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Vegetable Seeds To Sow in April

April welcomes the long-awaited arrival of Spring, and longer daylight hours mean more time to spend in our gardens. The month kickstarts our gardens back into life, with the winning combination of sunshine and showers. If you haven’t started already, now is the perfect time to sow your vegetable seeds. Not sure where to begin? We’ve got you covered in this week’s blog!

Cold Frame

Now that the days are slowly getting longer and warmer, you can begin to plant certain things outdoors in well-prepared soil. You may have started some seedlings in a cold frame (have a read of our previous blog to learn more about this). Once you know that the risk of the last frost is over, you can begin to harden your young seedlings and start their transition to your garden.

The best way to do this is to open your cold frame for a short period, gradually lengthening the time over the course of a few weeks.

As plants acclimate to cooler temperatures, more direct sunlight, and wind exposure, their foliage will often thicken and darken in colour. New growth is also a good sign that the transition is going well and your plants are ready for their final move into your garden.

Make Your Own Potting Soil Mix

Premade compost is so convenient, but we find that sometimes it’s a bit of pot luck! You run the risk of the soil going ‘stale’ and this isn’t going to do your plants any favours. It can be much more economical and time-saving to make your own potting soil mix for your veggies and plants. Take a look at this really informative video below;

Vegetable Seeds To Sow In April

Aubergines, Chillies and Tomatoes: This is really the last chance to sow these veggies, which need a long growing season to do well. We’ve been growing our own chillies and tomatoes here at Rosewood! We began back in February and they’re doing really well…. (seedling update and image).

Spinach: Spinach can be sown directly outside in April, but if it’s still chilly, cover it with fleece. Spinach needs lots of moisture and protection from slugs and snails.

Beetroot: An ideal crop for beginners as it will grow in any fertile, well-drained soil. Beetroot also does well in containers. Follow the spacing on the packet and thin the seedlings to about 10cm when they are around 3cm high. They are ready to harvest when the beetroot has reached a rough golf ball size.

Celeriac: Celeriac needs a long growing season for an autumn/winter harvest, so sow now, undercover. Transfer the seedlings to individual pots when they are large enough to handle. This is the perfect opportunity to use your homemade potting soil!

Potatoes: Easter is the traditional potato planting time. If you read our last blog outlining how to chit potatoes– then you should already be ready and raring to get them in the ground!

Things To Do in The Garden in April

Weed Control: Tackle weeds head on to make room for your prized plants. Certain weeds like the pesky dandelion can be harder to remove, so it’s best to stop them from taking root by surrounding plants with weed-suppressing mulch. Established weeds are best removed by hand with some good old fashioned elbow grease. Our friendly and professional team can help you tackle your weed control, send us a message to get booked in.

Sow new lawns or replace bare patches: Lawns that have developed areas of poor growth, perhaps from physical damage or wear and tear, should be repaired.

Lawns that are mostly weedy or sparse will benefit from a programme of thorough lawn maintenance. If the lawn is really bad, then total re-laying or re-seeding may be necessary. Get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help with your lawn care.

A Note From Us Here At Rosewood

We have some very exciting things happening behind the scenes here at Rosewood. We’ve taken on another full-time gardener named Joe. A welcome addition to our team as we’re really getting busy now. We can’t wait to do a proper introduction, but we thought it best to let him settle in first.

We are also well into the process of having a brand new website. Our team is always out and about making our customer’s gardens look their very best, so we thought that an updated site to show off their garden maintenance skills was well overdue!

In the meantime, you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram for updates.