Dacha and garden work in April. Useful tips and advice from an experienced gardener. Calendar of work in April at the dacha, in the garden and vegetable garden Cases in the garden in April

At the cottage - April And that means the season has begun! And there is no time to be lazy, we pick up a tool - and get to work. We're in business April at the cottage great multitude.

April is the most cheerful spring month: “April dresses the whole earth in flowers, calls all people to joy, crowns all the trees with foliage.”

Spring deftly cracks down on snow and ice. The beds that have rested during the winter are awakening to life again, and we feel how they breathe the smells of ripening soil ...

You do not have to be an experienced gardener to understand: the most laborious season has come.

There is, perhaps, no work, except for harvesting, that would not be required to be carried out at this time.

And moisture should be retained, and the soil should be loosened, and fertilizers should be applied, and plants should be planted or transplanted, cut off and protected from pests and diseases ... And yet, the main, essentially continuous work now is work with seedlings.

The seedling method of growing plants is more reliable and the only one for many places.

The summer season is gaining momentum, and how to deal with all this, how to manage everything, what to grab on to in the first place? After all, it seems that all things are urgent.

This is where the plan that we made in the winter comes in handy. If it is not there, then I want to advise you, my friends, to take a “country notebook” and think carefully about the work plan for each day so as not to forget to do anything.

What do we need to do in the garden?

So I wrote these lines and thought about what to write next, because our beautiful Spring, something is not in a hurry to us at all. Huge drifts of snow are in no hurry to melt, and the frosts do not end there.

Apparently, where she is now, she is much better and she completely forgot that we are waiting for her, we can’t wait.

And in many regions of our country, including ours, the March work on the summer cottage has not been done, to say nothing of the April work.

But since our country is huge, I hope that there are still those places where spring came on time and this article will be useful to them.

And we will have to do all the work that we could do slowly for two months at an accelerated pace, rolling up our sleeves.

So, we finish everything that we did not do in March and move on:

We remove the winter binding of trees, remove dry branches, leaves, last year's mulch, plant debris, spruce branches. It is best to burn all collected garbage;
We cut off the broken, dry, dead branches, and in those places where you find the egg-laying of pests on the branches, it is necessary to cut the branch completely and immediately burn it;
We will apply fertilizers on melted snow on the near-trunk circles of fruit trees, as well as shrubs, and then mulch with manure, humus or peat. Such measures are most loved by raspberry, currant and gooseberry bushes;
We try not to walk around the site if the earth is still wet, so as not to trample it - wait until the soil dries;
We prune gooseberries, black and red currants;
We loosen the dried soil and at the same time we introduce complex mineral fertilizer and humus for perennial plants in the trunk circles;
We clean tree trunks from mosses and lichens, wash them with a solution of iron sulfate (500 g per 10 liters of water), and also close up hollows and large cracks;
In the second half of April, we plant seedlings of fruit trees and shrubs in pre-prepared planting pits, while watering them abundantly and, of course, tying them to supports;
We carefully examine the currant bushes and if you see overgrown buds that resemble cabbage heads, then immediately cut them off and burn them, as bud mites have settled there (several thousand of these voracious pests are hiding in one bud). In April, they have not yet had time to leave the kidneys and, therefore, there is a chance to get rid of them;
When the snow melts, we deal with strawberries: we rake the mulch from the bushes, cut off the dried leaves, feed them with complex mineral fertilizer (2 tablespoons per m 2 beds) and, if you want to get an early harvest, cover the strawberries with a film, pulling it over arcs.

And in the garden?

We begin work in the garden as soon as the snow completely melts and the soil dries enough so that it does not stick to the shovel and legs:

- First of all, we will prepare the soil for planting seedlings of vegetable crops in the ground, namely, to preserve moisture, it is necessary to loosen the site and you can immediately plant seedlings;
- Already at the beginning of the month, radishes, parsley, carrots, onions, lettuce, dill, spinach, peas can be sown in open ground, but on condition that the plantings are covered with a film for the night;
- In a lighted place 35-40 days before planting, we spread the potatoes for vernalization, but only so that there is no direct sunlight and, if April is warm enough in your region, then the sprouted varieties of early potatoes can be planted, covering the seedlings with a film;
- We prepare new beds and cover them with a film to retain moisture and heat;
- We process greenhouses with 3% Bordeaux liquid to destroy pathogens, and it is also advisable to wash all the transparent surfaces of the greenhouse and then loosen the soil and fill it with fertilizers;
- We sow salads, broccoli, kohlrabi and Beijing cabbage, spice and flavoring herbs in a greenhouse or under a film on a garden bed;
- We sow peas, carrots, parsnips, spinach, radishes, turnips, dill and parsley in open ground, plant spring garlic, onion sets, onions and shallots on a feather;
- Also, do not forget to spud seedlings of asparagus, scorzonera, lettuce chicory in order to get bleached shoots;
- We rake off the mulch from winter plantings of winter garlic and onion sets, loosen the soil and feed;
- We sow cucumbers, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, early undersized tomatoes for seedlings;
- Because of the new troubles that have appeared, we will try not to forget about the previously planted seedlings of pepper, eggplant and tomatoes, which also require care;
- We take out seedlings for hardening on warm days in the open air, but protect from direct sunlight;

Let's take care of flowers

Our favorite flowers are also waiting for our attention:

We begin to gradually remove shelters from roses, rhododendrons and other heat-loving crops that were covered, and if there are still frosts at night, then we only slightly raise the shelters during the day, thereby giving the plants a "breathe";
We remove the shelters completely when the snow finally melts;
We cut the roses while the buds have not yet begun to grow, at a temperature not lower than 5 about WITH;
We cut out thin, weak and too old branches from roses, as well as frozen, blackened, broken and shrunken parts of the shoots to the first overwintered bud on the bottom of the shoot with a green clean crown;
We cultivate the soil under the bushes with antifungal fungicides, then we fertilize and mulch;
As soon as the first sprouts of bulbous plants appear, it is necessary to feed them, loosen the soil around them and spray them from pests;
We rake peat or other mulch from the lilies and, when the stems begin to grow, we feed them, and also, so that the lilies do not get sick, we pour (after a while) with this solution: dilute 1 tablespoon of soda, copper sulfate, ammonia in 1 liter of warm water and this solution, while stirring in a thin stream, pour into a watering can filled with cold water;
We sow in a greenhouse or under film for seedlings annual dahlias, amaranth, balsam, calendula, cosmea, lavater, alissum, marigolds;
We remove winter shelters from clematis, feed them and mulch;
In the end of the month there comes a short spring period of division of perennials such as: peonies - they are divided until the buds start to grow, irises should also be tried to be divided in a very short time, until the period of their active growth has come;

And such perennials as phloxes, astilbes, delphiniums, chrysanthemums can be divided in the spring with less haste. But still, they graft better if divided before the growth and unfolding of the leaves.

Feed all perennial flowers, after removing the winter shelter;
Don't forget about the lawn, which also needs your attention, walk on it with a rake to remove debris, and be sure to feed it with nitrogen fertilizer.

That's how much work we have to do, dear summer residents! But no matter how busy we are, let's not forget about rest, about our health.

Happy season, dear friends!

No wonder they say that April begins with snow and ends with greenery. Time flies by so fast that you can't do all the work.

Planting calendar for April

April 15–17. You can plant beets for seedlings. This is done very simply: in a box with earth, we draw grooves every 5 centimeters, moisten them, lay out the seeds, water them lightly and cover them with dry soil. We put the box in a greenhouse or cover it with a film.
April 20–21. Good days for planting pumpkin crops for seedlings (cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins). In a warm greenhouse, you can also plant watercress, spinach, Chinese cabbage and cold-resistant annuals (hodetium, calendula, nasturtium, cosmea) for seedlings.
April 23–25. You can also plant pumpkins, zucchini, squash, undersized tomatoes and peppers.
April 28–30. Cold-resistant annuals are planted immediately in open ground. These days, you can transplant seedlings of any fruit trees, berry bushes, perennial flowers.
In the end of April parsley, turnips, carrots, lettuce, radishes, dill, onion sets are sown in open ground.

Works in the garden

The snow is melting - the work is in full swing.

Where the soil was not limed in autumn, but the acidity of the soil is increased, if necessary, we carry out this event in early spring (at least 2 weeks before planting, the laying rate is 4 times less than during autumn application).

In April, even the driest suburban area does not suffer from a lack of moisture, to say nothing of the traditionally low places. It's not enough to just put on rubber boots. Bulbous and perennial plants suffer from dampness and soaking, the lawn is covered with moss and algae, the root system of trees and shrubs rots.

The situation worsens on clay soils. Constant stagnant water and, as a result, poor air exchange contribute to the development of many fungal diseases. As a matter of urgency, dig open drainage ditches outside the property.

The amount of moisture in the soil is well reduced by the periodic pumping out by a pump (ordinary watering or drainage) of water from a pond or drainage well available on the site with the jet discharged into a drainage ditch. But do not overdo it, often this measure is really necessary only for heavily wetlands, as well as areas with elevated groundwater levels.

Digging the earth and cutting the ridges should not be done immediately after the snow melts. Wet soil will stick to the shovel or cultivator discs, in addition, tilled soil can dry out while waiting for the right temperature for sowing and planting crops.

How to check the readiness of the soil for digging and planting? The soil is ripe if a handful of earth from a depth of 8 cm, squeezed in the palm of your hand and thrown to the ground, does not break up into lumps.

The root system of some perennials tends to bulge out of the ground after winter and become bare. This adversely affects the development of the plant and can even kill it. Bushes of geyhera, high primrose, horned violets, and pinnate carnations often suffer. Inspect them, and if necessary spud with soil.

The soil in the flower beds that has barely dried up after the snow has melted must be deeply loosened with a hand cultivator and mulched to give air to the roots and retain moisture in the soil. Early loosening, removal of dried leaves, weeding and mulching with sawdust are good for strawberry plantations. Use a weeding shovel to remove hard-to-reach and brittle long roots of weeds such as dandelion.

With the onset of warm weather and after the soil has completely thawed, feed the plants. It is good to combine top dressing with mineral fertilizers by adding to the root system of compost soil.

Vegetables and greens

Shavel, onion and other perennial vegetable crops are cleaned from shelter, fertilized. At this time, nitrogen fertilizers are applied in minimal quantities (about a teaspoon of saltpeter per square meter) and phosphate fertilizers are not fertilized at all. It would be nice to feed perennial onions with mullein infusion. If, after loosening, a film or non-woven material is thrown on top, you will remove the first crop at least a week earlier.
Winter garlic. Plantings are fertilized with diluted slurry, to which potassium salt and superphosphate are added. Carry out loosening in the aisles. As soon as the soil allows - plant summer garlic.
Parsnips, carrots, parsley. They are planted among the first - when the average daily temperature reaches + 5 ° C. At this time, coltsfoot usually blooms.
Green crops. Spinach, salad mustard, Beijing cabbage are also planted early. They tolerate small frosts well, grow quickly and are extremely useful. Watering with warm water (30–35 ° C) overwintered bushes of chives, lovage and celery will shorten the time for young greens to be ready for cutting.
Potato. It is still far from planting potatoes, first you need to prepare the ridges and germinate the seed material. The tubers for germination are laid out in boxes and placed in a bright, but not too warm room. In the conditions of a city apartment, a small number of tubers can be decomposed into 3 liter glass jars and placed on window sills.

Fruit trees and shrubs

Buds open on fruit trees

Fruit trees

If you carry out simple measures to combat plant diseases and pests, then most of them will not even think of ruining your summer weekend with their visits.

First, clear the area of plant debris. Arm yourself with gloves that reliably save you from corns and a comfortable wheelbarrow, collect last year's foliage, mummified fruits with light fan rakes and take them to the place designated for composting, cover with a thick layer of peat or earth.

Using a pump-action sprayer, treat the crowns of fruit and ornamental trees with a solution of copper sulfate. Spraying is best done in cloudy weather at an air temperature of at least + 4 ° C.

Do not forget about conifers, especially young specimens wintering for the first time. Watering with special fertilizers for coniferous crops and spraying with immunostimulating drugs will help them move away from the snowy winter and spring burns.

In fruit trees, they inspect and cover up damage to the bark with garden pitch, and remove broken branches.

Both sanitary and formative spring pruning of trees and shrubs can be carried out only at positive daily temperatures. Rosehips, Kuril tea, hydrangeas are cut along swollen buds, summer-flowering spireas and barberries can be cut at the beginning of leaf dissolution.

Pruning of fruit trees must be completed by the time they bud. For thick branches, use loppers and garden saws. Trimming manipulations, like grafting, are carried out only with a sharp and convenient tool that will give a clean cut without nicks and jams. With branches located at a high height, it is more convenient to work by attaching the tool to the telescopic handle.

In April, you need to have time to plant woody plants. But this rule does not apply to seedlings planted in pots. They are planted by transshipment, without destroying the earthen coma, and therefore the landing time is significantly extended.

berry bushes

Before the buds swell, gooseberries and currants are watered from a watering can with hot water (temperature about + 60 ° C).

As soon as the snow melts, it is necessary to break out last year's stumps in the bushes of raspberries, gooseberries, currants (the berry moth likes to settle in them) and cut off all the extra shoots from the gooseberries and currants (before the buds open). If the berries are frozen, pruning should be postponed.

During the blooming of the leaves, those currant branches are cut out, in which this process is significantly delayed. Most likely, pests settled there. All plant debris must be burned.

flower garden

As soon as the snow melts, pour warm water (30–35 ° C) on plants with winter green leaves, such as periwinkle, Julia primrose, liverwort, saxifrage. This will warm the soil at the roots, bring the time of awakening and nutrition closer, which contributes to faster and more friendly flowering.
Under perennial flowers, urea must be scattered over the snow.
After snowmelt and garbage collection, you can loosen the soil and, when the soil is ready, plant cold-resistant annuals.
In April, depending on the weather, they begin to remove shelters from roses, clematis and other heat-loving flowers. After the snow melts, the winter shelter is removed and replaced with non-woven material.
Dolomite flour is scattered under the peonies (up to 100 g per 1 bush). After the snow melts, they are fed with any liquid fertilizer based on nitrogen and phosphorus.
In a cold greenhouse, you can plant heat-loving annuals (cloves, aquilegia, nivyanik, marigolds, zinnia) for seedlings.

Lawn

When the ground dries up, but not before, pay attention to the lawn. Having rid him of bunches of dry grass, take care of aeration, oversowing seeds in the bald spots formed after winter and fertilizing.

In order for the lawn surface to remain as even, loosen large bald spots, tubercles from and hollows, fill with fertile soil, level the surface, then compact a little and sow with the same mixture as the rest of the lawn. Small bald spots can not be disturbed, after aeration and fertilizer they will overgrow themselves.

After a snowy winter, another lawn misfortune is often observed - the influx of grass cover on the paths and the flower garden area. Usually the edges are corrected with a sharpened shovel, but it is difficult to get an even strip. You can cut the lawn neatly and quickly with a special hand chopper for trimming the edges or with a hoe with a crescent-shaped blade or a more mechanized lawn edge cutter. The latter is more intended for large areas.

When the snow melts and the earth dries out a little, it's time to prepare the soil for sowing garden seeds. It is necessary to cultivate and harrow all the beds that were dug up in the fall with a rake. The same beds and plots that were not dug up in the fall need to be dug up with the addition of compost, superphosphate and ash.

Perennial crops should be freed from mulching materials, loosened, fed and covered with portable film structures in order to get an early harvest.

The first half of April is the time to sow green crops such as Chinese cabbage, lettuce, dill, watercress, cilantro, mustard leaf, as well as sunflowers, peas, and beans. And at the end of the month, seeds of cold-resistant plants are sown: carrots, onions, parsley, parsnips, radishes, lettuce, dill, etc. At the same time, turnips, radishes, rutabaga, peas, onion sets, beets are sown. From the beginning of the second decade, sow a cucumber, plant an early tomato under film shelters.

It's time to stretch the film on greenhouses and film shelters. Properly (with slate edging) prepare new beds.

Garden work in April

In most parts of Russia, spring comes in April. In the second half of the month in the middle zone of our country, sap flow and bud swelling begin in fruit trees. It's time for the most important spring work. In early April, all early spring plant care work that was not completed in March, for example, due to bad weather, should be completed.

With the last snow melting and sufficient drying of the top layer of the earth, put the area in order: rake the remaining last year's leaves, tops, branches, season cucumber beds with them, or put them in a compost heap. If weather conditions allow, start cultivating the soil - the sooner you loosen it, destroying the crust formed after the snow melts, the more soil moisture will be saved for the plants. Dig up the earth only if it is completely dry. You need to dig to a depth that is half as much as in autumn, otherwise, you can return the layer to its previous position.

Remove the strapping from the boles of the trees, and if the lime is washed off, it is necessary to repeat the whitewashing of the trunks with lime mortar. You can also whitewash stems and branches with freshly slaked lime (at the rate of 2-3 kg per 10 liters of water) with the addition of 0.5 kg of copper sulfate. Lime can be replaced with ground chalk by adding skimmed milk (2 liters per 10 liters of water) or wood glue (50-100 g per 10 liters of water) to the solution for better adhesion. Also add clay, mullein. These additives for better stickiness should also be mixed with lime whitewash. Such an event will protect plants not only from frost, sunburn, but also additionally destroy pests in the wintering stage, pathogenic fungi, and clear mosses and lichens.

If for some reason you were not able to spray against wintering stages of pests in March, then it is not too late to do it now, before the buds swell. All fruit trees, gooseberry bushes, blackcurrants and raspberries can be treated with a solution of nitrafen (300 g per 10 liters of water) against pathogenic fungi and aphids. At the same time, the soil under trees and shrubs is also sprayed with nitrafen.

A little later, at the end of April, when the buds begin to bloom, to combat scab, fruit rot and other fungal diseases in gardens, pear and apple trees are treated with Bordeaux liquid (300 g of copper sulfate and 400 g of freshly slaked lime per 10 liters of water).

At the same time, thickening, dry branches growing deep into the crown, tops (growing vertically upwards) are cut out, long ones are shortened.

Stamps are cleaned of dead bark, heal wounds that were formed from breaks, damage by hares and mice. Hollows, cancerous wounds are cleaned - they are first treated with copper sulfate (50 g per 1 liter), then the hollows are sealed with cement, in cancerous wounds - with a mixture: putty (6 parts of nigrol + 2 parts of molten paraffin + 2 parts of molten rosin) with a gauze bandage applied . To get rid of the apple flower beetle, trapping belts made of corrugated paper, burlap impregnated with karbofos (at the rate of 100 g per 10 liters of water) are applied to the base of the trunk.

The best time for planting fruit trees is early spring, and spring planting is especially important for cherries, as they often freeze when planted in autumn. Planted plants should be whitewashed, watered abundantly and mulched. At the same time, berry bushes are propagated by cuttings and layering.

It's time to start grafting and re-grafting fruit trees. Before sap flow begins, they are grafted in the “split”, “side cut” and “wedge” methods. "Bridges" are installed on the damaged parts of the boles - thus, healthy, well-developed, not frozen one-year last year's cuttings of any winter-hardy variety are grafted. They do this on the basis of - 4-5 shoot bridges are placed on a stem up to 10 cm thick with an interval of 5-7 cm around the circumference.

Blackcurrant buds must be examined and, if swollen round buds (carriers of one of the dangerous pests - kidney mites) are found, they are broken out. Also cut out branches affected by a glass case, or with a large number of swollen buds. All infected buds and branches that could be collected must be burned. Spray currant and gooseberry bushes affected by powdery mildew and anthracnose before bud break: either nitrafen, or karbofos, or Bordeaux mixture. Weed and loosen shrubs - currants, gooseberries, raspberries, honeysuckle, blackberries, Japanese quince, hazelnuts, while removing dry, thin, recumbent, too old, broken, thickening branches. Raspberries and blackberries need to be untied. They also cut off the tips of the branches, cutting out the dry ones, infected with the stem gall, shorten the frozen branches to live buds. Before the buds wake up, tie up the raspberry shoots on the trellises - in this case, the plants will be better illuminated by the sun and the berries will ripen a little earlier. In addition, the garter will facilitate the care of plants in general.

Areas with strawberries need to be cleaned of whiskers and old leaves, collected and burned. Fertilizers are applied under the strawberries and the soil is loosened. Additionally, those plants that are very bare and stick out of the soil are spudded. Planting young bushes. The dead bushes can only be replaced with new ones (stocked since autumn). If frost is still possible, then the strawberries should be covered.

One of the most important jobs for a gardener in April is preparing to protect the orchard from spring frosts. Between the opening of the buds and the end of the formation of the ovaries, the gardener must monitor the air temperature in order to be ready to protect the flowers and ovaries. The most affordable way to protect the garden from frost is to smoke. The smoke screen helps to keep the heat in the garden, which is given off by the soil during the night. In this regard, at the beginning of the month, brushwood, straw manure, turf, peat, fallen leaves, potato tops, sawdust, wood chips and other materials for arranging smoke heaps should be prepared.

Works in the ornamental garden, flower garden in April

When the snow has melted and the soil has warmed up, the condition of the lawns is checked at a depth of 5-10 cm. In areas where plants fall out from freezing (or soaking), it is necessary to sow grasses - the soil in the places of attacks is dug up, leveled and sown seeds of lawn grasses at the rate of 6-10 g per 1 m 2. Then the crops are covered with a rake, compacted from above with the back side, and watered from a watering can with a mesh nozzle.

With ornamental plants, such as, for example, roses, hydrangeas and others, they remove shelters, loosen and loosen the soil around the bushes.

In addition, roses are pruned: for remontants, 6-8 buds are left on each shoot, for hybrid tea and polyanthus - 2-3 buds, for climbing and park roses, only dead, broken and simply weak branches are removed.

At this time, ornamental trees and shrubs are transplanted. In flower beds (flower beds, borders) you can plant seedlings of daisies, forget-me-nots, viola, calendula and other annuals that are resistant to spring frosts.

Towards the end of the month, you can sow sweet peas, matthiola, whose seedlings tolerate short-term frosts. Then they take care of bulbous perennial early-flowering plants: tulips, hyacinths, daffodils. They should be fed with mineral fertilizers per 1 m 2: urea 20 g, superphosphate 20 g, potassium salt 15 g. Next, the soil around the sprouts that appear should be loosened, and if it is dry, water it.

In the last decade, germinated gladiolus bulbs are planted (distance from each other 10-15 cm, between rows 20-25 cm). Children of gladioli must be planted until mid-April on a compacted grid (3-5-15 cm).

Immediately before planting, the bulbs and babies are recommended to be kept in a solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. Bulbs can be divided into 2-3 parts, depending on the number of sprouts, while treating the wound surface with brilliant green or coal powder. They are planted in a hole up to 10 cm deep with the bottom down or on the edge and even upside down. Gladiolus can be grown in one place for no more than three years, and preferably two.

Among other things, during this period, climatis should be unrolled and specimens with lashes not cut off in autumn should be raised on trellises, dry tips should be cut off, and nitrogen fertilizer should be filled.

In case the perennials in your garden have grown and shredded, it means that it's time to separate them. Cut the edges of the bush with a knife and carefully remove it from the ground. Sprinkle the cuts with charcoal.

Fine( 5 ) Badly( 0 )

Gardeners and gardeners of the Moscow region have already opened a new summer season. For beginners, the first question now arises - what important work in the garden and vegetable garden in April 2019 in the Moscow region needs to be done and where to start.

April days in the last few years have been quite warm and sunny. Nature is actively waking up, while many different matters of paramount importance immediately pile up on summer residents. The main thing to remember is that all spring work on the plot must be completed on time in order to subsequently get a good harvest.

From April 1 to April 5, you can sow the seeds of late cabbage, and after another five days - the seeds of cabbage of the middle growing period. In the garden at this time it is worth digging grooves in the snow to drain melt water from greenhouses. Also we begin sanitary pruning of pome trees: cut diseased and shrunken parts of the branches to healthy tissues; clean the wounds with a sharp garden knife and cover with garden pitch or paint over with oil paint on natural drying oil.

In early April, sow flower crops for seedlings: amaranth, ankhuz, bartonia, marigolds, levkoy, legusia, nemophila, felicia, Drummond's phlox, keeled chrysanthemum, sowing and crowned, zinnia, echium.

During the same period it is worth dive the first time the March crops and the second time the February ones. For seedlings, use peat pots or paper cups with a height and diameter of about 5-7 cm. Pour sterile sand over the substrate with a layer of 0.5 cm.

From 15 to 20 April sowing tomato seeds for open ground. The exact date should be chosen in accordance with the gardener's lunar sowing calendar.

In the last decade, taking into account weather conditions, you can start first sowing. It is worth starting with light soils (sandy and sandy loam), as they are ready for sowing earlier. It is easy to determine the readiness of the soil: if a clod of earth taken in a fist, thrown from the height of the chest, crumbles into several lumps, the time has come.

You can start prepare the soil for sowing. It is advisable to shed the beds in greenhouses with a solution of Baikal EM-1 fertilizer in a ratio of 1:100, add ash or artificial mineral fertilizers, loosen with a flat cutter, and level with a rake.

From April 25, you can start sowing seeds of carrots, parsley, turnips, dill, leaf and head lettuce, radishes, watercress, onions for sets, seedlings of cauliflower and kohlrabi.

At the beginning of April in the garden you can to carry out forming and breed-varietal pruning fruit trees and berry bushes. If the pruning of fruit trees and berry bushes is not finished in the snow, it can be continued after the soil has dried out a little. Do not be afraid of the sight of swollen buds on the branches.

After the snow has completely melted, nitrogen fertilizer must be applied.(urea or ammonium nitrate). Fertilizers are scattered over the surface of the soil.

We examine fruit trees for the presence of areas of bark damaged by mice or hares. After detection, wounds are disinfected with a 1% solution of copper or iron sulfate, and then, when the surface dries, they must be wrapped with a black film so that light and water do not penetrate. If there is no black film, then you can use the usual one, but at the same time shade the wound with at least newsprint folded in 2-3 layers. If the bark is damaged around the entire circumference, graft with a bridge.

If the trees were very sick last season with scab or fruit rot, spend "blue spray" 3% Bordeaux mixture. However, do not abuse this remedy: the accumulation of copper in the soil in excess amounts can be harmful.

It's time to start grafting or re-grafting fruit trees(if you want to change the variety or, if necessary, repair the tree). If in the garden there are trees of non-hardy varieties that freeze above the stem, then they must be re-grafted. Trees from 3 years of age to 10 years are suitable for this operation.

At the end of April, you can make cuttings from currants for the purpose of reproduction. The processing of strawberry plantings also begins. First of all, all last year's leaves are removed. With the left hand, they grab the leaves located on any one side of the row, and with the right garden knife they cut their petioles closer to the base of the bush. After removing the leaves, the ground must be mulched, for example, with peat.

When the soil in the garden is completely thawed (the shovel enters it without difficulty), start pruning roses. Unwind them, leave 3-4 of the strongest, healthiest green shoots and cut short (2-3 buds). Cut vigorous varieties longer - by 4-6 buds. Weak, broken, blackened, stained stems cut to the base. Cut varieties with upright shoots to the outer bud, sprawling ones to the inner bud.

Strong and medium pruning is used for hybrid tea roses, as well as floribunda, grandiflora, polyanthus, miniature and semi-climbing roses, blooming on the shoots of the current year. Shorten the long shoots of climbing roses only a little and cut out very old, weak or broken ones. Flowers in this group are formed on last year's shoots, as in park roses (they are pruned in the same way).