April Garden To~Do List
APRIL GARDENING TO DO LIST:
In the Edible Garden
If you didn’t in March, till under any cover crops you planted. If you didn’t use cover crops, amend the soil with plenty of aged compost and mix it into the soil well.
Add compost or soil building conditioner to your garden beds to improve aeration, add nutrients, and help retain moisture in the soil this summer.
Clean up summer fruiting raspberries. Go through your summer fruiting raspberries and remove dead canes. Apply an all-purpose fertilizer and 2-3 inches of compost to the beds.
Asparagus and rhubarb crowns, horseradish, potatoes and strawberries can all be planted now.
If you’ve started veggies from seed indoors hopefully you have the seedlings under lights. If you haven’t started seeds indoors yet, it’s time to start or plan on purchasing starts from the nursery.
Broccoli, brussels sprouts, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Swiss Chard, radishes, lettuce, kale, peas and fava beans can be direct sown in April. That said, snails and slugs like these crops as much as you do, which means they will often eat up emerging seedlings. In this case, see Slug control entry in the Ornamental Garden section below. You can also transplant larger plants in mid-April to May.
Hardier herbs like Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme, Oregano, Sage, Mint, and Parsley can be directly sown now. The exception is Basil, a warm weather herb.
Tender cucurbits such as cucumber, summer squash and winter squash should be sown indoors for transplant when temperatures warm in May.
In the Ornamental Garden
Sow or plant hardy annuals in bare spots or where spring bulbs will die back. Colorful options that will attract pollinators include alyssum, bachelor's buttons, California poppies, calendula, and fragrant sweet peas. Also pansies lobelia, Dusty Muller, Snapdragon and other perennials.
Slugs can be a real problem in spring. A few tricks are to use a natural product like Sluggo, place copper tape or crushed eggshells around plants as a physical barrier. Also try setting beer baits or sprinkling diatomaceous earth (DE) around delicate plants.
Prune back the dead tops of perennials and grasses to make room for new spring growth. Lift and divide overgrown perennials. Look for the telltale signs our plants need division: hollow centers, circular or donut-shaped growth and petering flowers. You’ll be rewarded with many new plants that will look better than they did before. This is a great way to increase your garden stock or to have some to give to your gardening friends.
Pull/dig perennial weeds. The ground is softer and weeds are easier to find before other plants emerge to hide them.
Alkaline-loving plants such as lilac, mock orange, deutzia and daphne need a shot of lime now. Just sprinkle garden lime in a circle around the base of these plants.
Fertilize camelias now starting April 1, then again May 1, and Sept 1.
If you want to change the color of your mophead hydrangeas from blue to pink, apply lime now to adjust the soil pH.
Lawn Care
The best time to sow lawn seed is typically April or May. If your lawn is not soggy, you can apply lime now to balance the pH of your soil.
If it's growing, you can mow it! Set your mower to medium height to avoid cutting off more than 30% at a time. Remember, the height of the grass generally equals the depth of the roots, so keeping grass a little longer helps build a strong support system.
Thank you to Deborah for keeping us on task with this timely chore list!