April Gardening Chores by Zone

April Gardening To Do List

Zone 1

  • Finish planting bare-root trees, shrubs, roses
  • Prune roses, then apply dormant spray
  • Apply dormant spray to trees and shrubs before they leaf out
  • Spade or till garden beds as soon as the soil is workable
  • Divide summer- and fall-blooming perennials
  • Feed evergreens, fruit tres, shrubs, and lawns
  • Sow seeds of cool-season vegetables
  • Sow seeds of hardy perennials outdoors after heavy freezes have passed
  • Order summer-flowering bulbs (canna, calla, dahlia, gladiolus, elephant ear)

Zone 2

  • Sow seeds of warm-season annuals indoors
  • Water cymbidiums weekly until they bloom
  • Feed cool-season lawns
  • Sow seeds for cool-weather vegetables
  • Sow frost-tolerant perennials indoors
  • Divide and replant summer- and fall-blooming perennials
  • Plant bare-root and container roses
  • Prune roses (when temperatures are above freezing)

Zone 3

  • Sow seeds of warm-season annuals indoors
  • Water cymbidiums weekly until they bloom
  • Plant seedlings of cool-weather vegetables
  • Sow frost-tolerant perennials indoors
  • Sow seeds for frost-tolerant perennials
  • Sow seeds for tender perennials
  • Divide and replant summer- and fall-blooming perennials
  • Plant bare-root and container roses
  • Uncover roses for spring and apply dormant spray
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root shrubs and vines
  • Plant summer-blooming shrubs and vines
  • Plant frost-tolerant trees

Zone 4

  • Set out cool-season annuals
  • Sow seeds of warm-season annuals
  • Set out summer-flowering bulbs
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs
  • Unwrap mail order plants immediately and keep them cool and moist until planting.
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root fruit trees
  • Apply dormant spray to fruit trees before buds swell
  • Spray apples, peaches, and pears that have been affected with canker problems
  • Plant, feed, and aerate cool-season lawns and loosen thatch
  • Plant bare-root perennial vegetables
  • Plant seedlings of cool-weather vegetables
  • Sow fast-growing warm-season vegetables
  • Sow seeds for frost-tolerant perennials
  • Plant container and bare-root roses
  • Uncover roses for spring and apply dormant spray
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root trees, shrubs and vines
  • Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Plant summer-blooming shrubs and vines
  • Plant frost-tolerant trees
  • Plant needle-leafed evergreens

Zone 5

  • Set out cool-season annuals
  • Sow seeds of warm-season annuals
  • Unwrap mail order plants immediately and keep them cool and moist until planting.
  • Set out summer-flowering bulbs
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root fruit trees
  • Apply dormant spray to fruit trees before buds swell
  • Spray apples, peaches, and pears that have been affected with canker problems
  • Plant cool- and warm-season lawns
  • Plant bare-root perennial vegetables
  • Plant seedlings of cool-weather vegetables
  • Sow fast-growing warm-season vegetables
  • Sow seeds for frost-tolerant perennials
  • Sow seeds for tender perennials
  • Plant container and bare-root roses
  • Uncover roses for spring and apply dormant spray
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Plant summer-blooming shrubs and vines
  • Plant frost-tolerant trees
  • Plant needle-leafed evergreens

Zone 6

  • Set out cool-season annuals
  • Set out seedlings of warm-season annuals
  • Set out summer-flowering bulbs
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs
  • Divide and replant crowded winter- and spring-blooming bulbs after leaves yellow
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root fruit trees
  • Spray apples, peaches, and pears that have been affected with canker problems
  • Plant permanent ground covers
  • Plant and aerate lawns and loosen thatch
  • Plant bare-root perennial vegetables
  • Plant seedlings of cool-weather vegetables
  • Sow fast-growing warm-season vegetables
  • Sow seeds for frost-tolerant perennials
  • Sow seeds for tender perennials
  • Divide and replant spring-blooming perennials after bloom
  • Plant container and bare-root roses
  • Uncover roses for spring and apply dormant spray
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped, container, and bare-root trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Plant tender shrubs and vines
  • Plant summer-blooming shrubs and vines
  • Plant frost-tolerant trees
  • Plant needle-leafed evergreens

Zone 7

  • Prune winter-flowering shrubs and vines after bloom
  • Plant summer- and fall-flowering bulbs
  • Spray for peach leaf curl, peach leaf blight, and canker
  • Plant permanent ground covers
  • Plant or repair lawns
  • Plant ornamental grasses
  • Plant bare-root and container roses
  • Plant or transplant warm-season annuals
  • Plant fruit trees
  • Spray dormant fruit trees
  • Prune frost-sensitive fruit trees
  • Feed houseplants that are growing or blooming
  • Plant heat-loving perennials
  • Uncover roses and apply dormant spray
  • Plant ornamental and evergreen trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, and vines
  • Prune spring-flowering or tender shrubs and vines during or just after bloom
  • Plant vegetable seedlings

Zone 8

  • Set out annuals
  • Plant summer-flowering bulbs
  • Plant balled-and-burlapped and container fruit trees
  • Prune frost-sensitive fruit trees
  • Spray for peach leaf curl, peach leaf blight, and canker
  • Feed houseplants that are growing or blooming
  • Plant or repair lawns
  • Plant ornamental grasses
  • Plant fall-blooming perennials
  • Prune tender deciduous shrubs and vines
  • Prune spring-flowering shrubs and vines during or just after bloom
  • Prune flowering fruit trees during or just after bloom
  • Sow seeds for warm-season vegetables
  • Plant seedlings of warm-season vegetables

Zone 9

  • Sow seeds of warm-season annuals
  • Plant fall-flowering bulbs
  • Feed and water cacti or succulents that are blooming or actively growing
  • Repot cacti and succulents, if essential, once they have finished blooming
  • Prune deciduous and frost-sensitive fruit trees (when temperatures are above freezing)
  • Spray for peach leaf curl, peach leaf blight, and canker
  • Feed houseplants that are growing or blooming
  • Repair or plant lawns
  • Plant tender and heat-loving perennials
  • Prune spring-flowering shrubs and vines during or just after bloom
  • Sow seeds for warm-season vegetables
  • Transplant warm-season vegetable seedlings

Zone 10

  • Plant annuals for summer color
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs
  • Feed and water cacti and succulents that are growing or blooming
  • Spray for peach leaf curl, peach leaf blight, and canker
  • Feed houseplants that are growing or blooming
  • Prune spring-flowering shrubs and vines during or just after bloom
  • Transplant warm-season vegetable seedlings

Zone 11

  • Sow seeds of summer annuals outdoors or indoors
  • Feed and water cacti and succulents as they start growth
  • Set out peppers, tomatoes, eggplant
  • Set out plants of summer annuals
  • Feed and water lawns as growth accelerates
  • Feed and groom house plants as growth recommences
  • Plant gladiolus and dahlias
  • Divide overgrown fall-blooming perennial clumps
  • Clear away scrub growth for fire protection
  • Cut back gift chrysanthemums and transplant to garden. Break into individual plants

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.”
~ Janet Kilburn Phillips

The Ready Store
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease" ~ Thomas Jefferson