April in the Garden: 15 Jobs to Get the Season Off to a Great Start

April is when the garden really begins to wake up. Fresh shoots are appearing, lawns are greening up, and there’s a definite sense that the growing season has properly begun. It’s the ideal moment to get outside, enjoy the longer days, and give your garden a little attention to set it up for the months ahead.

Here are 15 simple gardening jobs to focus on this April.

15 gardening tips for April

1. Start preparing vegetable beds by clearing away weeds and digging in plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure. This helps improve soil structure, keeps moisture in during dry spells, and prevents waterlogging when the weather turns wet.
2. As trees, shrubs and roses begin putting on new growth, feed them with a slow-release general fertiliser. Gently rake it into the soil and finish with a mulch of compost or manure to lock in nutrients and moisture.
3. Lawns will be growing more actively now. Apply a nitrogen-rich lawn feed to encourage healthy growth and aerate compacted areas using a garden fork or hollow-tine aerator. April is also a good month for sowing grass seed, laying new turf, or overseeding thin or patchy areas — learn more about how and when to overseed your lawn.
4. Tie in wandering shoots on climbing plants such as roses, honeysuckle and clematis. Training climbing roses horizontally helps encourage more flowering along the stems.
5. Put plant supports in place early for taller perennials like asters, sanguisorba and verbena. Supporting them now makes guiding growth easier and avoids the struggle of propping up floppy plants later.
6. Lift and divide overcrowded perennials such as daylilies and hostas to rejuvenate plants and create extras for filling gaps elsewhere in the garden.
7. Once the risk of frost has passed, prune penstemons. Cut back to just above fresh growth, or to the lowest new shoots if growth is limited.
8. Prune spring-flowering shrubs like forsythia and Japanese quince once their blooms have faded to encourage strong growth for next year.
9. Cut back shrubby dogwoods hard to promote vibrant new stems that will provide colour next winter.
10. Give lavender a light trim to keep plants neat and compact, taking care not to cut into old woody growth. If you’re harvesting stems as you go, you can also learn how to use dried lavender from your garden to make the most of your cuttings.
11. Pinch out the tips of young fuchsia and sweet pea plants to encourage bushier, stronger growth.
12. Deadhead daffodils and tulips once flowers fade, but leave the foliage in place so bulbs can store energy for next year.
13. Keep on top of weeds by lightly hoeing or hand-weeding regularly while they’re still small and easy to remove.
14. Sow hardy annual flowers such as poppies, cornflowers and nigella directly outdoors. In the vegetable garden, sow crops like broad beans, carrots, beetroot and parsnips.
15. Indoors or under cover, start sowing tender crops including tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, runner beans and French beans, along with flowers such as nasturtiums, sunflowers and dahlias.

Whether you’re looking for seeds, plants, pots or the right tools for the job, we’ve got everything you need to make the most of the season. Visit our garden centre in St. Albans and see what’s growing this spring.