Zone 6 & 7 Garden Tasks for April

April is finally here, and so is much warmer weather. Spring is well under way at this point and things should be greening up around your garden and yard. We're still at risk for frost, freezes and even the occasional snow storm, but overall, it's obvious things are warming up. If you're wondering what to focus on this month in the garden, read on below!

SPRING BLOOMS

This is the month spring blooms such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, and other spring bulbs start  popping up everywhere. If you have flowering trees, they'll be in full bloom mid-month, and, depending on the year, you may also have lilacs and snowball trees in bloom near the end of the month. It's a beautiful sight after the stark landscape of winter. Mother Nature puts on quite a show.

OUTDOOR & INDOOR PLANTING

By now, you should be ready to grow cool weather crops, and may have planted them in March if the weather allowed. You will want to add compost to your garden to give it a boost of nutrients, and then continue outdoor sowing of your cool-season crops including beets, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, lettuces, cabbage, carrots, radishes, etc. Thin the seedlings after they've emerged. If you have issues with small rodents, cats or birds getting into your garden while it's still young, add bird netting to protect it. Any cool weather seedlings that you started indoors can be planted out this month after hardening them off.

Start tomato seeds indoors early in the month, so they will be ready for our mid to late May outdoor planting date.  Once they're big enough, on warmer days (above 50°F), start setting out tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings to begin hardening them off.

Now's a great time to plant wildflower seeds, depending on the variety. Check your seed packet, you may be able to sprinkle them outside and have blooms by summer!

FIRST HARVESTS

Depending on when/what you planted, and how your weather has been, you may begin getting early harvests by the end of the month. Make something delicious with your fresh spring harvests!

GARDEN MAINTENANCE

Continue cleaning up your garden by raking up old leaves, removing dead parts of perennials from last year, and/or pruning anything you didn't deadhead last fall. If you have perennials that have gotten too crowded, you can divide them and re-plant.

Berry bushes should be leafing out by now, and you may even see the first buds forming for their blossoms.

SOAK UP THE SPRING SUN

If the weather allows, I also recommend taking some time to soak up the warm sun on sunny days (with sunscreen!). Go for a hike, read a book outside, work in the yard, visit a public garden. These are the first legitimately warm days we'll have this year, and the energy from it will give you a boost from the long cold dreary winter days we've endured for months.

To see in-depth breakdowns of each month's tasks, click below.

January // February // March // April // May // June // July
August // September // October // November // December // Full Year

Use the Zone 7 Planting Calendar to stay on track of when to plant your veggies!

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