April can be a mixed bag of weather and often unpredictable, making visits to the allotment (or garden) difficult if you don’t have a shed or greenhouse in which to retreat. Nights are chilly and frosts are still troublesome so don’t risk planting out anything tender. There’s plenty of things that you can be getting on with this month, such as sowing or planting hardy crops outside. If it’s particularly chilly where you are, try covering the areas of soil where you want to sow with cloches. Warm soil makes for successful germination. Keep a roll of horticultural fleece to hand, you never know when you may need it.

More jobs that can be tackled this month:

• Harvest the first asparagus spears of the year
• Plant asparagus crowns in a well prepared trench or sow seed indoors
• Sow parsnip, carrots and broad beans direct outside if the soil is warm
• Get areas of soil ready for sowing…