April is a busy and exciting month in the garden as spring takes hold and plants burst into growth. With longer days and warmer temperatures, now is the perfect time to get your garden in shape for the season ahead. From planting and pruning to lawn care and pest control, here are the key gardening tasks to tackle in April.
Prune & Cut Back
Spring is the ideal time to tidy the garden and prepare plants for the growing season. Deadhead spring bulbs such as daffodils and tulips once they have finished flowering, leave the foliage to die back naturally to feed the bulbs for next year.
Trim shrubs and hedges using Kent & Stowe SureCut Hedge Shears to maintain shape and encourage healthy growth. Avoid cutting back spring-flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed.
Prune roses with Eversharp secateurs to remove dead or weak stems and promote strong, healthy growth for the coming season.
Lawn Care
April marks the start of regular lawn maintenance as the grass grows more quickly. Begin mowing, keeping the mower blades at a medium height to avoid stressing the lawn.
Apply a spring lawn feed like Westland SafeLawn to give your grass the nutrients it needs for lush, green growth.
If your lawn has compacted areas, aerate them using the Kent & Stowe Lawn Aerator to improve drainage and encourage healthy root development. Overseed bare patches using a rake, such as the Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel Soil Rake, to gently prepare the soil before seeding.
Planting Up
April is a key month for planting and sowing. Sow hardy annuals such as poppies, cornflowers, and marigolds directly into borders for vibrant summer colour.
The Kent & Stowe Capability Trowel is perfect for precision planting as well as several other tasks around the garden. This trowel can endure many gardening tasks with its multitude of functions. It features a hammer for hammering canes and posts, as well as a serrated edge for weeding and opening compost bags. Its pointed tip is ideal for penetrating tough soils. Perfect for planting, digging, and transplanting in a variety of soil types with absolute precision.
Plant summer-flowering bulbs like lilies, gladioli, and dahlias using a bulb planter to make the job easier. Start vegetable planting by sowing seeds of carrots, lettuce, spinach, and beetroot outdoors, while tender crops like tomatoes and courgettes can be started indoors. Use the Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel Hand Fork to loosen soil and remove weeds as you plant.
This is also the perfect time to divide and replant perennials to reinvigorate overcrowded plants and create more for other areas of the garden. A Kent & Stowe Perennial Spade offers you an easy way to divide plants due to its sharper and narrower blade compared with a traditional digging spade. As perennials are also more sensitive to disturbance, this spade will help you minimise root damage during transplanting.
Weed Control
April is the perfect time to get on top of weeding in the garden before unwanted plants take hold. With rising temperatures and increased rainfall, weeds begin to grow rapidly, competing with flowers, vegetables, and shrubs for nutrients and space. Hand-pulling weeds while the soil is moist makes removal easier, ensuring roots are fully extracted to prevent regrowth. Use a weeding tool like the oscillating hoe that can help tackle persistent, stubborn weeds as the sharp-edged blade will easily sever weeds from underneath the soil surface. You can even use it on gravel!
Applying a layer of mulch after weeding can also suppress new weed growth, keeping your garden beds tidy and reducing the need for future maintenance.
For lawn weeds, a corkscrew weeder is great for removing dandelions. Simply place over a weed and twist until the corkscrew as reached its maximum depth. You then pull the weed out with its entire root.
Refresh Outdoor Spaces
As the garden comes back to life, take the time to refresh outdoor spaces. Clean patios, decking, and garden furniture to remove dirt and algae, making your outdoor space more inviting. Use a patio weeder to remove moss and weeds from patio slabs which allows you to target weeds with precision getting into narrow gaps to remove both the weed and its roots.
