Gardener’s To-Do List for April
 Here’s a zone-by-zone to-do list for the month of April.
If you don’t know what USDA Plant Hardiness Zone you live in, check the map here to find out.
April To-Do List for Zone 3
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Dig up and enjoy parsnips still left in the garden from last fall.
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Dig compost into beds as soon as the soil can be worked.
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Fertilize established lawns.
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If weather allows, plant onion sets, lettuce, spinach, peas, sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus), carrots, and parsnips in the garden.
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Indoors, continue to start seeds of squash, melons, and corn.
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Start gladiolus corms indoors.
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Sprout seed potatoes by moving them from cold storage into room temperature.
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In the last week of the month, remove winter covering from tender roses, perennials, and strawberries.
April To-Do List for Zone 4
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When the soil has warmed and dried, plant cold-tolerant crops, such as peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, and onion.
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In flowerbeds, plant lilies, primroses, and lilies-of-the-valley.
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Plant raspberries as soon as possible, but wait until the soil has begun to warm before planting strawberries.
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Dig and divide perennials, such as daylilies and irises.
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Indoors, start tomato seeds if you plan to set them out under protective covering next month.
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Start broccoli seeds indoors for an early crop—but don’t delay; soon it will be too warm.
April To-Do List for Zone 5
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If the ground has thawed, divide and replant perennials, such as asters, bee balm, and hostas.
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Plant roses and lily bulbs.
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When the ground is warm and dry, transplant early tomatoes outdoors, inside protective Wallo’Waters.
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Seed a second crop of lettuce (start the seeds indoors or sow them directly in the garden).
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Sow spinach in the garden to get tender leaves before the weather warms.
April To-Do List for Zone 6
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Clean up the garden in preparation for the season ahead: Remove last
year’s dead plants, rake back winter mulches, and top-dress beds with
compost.
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After you’ve finished preparing your beds, plant potatoes, peas,
spinach, and other leafy greens as well as beets, turnips, and carrots.
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Put up a trellis for tall varieties of peas as soon as they sprout.
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Dig, divide, and replant perennials, such as helenium, fall asters, Shasta daisies, chrysanthemums, and phlox.
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As soon as the weather settles, plant transplants of pansies, forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.), foxglove (Digitalis spp.), and other cool-weather flowers.
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Sow seeds of sweet peas, bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea cyanus), and larkspur (Consolida ajacis) in flowerbeds.
April To-Do List for Zone 7
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Pass by broccoli and cabbage on sale at garden centers—hot weather
will soon arrive, causing plants to go to seed instead of forming edible
heads.
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Thin crowded carrots, chard, and lettuce.
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Remove floating row covers from peas early in the month. Drive tall,
twiggy branches into the ground next to the plants for support.
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Mulch around the base of cool-season crops to keep their roots cool and moist.
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Select new azalea and rhododendron bushes while they’re in bloom to make sure that the color complements your landscape.
April To-Do List for Zone 8
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Give flowers and vegetables a foliar feeding of liquid seaweed or
compost tea; spray the liquid nutrients on foliage early in the day
before it gets too hot.
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Plant black-eyed, purple hull and crowder peas, okra, peanuts, sweet
potatoes, squash, melons, cucumbers, and corn—all can withstand the heat
that will arrive in less than 2 months.
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Keep planting basil—it loves the warm weather.
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Plant "bulbs" of caladium, calla, gladiolus, and water lily.
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Keep adding kitchen scraps and grass clippings to your compost pile.
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Replenish your mulch!
April To-Do List for Zone 9
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If slugs and snails are decimating your plants, collect them in the evening, when you’re most likely to spot them.
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Plant pumpkins, summer squash, melons, and other vegetables that thrive in heat.
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Every 2 weeks from now until late summer, plant small blocks of bush beans and sweet corn to extend the harvest until frost.
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Thin fruits on fruit trees to increase their size and keep branches from breaking.
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Plant summer bedding plants, such as petunias, lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum), wax begonias, and impatiens.
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Sow seeds of nasturtiums, marigolds, portulaca, amaranthus, salvias, vinca (Catharanthus roseus), sunflowers, and zinnias.
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Plant perennials like ornamental alliums, bellflowers (Campanula spp.), daisies, yarrow, daylilies, coreopsis, penstemon, perennial geraniums (Geranium spp.), iris, and statice.
April To-Do List for Zone 10
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Plant perennials so they can settle in before the summer heat arrives; give them plenty of water.
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Plant heat-loving bedding plants, such as vinca (Catharanthus roseus), strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum), blanket flowers (Gaillardia spp.), and gazanias.
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Plant roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), amaranth, and Malabar spinach (Basella alba) now through August; make sure you give the Malabar spinach some shade and extra water.
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Try some tropical edibles: Buy malanga, gingerroot, and others at the
market. Cut them into pieces at least 1⁄2 inch long, and plant. Harvest
from October through December.
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Trellis tropical cucurbits (luffa, chayote, Tahitian squash, and so on) on a fence, and reap the rewards this fall.
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