April Greenhouse Gardening in the UK...

The Greenhouse Gardener's Diary - April

The greenhouse can be quite full during the month of April, there are seeds to be sown, seedlings to repot, young plants to harden off, and cuttings to be took.

April is the time to:

Sow:

• Sweetcorn
• Herbaceous plants
• Ridge cucumbers
• Early batches of Primula seeds

Harden off :

• Seedlings that are to be planted at the end of the month

Plant out :

• Tomatoes sown in January

Things to do:

- Ventilate when strong sunshine sends the temperatures rising

- February or March sown cucumbers should be planted out into a made up frame or bed in the greenhouse. Tie a small stake to each plant

- Take leaf cuttings of Begonias

- Prick out any seedlings that are large enough to handle. Place into individual pots or sow several at a time in boxes

- Repot late flowering chrysanthemums and perpetual flowing carnations which were raised from cuttings. Keep them growing slowly, and shade them from bright sunshine

- Take cuttings of dahlias and insert them round the edges of small pots filled with sandy compost

- Leave dahlia tubers in moist peat to produce more growth if more cuttings are required

- To produce flowers during the winter, sow early batches of Primula sinensis, Primula obconica and Primula kewensis. Maintain a temperature of 16 °C. keep pots covered until after germination