April 2024 Edible Garden Planner

April edible garden

Saturday, April 6, 2024

April showers bring May flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables!  Now is the perfect time to get serious on 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 you to have an instant garden!

Crops to plant in April

Early April is a perfect time to plant cold season 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 sprouting broccoli, cress,  chickweed, sorrel, and cultivated dandelions.  The other herbs that overwintered are celery, carrots, chives, Egyptian walking onions, oregano, tarragon, sage, and thyme.  They are great adds to salads as well as cooked dishes.

There are many volunteers sprouting from giant mustard, lettuce, celery and cilantro.  These are the cool temperature lovers.  Next month, the warm season loving volunteer veggies and flowers will be sprouting.

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 cover them or can bring them indoors if frost does visit your garden.  Warm season lovers won't grow much at all 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 lettuce and spinach plants outdoors.  I have them in pots in my walk in, portable greenhouse.  I moved 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. 

Veggies for small spaces

 Grow a Sicilian/Italian kitchen garden in as little as 6' x 6'

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.  It is really close to 100% across all types of seeds.  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, spaghetti 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.  I also add biochar and worm castings in each hole.  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 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.  

Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors

Chives and lettuce in  mid-April garden

Frost date importance

The average last frost date in our area was April 2nd this year, but some in the area got frost this morning.  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.  Planting early is not always a good strategy as different seeds need different soil temperatures before they will germinate.  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 liquid 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.  

Everything you need to know about growing lettuce  Grow your own smoothie and juice garden

This year, you may have more time or just want to be sure you can get 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