April Garden Chores

Spring gardening tips and schedule for April Garden Chores

Time to pull back the winter mulch from roses.

As bulbs enter active growth, time to fertilize.

Cultivate and amend the soil whenever it is workable (not too wet).

Plant perennials, shrubs, evergreens, and trees.

Divide fall flowering perennials now.

Support your perennials with twiggy growth from prunings now, before they put on much growth.

Clean up debris from German Iris to help control borers .

Garden tip: soak bare root plants overnight. Prepare bare-root and potted roses for planting by soaking overnight in water with a little fish emulsion.

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. –William Shakespeare

Fertilize and renovate the lawn.

Prune out winter killed branches, prune roses to live wood. Hydrangea, Rose of Sharon, Buddleia and Abelia shrubs may be pruned now.

Best time to plant new roses.

Garden tip:Carefully harden off your seed grown plants. -A little at a time during mild weather, in a protected area. Better too little time outside, than damaged plants.

April is prime perennial division time. This is the best time to dig and divide hostas, daylilies, all sorts of perennials plants. It is not the time for doing this with either iris or peonies, though.

Time to clean out the garden pond.

Fruit and Vegetable Garden:

You can order beneficial insects now, from Gardens Alive:

• Ladybugs to control aphids.
• >Beneficial nematodes to protect root crops.
• Green Lacewings eggs
• Trichogramma wasps control many damaging insects.

Plant and mulch strawberry plants.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, and potato pieces can go into the garden.

Trees and Shrubs

Magnolias and Tulip trees are spring-planted, so make your choices and plant them this month.

It is common practice in my area to mulch for summer beginning in this month. Be sure NOT to “Volcano Mulch”. When piled up against the tree trunk it does many undesirable things, all unhealthy for the tree. Space the mulch away from the trunk flare, about 2-3 inches deep.

Prune hollies.