you bought a border plant? Before you put the plant in the ground, check that it will fit in the desired spot. Put it in the pot in the spot to assess whether the plant has enough room to grow out and whether it has the right sun or shade.

Yellow Pansies suit spring perfectly.

Was there a frost in March and is it now frost-free? Reconnect the water supply.
Remove all plant supports and remaining cloths against frost.
Remove old leaf piles from the garden.
Take the time to fertilize the borders. It makes the plants very happy: fertilizer gives them a boost to stay strong and grow well. Just don't give too much, as you may end up with a limp crop.
On a dry day without bright sun, it is an ideal time to stain the fences.

Give tub plants regular long-acting fertilizers.
Keep an eye on the weather forecast: a fleece will still be needed over annuals, flowering trees and young plants if there is a night frost.
Are bulbs staying in the ground? Then sprinkle some manure with the bulbs.
Also fertilize the hedge with a universal organic fertilizer pellet, or even better, compost.
Tub plants can be outside during the daytime only from the third week of April.
Give new plants extra water for the first few weeks.

The beech hedges are now starting to turn green as well.

Spring flowering plants should preferably be pruned just after flowering: Ribes, Forsythia and Japanese Sierkwee, for example.
Heaths may also be pruned after flowering.
Sprinkle the soil around the Heather bushes with peat after pruning.
April is a good time to prune semi-shrubs such as Lavender and Santoline (Holyflower) and hedge plants such as Privet and Yew.
Roses may also be pruned this month. First remove dead and diseased wood. Have young shoots emerged from the ground? Those should also be removed.

The yellow flowers of the Forsythia pop!

Be sure to sow bare spots, filling in the pits with soil first.
Aerate the lawn with a lawn pricker.
Install an edging around the lawn. This prevents the grass from growing further than you want and makes it easier to mow with your lawnmower. You can create an edge fence by placing stones recessed along the lawn. Make sure everything fits together well.
When the temperature is above six degrees, your lawn starts growing again. So from then on, you can mow again. Don't mow too short the first time, but choose a higher setting. The grass will recover faster.

Groves of Daffodils with Blue Grapes in the foreground.

Remove emerging weeds immediately to prevent them from spreading.
Using a trident or hand cultivator, loosen the top layer and remove the weeds, old flower heads and plant debris that you left in place before winter.
When weeding, be careful not to damage the roots of plants.
Pull weeds from the joints of your paths or patio.

You definitely know it's spring when the Magnolia is in bloom

If you haven't already done so, now is the time to clean the pond pump and filter so that they are fully functional again when you want to use them.
When the temperature rises, the fish in the pond become active again. Therefore, feed them when the daytime temperature is above six degrees.
Remove old parts of aquatic plants and keep them free of algae.
Install new aquatic plants if necessary.
Clean up debris at the bottom, such as old leaves, to prevent acidification of the water. When cleaning up, be aware of possible inhabitants of the pond, such as fish and frogs.
Do you have a decorative water dish in the garden? Clean it regularly. Birds bathe in it, but you'll find that they occasionally leave some bird droppings behind. Treat them to a clean bathing spot.

In April, you can already sow a lot in the open ground. These include carrots, white cabbage, beets, lettuce, celery, cauliflower and broccoli. Kale can be sown in May-June.
Are you the lucky owner of a greenhouse, or do you sow indoors? Then you can now sow cucumber, melon, peppers and peppers, among others.
Cut back your herbs this month. Think rosemary, sage and thyme.
Herbs like chives, peppermint and marjoram you can tear. Divide them up and make someone else happy. Maybe you can trade for an herb you don't have yet.
Tip for the vegetable garden: nasturtium cress. You can eat it and it also looks cheerful and colorful. Finally, Indian cress attracts lice, so your vegetables are spared. In April, you can sow Indian Cress under glass. Plant it out next to a climbing frame, so this climber can grow in height.
Another suitable plant for the vegetable garden is Lavender: bees love it. You sow Lavender indoors from April through June.

Peach tree in beautiful pink bloom.

You could place a watering hole for volgejtes to attract birds to the garden.
Supplementing birds only needs to be done in the winter. Wrong, that's not true. If it is windy and rainy for a few days in spring, birds can hardly find insects. They are happy with a handful of help even then. At this time of year, they especially need protein and calcium. There is special four-season bird food for sale, but birds can also get extra calcium from mealworms or crushed egg shells.
Sow bee- and butterfly-friendly flowers. It looks beautiful and you help the animals tremendously.

Want to see other months' garden calendar back? Then take a look at the garden calendar year overview.