April in the garden: planting, sowing and outfoxing the frost

Auf einen Blick

Mid-April is the best time to plant early potatoes.
Direct sowing is in full swing: carrots, beetroot, lettuces and peas.
Fruit blossom is frost-sensitive, so keep fleece ready for cold nights.
Heat-loving crops like tomatoes and cucumbers get hardened off, but they only go outside after the Ice Saints (a mid-May cold snap).

April is the month when the garden goes from zero to sixty. In a single mild week the beds turn green, the fruit trees break into leaf, and suddenly there's something to do everywhere you look. At the same time, April lives up to its reputation: 20 degrees of sunshine one day can turn to frost overnight. The trick is to ride the momentum while still holding the cold-sensitive crops back.

April roughly covers CW 14 to 18.

Chitted seed potatoes lying in a dug planting trench in the bed — Planted already chitted, the tubers get going right away. · Photo: Cut angles, CC BY-SA 4.0

The potatoes go into the ground

Mid-April is the classic date for early potatoes. The soil has warmed up, and the risk of a hard frost catching the young shoots is dropping.

Draw a trench about 10 cm deep, set the chitted tubers in it with the shoots pointing up, about 30 cm apart, and earth them up. Once the foliage stands 20 cm tall, earth them up again. That keeps light off the tubers, which would otherwise turn them green and inedible.

Direct sowing is in full swing

The open ground is now ready for almost anything tough. Carrots, beetroot, chard, parsnips, radishes and spinach all come up reliably, along with peas, onion sets and kohlrabi. With lettuce, radishes and spinach, the most useful trick in the self-sufficient gardener's book pays off: don't sow it all at once.

Sow in succession, not all in a glut

Don't sow fast-growing crops like lettuce, radishes and rocket in one go. Sow a short row every two to three weeks instead. That way you harvest fresh for weeks on end, and you won't suddenly face twenty heads of lettuce all bolting at the same time.

Towards the end of the month you can risk the first bush beans in sheltered, warm spots, ideally under fleece. They're frost-sensitive, but an early sowing buys them a real head start. Asparagus makes itself known now too: on established beds, cutting season begins from late April.

In April you sow not just seeds but a bit of faith: that a handful of grains will become a whole bed within a few weeks.

When the frost comes back at night

The loveliest sight of the month is the fruit blossom, and it's also the most vulnerable. A single clear frosty night can damage the open flowers of apple, pear and especially the early-flowering stone fruits, and cost you the harvest along with them.

Keep fleece ready for cold nights

When the forecast calls for a frosty night, cover small flowering fruit trees, strawberries and planted-out seedlings with garden fleece in the evening and take it off again in the morning. Move pots up against the house wall. No need to panic, but a watchful eye and a bit of fleece save many a harvest in April.

This is exactly why tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and peppers stay indoors for now, however much you're itching to plant them. Their planting-out date is after the Ice Saints in mid-May. In the last weeks of April, though, start getting them used to the outdoors: stand the pots in a sheltered, part-shaded spot during the day and bring them back in at night. This hardening off makes the plants tough and sun-hardy.

Wild garlic and the art of safe foraging

April is wild garlic season. In damp deciduous woods, wild garlic carpets the ground and gives off an unmistakable garlic scent the moment you brush past it. The young leaves turn into pesto, soup or herb butter.

A forest floor densely covered with flowering wild garlic — Whole forest floors are full of wild garlic in April. The garlic scent is its surest identifying mark.· Photo: Schwäbin, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Risk of confusion: be sure first, then harvest

Wild garlic has poisonous lookalikes whose leaves are easy to mistake for it: lily of the valley and the highly toxic autumn crocus. The most reliable test is the smell: crush a leaf between your fingers. If it doesn't smell clearly of garlic, leave it well alone. Pick every leaf individually and never grab whole handfuls blind.

Rechtlicher Hinweis

This article is no substitute for expert plant identification. Only forage wild herbs when you are absolutely certain about every single leaf, and when in doubt, reach for a field guide or bring in someone experienced.

The ornamental garden and the lawn

The flowers can go outside now too: pot marigold, nasturtium and sunflower can be sown directly and will later draw in bees and bumblebees. The pot marigold earns its keep twice over, because its roots do the vegetable bed a world of good.

The lawn is waking up as well. Once it reaches about 8 to 10 cm, it's due for its first cut, and after that it's worth scarifying to tackle moss and thatch. If you want to feed it, the best time is right after that first mow.

Your April in brief

Plant potatoesSet chitted early potatoes in mid-April and earth them up later.
Sow directCarrots, beetroot, lettuces and peas, in succession for a steady harvest.
Keep an eye on frostKeep fleece ready for cold nights, protect the fruit blossom and young plants.
Harden offGet tomatoes and cucumbers used to the outdoors, but only plant out after the Ice Saints.
Wild herbsForage wild garlic, but check every leaf by its garlic smell to be sure.
LawnMow for the first time, scarify and feed if needed.

Häufige Fragen

Can I plant tomatoes out in April already?

Better not. Across much of the German-speaking region, late frosts, the Ice Saints, are still a threat until mid-May. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers only go outside after that. In April you harden them off outdoors during the day.

How do I protect the fruit blossom from frost?

With garden fleece. Cover smaller trees and shrubs on the night frost is forecast and take the cover off again in the morning. For bigger trees, the only thing that helps is choosing the spot in advance: a sheltered position where cold air doesn't pool.

How can I identify wild garlic for certain?

By the smell. A crushed wild garlic leaf smells clearly of garlic; its poisonous lookalikes, lily of the valley and autumn crocus, don't. Check every leaf individually, and if you're not sure, leave it be.

Your April at a glance

April is a powerhouse, and it's completely normal for the to-do list to run longer than the weekend. Set priorities: the potatoes and the tough direct sowings first, the frost fleece within reach, the rest as the mood and the weather allow. The garden forgives a lot, as long as you keep the cold-sensitive plants indoors.

In Gartenkern you log your planting and sowing dates, and the frost warning keeps an eye on cold nights for you. Come next April, you'll know exactly when your potato 'Sieglinde' went in, and which night nearly cost you the blossom. That's how you get a little more relaxed year after year.

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