Can I plant out my tomatoes in April?

In most regions, not yet: late frosts remain possible and a single cold night is enough to lose a plant. Tradition waits for the last cold snaps of spring to pass; meanwhile, harden your seedlings outdoors by day and bring them in at night.

Leaf day or fruit day for the courgette?

Fruit day: the traditional grid follows the part harvested, and the courgette is a fruit, botanically speaking. The same logic applies to squash, cucumber and melon. Leaf days go to lettuces, spinach and cabbages.

In the garden · April

Gardening by the moon in April April

April makes you want to sow everything, and it’s exactly the month to pace yourself. Lunar tradition spreads the rush: in the ascending moon, outdoor sowings (carrots, beetroot, lettuces, radishes) and squash sown in pots; in the descending moon, planting potatoes and pricking out lettuces. Late frosts still prowl: you press on, but keep the fleeces within reach.

The essentials

To sow: outdoors: carrots, beetroot, lettuces, radishes; in pots: courgettes, squash
To prune, to plant: potatoes, pricking out lettuces; spring shrubs that have finished flowering
To harvest: radishes, first lettuces, asparagus, spinach
Watchword: temper the rush

The April kitchen garden by lunar tradition

In the ascending moon, the sap said to rise carries the sowings: it’s the great month for rows of carrots, beetroot, lettuces and radishes outdoors, as soon as the soil holds. Squash and courgettes, still tender about the cold, are sown in pots in the warm: they’ll wait for the end of the frosts before going out. Asparagus, spinach and the first lettuces are picked on these ascending days too.

In the descending moon, you plant: potatoes almost everywhere by now, lettuces pricked out from the cold frame into open ground, perennial herbs settled along the edges. Pruning keeps a low profile; you stick to the shrubs that have just flowered, so as not to cut off summer’s promises.

Carrots, lettuces, courgettes: the crops of the month

Root days take carrots and beetroot, leaf days the lettuces and spinach, fruit days the courgettes and squash in pots: the traditional grid always follows the part of the plant you want to harvest. In April nearly every category overlaps within the same fortnight, and that’s what makes the calendar comfortable: each crop eventually finds its day.

The radish is the teaching crop of the month: it germinates in four days, harvests in a month, and shows you straight away whether your soil is ready. Sow it in small amounts, regularly, rather than in one heroic row that will bolt before it’s eaten.

The gesture of the month: hardening off the seedlings

Your warm-started seedlings need to learn the outdoors before living in it. Put the pots out in the morning in a sheltered corner, bring them back in at night, and lengthen the daytime exposure day by day over one or two weeks: the stem thickens, the leaves toughen, and May’s transplanting will no longer be a shock.

On a balcony the back-and-forth is simpler still: from the inner sill to the outer one. Just avoid full wind and harsh midday sun for the first few days; a hardened seedling is not a hurried one.

What the trials say

Comparative trials on sowing “on a good moon” produced no reproducible gap in germination or yield. The calendar earns its place through discipline: it spaces out April’s sowings instead of cramming them all into the first sunny weekend, and that spreading-out does show up on the plate.

The lunations of April (exact dates)

Calculated from the ephemeris, in London time, and rechecked every night. Each lunation has its own detailed page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I plant out my tomatoes in April?: In most regions, not yet: late frosts remain possible and a single cold night is enough to lose a plant. Tradition waits for the last cold snaps of spring to pass; meanwhile, harden your seedlings outdoors by day and bring them in at night.
Leaf day or fruit day for the courgette?: Fruit day: the traditional grid follows the part harvested, and the courgette is a fruit, botanically speaking. The same logic applies to squash, cucumber and melon. Leaf days go to lettuces, spinach and cabbages.