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APRIL
FRUIT
- Early flowering fruits may need protection against frost, protect using Hessian, double thickness nylon, uncover immediately after for pollination to take place.
- Prune gooseberries, red and white currants if they have been left unpruned through the winter because of likelihood of bird damage.
- Prune pyramid plums in their early years
- Hand pollinate wall-trained peach and nectarine flowers; spray over with fine mist to help setting in dry conditions.
- Finish planting raspberries and cut back newly planted can.
- Check state of fruit netting and repair and support.
- Don’t use insecticides during flowering, may kill pollinating insects.Continue spray policy for the likes of scab, aphids, caterpillars, pear midge, mildew, grey mould etc.
- Spray raspberries and blackberries against spur blight.
- Spray for strawberry leaf spot early in the month.
VEGETABLES
- Sow cucumbers, melons and sweet corn in the greenhouse.
LAWNS
- Towards the end of the month is a good time to feed and weed your lawn. i.e. lawn sand, liquid feed.
- Mow often enough to keep lawn under control, do not mow too low i.e. 3/4"-1.1/4" depending on the type of lawn.
- Dig out any patches of coarse grass, fill in the holes with sifted soil and either seed or
turf.
GARDEN
- Plant and support cordon grown sweet peas.
- Prune Hydrangea paniculata.
- Plant summer flowering bulbs i.e. Gladiolus.
- During sunny period hoe weeds.
- Check any tree ties and slacken them if too tight.
- Start hardening off summer bedding plants.
The above helpful advice has been reproduced by kind permission of Will Hart, whose experience includes working for Blackburn Rovers FC (as a groundsman at their Training Ground, Academy and Ewood Park), for the Sultan of Oman (at his French residence in Fontainebleau, south of Paris) at the 1999 Martell Grand National at Aintree and for a variety of different sized local gardens and estates. Impressive credentials I am sure you will agree!
Please visit his site at www.hartgardens.co.uk
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