Spring is the perfect time to turn your attention to your garden. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a green-fingered pro, sowing seeds is easy and rewarding. But success lies in following the seasonal planting schedule, which is why it’s important to know exactly what you should plant in April.
“April is a busy time for gardeners, the temperatures are starting to warm up, and the light levels have increased,” says Dr Anton Rosenfeld, research manager at charity Garden Organic. While for Chauntelle Lewis, founder of sustainably-led initiative The Barefoot Planter, “April is still a crucial planning, preparation and planting month in the edible gardening world.”
With so much choice at the garden centre, knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. To make things easier, we’ve done the groundwork and spoken to the experts, including RHS chief horticulturist Guy Barter, about what to plant in April. From ornamental blooms to homegrown edibles, read on for your essential guide to sowing and planting this month.
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Ornamental
“April is peak time for alpine plants,” says RHS chief horticulturist Guy Barter. He says to consider Arabis ‘little treasure deep rose’, “a creeping little evergreen plant suited to walls, raised beds and containers bearing masses of rose-pink flowers for weeks in spring”.
According to Barter, “spring bulbs, daffodils, tulips and more are deservedly popular, but summer bulbs are often overlooked”.
The RHS chief horticulturist says Gladioli are “back in fashion” and are best planted now for “summer spikes of flowers and swordlike green leaves”. Gladiolus ruby, for example, can grow to 80cm with red, darker-centred flowers. Barter’s tip? “Keep some corms back to plant in three weeks – these will flower after the first planting”.
“Evergreen shrubs are the most useful garden plant giving winter greenery and are very low maintenance,” explains Barter.
The RHS chief horticulturist recommends the Choisya × dewitteana White Dazzler, which flowers in late spring and often again in late summer. “Not only are the masses of white flowers sweetly scented, but the foliage has a pleasing aroma too,” Guy explains.
“Penstemon are, arguably, the best late summer flower, slug resistant and adored by insects,” says Barter. “Penstemon raven grows to 80cm tall bearing many spikes of deep purple long bell-like flowers with red and white striped ‘throats’ through July, August and into September, if you snip off spikes that have finished flowering.”
Horticulturist and gardening commentator Martyn Cox puts the Allium ‘bubble bath’ forward for you to plant in April. “Most alliums tend to flower between late spring and early summer, but this produces a succession of lavender coloured, pompom-like blooms from June until September,” he explains.
“We’re big fans of this multi-functional trailing edible flower,” says Chauntelle Lewis, founder of sustainably-led initiative The Barefoot Planter. “The whole plant is edible, from the leaves, perfect in salads when harvested young, to the vibrant flowers as a garnish and the seeds which can be pickled as capers. It’s often used as a sacrificial pest deterrent from main crops, so always check the stems and leaves before.”
“This perennial provides a muscular presence, growing to around 1.5m in height and producing a constant flurry of pollinator-friendly, dark purple flowers from early summer until the first frosts of autumn,” says Cox.
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Edible plants
“Kate is pretty flexible – it can be sown any time from now and will give good harvests over the summer and autumn,” says Dr. Anton Rosenfeld, research manager at Garden Organic. “I like the variety Red Russian, which has very pretty flat purple/green dissected leaves. The smaller leaves are delicious raw in salads. I’ve also found that flat leaf varieties of kale are less likely to attract aphids and whitefly than the curly-leaved varieties.”
Rosenfeld also recommends glasshouse cucumbers for April. “I like to grow the variety National Pickling. It produces lots of small, really tasty crunchy little cucumbers which are much more flavoursome than the large supermarket varieties.”
“The mighty spud is our first choice and beginner-friendly,” says Lewis. “Note that the vegetable itself is the seed. If you’ve ever left potatoes on the kitchen counter and noticed shoots sprouting, that’s the growing process called ‘chitting’ in action!
“Those shoots, known as ‘eyes’, will develop into new potatoes and multiply as the plant matures. This step can be skipped, but chitting gives your potatoes a head start before they go in the ground.”
‘Marvel of 4 seasons is a brilliant lettuce variety to sow all year,” according to Rosenfeld. “It’s a good, tasty all round butterhead lettuce with a bit more crunch to its beautiful red and green leaves. It doesn’t bolt too quickly in the summer, which is a real bonus.”
“These deep-rooted crops pair well with shallow-rooted vegetables that won’t compete for growing space,” says Lewis. “Sow radishes directly in gaps as a fast-germinating option perfect for intercropping, or swap for lettuce if radishes aren’t your thing”. After that, a succession can be sown every two weeks to keep harvests coming.
“Pungent scents from onions and garlic work well to repel aphids and beetles, so why not add both?,” says Lewis.
Cox recommends planting the ‘Chioggia’ beetroot in April. “Developed in the market gardens around Venice in the early 19th century, this is a must-grow beetroot for its pink roots that when cut open reveal a target-like pattern of pink and white concentric rings,” the horticulturist explains.
Cox also puts the Toscana strawberry forward for planting in April. He explains: “Apart from delivering a flurry of super sweet, conical berries from June until October, this everbearing strawberry bucks the trend for plants to turn out white flowers, by bearing eye-catching, dark pink flowers.”
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