Your April calendar of gardening chores

It’s April — time for showers and flowers — and also for weeds, insects and diseases. As plants come out of dormancy, dust off the wheelbarrow, strap on your knee pads and enjoy the signs of new life around you. Here’s a chore for every day of the month to ensure your growing season gets off to a great start.

1. Trick large planters for April Fools’ Day: Fill them one-third to one-half with packing peanuts before adding potting mix. You’ll save money — and your back.

2. If you haven’t already, sow peas directly into the garden.

3. If seedlings started indoors grow leggy, pinch off tips to encourage fullness.

4. Plant bare-root roses and prune established ones.

5. Plant potatoes and sweet potatoes.

6. When forsythia blooms on your block, it’s time to apply pre-emergent crab grass control like corn gluten meal.

7. Plant asparagus in a trench that’s 18 inches wide and deep.

8. Plant raspberries and blackberries.

9. If it’s cloudy, uncover wrapped or buried fig trees, and water. If it’s sunny, try again tomorrow.

10. Divide crowded bog plants.

11. If there’s moss in your lawn, your garden is telling you it needs lime. Add it.

12. Divide late-blooming perennials.

13. Aerate the lawn and rake up debris, but don’t add lime unless a pH test indicates it’s necessary.

14. Remove spent flower heads from pansies to prolong their bloom time.

15. Today is the average last frost date on Long Island so it’s safe to plant perennials outdoors

16. Plant grapevines and train them to climb an arbor.

17. Harden broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale and lettuce seedlings by gradually increasing daily outdoor time over the next week.

18. If you’re planning to move houseplants outdoors this summer, repot them now into a pot that’s 2 inches wider.

19. Pull weeds out by their roots before they take over.

20. Cut back last year’s perennials to make way for new growth.

21. Keep an eye out for tent caterpillar egg masses, and spray those found with non-toxic BT-k.

22. It’s Earth Day. Till a generous dose of compost into prepared beds to add nutrients and improve drainage.

23. Happy Passover! Plant parsley in the herb garden to celebrate the first full day of the holiday.

24. Start mowing when grass is 3 inches tall, but don’t fertilize until Memorial Day.

25. Resist temptation to remove leaves from spring bulb plants before they die back. They’re busy producing bulb food for next year.

26. Install a drip-irrigation system; it’s the healthiest way to water your plants.

27. Plant seeds of annuals directly into the garden.

28. Despite your best cleaning efforts last fall, you’ll find leaves and debris in garden beds. Rake them out and compost them.

29. It’s Arbor Day, the best spring day to plant trees. Celebrate, but know that tomorrow and next week are just as good.

30. Prune panicle and ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas, but not mopheads or lacecaps.