What to do in April
As temperatures warm and days get longer, seeds are easier to sprout and seedlings grow in front of your eyes on sunnier days. If you're new to growing, this month or next month are good times to start on your first growing projects.
Advice below is based on the UK climate. It's relevant for most other Northern hemisphere countries, but exact sowing dates will vary slightly. Look for a seed sowing calendar for your region and use with the tips below.
Advice below is based on the UK climate. It's relevant for most other Northern hemisphere countries, but exact sowing dates will vary slightly. Look for a seed sowing calendar for your region and use with the tips below.
This month
- What you can sow outside
- What you can sow inside
- Other jobs: slug and snail hunt, "potting up" tomatoes, rejuvenating old compost, acclimatising seedlings to outdoor conditions, starting a wormery.
1. What you can sow outside
Sow the following outside - either direct in their final pots or in modules or seed trays. It's a good idea to get some crops started now, but there is still a risk of cold weather this month that might damage or set back seedlings. It often works well to some now and some later in the month (and later sowings often catch up).- Snap peas, mangetout and broad beans.
- Root veg: spring onions, radish, beetroot and carrots. Start these in modules or in their final container as the baby plants don't like their roots disturbed.
- Salads: lettuce, rocket, and most other salad crops.
- Oriental greens: pak choi, mibuna, mizuna, mustard red giant etc. The best time to sow Oriental greens is after the summer solstice when they are less prone to bolt (flower early). But you can still get a good crop now, particularly if sown early in the month.
- Leafy veg: kale, swiss chard, and leaf beat.
- Potatoes: sow 'first early' potatoes now to get a crop before the end of July. This will give you time to grow another crop - like runner beans or a courgette - in the same pot over summer.
- Herbs: including coriander, chives, parsley, sorrel, lovage, dill. Dill, coriander and chives have flowers that attract beneficial insects as well as tasty leaves.
2. What you can sow inside
Although it's getting appreciably warmer this month, you still can't sow tender plants outside until the risk of frost in your area has passed ('tender' plants are killed by frosts). In the UK this is usually the end of April / mid May, depending on where you live (if you live in the UK, USA or Australia, find the date of the last frost in your region here).- Tomatoes: you still have time to start tomatoes from seed - sow them as soon as you can - and by the end of the month at the latest.
- Runner and French beans: for an early crop, sow some inside now to move outside after the last frosts. Starting beans inside helps protect them from slugs (slugs just love bean seedlings!).
- Courgettes, squash, cucumbers: sow these indoors this month for an early crop. These grow big quickly so check you've got enough space to accommodate them inside until the risk of frost is over.
- Herbs: including basil and green perilla (a tasty Japanese herb, a nice alternative to basil).
You need a space with good, bright light to raise healthy seedlings inside. If your indoor space is not very bright, you can germinate seeds inside and then move the baby seedlings outside on warmer days. If you do this, try to give them plenty of shelter (a seed tray with a plastic cover - a "propagator lid" - works well if you have one). Alternatively, you can sow most of these crops outside next month once the risk of frost is over. (May is a bit late to sow tomatoes, though - but you can always buy a plant if needed).
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