Gardening calendar April 2020
It's the middle of autumn and the best time to plant pretty much anything (but tropicals) while the soil is still warm and rain is supplying moisture. Autumn is also particularly good to get citrus trees.
Planting
Soil
- Enrich soil before planting with Bailey Soil Improver Plus and Baileys Soil Matters Clay & Compost. Designed for sandy soils, Clay & Compost permanently improves nutrient and water holding capacity by combining quality organic compost, aged chicken manure, rock minerals and kaoline clay. This will help your new editions establish well before the cooler months.
- Prepare planting soil for deciduous fruit trees and roses for winter planting.
Flowers & Ornaments
- Tulip planting time is now till the end of May.
- Sow poppy, Forget Me Not, calendula, lobelia and delphinium seeds. Sow everlasting seed by the handful after first rains for a blast of spring colour.
- Plant or pot up pansies, violas, polyanthus, cineraria for cool season colour. Use Baileys Premium Potting Mix.
- It is time to pot up cyclamen from last season. Use a top quality free draining potting mix like Baileys Premium Potting Mix and be careful to position the corm so that it is half in the soil and half out.
Vegetables & Herbs
- In the vegetable garden its planting time as the early rains promise to take care of watering. Plant all members of the onion tribe including shallots, leeks, chives, onions, spring onions and garlic. The cabbage family is huge particularly when you add in the Oriental types. All can be planted now so don't forget pak choi, mibuna, mizuna, Wong Bok, broccoli, cabbage , Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and so on. Also lettuce, silver beet, Swiss chard, English spinach, peas, broad beans turnip, Swede, carrots, Florence fennel, endive, kohlrabi, beetroot and potatoes.
- Use individual cloves of garlic for planting. These bulbs can be planted about 5cm deep pointy end up in a well-draining, organic rich soil and a sunny spot. They take 6-8 months or more to mature.
- Rhubarb crowns can be lifted, divided and replanted into rich soil for another year of growth and productivity.
Fruits
- Get citrus trees started while soil is warm and rain is imminent. The choice of different varieties is very good at this time of the year.
Pot Plants
- If your outdoor space is limited, bring the garden inside by potting up some indoor plants. The variety in most nurseries now is fantastic. Use Baileys Indoor Premium Potting Mix.
