Garden Tasks — April 2021
So much change happens in the garden in April in Nashville. We start with bare trees and will end the month with lush green canopies overhead. Tulips and azaleas are blooming and we’ll even be harvesting the first lettuce, radishes, and herbs. Gardening season has truly begun and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Here are some things to do to keep your garden on track this month.
PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Set up a simple irrigation or soaker hose system. Check out this video for an easy way to do it.
Mark off your garden into squares so that you can easily plant according to the square foot gardening method. Another video explains it.
Make sure you have sturdy trellises and supports for peas, tomatoes, pole beans, and cucumbers.
Make a list of the plants, seeds, and supplies you need before you head to the garden center. You’ll probably come home with a few extra things and that’s OK, but try to stick to the plan as much as possible. Otherwise, you’ll be digging up a patch of lawn to have a place to put those plants. Ask me how I know.
If you haven’t yet made a garden plan, it’s not too late! Schedule a consultation and I can work with you to create a garden that matches your tastes, time, and experience.
FOOD
Thin root crops (check out this video for info on how).
If you are succession planting cool season, crops, get your second sowing in the first week of April.
Mulch around all your veggies to maintain soil moisture. Keep mulch about an inch away from stems.
Stay on top of weeding.
Keep an eye out for pest damage and treat it accordingly.
“Hill up” potatoes when they are 8” tall by piling extra soil around the base of the plant to make sure no light can possibly get to the tubers growing underground.
You can begin harvesting leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula as soon as your plants are established. Just take a couple of the biggest leaves from the outside of each plant for salad and let it keep growing from the center. You will be able to harvest from each plant every few days.
If the 10 day forecast doesn’t dip below freezing, you can plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, basil, beans, and corn in the second half of the month. IT’S ON NOW!
FLOWERS
RANUNCULUS
“The Rose of Spring”
Enjoy the spectacular blooms around town and make notes or ask your neighbors about their plants if you see something you might like to grow.
Later in the month, warm season flowers like cosmos, nasturtium, and zinnia can (and should) be planted among the veggies to attract beneficial insects.
You can cut the flower stems off your daffodils, tulips, and other spring bulbs to enjoy indoors, but do not cut the leaves off. After the flowers have wilted, the leaves will continue to soak up energy from the sun and store it in their bulb for next year. So leave them alone for another couple of months to live out the rest of their annual cycle.
FEELINGS
Have patience. It can be hard to wait for that average last frost date when we have gorgeous warm days, and you really want to plant tomatoes. But honestly, my tomatoes won’t do much but sit and wait until the soil warms up, so getting them in early won’t really help and you still risk a chance of them being damaged by frost.
Remember to take “before” pictures of your empty beds and your plants as little babies so you have something to compare when they are all grown in a couple of months.
I want to see how your gardens are growing! If you post on instagram, tag me @thegoodenoughgarden or #goodenoughgarden. Enjoy this month of energy and possibility.
