April 4, 2025 • 25 mins
What vegetables to sow in April?
The garden explodes into life as April brings the perfect conditions for planting nearly everything on your wish list. After weeks of dry weather in Ireland, temperatures have finally risen to match the sunshine, creating the ideal environment for seeds and seedlings to thrive.
This comprehensive seed sowing guide walks you through exactly what to plant now, with special attention to the unique conditions of this particular spring. Unlike last year's cold, wet April, current conditions allow for direct sowing of many crops that would normally need indoor starting. From successional vegetables like spring onions and spinach to the season's first warm-weather crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins, the possibilities are extensive.
Beyond what to plant, you'll discover crucial tips for success that many gardeners overlook. Learn the secret to growing perfect carrots (hint: it's all about consistent moisture in that critical first month), understand why April-sown tomatoes can quickly catch up to those started earlier, and discover clever intercropping strategies to maximize your garden space.
The episode also covers essential April garden tasks beyond sowing - from caring for newly planted bare-root trees and hedging during dry spells to lawn maintenance and protecting young seedlings from unpredictable spring weather. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting your growing journey, this guide provides timely, practical advice tailored to this moment in the gardening calendar.
Grab your seeds and tools - the garden is awake and ready! This perfect spring weather makes gardening a joy rather than a chore, so make the most of it and set yourself up for a bountiful growing season ahead.
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Master My Garden Courses:
https://mastermygarden.com/courses/
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/
Until next week
Happy gardening
John
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
how's it going, everybody?
And welcome to episode 270 ofmaster, my garden podcast.
Now, this week's episode beingthe first friday of april, it's
the monthly seed sowing guideand kind of other jobs that we
can be doing.
And to put a bit of context onit, for you know, as we all know
, here in Ireland we've had afantastic few weeks weather-wise
(00:34):
, so pretty much no rain now forfour weeks.
A little bit of a little bit ofa damp day I think was about a
week ago there, it was some rain, but not a lot.
Definitely.
It has been a lovely, lovelydry time with a little bit of
wind, and everywhere's got driedup quite quickly.
But what was missing, I suppose, up until this week was a
little bit of heat along withthat.
(00:55):
So we did have the dry weather,but a little bit of heat has
come into it now and itdefinitely feels like spring.
And you know I've said thisbefore that timings and dates of
sowing are very relevant towhat's happening outside,
because you have to havesomewhere for these seedlings to
go.
And now to me it feels likespring.
(01:17):
Everything is waking up, thethe birds are singing, the
hedges are bursting out, grasshas really burst into growth.
In fact, in the last week thethe growth has been explosive.
That's how much thetemperatures have come up and
there is still a bit of coolnessat times in the wind, but we
really are now in in a reallylovely period of spring weather.
(01:39):
And why these are relevant on a, you know year, year to year.
You know some.
You might think if if we do theseed sowing guide for April
this year, then that does forevery April.
But no, these episodes haveproven really popular because we
kind of tailor it a little bit.
You know, the guide or the listto what you can sow remains
kind of the same year to year,but maybe the messaging around
(02:02):
it is different year to year.
So we get really get sewingwhen, when the weather is the
way it is at the moment, when itfeels spring like, when we know
that you know it's it's notsummer weather but it's starting
to feel like that warmth isthere, and then we know that the
potential to come is there andyeah, that along, given that
(02:24):
it's early april, that comeswith.
You know the, the caution thatwe just need to have around last
frost dates and frost potential, rain over over the coming
weeks, cold rain, especially aswe start to get young seedlings
out into the ground or start tosow seeds into the ground.
So that's why it's it'sdifferent.
If you go back to this time lastyear, we had pretty much the
(02:46):
same sowing list, but what wehad at that time was cold, wet,
no sunlight and certainlynothing to be getting excited
about.
But for any of you living inIreland anyway, for sure you're
definitely excited.
You're definitely up and goingnow.
You're definitely sowing yourseeds, you're seeing growth and
everything is moving in thedirection that we'd like it to
(03:08):
at this stage of the year.
Wherever you are listening, Ihope that you're having you know
similar good news stories inrelation to your reddit weather
and you're getting a good startto spring.
But the the list of what we cansow, as I say, we're going to go
through that now and then we'regoing to chat about just some
of the things that we need towatch out for over the coming
(03:29):
weeks a lot of the, a lot of theyou know, the seedlings that
that that we have now.
They're still going to betender, they're still going to
need a little bit minding andthey're going to be used to
coming from a certainenvironment.
A good example of that was Ihappened to be in the garden
center yesterday and it just gota trolley in of tomato plants.
They're in little 10 centimeterpots.
(03:51):
They were, you know, maybe 10centimeters tall, really small
plants.
They looked like they'd justcome out of a lovely warm
greenhouse and then they were ona trolley with the lovely warm
greenhouse and then they were ona trolley with the cold wind
blowing across them and they didnot look happy.
And I suppose that's the beautyof what we can do.
(04:12):
We can mine them, we can lookafter them and we can put them
into the right location wheneverything feels right.
The fact that we've had goodweather pretty much means that
anything that we want to sow nowwe can go, we can really get
going, and certain things thatyou might feel like you're late
on will sow now will reallycatch up, and I'll chat about
those as well.
(04:32):
So we're going to talk aboutthe seeds that we can sow, the
precautions we can take foryoung seedlings to mine them,
and it's not just about cold orwet, it's, you know, potentially
about dry.
So the top couple of inches ofparticularly no dig beds at the
moment are quite dry becausewe've had this wind for a while
without much rain, and so thetop little bit of the ground can
(04:54):
be dry and of course that'swhere your seeds are going,
that's where your young seed,your young plug plants are going
.
They're going into that topinch or so, so that can be dry.
So we going to have need tothink of that as well.
Watering is important at thisstage.
So loads to get through and butto get into the list, I suppose
it's.
Yeah, it is the same list thatwe do pretty much every year,
(05:14):
with more or less no exceptions,and it's a comprehensive list
for april.
It's pretty much, you know,there's everything.
Everything is on the table forthis month in terms of the
edible garden, in terms offlowers we mentioned it a couple
of weeks ago there's stillbrilliant time to be sown all
your annuals.
A lot of the heat now is up, soannuals cosmos, you know any of
(05:35):
those?
Anyone looking to sow dahlias?
Go ahead.
Perfect timing with the warmweather, they're just going to
fly out of it.
Get them potted up in a fewweeks and then you'll have
plants to go out into borders,sort of mid-may and mid to
mid-may to the mid-june.
I guess you know that kind oftime frame and that's perfect.
They'll grow on into strongplants over the over the summer
(05:58):
and definitely give you flowerthis year.
So all flowers are on the tabledaily.
Daily tubers still anopportunity to get those in um.
So anyone that hasn't done thatand keep your eyes open.
As I mentioned a couple weeksago, lots of sort of 30 off, 50
off in some, in some cases, andthey'll give you a great, a
great opportunity to get a lotof plants in and the ground is,
(06:21):
temperatures are rising, sothey're just going to take off
straight away.
Keep an eye out for slugs.
There's going to be less ofthem at this stage because it
has been quite dry.
So that's a that's a good thing, but watch out for slugs on
particularly things like dahliatubers or young plants going out
again.
A lot of the bedding plants arestarting to go on sale.
Just be careful there.
Typically bedding plants if youwent back over the years, it
(06:43):
was sort of mid-may was when wegot going with those.
At the moment, as I say, yousee them in shops.
So just watch out for those.
Don't be so quick to put outthem.
There's lots of good springoptions still available that are
going to be hardy for any bitof weather.
We might get over the comingweeks and then switch to your
summer stuff in a couple ofweeks time.
But, yeah, the the list that wecan get sowing on.
(07:04):
So to talk about the sort ofsuccessional stuff, so the stuff
that we're going to sow on aregular basis, we're looking at
spring onions.
They can be sowed now.
They can be sowed into moduletrays still, or even directly
into a pony tunnel or, in somecases, outside the ground.
Temperatures, as I say, arecoming up, so we have the
(07:25):
opportunity to sow more stuffthis month, more seeds this
month, but also the opportunityto sew them in different ways.
So previously, almosteverything we were sowing, we
were putting into module trays,where we had the, you know, the
opportunity to give it a littlebit of molly, coddling or
minding, as they say, um.
But now we have the ability toswitch and sow directly as well,
(07:46):
which is great.
So spring onion is the firstone on the list.
That'll be on the list everymonth now.
So we sow every month.
That means you're going to keep, you're going to sow it
successively and you're going tokeep having new plants, new
harvests coming all the time.
Spinach is another one.
Again, same thing run to seed,especially annual.
(08:10):
Well, annual spinach isdefinitely going to run to seed
it the the pace at which it runsthe seed will speed up as the
temperatures rise throughout theyear.
So in the summer months, whenwe get really warm temperatures,
and that spinach is going torun to see it a lot faster than
it will in the springtime oreven in the autumn time.
(08:30):
So just, you'll have to sort oftweak your, your sowing
intervals as that happens.
But for now, once a month, do asowing once a month, and you'll
be able to harvest then for afull month and then your next
batch will be coming on.
So that's, that's another one.
Radish is another one that'sgoing to, you know, mature quite
quickly at the moment and, yeah, that's going to become sort of
(08:51):
a regular one, regular one thatwe sew on a monthly basis.
Turnips, as in the white turnips, there again, milan, purple
tops and so on, they can besewed.
Now again, they kind of comeinto your successional sewing
because there's a certain sizethat they're really tasty.
If they start to go above thatsize they get a bit woody and
not so nice.
So I would sew little enough onthat so small amount.
(09:12):
Do it woody and not so nice.
So I would sow little and oftenon that so small amount, do it
every month and then you'regoing to kind of have that fresh
, perfect sized one which youknow.
It's that the size for those,like the size of, say, a
mandarin orange, for example.
That's, that's kind of the sizeyou're looking for for for the
perfect taste.
Above that they can get alittle bit strong.
They can also get a little bitwoody or stringy and they're not
(09:32):
so nice.
Lettuce we're going to sow on amonthly basis.
But again, if you're utilizingsort of clever harvesting
methods, you may not need to dothat every month, but you can
sow every month and it's a goodidea to do that.
Lettuce that you can use.
They don't give you over alonger period things like cut
and come, where you're not goingto harvest the head of lettuce
(09:53):
but rather harvest a selectionof leaves whenever you want them
, and that'll just give you aharvest over a much longer
period and it'll mean that youdon't have to do as many or as
regular sowings.
Next one on the list is sort ofspring summer salads, and
you're talking about a mix ofthings here.
It can be anything from quinoaleaves to rocket, to mustard and
(10:15):
a mixture of leaves and theycan be all kind of mixed
together and then you get kindof a mixed salad.
So it's a.
It's a really nice mix andagain it would act in a kind of
a cut and come way.
It's not strictly speaking cutand come, but it would act in
that way so you're able to dothat.
Onion is another one, a reallygood one.
So kind of the last opportunityto sow onions from seed.
(10:37):
I sowed onion from seed there afew weeks ago.
So two varieties bought in thesame shop on the same day, two
separate varieties.
They're planted into a big tray.
Half of the tray has 100%germination.
On the other half of the trayhas 100 germination.
On the other half of the traynot a single, not a single onion
has germinated.
(10:58):
Problem is I can't remember whatshop I bought them in, so I
actually can't go back with them, but they, they were non-viable
seed, a little bit frustrating.
I actually only ended up buyingthem.
You know where I bought thembecause, um, I was full.
Sure, I had a couple of packetsleft from last year and it
turned out?
It didn't.
But these seeds were off theshelf and again, as I say, I
(11:20):
can't remember exactly where Igot them, but they are 100.
They were not viable.
So anybody who's bought themthey're going to have any
success with them for sure,because the conditions are
identical.
They're in the same tray, soit's a big tree away tray.
Half of them was done with onevariety, half with the other,
and just no germination on oneside.
It's kind of frustrating.
(11:41):
So you're gonna have toprobably lean back on onion sets
a little bit there, but anyway,that's that's the way it goes.
You can't have things like that.
Onions can be sown this kind of,as I said, the last chance to
do that leeks, the other one.
You're looking at earlymaturing varieties here and we
will do another sowing of leeksfor later on the time.
But now early sowing of earliervarieties and you're going to
(12:03):
multi-sow them into a plug trayor a or a, you know, a module
tray.
Beetroot, again for me I won'tdo a lot of sewings of that, but
you can sew them now.
A lot of people will sewbeetroot into module trays.
I don't, I just direct so whenthe time is right, and for me
the time is right now.
So beetroot going in, uh yeah,over the weekend, fingers
(12:27):
crossed, and uh, that's kind ofthe first batch of seeds.
Then we're looking at some ofthe brassicas.
Again, I sow theseintermittently, I don't sow them
all the time.
But looking at cabbage,calabrese, cauliflower, swedes,
pak choy chard, all those chard,all those, I know they're not
(12:55):
all the brassica family, butthat's the sewings that I do of
those I kind of do only a fewtimes, not every month, but
there you can sew all of thosethis month, perfectly fine, I'll
do some of the peas and beans.
So broad beans I sewed lastmonth but again you can sew them
this month and that's kind ofyou know, this month and early,
early into next month is kind ofthe last shot month and early,
early into next month is kind ofthe last shot.
You get, at that, french beanscoming onto the list for the
(13:17):
first time, a little bit old upuntil now, but definitely now
they can, they can be sowed.
I do the dwarf one and I alsodo a climbing one.
It's actually not that terriblemuch difference in taste.
Probably bigger yield off theoff the climbers, slightly
better taste maybe off the dwarfones and you get a lot from a
really, really compact, smallplant.
So either are, but I'llprobably be sowing both in the
(13:40):
coming weeks.
Peas I already have some sowedand I'll do more again this
month.
They're used both ways, so usethe leaves off them or the
shoots off them and also letsome of them mature for peas
peas which will be which willcome in quite early.
I have my implanted into thepolytunnel and yeah they're,
they're going to go really goodnow from the.
(14:01):
From now on, we're into some ofthe herbs then, and coming onto
the herb list this month isbasil for the first time.
So again, it's a warm, it likeswarm weather.
So basil is coming onto thelist.
It really needs heat, needsheat at the start, needs heat
after you, after you get itgoing, needs minding for a while
(14:21):
.
Just be careful of colder,colder evenings and so on.
Uh, coriander, another one thatkind of gets sown successionly
because it does bolt a lot.
Uh, dill, parsley, shervel allof those herbs can be sowed now.
If you're growing something likerosemary, sage, thyme, you can
do all those from seed.
I would be inclined, though,because nobody needs a lot of
(14:42):
those plants, you know, for mostof us in our home gardens.
If you have go out and get acouple of plants, as opposed to
sowing seed of those, it'sprobably, you know, an easier
way, because you buy a packet ofseed with a couple hundred seed
in it.
You don't need a couple hundredrosemary.
Once you have a couple ofplants of that, that's going to
be there all the time anyway.
So unless you're planning togift them or give them away or
(15:05):
grow a rosemary hedge, then Idon't really think you need to
be sowing a load of those.
But you can.
You can this month.
Celery and celeriac again canbe.
So just remember they needtemperature and they also need
light, so you don't cover yourseed of those.
And coming onto the list forthe first time this month is
some of the warm the, the warmtemperature ones, something like
(15:30):
pumpkins, I can can be.
So this month, more or less forthe first time, cucumbers, the
same Courgettes, the same Squash, the same Melon, another one,
the melons, like a longer periodof time.
So if you did have a warmtunnel, which I don't, you could
have got them going earlier ona heat mat or something like
that to try just get as muchlength in the season as you
(15:52):
possibly can.
Tomatoes can still be sown.
I know a lot of people will tellyou that that's late and you
know, looking everywhere,there's people planting them
already.
But it's amazing how quick theywill grow at this stage of the
year.
Once, once that heat comes,they will just grow.
So something that was sowed amonth ago won't end up that far
ahead of something that's sowedtoday.
But do get going with them now,because they need a long, long
(16:16):
enough season as well and youjust end up that your harvest is
just pushed a little bitfurther down the line.
If you haven't sowed them andyou want to get started and you
need some plants, you can get acouple of plants to get you
going.
You know, to get your kind ofearly harvest and then add in
your own sown ones after that.
Other warm, warm ones now areones that need temperature
cucumber, sweet corn they canall be sowed now.
(16:38):
So you know, as you can seefrom the list, it's vast at this
stage and there's probablyothers that I've missed, but
that's everything becomes anoption in april, especially when
the weather is good like it isnow.
We're not looking tonecessarily hold off because
once we're getting that daylightand sunlight, we are going to
be able to sow, we are going tobe able to get good germination,
(17:02):
get good growth early and then,hopefully, in a couple of weeks
time, when all these seedlingsand plant young plants are ready
, that we still have this typeof weather and we'll be very,
very happy.
Other jobs in the edible gardenonion sets.
You can still plant those.
Loads of time for them.
Conditions are good, groundconditions are good.
So, yeah, get those in potatoesthe same.
(17:22):
So, whether it's airlies,second airlies, main crops, get
them into the ground.
Don't worry if you haven't gotthem in yet.
Still loads of time again.
I would have mentioned beforethat me, we have this thing here
where we want to plant ourpotatoes on St Patrick's Day.
Here in Ireland it's atraditional thing.
But again, like the packets ofseed, it's not necessarily to do
(17:45):
with the date.
It's more to do with thetemperatures and are the
conditions right.
So the conditions are right now.
It could be St Patrick's Day inother years.
It could be St Patrick's Day inother years, it could be the
end of April in other years.
But whenever it is, get theminto the ground when the
conditions are right.
If you have the soiltemperature right.
Potatoes just hit the groundand they go.
(18:06):
You don't need to worry aboutchitting or anything like that
once the temperatures are high.
Once they're high, they just goand grow strong, and something
that got planted in a cold marchand something that gets planted
in a perfect conditions nowthey will be by the end of april
.
There'll be no differencebetween those, none whatsoever
(18:29):
so, and you could even have thepotential of some of them
getting stunted or getting heldback because they've gone out in
bad conditions.
So all of those can be done now.
The other thing that can bedone this month carrots and
parsnips can get some.
On parsnips, I only do onesewing of those, but it is a
month now where we can get thatdone, which is great, and
temperatures are are such thatwe we can.
(18:50):
We can sew those.
One thing with carrots and it'svery relevant given that we
haven't had rain carrots needmoisture in that sowing zone.
So if you mark out your littletrench for sowing them, there's
loads of people I see onlinedoing, you know, toilet roll and
putting the seeds on it, makingthe toilet roll damp and then
putting that down into thelittle trench.
(19:10):
You can do that simple way ofdoing it, though, is just mark
out your little your, yourlittle drill.
Put some water in it with awatering can or whatever.
Just water that end zone.
Just leave the settle for aminute or two, shake out your
seeds not too thickly.
Shake out your seeds, cover itand and and water it, and then,
(19:31):
over the coming weeks especiallyif it stays dry with that
little bit of a wind, thoughthat top inch of the ground is
going to be very dry, and whatcarrot seeds do not like at the
start and this is where mostpeople fail with carrots is that
top inch drying out everycouple of days.
Give that a little sprinkle ofwater.
You don't need to drown it, youjust need to give it a little
sprinkle of water every coupleof days.
When you see the carrots allpeeping through, continue to
(19:52):
water for maybe three, fourweeks, just every couple of days
.
Give them a little sprinklingwater, and you will get strong,
because they're going to startsending down good roots, and
once those roots get established, obviously they're going to
draw moisture from deeper downin the ground.
But in that first kind of threeto four weeks critical stage,
(20:14):
if you let them dry out at thatstage, then you're not going to
see carrots and you're going towonder what happened.
And that is nine times out tenthe you know the challenge that
people have.
So get after that, get wateringthose kind of along the same
lines, but going away from fromseed sowing and planting.
Now a lot of bare root plantinggone in over the last few weeks
once that weather dried up, oncethe ground conditions got dry,
(20:38):
then a lot of bare root plantinggot done towards the end of the
season and the season has kindof come to a relatively
relatively fast end here.
But there's definitely, youknow, you need to be watering
anything that went in bare rootover this season because they
have very little roots.
That top of the ground, as I'vesaid already, is going to be
dry and there isn't roots thereto sustain trees, particularly
(21:00):
hedging, anything like that.
So you have all this potentialgrowth up on top and then really
small root zones.
So just make sure that over thenext few weeks that you're
keeping those watered rightthrough.
If we, you know, you'll knowyourself, but things are very
dry at the moment.
So they need water and theyneed water on a weekly basis to
ensure that you get survival,because the first year of bare
(21:24):
root is absolutely critical.
If you can get them over thatstage, then bare root plants
will grow as good, if not better, than you know potted plants.
So look after them now, but itdoes take a little bit of
nurturing at the start.
Other jobs that we can be atobviously, lawns are grown
really fast.
So you can, you know, getscarifying and things like that.
(21:44):
Get them thickened up, givethem regular, regular mowing.
Don't go too low at this stage.
Go mid, mid height.
Let them thicken up and so on.
Get as much moss as you can.
If you don't like moss, somepeople love it, some people are
happy to leave it there.
If you don't like it, now's thetime.
Scarify it, get it out of there.
And what other jobs can we beat this?
(22:04):
The list is endless at thisstage.
So it's planting.
You're probably done with yourmulching and all that sort of
stuff.
Well, I'm not, but.
But most people are probablydone with their mulching, have a
bit more to do and, yeah,creation of a few beds, small
bit of splitting still to do ofperennials and things like that.
But there's so much.
(22:25):
Everything is, everything is go, go, go now.
And, yeah, it's, it's lovely tohave this weather, it's lovely
to have this sunshine, and whenyou have this sunshine it kind
of nobody minds, you know,working, working a lot or doing
a lot in the garden at thisstage, because it's all
enjoyable and and the weatherconditions are suitable.
So, yeah, it's a long list.
There's lots to do.
(22:46):
Watch out for those key pointsof keeping a bit of moisture in
your sewing zone and, over thecoming weeks, young seedlings
coming out of warm greenhousesor warm conservatories or
windowsills or wherever they are, just put yourself into their
shoes a little bit.
If it's a really cold, breezyday, just watch that, just give
them a little bit of protection.
That could be a frost fleece,that could be enviro mesh, you
(23:08):
know, or bio netting, whatever,whatever the case may be, just
something to give them a smallbit of protection.
The one thing that they don'tlike and you can get, you know,
april showers.
You can get kind of a notnecessarily a day of rain, but
you can get these really heavydownpours, kind of driving rain.
Just watch for that.
That.
They really, you know, youngseedlings, young plants, don't
(23:29):
like that at all.
So just, uh, yeah, watch thatand protect them from that and
other than that.
It's uh, yeah, it's a.
It's a great month, great monthto be in the garden.
Loads to be doing, loads to besowing.
The list is extensive.
Continue to sow, you know, evenif you have your vegetable beds
kind of filled up with plantsor seeds at this stage, continue
(23:50):
to sow a little bit, becausethe will gaps come later on and
then you'll have plants to gointo it or you'll have, you know
, new crops on the way.
Don't forget to take advantageof intercropping where you you
know, if you put in, for example, your brassicas, a cauliflower,
for example, will need a bigspacing of plants, but in
between, while those plants aregetting ready to mature, you
have a lot of space that you canutilize.
(24:11):
So small, little catch crops,like, you know, radish or
spinach or something, can go inthere while the cauliflower is
just starting to grow, and thenyou can have your harvest taken
out there before the cauliflowertakes over and needs that space
to mature.
So they're, they're just some,some other useful tips for this
time of year.
But other than that, hope youhave a great month in the garden
(24:31):
.
It's uh, yeah, it's.
It's perfect conditions at themoment.
Fingers crossed that continuesand next month again, we'll have
our seed sowing guide for maycoming up over the next couple
of weeks.
Loads of episodes, loads of goodepisodes.
Open Gardens are coming backover the next couple of weeks,
so a few of those lined up and,yeah, there's lots happening and
(24:52):
lots of good episodes to comeup from.
Great response to last week'sepisode with Susan on pruning of
fruit trees.
Actually, people seemed toreally enjoy that and get great
benefit from it.
So, yeah, hopefully that helpedyou in your garden.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
(25:14):
thank you.
how's it going, everybody?
And welcome to episode 270 ofmaster, my garden podcast.
Now, this week's episode beingthe first friday of april, it's
the monthly seed sowing guideand kind of other jobs that we
can be doing.
And to put a bit of context onit, for you know, as we all know
, here in Ireland we've had afantastic few weeks weather-wise
(00:34):
, so pretty much no rain now forfour weeks.
A little bit of a little bit ofa damp day I think was about a
week ago there, it was some rain, but not a lot.
Definitely.
It has been a lovely, lovelydry time with a little bit of
wind, and everywhere's got driedup quite quickly.
But what was missing, I suppose, up until this week was a
little bit of heat along withthat.
(00:55):
So we did have the dry weather,but a little bit of heat has
come into it now and itdefinitely feels like spring.
And you know I've said thisbefore that timings and dates of
sowing are very relevant towhat's happening outside,
because you have to havesomewhere for these seedlings to
go.
And now to me it feels likespring.
(01:17):
Everything is waking up, thethe birds are singing, the
hedges are bursting out, grasshas really burst into growth.
In fact, in the last week thethe growth has been explosive.
That's how much thetemperatures have come up and
there is still a bit of coolnessat times in the wind, but we
really are now in in a reallylovely period of spring weather.
(01:39):
And why these are relevant on a, you know year, year to year.
You know some.
You might think if if we do theseed sowing guide for April
this year, then that does forevery April.
But no, these episodes haveproven really popular because we
kind of tailor it a little bit.
You know, the guide or the listto what you can sow remains
kind of the same year to year,but maybe the messaging around
(02:02):
it is different year to year.
So we get really get sewingwhen, when the weather is the
way it is at the moment, when itfeels spring like, when we know
that you know it's it's notsummer weather but it's starting
to feel like that warmth isthere, and then we know that the
potential to come is there andyeah, that along, given that
(02:24):
it's early april, that comeswith.
You know the, the caution thatwe just need to have around last
frost dates and frost potential, rain over over the coming
weeks, cold rain, especially aswe start to get young seedlings
out into the ground or start tosow seeds into the ground.
So that's why it's it'sdifferent.
If you go back to this time lastyear, we had pretty much the
(02:46):
same sowing list, but what wehad at that time was cold, wet,
no sunlight and certainlynothing to be getting excited
about.
But for any of you living inIreland anyway, for sure you're
definitely excited.
You're definitely up and goingnow.
You're definitely sowing yourseeds, you're seeing growth and
everything is moving in thedirection that we'd like it to
(03:08):
at this stage of the year.
Wherever you are listening, Ihope that you're having you know
similar good news stories inrelation to your reddit weather
and you're getting a good startto spring.
But the the list of what we cansow, as I say, we're going to go
through that now and then we'regoing to chat about just some
of the things that we need towatch out for over the coming
(03:29):
weeks a lot of the, a lot of theyou know, the seedlings that
that that we have now.
They're still going to betender, they're still going to
need a little bit minding andthey're going to be used to
coming from a certainenvironment.
A good example of that was Ihappened to be in the garden
center yesterday and it just gota trolley in of tomato plants.
They're in little 10 centimeterpots.
(03:51):
They were, you know, maybe 10centimeters tall, really small
plants.
They looked like they'd justcome out of a lovely warm
greenhouse and then they were ona trolley with the lovely warm
greenhouse and then they were ona trolley with the cold wind
blowing across them and they didnot look happy.
And I suppose that's the beautyof what we can do.
(04:12):
We can mine them, we can lookafter them and we can put them
into the right location wheneverything feels right.
The fact that we've had goodweather pretty much means that
anything that we want to sow nowwe can go, we can really get
going, and certain things thatyou might feel like you're late
on will sow now will reallycatch up, and I'll chat about
those as well.
(04:32):
So we're going to talk aboutthe seeds that we can sow, the
precautions we can take foryoung seedlings to mine them,
and it's not just about cold orwet, it's, you know, potentially
about dry.
So the top couple of inches ofparticularly no dig beds at the
moment are quite dry becausewe've had this wind for a while
without much rain, and so thetop little bit of the ground can
(04:54):
be dry and of course that'swhere your seeds are going,
that's where your young seed,your young plug plants are going
.
They're going into that topinch or so, so that can be dry.
So we going to have need tothink of that as well.
Watering is important at thisstage.
So loads to get through and butto get into the list, I suppose
it's.
Yeah, it is the same list thatwe do pretty much every year,
(05:14):
with more or less no exceptions,and it's a comprehensive list
for april.
It's pretty much, you know,there's everything.
Everything is on the table forthis month in terms of the
edible garden, in terms offlowers we mentioned it a couple
of weeks ago there's stillbrilliant time to be sown all
your annuals.
A lot of the heat now is up, soannuals cosmos, you know any of
(05:35):
those?
Anyone looking to sow dahlias?
Go ahead.
Perfect timing with the warmweather, they're just going to
fly out of it.
Get them potted up in a fewweeks and then you'll have
plants to go out into borders,sort of mid-may and mid to
mid-may to the mid-june.
I guess you know that kind oftime frame and that's perfect.
They'll grow on into strongplants over the over the summer
(05:58):
and definitely give you flowerthis year.
So all flowers are on the tabledaily.
Daily tubers still anopportunity to get those in um.
So anyone that hasn't done thatand keep your eyes open.
As I mentioned a couple weeksago, lots of sort of 30 off, 50
off in some, in some cases, andthey'll give you a great, a
great opportunity to get a lotof plants in and the ground is,
(06:21):
temperatures are rising, sothey're just going to take off
straight away.
Keep an eye out for slugs.
There's going to be less ofthem at this stage because it
has been quite dry.
So that's a that's a good thing, but watch out for slugs on
particularly things like dahliatubers or young plants going out
again.
A lot of the bedding plants arestarting to go on sale.
Just be careful there.
Typically bedding plants if youwent back over the years, it
(06:43):
was sort of mid-may was when wegot going with those.
At the moment, as I say, yousee them in shops.
So just watch out for those.
Don't be so quick to put outthem.
There's lots of good springoptions still available that are
going to be hardy for any bitof weather.
We might get over the comingweeks and then switch to your
summer stuff in a couple ofweeks time.
But, yeah, the the list that wecan get sowing on.
(07:04):
So to talk about the sort ofsuccessional stuff, so the stuff
that we're going to sow on aregular basis, we're looking at
spring onions.
They can be sowed now.
They can be sowed into moduletrays still, or even directly
into a pony tunnel or, in somecases, outside the ground.
Temperatures, as I say, arecoming up, so we have the
(07:25):
opportunity to sow more stuffthis month, more seeds this
month, but also the opportunityto sew them in different ways.
So previously, almosteverything we were sowing, we
were putting into module trays,where we had the, you know, the
opportunity to give it a littlebit of molly, coddling or
minding, as they say, um.
But now we have the ability toswitch and sow directly as well,
(07:46):
which is great.
So spring onion is the firstone on the list.
That'll be on the list everymonth now.
So we sow every month.
That means you're going to keep, you're going to sow it
successively and you're going tokeep having new plants, new
harvests coming all the time.
Spinach is another one.
Again, same thing run to seed,especially annual.
(08:10):
Well, annual spinach isdefinitely going to run to seed
it the the pace at which it runsthe seed will speed up as the
temperatures rise throughout theyear.
So in the summer months, whenwe get really warm temperatures,
and that spinach is going torun to see it a lot faster than
it will in the springtime oreven in the autumn time.
(08:30):
So just, you'll have to sort oftweak your, your sowing
intervals as that happens.
But for now, once a month, do asowing once a month, and you'll
be able to harvest then for afull month and then your next
batch will be coming on.
So that's, that's another one.
Radish is another one that'sgoing to, you know, mature quite
quickly at the moment and, yeah, that's going to become sort of
(08:51):
a regular one, regular one thatwe sew on a monthly basis.
Turnips, as in the white turnips, there again, milan, purple
tops and so on, they can besewed.
Now again, they kind of comeinto your successional sewing
because there's a certain sizethat they're really tasty.
If they start to go above thatsize they get a bit woody and
not so nice.
So I would sew little enough onthat so small amount.
(09:12):
Do it woody and not so nice.
So I would sow little and oftenon that so small amount, do it
every month and then you'regoing to kind of have that fresh
, perfect sized one which youknow.
It's that the size for those,like the size of, say, a
mandarin orange, for example.
That's, that's kind of the sizeyou're looking for for for the
perfect taste.
Above that they can get alittle bit strong.
They can also get a little bitwoody or stringy and they're not
(09:32):
so nice.
Lettuce we're going to sow on amonthly basis.
But again, if you're utilizingsort of clever harvesting
methods, you may not need to dothat every month, but you can
sow every month and it's a goodidea to do that.
Lettuce that you can use.
They don't give you over alonger period things like cut
and come, where you're not goingto harvest the head of lettuce
(09:53):
but rather harvest a selectionof leaves whenever you want them
, and that'll just give you aharvest over a much longer
period and it'll mean that youdon't have to do as many or as
regular sowings.
Next one on the list is sort ofspring summer salads, and
you're talking about a mix ofthings here.
It can be anything from quinoaleaves to rocket, to mustard and
(10:15):
a mixture of leaves and theycan be all kind of mixed
together and then you get kindof a mixed salad.
So it's a.
It's a really nice mix andagain it would act in a kind of
a cut and come way.
It's not strictly speaking cutand come, but it would act in
that way so you're able to dothat.
Onion is another one, a reallygood one.
So kind of the last opportunityto sow onions from seed.
(10:37):
I sowed onion from seed there afew weeks ago.
So two varieties bought in thesame shop on the same day, two
separate varieties.
They're planted into a big tray.
Half of the tray has 100%germination.
On the other half of the trayhas 100 germination.
On the other half of the traynot a single, not a single onion
has germinated.
(10:58):
Problem is I can't remember whatshop I bought them in, so I
actually can't go back with them, but they, they were non-viable
seed, a little bit frustrating.
I actually only ended up buyingthem.
You know where I bought thembecause, um, I was full.
Sure, I had a couple of packetsleft from last year and it
turned out?
It didn't.
But these seeds were off theshelf and again, as I say, I
(11:20):
can't remember exactly where Igot them, but they are 100.
They were not viable.
So anybody who's bought themthey're going to have any
success with them for sure,because the conditions are
identical.
They're in the same tray, soit's a big tree away tray.
Half of them was done with onevariety, half with the other,
and just no germination on oneside.
It's kind of frustrating.
(11:41):
So you're gonna have toprobably lean back on onion sets
a little bit there, but anyway,that's that's the way it goes.
You can't have things like that.
Onions can be sown this kind of,as I said, the last chance to
do that leeks, the other one.
You're looking at earlymaturing varieties here and we
will do another sowing of leeksfor later on the time.
But now early sowing of earliervarieties and you're going to
(12:03):
multi-sow them into a plug trayor a or a, you know, a module
tray.
Beetroot, again for me I won'tdo a lot of sewings of that, but
you can sew them now.
A lot of people will sewbeetroot into module trays.
I don't, I just direct so whenthe time is right, and for me
the time is right now.
So beetroot going in, uh yeah,over the weekend, fingers
(12:27):
crossed, and uh, that's kind ofthe first batch of seeds.
Then we're looking at some ofthe brassicas.
Again, I sow theseintermittently, I don't sow them
all the time.
But looking at cabbage,calabrese, cauliflower, swedes,
pak choy chard, all those chard,all those, I know they're not
(12:55):
all the brassica family, butthat's the sewings that I do of
those I kind of do only a fewtimes, not every month, but
there you can sew all of thosethis month, perfectly fine, I'll
do some of the peas and beans.
So broad beans I sewed lastmonth but again you can sew them
this month and that's kind ofyou know, this month and early,
early into next month is kind ofthe last shot month and early,
early into next month is kind ofthe last shot.
You get, at that, french beanscoming onto the list for the
(13:17):
first time, a little bit old upuntil now, but definitely now
they can, they can be sowed.
I do the dwarf one and I alsodo a climbing one.
It's actually not that terriblemuch difference in taste.
Probably bigger yield off theoff the climbers, slightly
better taste maybe off the dwarfones and you get a lot from a
really, really compact, smallplant.
So either are, but I'llprobably be sowing both in the
(13:40):
coming weeks.
Peas I already have some sowedand I'll do more again this
month.
They're used both ways, so usethe leaves off them or the
shoots off them and also letsome of them mature for peas
peas which will be which willcome in quite early.
I have my implanted into thepolytunnel and yeah they're,
they're going to go really goodnow from the.
(14:01):
From now on, we're into some ofthe herbs then, and coming onto
the herb list this month isbasil for the first time.
So again, it's a warm, it likeswarm weather.
So basil is coming onto thelist.
It really needs heat, needsheat at the start, needs heat
after you, after you get itgoing, needs minding for a while
(14:21):
.
Just be careful of colder,colder evenings and so on.
Uh, coriander, another one thatkind of gets sown successionly
because it does bolt a lot.
Uh, dill, parsley, shervel allof those herbs can be sowed now.
If you're growing something likerosemary, sage, thyme, you can
do all those from seed.
I would be inclined, though,because nobody needs a lot of
(14:42):
those plants, you know, for mostof us in our home gardens.
If you have go out and get acouple of plants, as opposed to
sowing seed of those, it'sprobably, you know, an easier
way, because you buy a packet ofseed with a couple hundred seed
in it.
You don't need a couple hundredrosemary.
Once you have a couple ofplants of that, that's going to
be there all the time anyway.
So unless you're planning togift them or give them away or
(15:05):
grow a rosemary hedge, then Idon't really think you need to
be sowing a load of those.
But you can.
You can this month.
Celery and celeriac again canbe.
So just remember they needtemperature and they also need
light, so you don't cover yourseed of those.
And coming onto the list forthe first time this month is
some of the warm the, the warmtemperature ones, something like
(15:30):
pumpkins, I can can be.
So this month, more or less forthe first time, cucumbers, the
same Courgettes, the same Squash, the same Melon, another one,
the melons, like a longer periodof time.
So if you did have a warmtunnel, which I don't, you could
have got them going earlier ona heat mat or something like
that to try just get as muchlength in the season as you
(15:52):
possibly can.
Tomatoes can still be sown.
I know a lot of people will tellyou that that's late and you
know, looking everywhere,there's people planting them
already.
But it's amazing how quick theywill grow at this stage of the
year.
Once, once that heat comes,they will just grow.
So something that was sowed amonth ago won't end up that far
ahead of something that's sowedtoday.
But do get going with them now,because they need a long, long
(16:16):
enough season as well and youjust end up that your harvest is
just pushed a little bitfurther down the line.
If you haven't sowed them andyou want to get started and you
need some plants, you can get acouple of plants to get you
going.
You know, to get your kind ofearly harvest and then add in
your own sown ones after that.
Other warm, warm ones now areones that need temperature
cucumber, sweet corn they canall be sowed now.
(16:38):
So you know, as you can seefrom the list, it's vast at this
stage and there's probablyothers that I've missed, but
that's everything becomes anoption in april, especially when
the weather is good like it isnow.
We're not looking tonecessarily hold off because
once we're getting that daylightand sunlight, we are going to
be able to sow, we are going tobe able to get good germination,
(17:02):
get good growth early and then,hopefully, in a couple of weeks
time, when all these seedlingsand plant young plants are ready
, that we still have this typeof weather and we'll be very,
very happy.
Other jobs in the edible gardenonion sets.
You can still plant those.
Loads of time for them.
Conditions are good, groundconditions are good.
So, yeah, get those in potatoesthe same.
(17:22):
So, whether it's airlies,second airlies, main crops, get
them into the ground.
Don't worry if you haven't gotthem in yet.
Still loads of time again.
I would have mentioned beforethat me, we have this thing here
where we want to plant ourpotatoes on St Patrick's Day.
Here in Ireland it's atraditional thing.
But again, like the packets ofseed, it's not necessarily to do
(17:45):
with the date.
It's more to do with thetemperatures and are the
conditions right.
So the conditions are right now.
It could be St Patrick's Day inother years.
It could be St Patrick's Day inother years, it could be the
end of April in other years.
But whenever it is, get theminto the ground when the
conditions are right.
If you have the soiltemperature right.
Potatoes just hit the groundand they go.
(18:06):
You don't need to worry aboutchitting or anything like that
once the temperatures are high.
Once they're high, they just goand grow strong, and something
that got planted in a cold marchand something that gets planted
in a perfect conditions nowthey will be by the end of april
.
There'll be no differencebetween those, none whatsoever
(18:29):
so, and you could even have thepotential of some of them
getting stunted or getting heldback because they've gone out in
bad conditions.
So all of those can be done now.
The other thing that can bedone this month carrots and
parsnips can get some.
On parsnips, I only do onesewing of those, but it is a
month now where we can get thatdone, which is great, and
temperatures are are such thatwe we can.
(18:50):
We can sew those.
One thing with carrots and it'svery relevant given that we
haven't had rain carrots needmoisture in that sowing zone.
So if you mark out your littletrench for sowing them, there's
loads of people I see onlinedoing, you know, toilet roll and
putting the seeds on it, makingthe toilet roll damp and then
putting that down into thelittle trench.
(19:10):
You can do that simple way ofdoing it, though, is just mark
out your little your, yourlittle drill.
Put some water in it with awatering can or whatever.
Just water that end zone.
Just leave the settle for aminute or two, shake out your
seeds not too thickly.
Shake out your seeds, cover itand and and water it, and then,
(19:31):
over the coming weeks especiallyif it stays dry with that
little bit of a wind, thoughthat top inch of the ground is
going to be very dry, and whatcarrot seeds do not like at the
start and this is where mostpeople fail with carrots is that
top inch drying out everycouple of days.
Give that a little sprinkle ofwater.
You don't need to drown it, youjust need to give it a little
sprinkle of water every coupleof days.
When you see the carrots allpeeping through, continue to
(19:52):
water for maybe three, fourweeks, just every couple of days
.
Give them a little sprinklingwater, and you will get strong,
because they're going to startsending down good roots, and
once those roots get established, obviously they're going to
draw moisture from deeper downin the ground.
But in that first kind of threeto four weeks critical stage,
(20:14):
if you let them dry out at thatstage, then you're not going to
see carrots and you're going towonder what happened.
And that is nine times out tenthe you know the challenge that
people have.
So get after that, get wateringthose kind of along the same
lines, but going away from fromseed sowing and planting.
Now a lot of bare root plantinggone in over the last few weeks
once that weather dried up, oncethe ground conditions got dry,
(20:38):
then a lot of bare root plantinggot done towards the end of the
season and the season has kindof come to a relatively
relatively fast end here.
But there's definitely, youknow, you need to be watering
anything that went in bare rootover this season because they
have very little roots.
That top of the ground, as I'vesaid already, is going to be
dry and there isn't roots thereto sustain trees, particularly
(21:00):
hedging, anything like that.
So you have all this potentialgrowth up on top and then really
small root zones.
So just make sure that over thenext few weeks that you're
keeping those watered rightthrough.
If we, you know, you'll knowyourself, but things are very
dry at the moment.
So they need water and theyneed water on a weekly basis to
ensure that you get survival,because the first year of bare
(21:24):
root is absolutely critical.
If you can get them over thatstage, then bare root plants
will grow as good, if not better, than you know potted plants.
So look after them now, but itdoes take a little bit of
nurturing at the start.
Other jobs that we can be atobviously, lawns are grown
really fast.
So you can, you know, getscarifying and things like that.
(21:44):
Get them thickened up, givethem regular, regular mowing.
Don't go too low at this stage.
Go mid, mid height.
Let them thicken up and so on.
Get as much moss as you can.
If you don't like moss, somepeople love it, some people are
happy to leave it there.
If you don't like it, now's thetime.
Scarify it, get it out of there.
And what other jobs can we beat this?
(22:04):
The list is endless at thisstage.
So it's planting.
You're probably done with yourmulching and all that sort of
stuff.
Well, I'm not, but.
But most people are probablydone with their mulching, have a
bit more to do and, yeah,creation of a few beds, small
bit of splitting still to do ofperennials and things like that.
But there's so much.
(22:25):
Everything is, everything is go, go, go now.
And, yeah, it's, it's lovely tohave this weather, it's lovely
to have this sunshine, and whenyou have this sunshine it kind
of nobody minds, you know,working, working a lot or doing
a lot in the garden at thisstage, because it's all
enjoyable and and the weatherconditions are suitable.
So, yeah, it's a long list.
There's lots to do.
(22:46):
Watch out for those key pointsof keeping a bit of moisture in
your sewing zone and, over thecoming weeks, young seedlings
coming out of warm greenhousesor warm conservatories or
windowsills or wherever they are, just put yourself into their
shoes a little bit.
If it's a really cold, breezyday, just watch that, just give
them a little bit of protection.
That could be a frost fleece,that could be enviro mesh, you
(23:08):
know, or bio netting, whatever,whatever the case may be, just
something to give them a smallbit of protection.
The one thing that they don'tlike and you can get, you know,
april showers.
You can get kind of a notnecessarily a day of rain, but
you can get these really heavydownpours, kind of driving rain.
Just watch for that.
That.
They really, you know, youngseedlings, young plants, don't
(23:29):
like that at all.
So just, uh, yeah, watch thatand protect them from that and
other than that.
It's uh, yeah, it's a.
It's a great month, great monthto be in the garden.
Loads to be doing, loads to besowing.
The list is extensive.
Continue to sow, you know, evenif you have your vegetable beds
kind of filled up with plantsor seeds at this stage, continue
(23:50):
to sow a little bit, becausethe will gaps come later on and
then you'll have plants to gointo it or you'll have, you know
, new crops on the way.
Don't forget to take advantageof intercropping where you you
know, if you put in, for example, your brassicas, a cauliflower,
for example, will need a bigspacing of plants, but in
between, while those plants aregetting ready to mature, you
have a lot of space that you canutilize.
(24:11):
So small, little catch crops,like, you know, radish or
spinach or something, can go inthere while the cauliflower is
just starting to grow, and thenyou can have your harvest taken
out there before the cauliflowertakes over and needs that space
to mature.
So they're, they're just some,some other useful tips for this
time of year.
But other than that, hope youhave a great month in the garden
(24:31):
.
It's uh, yeah, it's.
It's perfect conditions at themoment.
Fingers crossed that continuesand next month again, we'll have
our seed sowing guide for maycoming up over the next couple
of weeks.
Loads of episodes, loads of goodepisodes.
Open Gardens are coming backover the next couple of weeks,
so a few of those lined up and,yeah, there's lots happening and
(24:52):
lots of good episodes to comeup from.
Great response to last week'sepisode with Susan on pruning of
fruit trees.
Actually, people seemed toreally enjoy that and get great
benefit from it.
So, yeah, hopefully that helpedyou in your garden.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
(25:14):
thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.