Jobs for the Month: April

You should be well on the way to having all those potatoes in the ground by now, keep the fleece handy though for any cold spells and draw up the soil as needed (this also protects against frost) I plant my spuds in a deep trough and pull the soil down working with gravity!

Sow annuals for companion planting as well as crops, Marigolds, Borage, Limnanthes douglasii (aka Poached Egg Plant) are all great for organic gardeners.

Watch out for slugs, if you can do a few night time patrols of your patch, this will cut down numbers drastically. Nematodes, traps and pellets now will help throughout the oncoming season.

The greenhouse should be your first port of call in the garden; a sunny day can dry out your seed trays surprisingly quickly. If you cannot be assured of always being on hand to water you could use Self Watering Mats  for your seedlings , this will keep things ticking over for several days.


Try not to have overwatered and waterlogged trays or pots though, as you will attract problems including ‘Sciarid fly’ if things are constantly wet. Bear this in mind should we have several grey days consecutively - nothing will mend a yellow root rotted seedling!

Prick out regularly, do not let plants get overly root laden with them sticking right out the bottom of seed trays, trainers and pots, they will be trickier to split up and move. Repotting will cause more stress this way and you will check their growth.

If you cannot prick out regularly try modules, coir, trainers, paper pots, soil blocks or Root Riot.   I was very impressed with these for lettuce but do not let them dry out! Thin the plants to one seedling per compartment. This will save a little effort and time but you still need to be mind full of them outgrowing their allotted space.

Make your way next to the cold frame; open it if it is fair weather and check for slugs and snails in and around pots, modules and dark corners. Be warned, slugs love the gaps between plastic modules!

Open up the frame more and more to acclimatise plants gradually.

Cloching future growing areas in beds ready for tender crops is a good idea, as this will keep them growing without too much of a check from cold when planted out.

Keep a check on protected plants in your beds next, have they got plenty of room, re peg any windblown coverings and during sunny days take off any ‘Sweaty’ condensation covered cloches if at all possible or prop them up so there is a gap underneath, but remember to replace in the evening!

If the spells of sun increase but you still seek night time protection and cannot be dashing round a garden to pull off sweaty cloches try Eco-Green. This works well especially in the early spring when April can be quite fickle weather wise.


Keep on sowing, inside and out: beetroots, carrots, berbs, legumes, brassicas... the list is almost endless.

Later this month I will sow squash and runner bean plants too - I'll let you know how I get on. Till then...