Gardeners' notes - what to do in April

Plant out potatoes

Whether you’ve just purchased your potato tubers or you’ve had them chitting away for several weeks, now is the time to get them outside and into the ground.  Plant them nice and deep.  If you have small beds, individual holes can be dug for each tuber. 20-25cm deep.  In larger beds or allotments a trench can be dug and the tubers placed in the bottom approximately 45cm apart.  If the soil hasn’t previously been manured or mulched it can be done now with rotted manure or your homemade compost incorporated into the soil as it is backfilled into the hole or trench.

Once new leaves start to show above the ground keep a careful eye on the weather reports.  Frosts will kill or badly damage the emerging shoots so if a cold night is predicted, cover with a thick layer of horticultural fleece or as we like to do, use upturned 3 litre plastic plant pots as protection.  However, if frost is persisting during the daytime, fleece is the better option as it allows light to penetrate allowing photosynthesis to continue.  Don’t forget, you can still have frosts as late as May so be vigilant - many a late night weather report has seen us darting around the garden in our slippers and pyjamas. 

Start sowing annuals

Many will have already started but we find the beginning of April to be the perfect time to start sowing annuals for the flower garden.  Cosmos, Rudbeckia, Nicotiana, sunflowers, Echium and many other annuals can all be started now.  What we’re aiming for are plants ready to be put out in the borders around mid-May.  Start too early and you’ll run out of greenhouse space for the rapidly growing plants.  Start too late and they won’t be ready to go out.  One exception are zinnias which prefer warmer weather.  They can be left for another 2 or 3 weeks before sowing and will romp away in the extra heat rather than sulking in cold pots.

Cut back grasses

A reminder really but if you haven’t already done it, now is the time to cut back deciduous grasses in the borders.  Miscanthus, Calamagrostis, Panicum and Pennisetum should all have last year's foliage removed by cutting it to ground level with secateurs.  Just try to avoid cutting the new shoots that will be starting to emerge.  Before chopping away, check the clump at ground level.  On a number of occasions we’ve found hedgehogs nesting at the dry base.