April Gardening Chores

By Cathrine St Clair

Gardening chores in April often make me think “Ahhh... It’s time to do ALL the things!” Sometimes the April tasks list can be quite overwhelming, especially since I’ve started waiting to do garden clean-up till spring in order to create better wildlife habitat over winter.

So for me the key is to stay calm, pace myself and remember to stop and enjoy the view. Gardening is supposed to be a fun stress reliever. Do what you can and enjoy the process.

Here are a few tasks to think about.

Once days are consistently above 50 degrees, you can tackle bed clean-up in earnest. Concentrate on early bloomers and clearing residue away from bulbs first. Trim off tattered foliage from plants that are semi-evergreen to showcase new foliage and flowers (like Hellebores, Epimedium, and Pulmonaria). This is much easier before there is a lot of new growth. Also trim back grasses before they start growing if you have not already done so. One of the advantages of waiting till spring to do clean-up is that sometimes the spent stalks and foliage of perennials break or pull from the plant easily, no cutting required.

As summer and fall blooming perennials emerge, it’s a great time to divide them and spread them around. It is also a good time to relocate self-sown volunteers, taking a bit of soil along with the root system.

Spent perennial stems and leaves can be added to compost piles; although you may want to exclude the seed heads of vigorous seeders (like Rudbeckia). This may mean making room in your compost pile (another chore - I know, but keep making that black gold).

You can still prune paniculata and arborescens type hydrangea – but not macrophylla or quercifolia – doing so will remove blossoms. Confusing? Here is more info on hydrangea pruning.

It’s time to prune roses, butterfly bush and Clematis before there is too much new growth. Clematis are pruned based on their group. More information on pruning Clematis here.

If you have perennials that need support (ahem...Peonies...), it is often easier to install the support now before growth begins.

Cool season vegetables can be planted but be sure to harden off seedlings before planting. You can also direct seed things like beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, scallions, arugula, mustard greens, bok choy, and peas. If you are feeling lucky, you can gamble on an early crop of snap beans by seeding them mid-month. Otherwise wait till May. It is still too early to plant the heat lovers like tomatoes, peppers and squashes.

Get those birdhouses in place and cleaned out for new tenants.

And then there are the weeds... Lesser Celandine, Hairy Bittercress, Creeping Charley, Garlic Mustard... oh my. Well, you know what to do with those...