Newsletter – April – New Beginnings & Growth

Carrot Curiosities

Articles & Events

How Eco Friendly is your Compost?

Garden Organic have an interesting article which digs into peat free composts and the materials that they contain. Are these materials like coir, bark, perlite, vermiculite – actually environmentally friendly?

Link: Garden Organic

Stop Food Waste Day – 30 April

As vegetable growers, we strive to cook, store or eat our vegetables wisely, especially due to all the effort we put in to grow them.

It all starts at home.

Here’s some food waste recipes, free digital cookbook & chefs tips on cutting down on food waste.

Read More Here

The Food Revolution

2025 Food Revolution Summit starts Live from April 23-30 and has 45 experts in food, health & nutrition. Available free globally to view recorded episodes for 21 hours after they air. I’ll be particularly interested in Episode 8 from Farm to Fork on April 30th.

Link to Episodes: Food Revolution Summit

Places to Visit – Our Environment

Fixing Our Broken Planet Gallery

The Natural History Museum is running this thought provoking gallery about the nature crisis. Scientists, environmentalists & young people have had an input on how our planet is now and how we can save it.

Topics include: ocean pollution, carbon in soil, air pollution, fungi based fertiliser.

Link: The Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London – Entry: Free.

Whale on the Wharf

A giant whale sculpture has splashed out of the water in Canary Wharf to highlight the plastics in our oceans.

The whale structure is four stories high and shows how detrimental the problem of plastics in our oceans is. Fact: there is more plastic (150 tonnes) in our ocean than whales.

Link: Whale on the Wharf, Canary Wharf London – Free to View.

Vegetables to Sow in April

Vegetables to Grow in April

April is the month to get seeds sowing. With warmer temperatures although still a chance of frost till the end of April at the earliest.

Seed Sowing HQ – Find out what to Sow every month.

Check out the Seed Sowing HQ for April for veg to sow, jobs to do and what’s happening in the Veg Garden in April.

Plant out Onions sown from seed in Raised Beds

The Onions sown from seed in January have now been planted outside in a raised bed.

Although they are a little small, the nutrients have run out in the compost, so it’s time to get them outside growing strong.

Read More + Video

There’s still time to Sow Seeds in April:

There’s still so much to start sowing in modules or small pots in the greenhouse like:

  • Courgettes,
  • Squash,
  • Pumpkin,
  • Cucumber,
  • Beans – Runner, French or Broad,
  • Direct Sow in the ground – Carrots, beetroot, lettuce, spinach, chard, radish, rocket.
  • Sow flowers to attract insects and get rid of pests like: Calendula, Marigolds, Nasturtiums.

Plant out Early sown Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce & Spinach.

Early sown Cabbages & Cauliflowers in January have now been planted out into the shallot, garlic & Rosemary bed.

The Veg Garden in April

In the Raised Beds

Raised Bed 1
Raised Bed 2
Raised Bed 2
  • Raised Bed 1 – Garlic, Elephant Garlic, Shallots growing strong. Cabbage, Cauliflower, Rosemary & Calendula planted out in April.
  • Raised Bed 2 – Newly planted out Onion seedlings (sown from seed), Lettuce & Spinach planted out, row of carrots coming up. Beetroot row is a no show on germination yet.
  • Raised Bed 3 – Brussel Sprouts bolted (went to flower and seed), removed and added compost. Ready for our homemade DIY Pea Wall – coming soon!
  • Raised Bed 4 – Squash, Pumpkin & Sweetcorn Bed. Will be sowing seeds at the end of April / beginning of May.
  • Spring Cabbages in Pots – Harvested.
  • Giant Allium bulbs – Flower spikes coming up.

In the Greenhouse

  • Flower seeds sown in April: Cosmos, Marigold, Echim, Gardillia, pouched egg plant and Sunflowers.
  • Peas sown in late March, planted in pots in the greenhouse to keep them away from pigeons!
  • Mini Cucumbers – sown in 9cm diameter pots Mid April. (Top left of photo)
  • Aubergine & Sweet Pepper potted on to 9cm diameter pots. (Aubergine = Bottom left of photo, Sweet Peppers = Bottom right)
  • Tomatoes – Lizzano F1 germinated and potted on to 9cm pots. (Middle of photo)
  • Tomatoes – Black Cherry – very slow to germinate, finally have 6 seedlings. (Top right of photo)

Last Chance to Sow in April

  1. Aubergine,🍆
  2. Sweet peppers, 🫑
  3. Chilli peppers, 🌶
  4. Tomatoes – until early May, 🍅
  5. Potatoes. 🥔
Tracey Everett

Happy Growing!

Best wishes Tracey.

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