Gardening by the moon in April

NEW MOON
Monday, 4 April 2011
Garden: 
  • Prepare garlic beds
  • Plant green manure and compost crops in empty beds
  • Last plating of biennial flowers and herbs such as hollyhocks, sweet William, columbine and verbascum
  • Sow calendula, cineraria, poppies, snap dragons and pansy seed for flowers in the winter vege garden
  • Sow heartease for companion to garlic and onions over the winter
  • Plant out Autumn/Winter flowering annuals that are ready now
Orchard: 
  • A great time to establish your orchard herbal leys while the ground is warm and moist
  • Plant subtropical fruit trees
  • De-sucker bananas and cut off male part of the flower when fruit has set
  • Manure, mulch and compost around fruit trees while ground is warm but after rain comes
  • Plan and organise winter plantings
  • Take out any trees that need removing before it gets wet
FIRST QUARTER
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Garden: 
  • In areas where broad beans are planted in Autumn, soak overnight and plant into beds or into seed trays and transplant
  • In warmer aeas this is your last chance to sow cornsalad and rocker directly on the surface, orach, silverbeet, rainbow chard, endive, brassicas, peas, coriander and celery
  • Foliar feed three days before full moon
  • Finish planting any spare beds in compost crops such as lupins broad beans, vetch and wheat rye
  • When transplanting winter veges, manure and lime well with dolomite and composted animal manure, fish meal and biophos, and then mulch. The worms will go crazy!
Orchard: 
  • Continue jobs as in the New Moon phase
FULL MOON
Monday, 18 April 2011
Garden: 
  • Foliar feed thre days after full moon
  • In warmer areas this is the last chance to sow carrots and beetroot before spring
Orchard: 
  • Finish planting spring bulbs
  • Begin wrenching any trees for shifting this winter after the first rain, wrenching one side only this month
  • Not any trees that need removing this Autumn/Winter
  • Begin preparing ground for new orchard plantings in Winter
LAST QUARTER
Monday, 25 April 2011
Garden: 
  • Double dig or prepare all remaining beds for winter crops or compost crops
  • Empty chook straw yards onto garden and give chooks fresh material for the winter
  • Manure brassica beds as they are gross feeders
  • Pick and store main crop apples, pears, potatoes, kumara, pumpkin and dried beans
  • Clean out kikuyu barriers
  • Transplant last seedlings
  • Harvets whole Echinacea plants; clean, chop and put into jars and cover with vodka so Echinacea tincture will be ready in six weeks
  • Prepare strawberry beds
Orchard: 
  • Spread dolomite lime, manure, rock phosphate, liquid seaweed and vermiliquid around orchards and garden
  • Manure, mulch and compost around fruit trees after first rain. take special care with young trees, bery fruit and perennial crops
  • Prune tamarillo trees hard after last fruit comes off. Staggered pruning will stagger next year's crop
  • Tie up boysenberries, loganberries, blackberries and rasberries
  • Trim blueberries and Chilean cranberies
  • After the rain, apply soil conditioners, vermicast, vermiliquid and seaweed preparations
  • Begin collecting fallen leaves to make compost leaf mould, hot beds, etc.