Allotment advice and tips - April - Spring has spread across the whole country, bringing colourful bulbs and we can start regular lawn mowing at last .....

Month by month guide:
Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit.

Vegetables to put on the table this month:
Asparagus
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Lettuce

What to do in the allotment in April? Apart from harvesting the above.

General Tasks
Mulch when warmed up, after hoeing off weeds making sure ground is moist.
Cover early Potato foliage if frost threatens, with fleece.
Tomato seedlings under glass should be doing well. Check ties and stakes. Slugs will be appearing more from this month. Feed the birds.

Vegetables:
Plant Onion sets.
Plant Earlies, Second Earlies
Sow late summer Cauliflower.
Sow maincrop Carrots
Sow Globe Beetroot
Plant out late summer Cabbages.
Sow winter Cabbage
Sow purple-sprouting and spring Broccoli
Remove flowers from Rhubarb as soon as seen

Cut Asparagus from beds at least two years old
Replace soil on earthed up Globe Artichokes by manure ;) or compost

Under Glass:
Sow French Beans cover with cloches

Herbs:
Sow Dill, Fennel, Hyssop, Marjoram, Rue and Thyme.
Further sowing of Parsley
Thin seeds sown in March and hoe weeds on sunny days.

Under Glass:
Make further sowings of Basil
Harden off seedlings sown in March and prick out

Fruit:
Check flowering and setting of Apples, Pears, Plums, and Cherries to gauge probable size of crop.
Watch for pests on flowers and fruitlets.
Check cross pollination is effective.
Protect soft fruit bushes against frost while in bloom.
Check ties and stakes.
Fine spray of water will help open peach and set nectarine flowers.
Pollinate cloched strawberries by simply opening in the day.
Remove flowers from immature and autumn fruiting runners

More suggestions?

Some suggestions that have been sent in.

Composting: All you need to know

Manure: Some suggested uses

Wormeries: How to create a wormery.

If you have any advice on anything to do with allotments please contribute.