Sunday, April 5, 2026

What to plant in the April garden

Seedlings
Sunday, April 5, 2026

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-cleaning up debris, composting, fertilizing, adding sulfur and mulching for my garden beds to be ready for planting.  Spring garden checklist

I have already started salad greens and snow peas in pots and am harvesting for fresh spring salads.  I also planted marigolds, Sweet William, flame cockscomb in the garden bed and petunias in my pots. 

I have my summer loving veggies and fruit starts hardening off on the patio: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, husk cherries, huckleberries, and some summer greens.   I always look at the extended forecast to make sure we are not getting an unusual cold snap coming before putting them into their permanent pot or garden bed spot.  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 and summer 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.  This year, I had several lettuce and chard that overwintered and different varieties that I grew from seed so I only bought one 6 pack of red romaine lettuce.  Veggie plants have arrived in stores!

Even though you will see summer lovers like basil, tomatoes, peppers 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.  What I started indoors this week  You can grow unusual varieties you may not find in stores.  Being inside lets 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

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
Asparagus  All about asparagus
Bee balm (monarda)
Brussels sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts
Catnip
Celeriac
Dill  
Endive
Horseradish
Leeks
Lemon balm
Lovage
Mustard  Mustard greens
Radicchio
Sage
Strawberries  Back yard strawberries
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
Corn at end of April  Growing corn
Fruit bushes (bare root or potted)  Fruit for small spaces and pots

April-start indoors for transplanting in early May
Lemon verbena
Summer and winter squash  Everything you need to know to grow squash
Sweet potatoes  Growing sweet potatoes

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

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Saturday, April 4, 2026

Growing potatoes 101

Drawing of a potato grow bag
Saturday, April 4, 2026

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. 

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.  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.
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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

April 2026 Edible Garden Planner

April lettuce bed
Wednesday, April 1, 2026

April showers bring May flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables!  Now is the perfect time to get serious getting your spring garden planted and sown.  In April, I usually have seeds and plants going indoors and outdoors.  With all the selections they have at nurseries and big box stores, it is easy to skip this altogether and just buy plants to have an instant garden!

Crops to plant in April
Early April is a perfect time to plant cool season loving crops like Brussels sprouts, fava beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, kale, lettuce, mustard, onions, parsley, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, shallots, spinach, strawberries, Swiss chard and turnips.  Local big box and nurseries have a variety available to put in your garden right now.  Outdoor transplant calendar

See this post for what to plant in April as well as links on how to grow each veggie.  What to plant in the April edible garden

We have fresh salads from the garden now.  The greens that overwintered are lettuce, sprouting broccoli, cress,  chickweed, sorrel, sweet mustard, chard, salad burnet, sorrel, blood veined sorrel and cultivated dandelions.  The other herbs that overwintered are celery, carrots, parsley, chives, Egyptian walking onions, oregano, tarragon, sage, onions, shallots, winter savory and thyme.  They are great adds to salads as well as cooked dishes.

There are many volunteers sprouting from giant mustard, lettuce, celery and chives.  These are the cool temperature lovers.  Next month, the warm season loving volunteer veggies and flowers will be sprouting.  Asparagus sprouts are large enough to harvest.  We'll definitely be having asparagus for our Easter dinner.

We can still get a surprise frost in April so you want to hold off on planting warm season crops outdoors like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans and squash until May unless you can cover them or can bring them indoors if frost does visit your garden.  Warm season lovers won't grow much anyway until the soil is nice and warm.  I usually start and move them outdoors in May for our Zone 7 garden.  If you want to see how early you can go, try using protection to keep them warm.  Extend the season with protection for plants

I have already transplanted petunias, Sweet William, marigolds, and lettuce plants outdoors.  I have lettuce in pots in my portable greenhouse that I can cover if we get a freeze.  A frost won't bother them.  I planted them outdoors last week. The extra warmth helped them grow quicker, but is not needed for the plants to survive this time of year.   

To keep yourself in lettuce all season, do succession planting of new seeds or plants every 2-3 weeks.  Just plant the number you would normally eat in a 2-3 week period.  This will keep salads on the table continuously.  Do succession planting for any vegetable you want to extend the harvest for.  Keep the harvest going, do succession planting

If this is your first year in gardening, here are some pointers on what to choose to grow and get your garden going: What to plant for your first garden  Easy kitchen garden   If you don't have much space you can still grow a garden either in pots or in a garden spot as little as 6' by 6' that can grow all the produce you can eat during the garden season. 

To get a jump on summer harvests, I usually start a variety of edibles indoors on the kitchen counter in both my Aerogarden, peat pods or peat pots.  For the large seedlings like cucumber, squash, and watermelon, I start these in 3" peat pots.  I have had great success in the Aerogarden in germination rates for those that sprout quickly (3-14 days).  I have not had good luck for those that take 2-4 weeks to sprout.  Seed starting tips for beginners  You can get also get a jump on harvests by buying transplants.  There are a wide variety available nowadays, including heirlooms.
Aerogarden on the right, peat pods on the left
The varieties I like to start indoors: tomatoes, peppers, okra, rosemary, a variety of basils, dill, Alpine strawberries, eggplants, New Zealand spinach, Malabar spinach, blue morning glories, cucumbers, zucchini, butternut squash, watermelon, pole green beans, and any interesting varieties I just couldn't resist buying seed for over the winter.

Fertilize
When you plant, make sure to fertilize and add mycorrhizae in each planting hole. Mycorrhizae are beneficial microbes that help your plant roots absorb nutrients from the soil (once inoculated, you don't have to reapply).  Espoma Bio-Tone starter contains both mycorrhizae and fertilizer.   I also add biochar and worm castings in each hole.  I add minerals via Azomite every other year.  Using these amendments is when I had the most productive and disease free summer gardens.

I like to apply fertilizer, add a thick layer of compost and top with mulch before I even begin planting.  Just mulch by itself breaks down and adds organic matter to the soil.  I use only organic fertilizers and amendments.  There is a great deal of research that shows chemical fertilizers negatively affect the soil food web.  Mulch also does a great job of suppressing weeds.  Weed free, self fertilizing, till free garden beds

If you didn't do a soil test (you can use a kit from a garden store/big box store or have your local extension office analyze it), use a balanced organic fertilizer like Espoma at the rate recommended.  If you have regularly use a balanced fertilizer, nitrogen may be the only amendment you need.  

You can make your own all natural, organic fertilizer, too, inexpensively.  Here is the link:  Make your own fertilizer, it's all natural and inexpensive  If you did not fertilize the entire garden bed before planting, be sure to add fertilizer to each planting hole per the directions on the package.  Crops will need that burst of energy for the quick growth that spring brings. 

If you are re-using pots from last year, here is a link to get your potting soil ready to nourish your new plants:  Re-energize your potting soil!  It is important to get your potting soil so it can support this season's growth and veggie production.  Be sure when you fertilize to mix it into the soil or apply before you put down a protective organic layer of mulch.  This keeps the nitrogen from oxidizing and escaping into the air instead of staying in the ground to nourish your plant.  To re-energize my potting soil, I add 1 part compost to 2 parts potting soil, Azomite for minerals, and Espoma fertilizer.  
Chives and lettuce in  mid-April garden
Frost date importance
The average last frost date in our area is April 2nd this year, but we can still get a stray frost in all of April.  This is important to know for planting seeds and when to move plants into the garden.   Frost date look up  The seed packet tells you when to plant in relation to your last frost date.  You will get the best results following the packet instructions.  What do seed packets tell you?  Planting early is not always a good strategy as different seeds need different soil temperatures before they will germinate or grow.  Plant too early and the seed can rot before they have a chance to sprout.  When to plant your veggies

Pots will warm up quicker, but will also chill down faster.  You can put your pots in a sheltered, sunny spot to get a jump on spring growth.  Putting your pots on the south side of the house will provide the maximum warmth.  I love planting greens in a large self-watering pot that I can keep on the patio, making it handy for picking a fresh salad for dinner, and to move to a cooler spot in the hot days of summer.  

When growing veggies in containers, they will require more watering and more fertilizer than if they were in the ground.  In the summer, you may have to water some water lovers every day unless you use self-watering pots.  For more on growing in pots:  Decorative container gardening for edibles  
With the self-watering pots, your watering duties will be greatly reduced.

Lettuce, greens, and herbs do fabulous this month.  It is the time to indulge in daily salads and smoothies.  Cool temperatures and lots of moisture produce the sweetest greens of the season.  

This year, you may want to save money or just want to be sure you can eat fresh veggies.  Here is a garden that meets that need, even if you only have a small space, like a flower bed.  Small space survival edible garden  
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Sunday, March 29, 2026

Growing collards and kale 101

Potted kale, petunias and Egyptian walking onions
Sunday, March 29, 2026

Kale is not only beautiful, it is good for you!  Kale is chock full of antioxidants, beta carotene, lutein, vitamins C and K, and calcium.  It also contains compounds that are potent against cancer, sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol.  Collards are a great source of vitamins A, C, K and folate. 
Kale was the first to be domesticated from the ancient cabbage family of plants.  The Celts were the first to cultivate these greens, causing the birth of kale, broccoli, cabbage, collards, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and kohlrabi.  Thomas Jefferson’s favorite kale was a variety similar to a Siberian kale.  He also grew a variety similar to today's Tuscan kale, also known as dinosaur or black kale; a very striking plant to have in the garden with its long, dark blue-green and bumpy leaves.

Collards are a uniquely American vegetable that has always been associated with the South and appeared in the late 1700’s.  

Most kale and collards are biennial, but there are still perennial varieties if you can find the seed.  Perennial varieties include tree collards, walking stick kale, western front kale, Dorbenton kale, and sea kale.  

Dwarf blue curled kale
If you want to save seed from the biennial, you have to keep the plant through one winter, allow it to flower and produce seed.  Kales cross easily with other kales and collards so if you want true to type, grow only one kind in your garden.  Flowering kale have pretty yellow flowers and the bees love them!

There are many colors and textures of kales.  There are the “dinosaur” kales which have a blistered, black appearance, red kales, green kales, dwarf kales, green, red kales, and ornamental kales which are edible.  Some are more winter hardy than others.  Check seed packets for descriptors like "winter hardy" and "cold tolerant".  Those grown in the fall are sweetest if picked after a frost.  Fall garden planning and planting

Kale is generally a fall crop but can be cultivated in the spring.  Collards are typically planted in the spring in colder climes and can be planted in the fall in warm winter regions.  They can be started indoors or direct seeded in May (soil temp of 55-75 degrees F).  They prefer rich soil and should be kept moist until sprouted.  Sow seeds 1/4” deep and 4-6” apart, thin to 12”.  If planting rows, allow at least 18”.  I have also had great success raising them in a pot.  Since they are leafy greens, fertilize with nitrogen monthly during the growing season. 

Several varieties of kale come available as bedding plants in late March.  Since we live in Kentucky, there are always collards as well.  Both can be planted into beds and pots in our Zone 7 garden now.

For fall, plant around Independence Day (July 4th).  Kale can be grown in garden beds or pots.  It is very cold hardy and survives through most winters. 

You can harvest the outer leaves when they are 8-10” long for cooking or juicing.  You can also harvest the leaves when smaller for salads.  Store at 32 degrees and high humidity in the frig for the longest life.

One of the fun ways to prepare kale is to salt and dry in a dehydrator or low temp in the oven.  They can be eaten as you do chips, but are much healthier.  You can also eat the new leaves in salads or sauté or steam the larger leaves.  Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies

For any that I don't eat fresh, I blanche and freeze to add to a steamed veggie side dish or to soups.  You do need to blanche kale and other greens to maintain the tasted.  Freezing the extras for winter 

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Saturday, March 28, 2026

Growing onions 101

Bulbing onion flowering in late spring
Saturday, March 28, 2026

It is time to plant onion sets and onion transplants in the garden to get full size bulbs for harvesting this summer. 

You can order sets on-line, get them in big box stores, local nurseries, local farm supply stores and local hardware stores at this time of year.  Your local stores should have the type of onions that will bulb properly for your latitude.  Onions set bulbs based on the hours of daylight.

If ordering on-line, know what daylight zone you are in to get the ones that will develop into full bulbs for your zone.  They start forming bulbs when daylight hours hit a minimum. For long day onions, it is 14 hours. For intermediate, it is 12-13 hours. Short day onions are 9-10 hours.  You also need to get them planted this month to insure optimal size for harvesting.

 I would have thought that long day onions would be for the South, but this is wrong.  The North gets the really long summer days (think of Alaska in June with no darkness).  Long day onions should be planted in states north of the Oklahoma/Kansas border (approximately 36 degrees latitude).  Intermediate day onions are planted in the middle of the US and short day onions in the South (like Vidalias).

I live in Kentucky so right in the heart of intermediate day onions.  I can plant long day onions, but should have gotten them in the ground as soon as the soil could be worked last month so that get a good root system for making large bulbs when peak daylight occurs in late June.

This year, I bought sets from a big box store and started seeds of interesting intermediate types.  For sets, the bulbs need to be firm to still be viable.  I planted my sweet onion sets yesterday and will plant my seedlings in a couple of days.  I have the seedlings hardening off on the back patio to get used to the cooler temperatures and increasing time in unfiltered sunlight.

If ordering sets or plants on-line, they will send them to you when it is time to plant in your area.

Plant about 1" deep in soil rich with organic matter and well-drained, 6" apart for individual cloves or bulbs.  I already added the phosphorous and potassium my soil test said to add so I will put a handful of blood meal for nitrogen under each bulb at planting.  If you haven't done a soil test, you can add a balanced fertilizer in each hole as you plant.  In the spring, continue to side dress with nitrogen every 2-3 weeks when growing resumes.  If using blood meal, use 1 cup per 10 feet of planting.  Alliums prefer a soil pH of 6.5-7.

I plant potato onions, shallots and Egyptian walking onions in the fall to give them the winter to develop good root systems for harvesting this spring and summer.

For more on onions, see 
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Sunday, March 22, 2026

Growing lettuce 101

Red sails lettuce and petunias
Sunday, March 22, 2026

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.
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.  As volunteers pop up, I move them to where I want them in the garden bed or pot.  
Bolted Red Sails lettuce-cool looking, eh?
Lettuce also does well from fall into winter.  Choose cold tolerant varieties for early 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. 

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.

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 or 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.  

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.  

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.
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