Gardening Tasks for April in Transylvania County

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Crabapple in bloomApril is a beautiful and busy time in the garden, so we’ve put together a list of gardening tasks to do now with links for more information on each topic.

Fertilizing

Planting

  • Many gardeners prefer to transplant azaleas in April so they can group the plants according to their flower color. Planting trees and shrubs
  • Set out broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce plants.
  • Sow the following vegetable seeds this month: beets, broccoli, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, carrots, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, onion bulbs, parsnips, garden peas, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips. A Beginner’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening
  • Set out perennials and summer flowering bulbs. Prepare beds with superphosphate and compost. Planting perennials and bulbs
  • Plant perennial herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and sage as long as they have been hardened off. Basil and other tender annual herbs should be planted outdoors after the last frost, usually mid-May. Growing culinary herbs
  • Continue to divide and transplant perennials. Dividing perennials

Pruning

  • As flowers fade, continue to prune spring-flowering shrubs including lilac, weigela, spirea, flowering quince, viburnum, and forsythia. Spring and summer bloomers
  • Trim spring-flowering trees including magnolia, flowering cherry, and redbud immediately after blooming if needed. Pruning trees and shrubs
  • Prune azaleas prune lightly, 12” or less, after flowering. For severe pruning, wait until February. Pruning overgrown shrubs
  • Prune berry-producing ornamental shrubs such as pyracantha and holly while in flower so you don’t cut off all of the flowers which will remove all of this season’s berries.
  • Cut out any winter damage that may have occurred this year.

Pest Management

  • Scout or observe your landscape plants before treating as pests and diseases may not be present.
  • Monitor landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: azalea-lace bug, boxwood-leaf miner, euonymus-scale, hemlock and juniper-spruce mites, and rhododendron borer. Scouting for insect damage
  • Treat iris beds for iris borers. Iris borers
  • Watch for and treat broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower for pests.
  • Begin weekly tree-fruit sprays after flower petals fall. Fruit Spray Schedule.
  • Start a weekly fungicide program for your bunch grapes this month. Fruit Spray Schedule.
  • Continue the rose fungicide program. Fungus on Roses
  • Watch for dogwood spot anthracnose as it begins to appear now. Treat if needed. Disease prevention for dogwood trees.

Lawn Care Lawn care information

  • Maintain mowing height of fescue and bluegrass at 3 to 3 1/2 inches.
  • Apply broadleaf herbicide as needed.
  • Apply insecticide for grub control as needed.
  • Do not fertilize cool-season lawns again until September.

Propagation

  • This is a good time to layer new plants by lowering a branch of your favorite shrubs and covering it with soil and a stone. Layering plants

Miscellaneous To Do

  • Mulch all of your landscape plants as needed. Pine needles, double-ground hardwood, and pine bark are good mulches. Keep mulch away from plant stems and tree trunks and 3” deep or less.
  • Create and attach labels for all new plants.
  • Stake tall perennials and peonies. Staking
  • Put out hummingbird feeders mid-month

Plants in bloom in April:  Crabapple, Dogwood, Carolina Silverbell, Redbud, Flowering Cherry, Viburnum, Pearlbush, Lilac, Carolina Rhododendron, Sweet Shrub, Piedmont Azalea, Banks Rose, Exbury Azalea, Spirea, Pieris, Evergreen Azalea, Kerria, Leucothoe, Weigela, Wisteria, Periwinkle, Ajuga, Candytuft, Violet, Columbine, Trillium, Dwarf Iris, Bloodroot, Bleeding Heart, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Anemone, Siberian Iris, Sqill