It's finally time to start growing fruit and vegetables in your garden!

 

We have put together a short guide to advise you on how to plant each one, which types are the best for April sowing, and what you can do to get the best results. 

Fruit and Vegetables

Aubergines and Tomatoes need a long growing season so don’t leave it any longer to sow these.

 

Check your tomatoes for slugs and bugs and collect them when they have reached a bright red colour all over.

 

To speed up germination you can keep them on a heated propagator, or you can buy them ready to plant from our garden centre.
Beetroot can grow in any fertile well-drained soil and can be potted so are one of the more reliable vegetables to grow yourself.  Beetroot is an easy crop to grow, making it ideal for beginners.
 
Choose varieties that are less prone to bolting as these will tolerate the drier conditions of a pot better than others.
 
Follow the spacing instructions on the packet and thin the seedlings to about 10cm when they are around 3cm high.
 
Harvest them when the beetroots have reached the size of a golf ball.
You can sow carrots on well-prepared soil that’s free of stones or in containers – choose short, round varieties, or harvest longer varieties as baby carrots.

 

At this time of year, it’s a good idea to protect against carrot fly, by putting up a barrier, such as horticultural fleece, around the crop. Find 10 ways to deter carrot fly.
Your crop should be ready to harvest three to four months after sowing.
Courgettes and Cucumbers are known as cucurbits and are best sown in individual 5cm pots, undercover.
 
Plant outside once all risk of frost has passed.
 
Cucumbers give the best results in a greenhouse, check regularly for slugs during its early growing stages.
Lettuce is best sown under cover, in seed trays or modules, and planted out when large enough to handle.
 
This can give them a head start on slugs and snails.
 
Alternatively, sow lettuces in pots, and protect the seedlings using copper tape or by hand-picking slugs and snails when you see them.
Peas are easy to grow and can be harvested early in summer.
 
You can sow them directly outside or start with them inside and plant the plants outside when they are 15cm tall.
 
Alternatively, sow in guttering and then place the whole row of seedlings into a trench when they’re ready.
Potatoes can be planted from March to April with harvesting time ranging from July to October. Potatoes are grown from specially prepared ‘seed’ potatoes (or tubers).

 

These are just like potatoes you buy from the supermarket, but they’re certified virus-free.
 
You can buy seed potatoes from late winter onwards. You then start them off indoors by letting them sprout before they are planted.

Flowers

For poppies in summer and autumn, sow anytime from March to May.
 
A few different types of Poppies can be grown from seed including orange California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), field poppies (Papaver rhoeas), and larger opium poppies (Papaver somniferum).
Cosmos come in a beautiful array of colours and shapes, including perfumed chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) and many cultivars of Cosmos bipinnatus.
 
Early spring is the best time to sow cosmos seeds under cover indoors. They bloom in the earlier months of summer.
 
Alternatively, you can sow cosmos seeds in their flowering position once the soil has warmed up.
Strawberry runners are the perfect plant to sow now in April, they will fruit within a few weeks.
 
Plant them in the ground in rows or in a bespoke ‘strawberry pot’ or hanging basket.
Potted fruit trees and bushes such as currants, gooseberry, fig and citrus trees can be planted at any time of year.
 
Many dwarf fruit trees are suitable for growing in pots – choose a large container and use a soil-based compost.
 
Water the tree more regularly than you would if planting in the ground and top-dress with fresh compost each spring.