What Should A Gardener Remember To Do In April? Garden And Vegetable Garden Work. Photo

Probably the main sign of April in most of the country is the opening of rivers from ice. This is a powerful, spectacular, touching process on streams, and a majestic process on large rivers, after which it immediately becomes clear: well, everything, spring has come! Unfortunately, most gardeners have such a busy month in April that there is often simply no time to admire from the heart the overwhelming power of the awakening water. Nature is waking up and in a hurry to live. Gardeners have too much to do. There will be an article about what and where not to forget to do.

Content:

• About seedlings
• April work in the beds
• Gardening concerns
• Ornamental garden care

About seedlings

In April, most of the seedlings move to greenhouses or hotbeds. In the southern regions - in early April, in the more northern - at the end. It seems that having got rid of all this lush greenery at home and continuous watering, picking, supplementary lighting, rearrangements from place to place, you can finally relax and get out!

Gardeners are incredibly happy about this moment, but not for long. In a day or two, the fate of the planted seedlings no longer seems as rosy as before. Questions begin to torment: will it freeze or not; will it burn or not?

For peace of mind, it is advisable to stock up on additional covering and shading materials in advance. Nevertheless, our forecasts for 5 days are quite realistic. And it is better to additionally cover the seedlings with breathable covering materials during a cold snap - it certainly won't be worse! By the way, covering material will also save you from excessive heat in the greenhouse. And it will save you from light stress: there was no such insolation at home.

In most of the country, in April, different types of cabbage can be planted for seedlings in a greenhouse or greenhouse. In the south, it is already planted in the ground.

Who did not have time in March, it is not too late to plant annual flowers for seedlings: carnations, levkoi, marigolds, nasturtium, purslane, ageratum and others - whoever likes what.

In April, in the south - at the beginning of the month, in the middle lane and in Siberia - at the end of the month, you can sow cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, watermelons and melons for seedlings. Living in the Khabarovsk Territory, we tried to plant pumpkin seedlings in the last week of the month, so that they could germinate and grow stronger with hot central heating batteries.

For those who were too early to germinate tubers, bulbs and rhizomes in March, April is the right time. We examine gladioli, cannes, calla lilies, dahlias, potatoes, sweet potatoes, treat them if necessary, germinate them. What we have bought, and it is still too early to plant, we also grow at home or in a greenhouse.

Well, and the plants that were stored all winter in the basement, it's time to pull out into the light. They are usually all awake already. The best place for them is a shady one with a temperature of about 10 degrees.

April work in the beds

Preparing the beds

Spring is spring, and frosts in April are quite normal. Those who could not get to the beds in March, in April, can do the procedure of warming-freezing the soil to destroy annual weeds.

Preparing the beds is one of the main concerns in April. If the ridges are fenced, it is necessary to check both the fence itself and the fastening, if necessary, repair it.

It is time to form the beds, which are made on the plowed area. The earth needs to “settle down” so as not to injure or disorient the roots of plants in the process of settling.

What to sow in the ground in April?

Those who have prepared the beds can sow radishes, lettuce, herbs and plant garlic and onions. It is good to plant greens and radishes at several times, once a decade, for fresh consumption.

Almost everywhere you can sow carrots, parsley, parsnips. Crops are cold-hardy and slow-witted, early sowing will free up time in the hotter season.

It's also time to sow perennials into the ground: mint, lemon balm, catnip, sage, oregano, hyssop, marjoram, perennial onions of all kinds. It is better to plant mint, lemon balm and catnip separately, in an isolated and fenced place - they are very creeping.

April is the best time for green manure. Immediately after the snow melts, it is a good idea to scatter phacelia or mustard seeds over the beds, roll them a little - let the weeds grow and drown out. By the time the seedlings are planted, there will be ready-made mulch and green fertilizer. Uncut green manure can at first serve as a shelter from the sun and wind for freshly planted seedlings.

Garden strawberry care

Processing strawberry beds in early spring is mandatory, but it has significant differences depending on the region and the views of the gardener. Where it is covering, on a cloudy, quiet day, you need to open it and let it breathe, get comfortable within a week. Further, it’s as usual for someone: someone cuts dry leaves in the spring, someone has them cut in the fall, someone does not cut at all, but rakes in the spring. You can simply sweep a bed with strawberries sitting on black covering material …

And you need to feed. Again, depending on the beliefs of the owner: you can pour ashes, or you can feed them with mineral water. And take away excess water, if for some reason it appears in the strawberry zone.

In the Kuban, on clay soil, garden and forest strawberries grow best on a slope, normally surviving both heat and drought, and less than half of the bushes remain on a raised bed in a hollow in the spring.

It's a good idea to make one bed with early strawberries super early - set arcs, cover with foil. The same is true in beds with perennial and annual greenery.

Potatoes

In the southern regions of the country, the time for planting potatoes is suitable. In the more northern ones, it still germinates.

Gardening concerns

Well, in April, for sure all the gardens thawed out. Because where there is still snow, there are usually no gardens. In places where there are fruits in a covering culture, on a cloudy, quiet day, the shelter must be removed so that the trees breathe and get used to it. You need to whitewash almost immediately, because the unexpectedly peeping sun can damage the bark. And, if we are already dealing with wood, then you can immediately carry out spring sanitary pruning - cut dry, broken branches, as well as inwardly directed crowns and lower ones, strongly shaded.

Shrubs also open, give the opportunity to straighten up. Trim visible damage. For those who have already been opened and cut off, treat them from pests. If the currants are sick with powdery mildew, spray with "Fitosporin".

In those regions where pruning, processing of trunks and installation of trapping belts is a passed stage, you need to prepare for flowering. Chemical control advocates spray the garden with insecticides and fungicides. Organists set up light traps, plant trunks with useful plants, and spray them with soap-ash-phytoncidal solutions.

Grapes require special care; in most of the country, this culture requires special care and is grown in a cover culture. The procedure is somewhat different: open it for a day or two for airing, then in cloudy weather remove the shelter, let it get used to it for a week, then fix it on the support. You can cut in the spring, but he "cries" a lot, so depending on the situation and pity.

Planting bought in April, on the one hand, is a balm for the soul of a gardener - there is so much! And on the other hand, there is a lot of additional work (planting holes, fertile soil mixed with sand or peat or something else, pruning, garter, whitewashing) and, most importantly, where to plant all this ?! But here it is necessary to somehow get out.

By the way, the sun is bright in spring, temperature drops can be large and it would be nice to protect young seedlings. We have taken root protection with a thin covering material. We make a hut, open on the north side, and the seedling is mastered in a new place for a couple of weeks without unnecessary stress.

In April, it is not too late to plant trees with cuttings, if there is a desire to add variety to the fruit part of the garden, if there is already no room for new plantings.

And it's not too late to install birdhouses and titmouses!

Ornamental garden care

In April, shelters are also completely removed from everything decorative, packed for the winter. Again, on a quiet, cloudy day - you don't need to scare the plants with the sun right away, let them get used to the fact that there is light at all. When you get used to it - open, cut, process.

Ornamental shrubs uncut in March require shaping, not all, of course, but only those that bloom in summer and autumn. Spring-flowering plants are cut off at the end of flowering.

A common April mistake of gardeners is the desire to put things in order on the site as quickly as possible: cut off dry stems of ornamental plants, rake foliage, and clear the ground. Don't rush! April, for all its spring uniqueness, can also unexpectedly throw frosts. Moreover, with such a strange forecast issued by the Hydrometeorological Center.

Young seedlings exposed unexpectedly to the sun, wind and temperature changes can suffer. Especially if they, like lilies, carry flower buds at the top. Although frostbitten or sunburned leaves do not add decorative effect to any plant.

But the lawn needs to be cleaned, raked up the old grass, sowed in bald spots, let it be repaired. Moreover, you can sow a blooming (for example, Moorish) lawn on a plain green lawn - there will be an exclusive design.

April usually pleases with the flowering of primroses in the middle lane, but this year, in accordance with a strange forecast, it will probably please in the north of the European part and in western Siberia. Due to the abnormally warm (+26 degrees!) Early spring, our primroses in the Kuban, together began to bloom in early March and fell under the frost that followed the warming down to -7 ° С. I had to cover the hyacinths, they look very unpresentable after freezing. The daffodils were killed, but they woke up, recovered, got up and did not lose their decorativeness.

Ornamental planting of newly acquired plants requires special care: grown, sprouted plants can be placed in a greenhouse before planting in the ground, but do not forget about shading. As soon as the air temperature permits, land on a permanent place and shelter from the sun and wind for a week and a half, according to the weather.

All plantings in the garden should be marked somehow. I think many have come across a situation when, when planting a new plant, something previously planted is undermined, trimmed and trampled. Now there are many different labels on sale, you can choose the right ones. If there is a desire, unoccupied children and a creative streak, it is good to make markers yourself. The main requirement is that they must be visible. In our country, in the conditions of wildly growing from April to October grass and a still young garden, these are high "flags" of catchy neon colors. Otherwise, something could be damaged during mowing.

Dear gardeners! I would like to advise you to photograph your garden at different stages. Not only in bloom. Photos will show how the garden looks at different times and how it can be improved. For example, how to form the crown of a tree or shrub - in the leafless state, this is better seen. In early spring, panoramic shots will show where the water stagnates, how the plants come out after wintering: if the same ones are planted in different parts of the garden, you can compare. Take pictures and put them in separate folders by year. Helps a lot.