What's happenin' in the early April edible garden

Egyptian walking onions

Sunday, April 9, 2023

The I have been busy sowing seeds, putting transplants in the garden and pots, and fertilizing! I plant a combination of herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers every year.  The flowers attract pollinators that help the fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers to produce more as well as just looking good.

Status of our garden

My soil sample showed I needed a little potassium, some nitrogen and was getting a little high in alkalinity.  I added enough sulfur to bring the garden beds down from 7.7 to around 6.5-7.  Our local extension agent has told me in the past that if you are doing regular additions of balanced fertilizer that you likely don't need additional phosphorous (P) or potassium (K), but will likely need additional nitrogen in the spring throughout the growing season.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

We didn't have any weeds that needed to be pulled before we mulched the garden bed last month so it is ready to be planted.  We have Egyptian walking onions, chard, sorrel, arugula, carrots, celery, lettuce, dandelions and plantain that overwintered and are going strong right now.  I use the bottoms of the onions in cooking and the tops like chives.  The greens I use in salads and also as wilted greens.

Looks like so far I have a rosemary that survived the winter in the garden.  Thyme, oregano, tarragon, celery, pea shoots, garlic chives all are green and ready to use.  I'll need to replant my parsley, sage, garden chives and cilantro.  Basil has to be started every year in our zone.  I plant sweet basil for pesto and cardinal basil for its leaves and beauty.    Start a kitchen herb garden!

The bay, kumquat, pepper plants, Nuun basil, lemon and grapefruit tree I overwintered in the garage are adding leaves.  The kumquat is full of ripe fruits and the pepper plant has a couple of peppers on it.  I moved them all outdoors this week as the extended forecast has the night time lows staying at least in the 40's.  They should be fine unless it gets below 28F.  

The lettuce and spinach seed I sowed in pots outside last month are sprouting.  When they get bigger, I will thin by transplanting the larger ones into the garden.  I bought some additional lettuce and spinach plants that I planted in pots last week.  They are looking quite happy.  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

I dug up the volunteer garlic chives and celery and re-potted to give to the local master gardeners for their annual plant sale.  They are both winter hardy and prolific self-seeders.  My best performing self seeding edibles

April and May are fun to watch to see what volunteers will come back from last year's seed.  I will likely have marigolds, tomatoes, chives, squash, and lettuce plants pop up yet this spring as the soil warms.  Try self-seeding veggies and flowers

I took a look in the freezer and pantry to see what we were running short on to develop my garden plan for this year.   Edible garden plan for 2023   I'll take one more look at the end of the month to fine tune how many summer lovers I'll need to plant.   A summer edible garden   

I think I'll also try to go to the farmers market more this year to see if there are other fruits or veggies that do well in this area to add to the garden.  We have one that goes year round and another couple that are close by that starts up in early June.  You can find a farmers market near you through this web site.  www.localharvest.org