If April means spring to you; get out your gardening tools and get moving with our April gardening tips. A successful garden begins with good soil. Organic material is important to soil composition. It helps with drainage and increases the microbe population. Expanded shale is used to break up hard compacted clay soils. Top dress your flower beds and containers with organic mulches.
Hopefully, by April, you have your tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other warm-season vegetables already planted; if not get them in the ground right away. To get the highest yields, make additions of fertilizer every couple of weeks, starting about a month after transplanting or seeding.
Here are a few tasks for the month of April.
- Fertilize trees. You should make holes at least 4 feet from the base of the tree. The holes should be approximately 18” deep, and 2-3 feet apart. Once you made your holes, pour 2 cups of tree and shrub fertilizer in. Your trees will benefit from this planned nourishment for 6-9 months.
- Fertilize seasonal flowers. Practice broadcasting by the handful from a bucket. Spread the granules in an evenly distributed pattern. Make sure the flowers are not wet so that the granules don’t stick to the leaves or flowers. Brush off any granules that did not fall to the ground.
- Want to attract more wildlife? Butterfly lovers should plant milkweed. Butterflies love to eat the leaves & will purposely come to lay their eggs. Hummingbirds love the fire bush plant. This is a fairly large plant with red tubules that hold nectar.
- Trim shrubs and hedges to maintain their shape and appearance.
- Cut rose flowers that are spent to promote new stem, leaf & bud formations. Pruning brings new life, so don’t be afraid to cut.
- Inspect crape myrtles, hibiscus plants, and azaleas for insects. Crape myrtle trees get aphids, which leave shiny, wet-looking clear exudates on leaves. Hibiscus gets whitefly, which feeds on the leaves. The azaleas are prone to lace bugs, which suck sap from the leaves. We recommend using Malathion to spray for these insects.
- Inspect fruit trees for sap that is bleeding from the bark due to borers. You can use a systemic chemical to douse the tree’s roots for absorption into the entire plant.
- Spray all shrubs with insecticide as a preventative measure
- Apply new mulch around plants, shrubs, and trees if needed. This will help preserve moisture and keep down weeds.
- Take care of your lawn by removing all leaves, and then fertilize with a slow-release fertilizer. Mow your lawn on a regular basis, to recommended heights.
- Ensure your lawn and garden receives 1 inch of rainwater per week. An easy way to check this is to set out an empty tuna can to measure the rain.
Do our April Gardening Tips make you want to plant? Shop Berend Bros. locations in Wichita Falls, Bowie, Olney, Windthorst, and Megargel for all your garden needs.