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Jobs to do in April

Get your seedlings into the great outdoors
Now that your veg seedlings are getting bigger it’s time to start planting them out

After carefully sowing your seeds over the past couple of months you should now have lots of healthy young seedlings that are ready to take the next step. Here’s how to make sure you give them the best start in life.

When to plant out
All plants are different, however there are a few key points to look for which will help you recognise when they are ready to plant out:

Size: Once a plant has grown wider and about twice as tall as the pot it’s in it will be struggling for water. You might notice that it dries out more quickly as the plant is taking up water faster and more moisture is being lost through its larger leaves.

Soil: After around eight weeks the plant will have used up most of the goodness in a small pot of compost and its growth may start to slow down.

Roots: Gently holding the plant upside down with the stem between your fingers you can remove the pot and examine the roots.
If they’re starting to go round and round the edge of the pot then the plant is in danger of becoming pot-bound and indicates that it needs more space to grow.

Leaves: If leaves curl, droop or lose their normal vigorous green colour then it’s an indication that the plant needs to move on. Yellowing leaves indicate severe nutrient deficiency and you really need to transplant the seedling well before this occurs.

As soon as you see any of these signs you know it’s time to transplant your young plant out if the conditions are right, or to re-pot it into a larger pot with fresh nutrient-rich compost until it’s ready to plant out.


Are the conditions right?
Sadly Mother Nature isn’t always in tune with when our seedlings need to be transplanted out. These are the factors you need to consider before moving your young plants out of the safety of your shed or greenhouse:

Temperature: Extremes of temperature are bad for delicate young plants, so avoid planting out on bright sunny days as the clear skies often cause the temperature to plummet at night. Choose an overcast day when the temperature range is smaller.
Wind and weather: Plants raised indoors won’t have toughened up to the movement of air outside. Avoid planting out on windy days, or put up windbreaks around freshly transplanted seedlings if you’re in an exposed area.
Heavy, waterlogged soil: Don’t plant out if your soil is waterlogged, especially if you have clay soil, as this will deprive the roots of the air they need and tends to keep the soil temperature too low.

Pests: Spring means lots of hungry young birds. Protect seedlings with fleece, netting or cloches.


How to harden off
Young seedlings need a little time and help to get used to the great outdoors before you put them into the ground. Hardening off isn’t difficult to do, but it could be a matter of life or death for your seedlings. Hardening off simply means getting your seedlings used to the outdoors gradually, giving them a little more exposure to wind, sun and temperature variations each day until they’re ready to be planted out. Find a sheltered spot for hardening off out of the wind and partly shaded – a north-facing covered porch or a cold frame with an adjustable lid is ideal. Start by giving the seedlings an hour or two of sunlight each day then increase this by another hour or so each day until they’re enjoying the same amount of sun they’ll get in your garden. Slowly decrease their protection from cold at night, but bring them inside if the temperatures drop near 0º. Bring them inside for the first couple of nights, by the third they should be tough enough to stay out in a sheltered spot. After two more nights they’ll be OK in a less protected location.

Prepare your soil
Give your seedlings a fighting chance by making sure you give them the best soil possible to bury their little roots in. Prepare a bed by carefully weeding it, loosening the soil, breaking up any large clumps and incorporating lots of organic material.

How to plant out
When transplanting young seedlings into a newly prepared bed use a putty knife or trowel to separate the seedlings into individual blocks without disturbing the roots any more than necessary. Carefully remove each seedling block from the container. Keep as much soil around the rootball as you can. Plant the seedling at the same depth it was in the container. Follow the instructions on the seed packet for proper spacing between plants to allow for growth and mature size. Firm the soil around the  seedlings with your hands and water them well to ensure their roots are kept moist.


Jobs to do in April
Collect twiggy sticks from under trees and hedgerows ready to support peas and early strawberry trusses – so much cheaper than buying pea sticks.
Check on any stored fruit and veg in your shed or greenhouse, as they may begin to deteriorate as temperatures rise.
Hoe young weeds as soon as they appear before their roots really take hold.
If you’ve decided not to grow your own plants from seed, order plug plants from mail-order suppliers as early as possible.
Use slug control to protect your seedlings. If you must use pellets, make sure they’re organically approved and won’t harm wildlife. Alternatively, you could try sprinkling bran, crushed eggshells or sand around vulnerable plants, as slugs and snails hate crawling over these uncomfortable barriers. Or you could dispatch them happy, by using beer traps – a plastic beaker half-filled with beer, which you bury so it’s rim is level with the soil. The greedy slugs and snails are attracted by the smell, fall
in and die.
Cover carrots and cabbages with horticultural fleece to help exclude pests like cabbage root fly and carrot fly which are out and about in force from mid-spring.

Also this month
Sow: In the open: Globe artichokes, asparagus peas, beetroot, broad beans, sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, autumn and winter cabbage, calabrese, carrots, mini cauliflowers, corn salad, endive, land cress, leeks, lettuce, spring onions, parsnips, peas, radish, rhubarb, salad rocket, spinach beet, summer spinach, turnip.

Under cover: Hybrid broccolis, dwarf beans, late summer, autumn and mini cauliflowers, celeriac, celery, runner beans, courgettes, cucumber, kales, marrows, rhubarb, sweet corn, tomatoes. (Note: The term ‘under cover’ includes cloches, cold frames, unheated greenhouses and walk-in polytunnels)

Plant: Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, spring cabbage, early summer cauliflowers, lettuce, onion sets, early and maincrop potatoes.

Harvest: Brussels sprouts, celeriac, celery, chard, forced chicory, corn salad, kale, land cress, leeks, lettuces, parsnips, perpetual spinach, radishes, forced rhubarb, salsify, scorzonera, forced seakale, spring cabbages, spring onions, sprouting broccoli, Swedes, turnip tops, winter cabbages and cauliflowers, winter spinach.


Image: Wooden planting out tray, £14, Garden Trading