April is an easy month for the minimalist gardener. For the spring garden, things planted in March are growing well and should be past the susceptible early days.
1. Keep the raised beds weeded. Weeds should be slow growing, but inside the microclimate of the low tunnels, you may have a fine green carpet of sprouted weed and grass seeds that will draw away nutrients from your crops. Keep these down before they have a chance to get tangled up with the crops.
2. April is the month for sowing warm season seeds. We want tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and their companions to be ready to transplant around Memorial Day weekend. That means that the seeds need to be started this month. Load the AeroGarden with a fresh batch and let it do its magic.
3. This is also the month for harvesting. Cool weather crops will grow strongly this month and by the end will be ready to pick. If you let them go much farther into May, they will start to bolt. Begin to harvest your crops in the last two weeks of April. Remember that by the end of May we need to start transplanting our summer tomatoes and peppers, and we need to have space to do that.
4. The row covers and low tunnels have done their work. Sometime in April, the need for row covers will have abated, and they need to be removed to prolong the harvest period of the cool season crops. Also, the covers should be put away for their own preservation, rather than leaving them crumpled by the side of the bed, to minimize their exposure to the sun and the inevitable UV deterioration.
5. Fruit trees will be in flower, or have just dropped petals.
April Challenge: Start warm-season seeds indoors. Harvest at least 1/3 of your cool season crops. Remove and securely store your row cover material.
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