10 gardening tips for April

April’s the time to start preparing the garden for summer, including sowing your first seeds and pruning back winter shrubs.

1. Set up a water butt to collect April showers: perfect to water the garden during the long, hot summer ahead!
2. Leave daffodils after flowering for at least six weeks before cutting off to allow them to build reserves for next year’s flowering.
3. Harvest asparagus.
4. Watch out for slugs as they love young tender plant shoots. If you use a slug repellent, we’d recommend Advanced Slug Killer as it doesn’t harm the birds and pets.
5. Start mowing and edging the lawn regularly for a really good finish, heighten the cut for the first few cuts.
6. Lay turf: buy the best local turf you can afford, and make sure you prepare the ground well.
7. Apply a general purpose fertiliser around trees and shrubs as the ground warms up and they begin to grow.
8. Prune shrubs after they’ve flowered, such forsythia, ribes, winter flowering heathers and rosemary.
9. Plant tender summer bulbs, such as gladioli, dahlias, begonias, lilies etc.
10. Sow pumpkins, courgettes, runner beans, french beans and sweetcorn into pots indoors.

With thanks to Catherine Cutler, James Clark, Jamie McCormack and Dan Kerins.