April is a month when the garden seems to burst into life. Spring is now well under way, the days are longer and they are often warmer. Sunshine and showers are traditionally the order of play this month, but in recent years, April’s rain has been less dependable, with drier springs. Remember too, cold snaps with frost are still quite likely, so check the forecast regularly if sowing outdoors, or get ahead with sowing seed indoors or under glass.
This is a good time to tidy up the garden, removing any remaining debris from last year and getting borders ready for the season ahead by mulching and positioning plant supports. Prepare outdoor seed beds now before sowing. Weed areas and clearly mark out exactly where you are planting your seeds. Having an idea of the appearance of the leaves of plants you have sown will help to ensure you are removing only newly-germinated weeds… and not your precious seedlings.
To see all seeds that can be sown in April, take a look here.
Top Seeds to Sow in April
Chillies & Tomatoes
If you have not already sown chilli and tomato seeds, April is your last chance to get them started indoors. Unwins Tomato Moneymaker is a reliable choice, producing a heavy crop of tasty fruits.
Choose from a wide range of different tomatoes for tasty, colourful, succulent home-grown salads this summer, or why not give chillies a try?
Easy and entertaining to grow, these increasingly popular and often fiery fruits can be used in many different dishes, and a diverse range is available.
For the brave, try Unwins Chilli Pepper Armageddon F1, or those that prefer a much milder chilli, Unwins Chilli Pepper Sigaretta di Bergamo is a tamer choice.
Beetroot & Carrots
Don’t forget traditional favourites too. Beetroots are among the easiest and most rewarding of crops and can be direct sown outdoors this month.
Quick to grow, they are great to try if you are keen to involve younger gardeners. Unwins Beetroot Chioggia is a quick growing variety and is also suitable for growing in pots if you are short of space!
Carrots make another super choice for growing with children – start them on Little Growers Nantes 2 for a failsafe, crunchy crop. For something a bit more exciting, try a multi-coloured variety such as Unwins Carrot Rainbow Mix F1.
Cosmos
Among the most useful and easiest of summer annuals, cosmos are great for filling gaps in borders or growing in containers – and they will flower all season.
There have been exciting new varieties added in recent years which have widened the range and appeal – for example, there are now selections with pale yellow flowers, or beautiful orange petals such as Unwins Nature's Haven Cosmos Tango Seeds.
To really stand out, grow Unwins Cosmos Cosmonaut, with it's beautiful, pure white flowers.
See our full range of Cosmos seeds here.
Time to Grow Wild
April is a perfect month to plan and direct sow an area of wildflowers in your garden, to boost visits from pollinators and provide beautiful flowers for many weeks in summer.
Choose from plants such as cornflower or corncockle, foxgloves and ox-eye daisy. To learn more about growing plants for pollinators, read here.
There are various wildflower mixes available which provide a meadow-like effect of different blooms in beds and borders. These have been specially curated to provide a perfect mix of wildflowers. Try our Floral Feast Mix, Biodiversity Mix or Butterflies Mix.
Other seeds to sow now
Vegetables
Seeds to sow inside
- Aubergines
- Beans
- Celery
- Courgettes
- Cucumbers
- Marrows
- Pumpkins
- Runner Beans
- Salad Leaves
- Squash
Vegetables
Seeds to sow directly outside
- Leeks
- Parsnips
- Peas
- Radishes
- Spring Onions
Herbs
Seeds to sow inside
- Basil
- Chives
Herbs
Seeds to sow directly outside
- Coriander
- Dill
- Parsley
Flowers
Seeds to sow inside
- Dahlias
- Echinacea
- Lupins
- Nasturtium
- Rudbeckia
- Snapdragons
- Sunflowers
- Zinnias
Flowers
Seeds to sow directly outside
- Eryngium
- Love in a Mist
- Poppies
- Sweet Peas
Caring for Plants
Seedlings of plants sown earlier this the year should be growing-on well and may now be ready for pricking out and potting on. Plants such as tomatoes, chilies, sweet peas, pelargoniums, petunias and cleome sown in February or early March can be carefully lifted from their seed trays and potted into small pots and grown-on somewhere warm and sunny.
Young hardy annuals and biennials from sowings made last autumn such as sweet peas, Digitalis, Cerinthe, Daucus and Ammi will now be in active growth thanks to the lengthening, ever warmer days. They need to be grown-on in preparation for planting out soon from the glasshouse or coldframe.
Pot on and begin feeding plants; ventilate the area well and stand plants outside on sunny days. Sweet peas, which should have been pinched out in January and will now have plenty of side shoots, should be hardened off for planting out mid-month in mild areas.
Harvesting
The first asparagus will be ready for cutting towards the end of this month; cut spears with a sharp knife before they reach 18cm tall.
Purple sprouting broccoli will continue to crop well this month: cut when the flowering shoots are developed but before the tiny flowers open.
Radishes are best harvested young and the first can be ready about 3-4 weeks from sowing, so you can expect some this month if you sowed early to mid March.
Thinking About Next Month
Tender crops such as squash, cucumber, courgette, melons and pumpkins, as well as French and runner beans can be sown in May so now is the chance to buy seed to get on top of sowing.
Late flowering, quick-to-grow annuals are also perfect for sowing in May – sunflowers and nasturtiums are great examples. You can also direct sow Nigella, candytuft and Limnanthes next month to fill gaps left by spring bulbs.