April is a beautiful time of the year with the rhododendrons, magnolias, camellias, forsythia and all the other spring flowering plants reaching their peak of beauty. There are a few things one can do to help keep the garden looking its best the rest of this season. Remember what is accomplished early in the season will help cut down on garden maintenance the rest of year.
1. Don’t allow clematis to become tangled and unruly. Train it the way you want it to grow over an arch or against a trellis.
2. Return your planters and hanging baskets to Port Kells Nurseries for refilling.
3. Overseed your lawn this month. Mow the lawn first, then broadcast the grass seed. Water well after to move the seeds down to soil level.
4. Clean your water garden by clearing out the debris at the bottom and adding it to your compost pile. Start feeding the fish again when water temperatures reach 10C and the fish are active.
5. Prune early blooming shrubs such as forsythia and ribes sanguineum after flowering.
6. Clip and tidy up winter flowering heathers after they have finished blooming.
7. Divide and replant overgrown clumps of primroses.
8. Cut away old leaves and around the lenten rose to expose the flowers.
9. Plant seed potatoes, using certified virus free stock, as well as beets, broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, onions, parsnips, turnips, swiss chard and lettuce.
10. Start zucchini and cucumber seed indoors for transplanting outdoors in June.
11. Start tomatoes. ‘Tumbler’, ‘Sungold’, and ‘Sweet Million’ will ripen in 60 days or less.
