April 2020
What I am Doing in My Garden in April 2020
Well, lots of things are happening. The plants that I had started last month are looking pretty good. Tomatoes are 6 to 8 inches tall and I have been taking them out to the sunshine for a couple of hours each day. Sunburned them a little bit the first time so am being more cautious. They are however overcoming my shortcoming. I will continue running them in and out for longer periods and expect to plant them mid May or maybe a little earlier if it is going to be really nice at night. The peppers are doing well too and having their daily sun vacation. They also will be going out mid to early May, especially as they will be going in the greenhouse. Well most of them will be as I have lots. The fancy hot peppers may just go outside in pots.
I also started cabbage and napa cabbage. These are looking good and a little better with the outdoor transition than the softer veg. They will be planted out in a week or so. Just checking the night temperatures which look to be warming.
Also started a lot of onions and leeks in 1 gallon pots. I mean a lot in each pot! So seeing my error I decided that I would use some tweezers to thin them down to a dull roar. It worked quite well. I also cut the onions back to about two inches. They were probably 8 inches long. I did read that doing that makes them produce more leaves, makes sense, and some growers cut them back twice in order to get maximum leaves. Every leaf produces another layer on the onion and it seems that a really good onion can have 13 layers. I may cut some of them back a second time when I plant. A test. I have not cut back the leeks although they are at least 8 inches long. I could not find any solid discussion on whether that was a good thing to do. I will try to plant both the onions and leeks in 2 to 3 weeks.
I have been working on final preparations on the garden beds, with only a couple left to go now. Since I added manure and lime in the fall I have just removed leaves, added compost and some kelp and alfalfa meal, then a little dig in. Not really a dig, just a mix. Then put leaves back on where we have drip hoses. Merv is redoing 3 more beds and adding more drip hoses.
Along with sorting out the beds I have been planting a little each day so that by the end of April most of the garden will be planted aside from the bedding plants. So far I have carrots, parsnip, beets, radish, peas, Chinese Broccoli, and kohlrabi in.
I will plant kale, more greens of different varieties, sweet peas and whatever else crosses my mind this week. I will start melons, cucumbers and squashes in the house in a week.
I did start lettuce, radish, pak choi and various greens in the greenhouse about a month ago and they are doing very well. The lettuce I overwintered is providing a good supply and of course last year’s kale is providing an abundance.
So happy vegetable gardening.
Posted in Linda's Garden Chat