On the allotment April

March madness and April showers

Seeing all the beautiful spring bulbs starting to pop up in my garden containers and pots is bringing me so much joy after such a difficult year for us all. The little daffodils nodding their heads in the wind and the fresh green onion and garlic shoots are giving me that warm buzz of spring. I’ve seen bees, butterflies and even some birds checking out my nesting boxes, so I’m more than ready for that sunshine to arrive.

It’s time to get ready and start enjoying spring in your gardens and allotments, whether your sowing seeds, mulching borders, potting on seedlings or preparing your soil, I always find these are the busiest months on my gardening calendar.

Sowing seeds

My main job for the end of March into the beginning of April is to sow my seeds and get hundreds of plants ready to fill my beautiful allotment space. If you have prepared the soil on your garden beds, raised bed and allotment beds for growing vegetables you can directly sow the following seeds outside in April. 

Peas

Turnips

Swiss chard

Radish

Lettuce

Spring onions

Rocket

Parsnips

Carrots

Beetroot

If you have an indoor gardening space like a greenhouse or space to sow seeds on your windowsills, now is the perfect time to start off cucumbers, sweetcorn, pumpkins and squash indoors. You may already have sown some tomato, aubergine, chilli and pepper seeds so these seedlings will need potting on into bigger pots.

Pollinator-friendly flowers

If you are looking to fill your garden and pots with beautiful flowers this year, April is a great time to get sowing seeds into propagators or pots on the windowsills. I try to grow as many pollinator-friendly plants as possible in my garden and around my allotment as its incredibly important we encourage these pollinators into our growing spaces. In April I will be sowing the following pollinator friendly flowers.

Single petal dahlia seeds

Zinnias

Cosmos

Borage

Cornflowers

Nasturtiums

Calendula

Delightful dahlias

The single most important job for a fellow dahlia addict like myself is to sort out all my new dahlia tubers. I have around 15 new varieties this year and if you have ordered them online you will receive delivery of them in March and April. When your tubers arrive pop them in a bowl of water to soak them and then pot them up into a large pot with compost.  

Place them in a sunny spot preferably in a cold frame or greenhouse. If you know that overnight it’s going to be frosty, then please bring in your tubers so they are not in the cold. When your dahlias are established and the risk of frost has passed you can plant them out in your garden borders, pots or allotments. [You can watch a video on my Instagram of how to look after your dahlias.]

I hope April brings us glorious sunshine, seedlings popping out of the soil and seeing those all-important spring tulips starting to bloom. Enjoy getting your gardening spaces ready so you can spend summer watching them evolve and bloom.

Kirsty Ward.

Allotment holder and self confessed grow your own addicted, Kirsty Ward from My Little Allotment is passionate about growing food and spreading the word about gardening therapy and its benefits to mental health and wellbeing.