Gardener's Checklist: What You Need to Do in April in the Garden

Spring! The snow has almost completely melted from the ground, which means the garden season is starting. We head to the countryside, start pulling out our working tools — and get to work. Early spring is a time when gardeners have a lot of tasks.

It's no coincidence that people say: 'April doesn't like the lazy, but loves the active' — it's the first spring affirming month. Garden beds that rested through the winter are beginning to wake up to life, and this is a very labor-intensive period.

This is the perfect time to try to retain moisture, loosen the soil, apply fertilizers, plant or transplant seedlings, and remove dry branches in time while applying protection against pests and diseases. But the most important task right now is to grow good seedlings.

• Remove winter wrapping from garden trees, dispose of dead branches, dried leaves, autumn grass, and remaining vegetation.
• Cut off dead, dry, and broken branches: if pests are found, remove the branches immediately and burn them.
• Best to apply fertilizers on snow still on the ground near the roots of fruit bushes and trees, then cover with black earth, compost or manure. These procedures will make the currant, gooseberry and raspberry bushes grateful.
• Prune blackcurrant, red and white gooseberry.

• Loosen the soil and add complex and mineral feed for perennials around the trunk.
• Clear tree trunks of moss and lichen, and try to fill in large holes and cracks on the bark.
• In mid-April, you can plant seedlings in prepared holes for planting, water them well, and don't forget to tie them to supports.
• Also begin working with strawberry plantings: remove old leaves from the bushes, feed them with complex fertilizer, and cover them with polythene to get a fast berry harvest.

These tasks in the garden should not begin earlier than after all the snow has melted and the soil is completely dry.

• First, loosen the soil to retain moisture and prepare for planting vegetable seedlings.
• Prepare garden beds for various crops, covering them with plastic to keep warmth and moisture.
• At the beginning of April, sow dill, radish, parsley, chives, carrots and other crops, covering them with plastic overnight.
• Start preparing potatoes for planting, about a month before planting, by placing the tubers in a bright location to sprout, avoiding direct sunlight.

• In the greenhouse, you can sow various types of cabbage and aromatic herbs.
• Plant carrots, spinach, turnips, peas, dill, parsnip, radish and parsley directly into the open ground, plant spring garlic and various types of onions.
• Don't forget to harden off seedlings by placing them outdoors, but not in direct sunlight.

• At this time, you also need to plant zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, marrow and early tomatoes so that they can later be planted in the ground.
• On warm, sunny days, take seedlings outdoors to air them out.