Home & Garden Feature by tippecho.ie

Things to Do in April

Good luck with creating a beautiful, healthy garden!

April is already here, and it’s the best time to plant – warm enough, but not too hot. Here are some general tips for what we should do in the garden this month:

Garden Clean-Up

If you haven’t done it yet, now’s the time to tidy up your garden. Remove any dead or diseased plant material, rake up leaves and debris, and clear out any leftover winter mess that might have accumulated in your garden beds. This helps prevent potential sources of disease.

Weed Control

Weeds become more persistent in spring, so regular weeding is the key. Use a hoe and stay on top of it. Experts recommend running a hoe over your entire

vegetable patch once a week, whether or not you see weeds. This will disrupt them before they become a bigger problem.

Feeding the Soil April is the perfect time to prepare your soil for the growing season. Add organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted manure, to improve soil structure and increase fertility. There’s still time for it to break down and release nutrients before summer.

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Nettle Fertiliser

Tender young nettles make an excellent organic fertiliser. Rich in nitrogen, they support leafy growth in plants like lettuce, cabbage, and kale. To make nettle fertiliser:

• Soak 1 kg of nettles in 20 litres of water for about a month.

• Use a Hessian bag to

hold the nettles and place it in a container with a lid (it can smell quite bad as it stews).

• When ready, dilute the liquid: mix 1 part nettle fertiliser with 10 parts water before applying to plants.

Pruning and Shaping Plants

Prune before plants start growing vigorously. Remove any dead, damaged, or diseased wood, as well as crossing branches or those growing in the wrong direction. This encourages new growth and strengthens the plant’s resistance to pests and diseases.

Start Planting

By now, the risk of frost is minimal, so it’s a great time to start planting both vegetables and flowers.

Vegetables

You can sow indoors:

Lettuce, tomato, pepper, chilli

pepper, cucumber, celery, celeriac, basil, leeks, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, parsley, courgette, marrow, globe artichoke, beans, sweetcorn, and pumpkin.

You can sow outdoors:

Broad beans, onion sets, peas, beetroot, cabbage, spinach, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, spring onions, leeks, carrots, radishes, broccoli, and turnips.

Plant out cabbage seedlings when they are 15–20 cm tall, into well-prepared, manured soil.

In this month, you might see the first asparagus, early spring cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, and rhubarb.

Flowers

In April, sow seeds such as: Tobacco plant, poppies,

angelica, cosmos, bunny’s tail grass, and others.

You can also plant flowering bulbs in pots, like gladioli corms or pineapple lily bulbs.

Mulching Garden Beds

Apply a layer of mulch to help retain soil moisture, regulate

temperature, and suppress weed growth. It also reduces how often you’ll need to water.

Watering the Garden

Since last week was warm and dry, remember to water regularly and adjust according to the weather.

Huge selection of potted trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, spring/summer bedding, vegetable plants available now. We also have a great stock of fruit trees and soft fruit bushes, as well as herbs. Bedding plants we stock all year around, but this time of the year selection and varieties are endless. Our alpine plants are bursting with colour and Indoor plants are re-stocked regularly. All other gardening supplies such as compost, pots of varies materials and sizes, tools, feed and sprays all available at our Garden Centre in Dundrum.

We have very experienced staff that is available to assist with all you gardening queries.

We also can plant all your pots, window boxes and hanging baskets on request from May.

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