April is the month things really get moving in the garden.  With daylight hours now longer than night, and (hopefully!) the weather warming up it’s one of the best times to get out there, fork in hand and wellies on to sow, plant, weed and prune.

If you’re a better vegetable gardener than me (not hard!) I know you will be sowing like mad, including  lettuce, peas and beans and perhaps thinking about planting your seed potatoes that have been chitting gently in a cool , frost free spot.  Any leafy vegetable is pretty much out at Charnwood because of the rabbits.  I know it’s said you plant one for you and one for the wildlife, but there are so many animals here to eat or dig up stuff that there’s never any left for us!

So now I’ve given up trying to grow all but the most robust specimens: rhubarb, potatoes, garlic, redcurrants and gooseberries.  I’m trying a maincrop potatoes this year, Sarpo Mira.  If you get the very early potatoes they take 100 days from planting to harvest, second earlies 120 and maincrop 130 days. I’ll plant them when the soil has warmed up a bit and plant them about 15cm deep and 30cm apart.  When the first leaves start to come through and, especially if a frost is forecast, they will be ‘earthed up’, that is with more soil domed over the top.  That way you get more potatoes in good condition.  Now is a good time to prune redcurrants and gooseberries. I just take out any crossing or dead branches to try to create a an open framework of branches, but the RHS website will give you more detailed (but slightly scary!) instructions. Just remember it’s only gardening and whatever you do you are still very likely to get fruit.

April sees some primroses still out, but they do flower from quite early in the year the right spot. I love these dainty little flowers, they pop up everywhere here, preferring damp, gentle shady, woodland conditions. I know you can get them in many different colours, but lovely though they are, in my view nothing really compares to the native ‘Primula vulgaris’.  Cowslips(Primula veris)  are, unsurprisingly, closely related to primroses and will crossbreed with them given the right conditions.  But these prefer a more open meadow to do really well. Both can be lifted and divided for more plants after they have done flowering.  Violets have been gorgeous this year too, these dainty native flowers are such a joy and the early bees love them.

Snakes head fritillaries are a star by our pond this month;  another plant that likes damp conditions to thrive.  They self seed and spread gently.

We’ve spent a lot of time mulching this year, it really is good for the plants and the soil quality.  So far we’ve  used wood chippings where the plants are fairly robust like bamboo, leaf mould round precious plants like peonies and hellebores (which have been fantastic this year) and garden compost where the soil needs really good TLC.  It’s really satisfying work and looks lovely.  Our fairly new gardener Euan has the knack of spreading it all without squashing emerging shoots, a real skill that!

On the afternoon of 22 April the excellent Tollerton Gardening Club are visiting Charnwood. I hope to see some of you then. I’m hoping the tulips will be putting on a good show, the early perennials will be performing  and the cherry blossom will be out, fingers crossed!

Enjoy your garden at this wonderful time of year when there seems to be something new to see every day!