April Gardening Guide

What to Do in the Garden in April

April sees the gardening season really begin.

The brighter mornings and evenings, warmer weather, and (hopefully) less rain means we can begin planting outside and sitting/dining outside too.

It’s time to start thinking about summer, how you want to enjoy your garden, and what you want out of it. It is the last opportunity to get things ready if planning ahead.

These are the jobs for April.

 

April Gardening Jobs

 

1. Repair/lay turf

If your grass is looking a bit worse for wear after a harsh winter, start the reparations or replacements now.

Before you use any gardening tools, it’s really important that you wear the correct PPE. Eye protection, safety boots and gloves are essential and we’d also recommend using ear defenders, and any PPE you do require can be purchased from Speedy.

For the irreparable areas of grass, hire a turf cutter to remove the damaged clod, before laying new turf.

If you think it is saveable, hire a grass scarifier and an aerator to remove dead thatch and increase airflow to the roots, before sowing grass seed and using some lawn feed.

 

 

Removing the moss and weeds using a scarifier is really important for a healthy-looking lawn too, as it gives the lawn a chance to breathe for the first time since winter.

Hopefully, the lawn will be thriving in a month or so, ready to enjoy in summer.

 

2. Cut back problem weeds

Hire a brush cutter to cut back any problem weeds, such as nettles and brambles, which will have had a real growth spurt over winter and maybe a bit out of control.

A brush cutter will get the job done quicker and easier than manual shears and will allow you to be ruthless and cut everything right back.

Wear PPE (eye protection, work gloves, work boots, breathing protection) when operating brush cutters. Check no animals are using the areas as shelter or nesting before you start the job, and go slow and steady so you don’t place too much strain on the brush cutter blade.

 

3. Check your guttering

All that wind, rain, and fallen leaves will have given your guttering a bit of a battering.

While you may be lucky and have not had any detrimental fall-out from damaged guttering, you want to check it now to see if any repairs need to be carried out.

At the very least, your guttering will need to be cleaned to remove debris. Remember that any showers we get in April can be quite heavy and come out of nowhere, so you want to be prepared.

Wear PPE when cleaning the guttering. This includes eye protection, work gloves, and clothing to cover bare skin, to protect from any flying debris.

Hire a one-man access tower so you have a safe, stable height platform to work from. A pressure washer can help blast a mass of debris out of the guttering, but you may just need a small brush and shovel if there doesn’t seem to be much to clear.

Remember to check the guttering on your greenhouse and shed, too. If you don’t have any guttering here, it is worth installing some and collecting the rainwater in a water butt for summer flowers.

 

4. Clean your greenhouse

You may have done this in March, but if not, this is the month you will start to use your greenhouse.

So, put that hired pressure washer to good use and clean the glass and floor in your greenhouse too. Just remember to use the lowest possible pressure washer setting on glass, and if you’re concerned, use a hose or manual window cleaner instead.

This will allow as much light and heat into the greenhouse as possible, which will help your seedlings get the best start.

Keep the doors and windows of your greenhouse open to allow airflow until the plants are in there.

 

5. Get sowing

There’s a range of things you can sow in April:

• Sweet peas
• Quick-growing microgreens, such as kale and mustard
• Herbs, such as chives, basil, parsley, and coriander, in small pots or trays
• Outdoor varieties of tomatoes and chillies in pots
• Runner and French beans
• Cucumbers
• Courgettes
• Pumpkins
• Sweetcorn

It is really important to keep everything you sow in pots indoors until shoots appear and the final frost has passed.

Now is also a good time to get those raised beds built if you haven’t already.

Remember to keep shoots safe from slugs and snails. Some tips could be:

• Line pots with mesh or fabric before sowing seedlings, so slugs can’t gain entry to the bottom plot holes
• Create slug predator-friendly areas for hedgehogs and birds
• Water plants in the morning so they aren’t attracted to damp soil at night
• Utilise sharp, uncomfortable borders, such as gravel or bark
• If in pots, double-sided sticky tape lined with salt is ideal, as is petroleum jelly, around the rim
• Manually pick off slugs you find at night. Wear gloves

 

 

CAN I HIRE GARDENING TOOLS?

Speedy Hire, the UK's leading tool hire company, have a range of landscape gardening tools and equipment available for hire nationwide.

Choose from brush cutters, chipper shredders, lawnmowers, scarifiers, hedge trimmers, and leaf blowers – we have gardening equipment throughout the year.

Speedy has more than 200 local service centres across the nation, hire counters in selected B&Qs and nationwide 4-hour delivery. It has never been easier to transform your garden.

You’ll find all the tools you need right here. Why not open a Speedy account online or visit us in your local depot to start hiring today?

 

Ready for more Gardening DIY tips and ideas?

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