What to Plant in April in Istanbul: A Week-by-Week Atelier Guide

April is the best month of the year to plant anything in Istanbul. Soil temperatures have climbed past the critical 12 °C threshold that tells roots to grow. Air temperatures are mild enough that transplant shock is minimal. Winter rains are still topping up the subsoil. And there are still ten weeks of good growing weather before the August heat dormancy begins.

But the window is narrower than it looks. Plant in the first week of April and you catch six more weeks of establishment. Plant in the last week and you are gambling on a cool May. Here is the week-by-week calendar we work from at the NAS nursery in Istanbul.

Week 1 (April 1–7): bare-root trees and woody ornamentals — last call

The last good window for bare-root planting. Everything we have in the nursery that is ready to go — bare-root olives, fruit trees, roses, deciduous shrubs — goes out this week if the client order is in.

Plant: bare-root apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry. Bare-root or balled roses. Olive trees up to 1.5 metres in height. Vitex, pomegranate, fig. Bare-root hedging (beech, hornbeam, Portuguese laurel).

Do not plant yet: warm-season vegetables (tomato, pepper, aubergine — wait for week 4). Tender annuals (marigold, zinnia — soil is still too cool).

Technique reminder: if the weather forecast shows a night below 6 °C after planting, mulch deeply and water lightly. Late frosts in Istanbul happen into mid-April in cold years.

Week 2 (April 8–14): container trees and established ornamentals

Soil is now consistently above 10 °C day and night. This is when we move our larger nursery stock — 10-year-old olives, mature fruit trees, containerised cypress — onto client sites. The root systems are already established; what we are doing is relocation, not bare-root transplant.

Plant: container-grown olive, Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum), maple, plane tree, Chinese pistache, magnolia. Perennials out of pots. Roses in containers. Bay, myrtle, rosemary, lavender. Grape vines and wisteria.

Begin: greenhouse hardening-off for tomato, pepper, basil seedlings (still too early for direct outdoor planting).

Week 3 (April 15–21): perennials and herbs take centre stage

The classic perennial planting week in Istanbul. Soil temperatures climb into the mid-teens. Everything that needs several weeks to establish before summer heat goes in now.

Plant: Echinacea, Salvia nemorosa, Nepeta, Achillea, Perovskia (Russian sage), Gaura, Stachys, ornamental grasses (Stipa tenuissima, Pennisetum, Miscanthus). Herbs: basil begin under cloche, parsley, dill, coriander, chives. Lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage (ideally planted now so they establish before heat).

Week 3 is also perfect for lawn renovation — over-seeding thin spots in existing Festuca, or starting new Zoysia or Bermuda plugs.

Week 4 (April 22–30): warm-season vegetables go in

The last week of April is warm enough to commit tender vegetables to the ground. Soil is 14 to 16 °C, nights rarely dip below 10 °C, and Istanbul's famous mid-April frosts are behind us in all but the coldest years.

Plant (as starts from the nursery, not seed): tomato, pepper, aubergine, cucumber, courgette, squash. Direct-seed: beans, corn, sunflowers. Herbs: basil now safe direct outdoors. Tender annuals for summer colour: zinnia, cosmos, marigold, portulaca, vinca.

A word on tomato varieties for Istanbul: the heirloom varieties that do best here are Cherokee Purple, San Marzano, and local varieties from Anatolia sold as Antep Salkım or Siyah Kara. Hybrid determinate varieties (Bush Early Girl, Celebrity) are more reliable if you want fruit by July.

Across all weeks: what NOT to plant in April

April looks generous but some plants are wrong for it:

• Fall-planted bulbs (tulip, daffodil, hyacinth) — too late. Plant in October or November.
• Bare-root deciduous trees in week 4 — too late; buds are breaking. Shift to containerised.
• Lavender from small pots into full summer sun without gradual hardening-off — will scorch.

The three tasks to do in April besides planting

Planting is only half the month's work. The other essential tasks:

1. Mulch everything you have. A 5 cm organic mulch layer locks in soil moisture for the summer ahead and reduces weed germination by 80 percent. Do this before the end of April.
2. Feed all ornamentals and fruit trees. A balanced 10-10-10 granular fertiliser, applied at half the bag rate, watered in. This is the spring feeding that carries them through the year. Do it in weeks 1 or 2.
3. Set up irrigation before it is urgent. Test every drip line, emitter, and valve now, while the garden is forgiving. By June, a broken valve is a crisis. In April, it is a Saturday project.

From our nursery to yours

NAS's Istanbul nursery holds the trees and perennials we plant on client sites — heritage olives (400+ years old), container trees ready to move the week after commission, rare bonsai, and the perennial base palette used across our villa commissions.

If you are planning a spring planting and want trees or perennials that are already established rather than young stock from a garden centre, get in touch. Send a list to WhatsApp +90 535 422 5227 — a real landscape architect will look at it the same working day.

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NAS Landscape's Istanbul nursery supplies trees and perennials for villa gardens, estates, and public commissions. Established 1965, Damascus. Written by MHD ZUHIR MADAMANI, Istanbul.