May 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Early May edible garden

Sunday, April 27, 2025

May Day is when the old timers say is the best time to plant your summer garden in the Midwest.  Prior to May 1, there is still a good chance of poor weather, chilly temps, and even a late frost in our Zone 7 garden.  This can be catastrophic for tomatoes, eggplants, basil and other heat lovers.  This year our last frost was 2 weeks ago.

Check out your 15 day forecast to know if it looks safe to plant those tender summer veggies as it is possible to have chilly temps even into May.  If direct planting summer vegetable seeds, chilly and rainy conditions can cause the seeds to rot.  Warm, moist conditions are the best for summer seed success!

You just don't want to plant the summer lovers too early as they don't like being cold and don't grow much until the soil warms.  Earlier is not always better.  If you have already planted, no worries as long as you protect them if Jack Frost comes calling.  They just won't grow fast until the weather warms.

I started the summer lovers from seeds this year indoors for veggies with small seeds in late March and directly in the garden this past week for large seed plants like squash, melons, cucumbers and beans.  I have hardened off all the indoor started plants.  The small seeded plants like basil, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant were transplanted a couple of weeks ago.  

If you started yours indoors and have already transplanted outdoors, what do you do if they are forecasting frost?  Give them a jacket!  You can cover your frost sensitive plants with a row cover or light sheet.  You just want to be sure that the cover is not too heavy and crushes your plants.  For heavier covers, be sure to put stakes around your plants to protect them from the weight.  Remove after the frost is melted.  If you plant in pots, you can move your pots into the garage for the night.  For more on protection for plants, see Starting the garden earlier, outwitting Jack Frost... 

Row cover

Spring has had days above and days below average temperatures and above and below average rainfall.  We got a record 16" of rain a couple of weeks ago.  I've had to water all my pots on and off through April.  The greens that love the cool weather are doing great!  

May is the time to get the summer lovers growing.  All about the summer edible garden  For the plants to get going in May:  What to plant in the May edible garden   If sowing your summer veggie seeds outdoors, see Outdoor seed starting tips 

The cold crops are at their peak at the beginning of the month with many bolting and going to seed by month's end like spinach, cilantro, lettuce, chard, kale, sprouting broccoli, and onions.  To preserve greens while they are still at their peak is quick and easy.  Freezing the extras for winter  The only green that is not frozen?  Lettuce.  I keep lettuce going in the garden by planting new seed every 3 weeks.

Lettuce, spinach and cilantro all go to bolting as soon as the temps hit the 80's in our garden.  I have chard, Ruby Streaks mustard and winter cress that are flowering.  You can let them go to seed and either save the seed to plant or let the seed fall where it may to give you new lettuce, spinach and cilantro plants.  An added bonus to letting these plants go to seed is that the bees love their small flowers.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Mid May garden

So, what are we planting this year?  Of course, we will plant the number one veggie in the USA-tomatoes!   This year, I am growing them all from seed.  You could also just buy plants as there is a great selection of heirlooms at local nurseries, hardware stores and big box stores these days.  I have planted too many tomatoes the last couple of years so I am trying very hard to limit the number this year.  I have 13 planted right now and about 10 plants that I could transplant.  I think I'll see if a neighbor wants them.  Choosing which tomatoes to grow   Loving the purple tomatoes with all their fantastic antioxidants!  Different colors in tomatoes give different nutrition

 Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes  

If you have limited space, look for the dwarf/bush types like Bush Early Girl (only 54 days till ripe tomatoes), Patio Princess, Husky Red, Lizzano, Little Napoli, Front Runner, Tumbling Tom among many others. Typically, you can expect to have your first ripe tomatoes around the 4th of July.  The earliest tomato bearing variety I have grown is Yellow Tumbling Tom that gave me tomatoes in June.  They grow great in the garden or pots.  Since they are smaller plants, their yields will be less than the big plants in the ground.  Compact tomato plants for small spaces  Nowadays, you can purchase full grown plants to get instant fresh tomatoes at this time of year.

I will be growing vining yard long beans (Chinese Red and Purple Yard Mart for disease resistance and production), winged beans, Christmas Speckles lima beans, 1500 Year Old Cave beans this year.  The 1500 beans can be picked for either snap beans or left on the vine to be storage beans.  Now is a great time to get beans planted.  Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer  

For peppers, I am growing a few different sweet peppers for fresh snacking-Red Bell, Spinach Bull Nose, a yellow Banana pepper, Habanada, Sweet Pickle and a sweet Jalapeño hybrid, 3 Ancho/Pablanos for drying to make into chili powder, a hot pepper plant Jigsaw plant and Tunisian Baklouti that I overwintered indoors.  I grow hot peppers for hot sauce and to add to my salsa.  Homemade hot sauce wings with homegrown celery  Quick, homemade salsa  Preserving peppers

I also overwinter an ancient hot pepper in the basement called Chiltepin.  It is thought to be the ancestor of all hot peppers.  This is its ninth winter and it did great.  It produces very small, very hot round red peppers.  I dry them and use them in my grilling spice mix and for spicy olive oil.  Using herbs, flowers and fruit for flavored sugars and salts

 This year I am again going to plant all my peppers in pots, .  It just seems that my peppers do better in a pot than in the ground for the smaller peppers except for the Red Bell, Spanish Bullnose, and Sweet Pickle.  I tend to plant more of the smaller peppers because the plants produce more than larger pepper plants.  Bell peppers seemed to produce more in ground when I have grown them in the past.  It's a good idea to refresh your potting soil each year to get the most production.  Re-energize your potting soil!   Peppers are for every taste and garden

I am growing a few eggplants that have stayed sweet in our garden, all in pots.  Our summers get so hot here that eggplant skins can get tough and the fruits bitter so I always look for the varieties that are good for our temps.  My choices this year are Rotanda Bianca, Amadeo, and AO Daimaru.  Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

White eggplant fruit

I am growing just vining summer squash, Trombetta.   I like this squash for several reasons.  They were not affected by the squash vine borer or squash bugs, they had almost no powdery mildew, and you can eat when the fruits are young as you would zucchini or let them stay on the vine and the skins will toughen to use as winter squash.  Growing zucchini and summer squash  One plant produces as much as a typical family needs during the summer.  This type has vines up to 20 feet long so I just let it grow on the ground.

I found some great ways to use and preserve zucchini that any extra will be stored for many new ways of using.  What to do with all that zucchini?!  I really liked spiralizing zucchini into "zoodles" and using in place of spaghetti.  I'll spiralize and put into freezer bags so I have a low carb, nutritious option anytime for spaghetti.

I am also growing a winter squash that I saved from seed, a butternut.  The fruits last year were superb in pies and pumpkin bread.  I am only growing one type of summer and one type of winter squash to be able to save seed that isn't crossed.

I am sticking with Red Burgundy okra this year.  I've tried a few different varieties but this one seems to do the best in my garden.  Growing and harvesting okra

  I've got cucumber, spinach, and lettuce seedlings this year for salads and to make green smoothies.  Grow your own juice garden   I am growing a bush cucumber and a vining cucumber so I'll only need one trellis.  Cucumber info and tips for growing  I have plenty of volunteer celery and mustard in the garden so no planting needed for them.  The pink celery I started last year looks healthy so hoping for some volunteers from it this summer.  I am trying to grow orach, Chinese Multi Color Spinach amaranth and Pink Beauty amaranth which are great for summer salad leaves when lettuce and spinach have bolted.  Orach and amaranth leaves stay sweet all summer.

Lettuce varieties that are in my spring garden are Red and Green Roma, Iceberg, Buttercrunch, Giant Blue Feather, Grand Rapids, Royal Oak, Forellenschluss, Bronze Beauty, Butter King, Lunix, and Solar Flare.  I am always trying new varieties to see which are the best at staying sweet in our summer heat and also re-sowing themselves.

Lettuce and spinach aren't the only greens you can use for salads, see more at  Growing summer salads

For summer salads, I have New Zealand spinach I overwintered indoors, seedlings of Perpetual Spinach and Verde de Taglio chard, have Hilton Chinese cabbage for salads and wraps, Komatsuna Tendergreen and Giant Leaf mustard for sweet summer salad leaves.  Red Malabar spinach volunteers will be coming up this month, too.  I always grow Radish Dragon's Tail for salads, too.  They're just fun and add a pop of not too strong radish flavor.

For the next round of lettuce sowings, I'll go with the more heat resistant varieties like Jericho Romaine which has been tested to last 3 months before bolting as well as Red Sails loose leaf lettuce which stays sweet after bolting.   Want continuous harvests? Succession planting!   Look for varieties that have heat tolerant in the descriptor.  Here are some varieties that are proven to do well in the summer   Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

Spring potted lettuce

For herbs, I have a bay tree and moringa tree that overwintered in the basement. I have sown seeds for Genovese basil, Cardinal basil, parsley, dill, Butterfly papalo (cilantro substitute that does well in the summer), rosemary, winter savory, lemon savory, marjoram and variegated sage.  Many of my herbs are perennials and are going strong in the garden right now-tarragon, garlic chives, garden chives, onions, oregano, thyme, mint, and garlic.  For more on herbs, see  Start a kitchen herb garden!

As I transplant my seedlings, I like to powder the roots of each plant with plant starter as well as dig in some fertilizer in each hole.  Plant starter has mycorrhizal microbes which fixes nitrogen to the roots of the plant, helping it to grow sturdier, bigger and faster.  Once you have the microbes in the soil, they should stay year after year, but adding each year can't hurt anything!

I added Azomite in each hole of my transplants when I planted this year.   Azomite contains many minerals which can result in significantly improved growth for your plants and more minerals in your harvested plants for a healthier you.  A win-win for your garden and your family.

During the growing season, you should fertilize monthly.  Only add what a soil test said your garden needed when it comes to phosphorous and potassium.  You can get too much of both in the garden.  My soil test said I needed to lower the pH of the soil, add nitrogen and potassium.  I didn't need any phosphorous.  I added sulfur, lignite, compost, kelp and potassium to my beds before mulching and planting. 

I added pelletized sulfur to lower the pH in March.  My pH is at 7.8.  For edibles, it really shouldn't go above 7.5 for the plants to be able to absorb all the minerals it needs from the soil.   The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Before you send your new transplants into the garden, insure they have been sufficiently "hardened off."  If you started your own seeds indoors, take your plants out daily over a week or so into a partially shady spot, letting them get used to the strong sun and wind.  I put mine out on the deck to get used to the sun and wind for several days before planting out.  "Hardening off" seedlings

If you purchased your transplants and they were already outdoors, they are ready to be plopped into the ground or pot and grow!

I always interplant my garden with flowers.  This year, I am using petunias, red flowering Hummingbird Vine, Blue morning glory flowering vine, cock's comb, marigolds, Love Lies Bleeding, dwarf Cocks Comb and Sweet William for annuals.  For perennials, there are pink Fairy lilies, white flowering jasmine vine,  hollyhocks in a variety of colors-Summer Carnival, Red and Peach, purple coneflower, lilies, day-lilies, irises, and gladiolas.  I am also encircling all my beds with daffodils and creeping thyme to repel voles.

May is an exciting time in the garden.  Every day you go out, you can see things growing.  The spring vegetables are in their prime, the summer veggies are just starting, and there are so many herbs ready for seasoning your favorite salads or dishes.  Just be sure to keep ahead of the weeds and provide even watering.

Everything you need to know to grow lettuce

Red sails lettuce and petunias

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Spring is prime time for salads!  Lettuce is its sweetest and most productive in spring and fall.  Lettuce loves cool temperatures, moisture and lots of nitrogen.  It is a super easy "vegetable" to grow from seed, too, and it self seeds.

When the hot weather sets in, lettuce will go from sweet and docile to bolting and bitter in a week.  For summer harvests, chose varieties that are heat resistant like Summer Crisp, Red Sails, Rouge d’Hiver, Freckles Romaine, Summertime Crisphead, Tomahawk, Butter King, and Loma French Crisp.

Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

You can buy many different lettuce plants from nurseries or big box stores this time of year or to keep yourself in lettuce all summer, practice succession planting and sow seed every 2-3 weeks.  Lettuce is super easy to grow from seed and there are so many varieties to choose from seeds.  I simply just scatter seeds on top of the soil and pat down either in the garden bed or pot.  Keep moist and you will have lettuce seedlings within a week.

Outdoor seed starting tips

Lettuce and all greens love nitrogen just like your lawn does.  We donate our nitrogen rich coffee grounds to our greens and garden beds.  I also use a liquid fertilizer (guano and sea kelp) or other organic fertilizer monthly.  

It is important to keep the lettuce from drying out.  They need consistent moisture.  It is when lettuce is stressed, either through hot temps or drying out, that they turn bitter and bolt.  This is one of the reasons that the Earthbox is such a good pot to grow lettuce.  It has a water reservoir in the bottom so weekly watering keeps the soil moist even in the hottest weather.  Any self-watering pot will work this way, even one you make yourself or buy a kit to transform a favorite pot into a self watering container.

Lettuce in an Earthbox, self watering pot

Bolting is simply when a stalk arises from the middle of the lettuce plant.  It then flowers and sets seed.  When the seeds start to dry, cut off the stalk and remove the seeds.  I put my seeds in a ziplock and store in the frig.  The seeds stay viable for 2-3 years this way.  Save the seeds from your favorites and re-sow to keep yourself in free, tasty lettuce all season long.  You can also let the seeds fall where they may and you will get volunteer lettuce plants throughout your garden.  

Bolted Red Sails lettuce-cool looking, eh?

Lettuce does well right through fall frost into winter.  Choose cold tolerant varieties for spring and fall Fall and winter greens and heat tolerant varieties to sow in late spring and summer.  One thing to remember is that lettuce seed does not germinate well above 75 degrees so you may have to move your seed starting to the shade or indoors in the dog days of late summer. 

Protection from the afternoon sun helps in lengthening the time before your lettuce bolts.  There are few techniques you can use.  Grow lettuce interspersed with taller veggies to give them shade protection, plant next to a wall that provides afternoon shade, cover with a shade cloth to keep them cooler or grow on the north side of your house.  If growing in a pot, it is easy to just move the pot to a shadier, cooler spot when the temps start to rise.

Harvesting frequently also helps keep the lettuce from bolting.  Harvest the outer leaves consistently and the plant will continue to produce more inner leaves.  I harvest from the same plants for a couple of months this way.

Some, like the Marvel of Four Seasons and Red Sails, stay sweet even when they have bolted.  Give the bolted lettuces a taste to see if it is time to let them go to seed and yank them out to make room for another crop.

I like to grow heat tolerant greens during the summer in addition to lettuces to keep the summer salads going.  

Keep salads going all summer long  

Good companion plants for lettuce are beets, carrots, radishes, marigolds, onions, basil, and peas.  Root vegetables help loosen the soil.  Marigolds repel pests.  Basil can improve the taste of your lettuce.  Peas add nitrogen to the soil.  In early spring, lettuce likes full sun.  As it gets hotter, lettuce appreciates some shade.  Planting plants in late spring to provide shade for lettuce during the summer can prolong the harvest.

Plants you should not plant next to lettuce are any that are in the Brassica family like cabbage, kale, and broccoli.  These plants put chemicals in the soil that lettuce plants don't like.  Celery, fennel and sunflowers also put chemicals in the soil that inhibits good growth of lettuce.  Be careful of planting anything next to lettuce that will overtake lettuce like mint, indeterminate tomatoes or vining plants.

What we're harvesting in the mid April edible garden

Potted salad greens

Sunday, April 13, 2025

This is the time for salads.  Many salad fixings are ready to be harvested from the garden.  It is inexpensive and instant harvest by buying plants.  You can also start harvesting leaves from seed sown in about 30 days.

The first to be ready to eat in the spring are all the cold hardy veggies that survived the winter and the edible perennials that are first up in the spring.

In our garden, the overwintering veggies were carrots, celery, parsley, lettuce, sprouting broccoli, broccoli, cabbage, chard, cultivated dandelions, chickweed, Egyptian walking onions, chives, mustard greens, arugula.  Edible perennials that are ready to add to salads are sorrel, tarragon, redbud blooms, asparagus, salad burnet, and dandelion flowers.

I gave the greens a watering with liquid fertilizer, fish emulsion, which is high in nitrogen to get them the food they need for filling out last week.  Greens love nitrogen and cooler weather makes it less available in the soil.  A liquid fertilizer is an easy way to get usable nitrogen to the plant.

I bought more lettuce and spinach transplants a couple of weeks ago to keep the harvests going through May.  I started harvesting from the new plants last week.  In another month, I'll start sowing seeds in pots outdoors to keep us in salads for the summer. 

I have also started indoors heat tolerant greens Red Malabar spinach, amaranth, New Zealand spinach, orach, sweet mustard and sweet chard varieties thrive in the hot and humid weather and are tasty in salads.

If you want instant homegrown salads, visit your local nurseries and big box stores for ready to plant lettuce, spinach, chard, and other greens.  You get an unending harvest by taking only the leaves on the outside of the plants, leaving the inner leaves growing.

Everything you need to know to grow potatoes

Drawing of a potato grow bag

Saturday, April 12, 2025

If you love potatoes, try growing some of the exotic varieties that are out there, like fingerling or blue potatoes.  You can find all kinds of great varieties in today's seed catalogs.  Along with the surprising number of different kinds of seed potatoes available, there are also many different ways to grow them without actually planting in the garden! Or you can get inexpensive seed potatoes locally.  Early spring is the optimal time to plant.

Seed catalogs are not the only place you can buy seed potatoes.  You can get inexpensive seed potatoes at our local Ace Hardware store, Rural King, and Tractor Supply company.  You can also get them at big box stores, just make sure the ones you get are firm.  I went with Yukon Gold (which is widely available) because it is a good storage potato.  I also am trying to start some actual seed from some purple potatoes I grew a few years back.  Some seedlings are up.  Fingers crossed!

The potato is a native of South America and can be found in the wild from North America to Chile.  There is an amazing variety of potatoes grown in South America, many color and sizes.  The potato originated from an area in southern Peru/northwest Bolivia.  It was cultivated 7000-10000 years ago.  It took until the 1700’s for the potato to arrive in the colonies by the way of Irish immigrants.

Tubers are good source of fiber, B vitamins (B6, thiamin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folates), vitamin C, and minerals iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, and copper.  Most of the nutrition is in the skin.  If you want even more nutrition, try some of the wonderful colors available today. 

Potato plants produce tubers along the stem so the more you can build up soil around the stem, the more potatoes you will harvest.  Since most of the action of potatoes occur underground, a light, well drained soil will give the highest yield of potatoes.  Adding sand and compost can be very beneficial.  In our potato boxes, I alternated a layer of raised bed bagged soil and a layer of composting leaves in this year's planting.  My husband also put a 1/4" mesh wire sheet across the bottom to keep the voles out.   

If gardening in a small space, there are lots of options of potato growing bags on the market now.  It follows the same concept as trenching or mounding in a garden bed.  They also do well in repurposed whisky barrels.  A pot 30”deep and 20” across is best.  Fill a third with potting soil, then add soil as the vine grows.  We are growing ours in a self-built box that we will add another tier to as the vine grows.

Here is the link to the plans that my hubby used to build the below box:  Potato box video

Potato box

To give your potatoes plenty of loose, rich soil in a garden bed, dig a trench down about a foot, mix in compost, put mixed soil and compost 4" in bottom of trench and place eyes up in the trench.   Adding bone meal gives the tubers the nutrition needed to produce large potatoes.  The pH of the soil is optimal in the 5.2-6.0 range but potatoes will grow in any soil.  Plant seed potatoes 3” deep and 10-12” apart.   When the potatoes have leaves showing, add another 3-4" of soil.  Continue to add as potatoes grow until trench is filled.  If planting in hard soil, you can mound the earth, mulch or straw around the plant as it grows. 

Seed potatoes can be planted 4-6 weeks before the last frost (when the early daffodils bloom).  You can plant successively to extend the harvest until the dogwoods bloom.  You can continue to plant until May, but may only get fingerling size potatoes before the vines die back in the summer.  We are having a very long spring so I planted our seed potatoes this past week.  For Yukon Gold potatoes, they recommend 1-2 weeks before the last frost for planting and we did have a frost last week and a potential frost tonight.

Early potatoes can be harvested when the first flowers appear.  Dig the potatoes when the foliage has died back in the summer.  Do not allow the baby potatoes to be exposed to sunlight.  If your potatoes turn green, do not eat them as they are poisonous.

Seed potatoes in the sun to sprout before planing

You can grow potatoes from the “eyes” of store bought potatoes.  The risk is putting any disease they may have into your soil.  Many recommend to always buy sterile seed potatoes.  To be safe, I am sticking with sterile seed potatoes for garden beds.  

If you are growing in a pot or potato growing bag, you could try using store bought eyes.  Let your potatoes age and when they start sprouting, they are ready to cut and plant.  Be sure to cut out a sprout, or "eye", to plant.  A plant will emerge from each sprouted eye.  Cut seed potatoes leaving 1-2 eyes per section.  Let cut dry overnight, then plant.

My 2025 Edible and Decorative Garden

Sunday, April 6, 2025

I made a plan in December of what I would plant in my garden this year.  There are always changes to the plan as seeds don't sprout or I see a really beautiful flower I want to add to the garden.  So, here is what I have planted and sown so far.  There will be a few minor changes as summer comes, but by this time, the plants are pretty well set for this year's spring and summer season. 

As part of my plan, I looked back on what I had captured that went well, what I wanted to do differently this year and developed my gardening goals for this year.  Reflections on the 2024 edible garden and the 2025 plan  2025 Edible Gardening Goals

As I got seed catalogues, I updated what I wanted in this year's garden:  My 2025 Edible Garden Plan  

My garden consists of four parts: the perennials that come back year after year in the same spots and pots, the self-seeders that pop up in different spots, the stand by annuals I plant every year, and the new varieties I try each year.

 

In January, I started seeds indoors.  I started onion seeds which I transplanted outside in early March.  I also started carrot seeds, onion sets and snow peas outdoors in late February and March.  The onion seedlings are doing well.  Most of the onion sets and snow peas sprouted.  The carrots have not yet popped their heads out of the ground, but it shouldn't be long. 

In February, I did a second round of indoor seeds and again in March.  These seeds were for the summer garden.  This week, I finished planting daffodils, Sweet William and marigolds around the perimeter of all my beds.

 

Perennials

The perennials in my garden are herbs (thyme, tarragon, oregano, garden chives, garlic chives, spearmint, lemon balm, horseradish), the vegetables (Egyptian walking onions, sweet Egyptian walking onions, potato onions, shallots, garlic, asparagus, sorrel, rhubarb, the fruits (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, Aronia bush, goji berry), and the flowers (daylilies, peonies, hydrangeas, daffodils, hellebore, surprise lilies, gladiolas, coreopsis, hollyhocks).

I started marjoram, Alpine strawberries, different types of creeping thyme and lavender indoors in February.  I plan on planting those all the way around all my beds.  They deter voles and deer.

The potato onions, raspberries, and blackberries, I planted in the fall.  I started a black goji berry bush and another variety of coreopsis from seed last week.  I also started some new perennial flowers from seed last week, Platinum Blue flower, Lupine Sunrise, Blue Queen Butterfly pea, Passion flower, Purple Prairie flower, Snow in Summer, Aubrietia Whitewell Gem, Joe Pye Weed, and Alyssum Gold Dust.  The flowers are for the new bed we put in the fall.

 

Self-seeders

 There are some self-seeders I can count on and others that are a nice surprise.  The ones guaranteed to pop up are zinnias, amaranths (Love Lies Bleeding and Chinese Bicolor), Cocks comb, carrots, celery, chard, Giant Leaf mustard, my purple sprouting broccoli, Hummingbird vine, Morning glory, Red Malabar spinach, and Giant Blue Feather lettuce.  I will also get different varieties of other lettuces popping up here and there and usually Chinese Hilton cabbage.

 

Edibles

I have started all of my edibles except the beans, squash, melons and cucumbers which I will start in small pots outdoors this week.  The seed potatoes are cut and hardening.  I hope to get them planted this week, too.  The Jerusalem artichokes are planted.  I am waiting on the sweet potato slips.  They don't get planted until it is really warming up in May.

Edible Stand Bys

Pole Beans-Blauhilde purple snap beans, 1500  Year Old snap or shelled beans, Christmas speckles lima beans, Purple or Red Chinese Noodle beans, Urizun Japanese winged beans.  All but the winged bean will be in the garden bed.

Okra-Red Burgundy (2)

Tomato plants (10) -Italian Pear paste, Cherokee Purple, Chocolate Pear, Brandywine, an early variety and a fun one or two

Eggplant (3)-AO Daimura, Antigue or Rotanda Bianca or Rosa, Shiromaru or Amadea in pots

Cucumber (2) – bush varieties in garden bed

Summer squash-Trombetta since it is resistant to vine borer and squash bugs.

Winter squash (2) – Butternut from saved seed and a new one

Snow peas in pots with peppers and eggplants

Dragon Tail radish in pot by sprouting broccoli

Hilton Chinese cabbage (2 plants)

Lettuce (Royal Oakleaf, Grand Rapids, Butter King, Bronze Beauty, Giant Blue Feather, Red Sails and a couple new ones) and spinach in pots

Snow peas in pots with peppers and eggplants

Dragon Tail radish in pot by sprouting broccoli

Hilton Chinese cabbage (2 plants)

Greens that stay sweet in summer-Orach, New Zealand spinach in pot

Sweet and hot peppers-variety to make chili powder (3 plants), Jigsaw and Baklouti hot pepper plants, and 4 sweet pepper plants (a chocolate one, banana, bell, and Habanada) 

Herbs-Dill, Basil (Nunum, Genovese, Cardinal), Lion's Ear, Rosemary, Parsley, Garden Sage, Chervil, Multicolor Sage, marjoram

Cantaloupe-Tigger melon

Cucumber-bush type

Flowers-zinnias, alyssum, marigolds, Cock's Comb, peach hollyhocks, blue morning glory, Love Lies Bleeding

 

New Ones

Greens-Tong Ho Big Leaf, Chijimisai, Japanese Mountain Spinach chard, Barese chard, Tronchuda kale.

Onions-Australian Brown, New York Early, Rossa di Milano, and sweet onion sets

Herbs-Lemon savory, Winter savory

Potatoes in the potato boxes - Yukon Gold, ones from saved seeds (yes, some potatoes actually develop seeds from their flowers)

Sweet potatoes-Purple, orange and white variety pack from Southern Exposure

Dwarf Tamarillo-small orange fruits

Pumpkin-Ayote Green Flesh for pies and bread

Melons-Maybe Prescott Fond Blanc, Kajari or Lemon Drop?

No watermelon, beets, heading cabbage or broccoli

 Vole repelling plants around the perimeter of all my beds

I will also need to thin my Hummingbird vines, Morning Glory vines, celery, Red Malabar spinach, Giant Blue Feather lettuce and Giant sweet mustard plants out as they come up next year.

What to plant in the April 2025 edible garden

Seedlings

Saturday, April 5, 2025

April is a beautiful time of year with the leaves coming on, the grass turning green, the first flowers blooming and lots of plants poking their heads out of the ground.  There are many veggie and fruit seeds and transplants that can be put in the edible garden.  It is still too chilly for most of the summer lovers until the end of the month.  Big box stores, hardware stores, local nurseries, flea markets and farmers markets all have plants right now.  This makes it easy to get your garden going in the spring.  You can find many heirloom fruits and veggies transplants and seeds nowadays.  For the unusual plants, buying on-line from seed companies is the way to go.

In preparation for spring planting, I completed everything on my spring checklist for my garden beds to be ready for planting.  I have already planted onion sets, onion seedlings, Jerusalem artichokes, daffodils, Sweet William, marigolds and creeping thyme. Spring garden checklist

I started snow peas in pots and planted petunias in all my pots.  We are harvesting lettuce and other greens for fresh spring salads along with overwintering carrots, celery, chives and onions.  What's happening in the late March edible garden

Now, I am looking for what to plant this month.  For us, the date of the last frost is April 6.  For some of the warm loving crops, this is the date that you can transplant outdoors or start your seeds outdoors.  I always look at the extended forecast to make sure we are not getting an unusual cold snap coming and we have a  low forecasted for Wednesday morning of 33 so I'll move my transplants from hardening on the patio to planting in their pots and garden beds after it warms up on Wednesday.  Check your seed packet for the best time to sow the seeds.  I like starting seeds in pots outdoors this time of year so they are already acclimated to the temperatures and strength of the sun.

Spring loving transplants are in your neighborhood stores that you can pick up now.  I almost always buy some lettuce and spinach transplants to get more plants to harvest from this time of year which I did and have already planted in their pots.  Veggie plants have arrived in stores!

Even though you will see summer lovers like basil, tomatoes and eggplant plants in the store, it is still quite chilly for them in April.  They do much better in the warmer temperatures that come in May. 

Starting seeds indoors is a great option too.  You can grow unusual varieties you may not find in stores.  Being inside let's you keep a very close eye on how they are doing, too.  You just need to make sure they are acclimated for the outdoors before transplanting.  "Hardening off" seedlings

I started indoors at the end of February greens, peppers, eggplant, okra, tomatoes, corn, basil, dill, marjoram, creeping thyme, lavender among others.  These I will transplant to their permanent pots and garden spots later this week.  I'll start outdoors this week seeds of squash, cucumber, melons, yard long beans and winged beans in small pots to transplant out when they have their first set of true leaves.  I'll plant directly in the ground pole beans.  I have potato seed potatoes that I cut and let callous for about a week to plant in their potato boxes this week, too.

Here is a list of plants and seeds you can put in the April garden: 

April-transplants or seeds into the garden or pot Zone 6/7

Amaranth

Artichoke  Growing artichokes and cardoons

Asparagus  All about asparagus
Bee balm (monarda)

Borage  Flowers that are edible

Broccoli  How to grow broccoli and cauliflower

Brussels sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts

Cabbage  Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Catnip

Cauliflower  How to grow broccoli and cauliflower

Celeriac

Celery  Give celery a try, an easy to grow garden staple

Chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Chives  Add chives to your garden
Cilantro  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Dill  

Endive

Fennel  Growing fennel

Horseradish

Kale  Grow one of the super greens this year-kale

Kohlrabi  Another spring veggie-kohlrabi

Lavender  All about lovely lavender

Leeks

Lemon balm

Lettuce  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Lovage

Mizuna  Fall and winter greens

Mustard  Mustard greens

Onions  Onions-everything you need to know to grow 'em

Parsley  Self-seeding crops, plant once and forget 'em

Peas Time to plant peas!

Radicchio

Sage

Spinach  Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Strawberries  Back yard strawberries

Tarragon  Start a kitchen herb garden!

Thyme

Valerian

Any of the above can also be started indoors and then transplanted outdoors into their permanent garden  spot or pot.

April-start directly in the garden or pot

These edibles do best when started directly in their permanent spot.  Almost all root vegetable do best being directly sown (onions and leeks can be started from seed then transplanted to their permanent spot).  

Beans (snap-bush & pole) at end of April  Growing beans

Beets  All about beautiful beets

Carrots  All you need to know about growing carrots

Corn at end of April  Growing corn

Fruit bushes (bare root or potted)  Fruit for small spaces and pots

Potatoes (seed potatoes)  Time to plant potatoes, even if you only have a patio

Radishes  Easy to grow crispy, peppery radishes

Turnips  All about turnips

April-start indoors for transplanting in early May

Basil  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Cucumber  How to grow cucumbers-in pots or in the garden

Eggplant  Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Lemon verbena

Melons  Growing melons and cantaloupe

Okra  Growing and harvesting okra

Peppers  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Stevia  A sweet alternative-grow your own

Summer and winter squash  Everything you need to know to grow squash
Sweet potatoes  Growing sweet potatoes

Tomatoes  Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

For tips on starting your seeds in the garden:  Outdoor seed starting tips  I also like to put a pot on our covered deck and start seeds there.  Once they are to a good size, I transplant them into their permanent pot or into the garden bed.  Vegetables you can grow in pots

For tips on seed starting: 

Indoor seed starting tips

Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds

Make your own peat pots

How much to plant?

Trying to decide what to plant for this year's garden?  Here are some garden ideas:

Easy kitchen garden

A French vegetable garden you can grow in a small ...

Start a kitchen herb garden!

Pizza garden for the kids

Heirloom Sicilian kitchen garden

Mediterranean diet garden

Colonial Vegetable Garden

Veggies for small spaces

Fruit for small spaces

The First Victory Gardens