April Garden Checklist: Tasks & DIY Projects

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As spring arrives in the April cold-climate garden, winter may have a few surprises left . Indoor seed starting is underway and, as the soil warms, outdoor sowing begins. Eager for the growing season ahead, DIY garden art projects are the perfect remedy for our impatience.

Be sure to see the March Garden Checklist in case you missed it.

April Garden Checklist

Here in southwestern Ontario, Canada, April requires some patience. As winter melts away, and spring rains (and snows!) come and go, it’s too early to be full-on mucking about in the garden.

We can, however, clear up winter vegetable beds and start sowing fast-growing cool crops, but other than that, it is best to let things sprout and bud and fade away in their own sweet time.

While no two gardens are the same—and our growing conditions and weather vary—I provide monthly and seasonal checklists to help you create the best To-Do list for your situation.

If you would like a printable copy, get your free Spring Gardening Checklist in the Resources section (below).

Monthly Garden Checklists

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Go to Resources (below) to get yours.

Grow

Planting, Sowing, & Preparations

Outdoors

Hold off putting tender plants outdoors until you have passed your last frost date unless you have suitable season extenders like frost cloths or a polytunnel to protect them.

Now is the time to start waking up potted plants from winter storage including spring bulbs and fig trees. This explains the process.
Start your early spring vegetable garden. Quick-growing veggies including leafy greens and peas are ideal choices. And don’t forget the fast-growing flowering annuals.
If you’re sowing tiny seeds, consider making seed tapes.
Soil temperature is an important guide for deciding sowing times. Make sure your soil is consistently warm enough for the seeds you are sowing.
If new perennial growth is up and the soil is not too damp, we may start some spring clean-up—but only if truly necessary. That old growth is tremendously useful to life in the garden. The more you leave in place, the better protection for all the living things nestled in there.
Move winter compost into main pile. Turn twice weekly if you can.
Grow new plants from cuttings: see what you can propagate now.

Pond

If you’re still getting deep freezes, keep a deicer running to protect dormant fish and frogs overwintering in the depths of the pond.

Wild Things

Use this map to find out where the hummingbirds are now.
Have your hummingbird feeders with sugar water ready for the arrival of spring migrations.
Keep bird feeders and water feeders clean and filled.
Watch nesting boxes for activity. Maybe you’d enjoy an automated feeder camera?

Spring garden plants with a native sweat bee.

Indoors

Grow salad greens and other veggies and herbs can grow indoors all year-round.
Move indoor seedlings to larger pots as needed, also known as “up-potting” or “potting up.”
Plan to get your babies ready for life outdoors (“harden them off”).
Dahlias should be started indoors 4-6 weeks before your last frost.
Have a shrub that hasn’t flowered yet? Force some branches indoors.

Assortment of seedlings ready for hardening off.

Make

Creative Projects

There’s still time to work on garden art projects before the busy May garden season begins.

Sweet pea arch in garden. — Creating a sweet pea garden arch | Credit: Gardening on a Shoestring by Alex Mitchell

Here are some project ideas.

Giant flower urn, giant bird nest, giant agave plants in bathtub.

Ideas

Dream & Scheme

Garden before and after planting large flower and vegetable garden.

Want a garden shed? Here’s lots of styles to choose from.
How about some repurposed art? Old kitchen chairs make great plant stands.
Planning a new pond? This has lots of ideas for all budgets.
Knees or back not working like they used to? Tall raised beds and salad tables save the day.

Observe & Enjoy

You may not know it by the name phenology, but you certainly know what it is. Phenology is the science of observing annual first events in nature.

When flower buds open. When peepers first peep. When bees appear. When migrations arrive. When bulbs pop up. The list is endless.

Seasonal changes prompt natural responses in the plant and animal kingdoms. It is interesting to note these events and compare them year over year.

Spring Phenological Events

Here’s a few examples you might notice.

Tree sap is running (and some of us are collecting it for syrup).
Leaf buds may become larger.
Along with early flowering native trees, apple trees, spring bulbs like tulips, and magnolia trees may bloom.
Parent birds are working hard to feed their young and protect their nests. Other birds may be just arriving for mating season.
Some insects may emerge if it’s warm enough.
Flowering bulbs are blooming.
Weather will toggle between winter and spring; temperatures above and below freezing like a roller coaster.
Ponds and waterways are flowing again.
New growth is emerging from the base of perennials.

When you notice something new for the season, jot it down in a calendar. I do this in my computer calendar so I can compare “firsts” year over year. It’s very interesting!