April is a marked on the calendar as the month of planting, whether its planting winter and spring-flowering bulbs, bedding plants, sweet peas or container-grown shrubs. With no access to garden centres and nurseries in the coming weeks, it's important to ensure now that you have stocked up on all the gardening necessities you would need for gardening during this time ahead.
Not sure what you'd need? We've put together a task- and checklist to help you out!
Buy bulbs
In most regions, April and May are the main months for planting winter- and spring-flowering bulbs like Anemones, Daffodils, Ranunculus, Hyacinthoides, and our indigenous Babiana, Freesia, Ixia, Sparaxis, Tritonia, Watsonia and Ornithogalum. Buy bulbs where available and store them for planting at the end of the month.
Vegetable planting list
Green manure:
Stock up on green manure crop seed for sowing in resting beds. Green manure covers bare winter soil and builds soil quality with increasing organic content.
Sowing checklist:
Nothing beats the flavour of home-grown vegetables so ensure you have a steady seed supply for sowing these veggies this month:
- Break up clumps of garlic cloves and plant individually.
- Oriental veggies:
- Leafy greens:
- Brassica crops:
- Root crops:
- For flavour:
Tools
- Ensure you have a good pair of secateurs with sharp blades for cutting back perennials that have finished flowering, cutting up branches for home-made mulch, and the list goes on!
- A rake for aerating the lawn.
Feed
- Roses will need a granular fertilizer (3:1:5) this month to strengthen stems before winter.
- Lawns need feeding at the end of March (in warm regions) with high potassium and low nitrogen feed.
Micellaneous
- Rooting hormone powder for taking softwood cuttings.
- Potting soil for repotting indoor plants or container plants and for planting up hanging baskets.
