April
Gardening Calendar
Kitchen Garden
Vegetables
• Sow carrots, lettuce, onions, spinach,
Sugar Snap peas and broad beans.
• Plant punnets of broccoli, Brussels
sprouts, broccoflower, cabbage, cauliflower
and silverbeet.
• Avoid club-root by rotating crops
so that members of the brassica family are
not grown in the same area more than 1 year
in 3. To further reduce club-root problems
make up a solution of Potassium Permanganate
and pour a litre into each planting hole.
• After planting out seedlings, mulch
with Tui’s Pelletised Pea Straw
and water in with liquid fertiliser.
• Large overcrowded rhubarb crowns (older
than 3 years) can be dug up and divided.
• Sow any area that will be left vacant
over winter, especially if your garden loses
the sun in winter, with a green crop of mustard
or blue lupin.
• Protect young seedlings from snails
and slugs with Tui Quash.
• Hoe regularly to prevent competition
from weeds.
Fruit
• Plan winter planting of new trees,
vines and berryfruits
• Select varieties and place orders
to ensure supply.
• Prepare the ground with added organic
matter such as compost and sheep pellets or
Yates Dynamic Lifter.
Ornamental Garden
General
• More regular rainfall means more weeds
that need to be removed from the flower garden
and under hedges.
• Cut back spent blooms from summer
perennials.
• Plant out seedlings of pansy, polyanthus,
primula, poppies and violas for winter and
spring colour.
• The large daisy flowers of calendula
or pot marigold will provide bright colour
over a long season in winter.
• Gather fallen autumn leaves from lawns
and garden areas to add to compost.
Bulbs
• Plant daffodils in rich well-drained
soil at a depth of about twice the size of
the bulb.
• Naturalise in large drifts in areas
of lawn. Remember that it is important to
leave these areas unmown until the foliage
has dried off, even if this does look messy.
• Heavy soils should be improved by
incorporating gritty material such as sand
prior to planting or plant in bulb mix.
• Miniature daffodils make charming
container subjects. Plant in bulb mix. Look
for Narcissus bulbicodum, N.
‘Jet Fire’, N. ‘Tete
a Tete’, N. ‘Highfield
Beauty’, N. ‘Golden Perfection’
and the delightful white N. ‘Thalia’.
• Blend a dressing of bulb food into
the soil when planting.
Lawns
• Keep clear of fallen autumn leaves.
• Feed established lawns with organic
Yates Dynamic Lifter for Lawns or
Yates Lawn Master Slow Release Lawn
Food. Click
here for more information about Lawn master
>
• Reinvigorate an entire lawn by vigorous
raking to remove thatching followed by very
close mowing and covering the entire area
with Tui Lawn Preparation Mix.
Reseed as per packet instructions.
Read more
about planning for your autumn lawn renovation
here >>
