Published: 26 April 2026 - Watch on YouTube
Hello everyone and welcome back. We are now in the middle of April, and as you can see so much has changed here in my windy garden in Chichester. Since March the whole place has exploded with greenery, it has become lush and full, and the trees are in blossom. There is a lot to show you, so let's have a wander round and see what has worked and what has failed so far this season.
At the very beginning of the garden, on the decking, we have several trees in pots. The olive tree was one of the first things we bought when we moved into this house, and I have to be honest, it does not look its best right now. It lost a lot of leaves over what was not the kindest winter for olives here in the UK, but there are plenty of new buds all over it, so it just needs a bit of time to fill out again.
On the little table sits my young wisteria, which we only got last year. It is still in its pot because I am thinking about where to put it and how to train it, but it has pushed out lots of leaves and is clearly alive, so I will let it grow on. Behind it is one of our two dwarf cherry trees, the Royal Burgundy, still covered in blossom. It is an ornamental so it gives no fruit, but plenty of interest. We trimmed it quite severely at the start of spring to encourage it to spread sideways rather than throw up those few long stems. Nearby the magnolia has finished flowering and a little lilac is in full bloom, adding a lovely bit of colour.
This border is where a lot is happening. The lilies have popped up strong within the last month. We only planted about three bulbs a couple of years ago and they have clearly multiplied, because there are far more stems now. There is a new second blueberry here too, which my husband bought for better pollination alongside our big established shrub. That older blueberry is doing brilliantly, absolutely covered in flowers that are already turning into fruit all over. Our lingonberry keeps spreading around the apple tree, and the brunnera Jack Frost has sent its roots out and is filling the empty spot where a gooseberry once died.
Not everything is thriving, mind you. The James Grieve apple has not flowered at all this spring after a hard prune, so no apples from that one this year, though the old Gala apple is blossoming heavily and should give us a good crop. The Conference pear is carrying the most fruit it ever has. The rosemary next to the blueberry looks poorly and is probably too close to it, but it is the only one of my seed grown rosemaries to have blossomed. The jasmine really struggled and started to die back, so we trimmed it hard, and there are a few new shoots now, so we will give it a few months before deciding whether it stays.
Round in the flower border the roses are waking up. Gertrude Jekyll is already forming flower heads, which feels early for the middle of April, especially as the weather has been on the cold side without much sun. The trouble is the aphids are attacking again. I had a really bad time with them last year and they ruined my roses, so this season I am spraying with a soap and water solution and staying strict about it. Gabriel Oak and Port Sunlight are faring better with fewer of them, while Queen of Sweden has flower heads and aphids in equal measure.
The good news is that I am seeing far more ladybirds this year, which really help keep the aphids down. There were barely any last year, so I am glad to have them back, and I even spotted a black one out in the kitchen garden feasting on the black fly. Over the arch to the kitchen garden the climbing rose The Pilgrim has put out lots of new shoots, which I have tied in against our strong winds. And the real star of the garden right now is Clematis Montana, which has spread across the arch and should soon mix its white flowers with the yellow of the climbing rose.
There have been some lovely surprises among the perennials. My tall variety of allium seems to have multiplied, because I only planted two bulbs last year and now there are four long dangling stems. The ordinary sized alliums are already opening, which is earlier than last year and did surprise me. The rhododendron is flowering beautifully, and a plant I dug up and divided over winter, which I feared had not survived, is doing okay after all.
The dahlias are slowly coming back. One shot up early, possibly the Norwegian one, and I was so pleased to spot a fresh shoot from La Belle Epoque that I had not seen before. Brown Sugar has not shown any stems yet, but if its neighbour is alive then there is hope for that one too. I will admit I have lost a few labels, so one or two remain a mystery for now.
My little mobile greenhouse comes in and out of the house every day because the nights are still cold, and the tomatoes and peppers inside are doing really well. If you saw my seed germination video, I had 36 out of 40 seeds come up, and within the last week a couple more of the missing ones appeared, so I am up to 38 now. That is honestly far too many for my small garden, and then a friend kindly shared 16 of her tomato seedlings with me on top. There is no such thing as too many tomatoes in my book, but I will be passing some on to her and to my fellow allotment plot holders.
Also on the shelves are sweet peppers and, at the bottom, some brassicas, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kohlrabi, which will all eventually head off to the allotment. Nearby is our second dwarf ornamental cherry, Kanzan, with bright green leaves and orangey tops, another little tree I would happily recommend for a pot. The one plant I am not getting right is the Generous Gardener rose, which has never seemed happy in its pot. I would love to plant it in the ground so it can climb, but I honestly do not know where it could go in this garden.
There is not a huge amount going on in the kitchen garden at this point, as I still need to put the arches up and get everything moved on. The broad beans clearly need a good water, and I really must get the allotment sorted so none of these seedlings go to waste. My sweet corn is coming along, and the three Big Max pumpkins at the back are growing away nicely.
The pattypan squash all germinated, all five of the remaining seeds, though from the small sugar pumpkins, which were past their expiry date, only one came up. Still, one is better than nothing. I have some forgotten alliums that I potted up to give a head start, peas waiting to go in, and a Welsh onion being attacked by black fly. Over in the actual greenhouse the potted dahlias are slowly releasing their shoots, so I will get them a little water and carry on.
So that is my April garden tour. It really is that time of year when everything seems to grow overnight, and it is a mix of small triumphs and a few things that have not gone to plan, which is just how gardening goes. I would love to know what has surprised you most in your own garden this spring. Thank you for wandering round with me, and I will see you in the next video.
Tags: #AprilGarden #SpringGardening #WestSussex #GardenTour #GrowingFromSeed #MyWindyGarden