postcard from the garden
goings-on in my garden this April + a checklist
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It’s nearing the end of April, and there is so much to do and see in the garden. This month is full of beauty, of anticipation for the crescendo of summer growth. As the weather warms and a new growing season begins, I find myself out in the garden every day doing one task or another- with hands in the soil planting, or simply admiring the small and transient pleasures it offers: the unfurling of the roses, the swelling of the apricots, the dappled shade the cherry tree casts with its new leaves. As Margaret Atwood advises, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” Here are some tasks for the season that I’m completing.
remove spent plants from the cool season
Winter lettuces, spinach, chard, kale, radicchio, broccoli, fennel, carrots, peas- all the plants that like the cool weather begin to die back, bolt, or become consumed with powdery mildew as the daytime temperatures heat up. As they finish their life cycle, I twist or cut them at soil level (as oppose to pulling out with roots- so as to leave their roots in the ground to decompose and not disturb soil life) and chop them up well, adding to my compost heap.
getting the soil ready for a new season
I then like to remove any debris from winter and windy spring- leaves, twigs, stones, dead plant material- to clear the soil and remove habitat for slugs, earwigs and pillbugs. Then, feed my soil so that it is ready to receive and support new plants. I do my big top up of compost in the autumn to allow the rain and weather to incorporate the nutrients into the soil, but in spring I like to do a top-up. Just about an inch or so of compost mixed with some well-rotted manure to top up the beds. Then rake it over the smooth it- I don’t dig or mix the soil in any way, because I follow a no-dig method of gardening (Charles Dowding’s YouTube is an excellent and pleasant way to learn about this)
planting out starts
April is the month that I get my plant starts into the garden soil. This year I didn't start anything from seed except some flowers and cucumbers/zucchini, usually I always start almost everything myself, but this year got the best of me in timing. Thankfully we have a pretty wonderful community in which to source starts: a small local nursery, a farm, and friends that garden. I finished getting in my tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, green beans, and basil this week. My favorite vegetable varieties for summer can be found in this post.
covering the ground
In my gardening zone, we have a very hot summer and early autumn- regularly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and often well over that. This makes it quite important to make sure the soil is covered in some way to retain moisture and protect from erosion. In my non- food parts of the garden, I have a thick layer of wood chips (I get them free through Chip Drop). In my vegetable beds, I like to plant densely to maximize yields while also shielding the surface of the soil from sun. I underplant my tomatoes with basil, plant nasturtiums and herbs in with the strawberries, lettuces under peppers. Straw and grass clippings are also very inexpensive or free ways to cover ground in the vegetable patch if you’ve got a lot to cover.
laying down irrigation
For my vegetable beds, I have a simple setup with a few soaker hoses that I wind around young plants, keeping it snug to the soil with short lengths of metal wire bent into an upside down U shape to pin the hose down in place. This enables me to water more easily and thoroughly, with less evaporation than hand watering. My goal over the next couple years is to set up some irrigation for the flowers and trees, as well, to reduce the amount of hand watering I need to do.
remove spent blooms + weeds
Every morning or evening, while I take a bit of time to walk around the garden and examine and enjoy the plants, I will also carry a bucket with me in which I place spent blooms, snapping them off as I see them. This keeps things tidy and also encourages more blooming. At the same time, I pull any weeds that I see- this really helps to keep on top of weeds going to seed. I really cherish these small pockets of time in which I feel I am in nonverbal conversation with my plants- caring for them, noticing anything that is happening, deriving joy from the small changes which I find from day to day in the garden. It also enables me to notice issues promptly and take care of them before they become more advanced and hard to manage.
refresh planters
I have just a few pots in my yard, two in the front and two in the back. This month, the spring flowers in them (pansies, freesias, tulips) are spent and looking worse for the wear. I remove the old plants (saving the bulbs for next year), add in compost, and replant with a summer tolerant flower. I really love calibrochoa for their abundant, brightly happy blooms which keep going through late autumn, and tolerate heat well. Siberian wallflower and sea lavender also are long blooming and tough to kill.
thin fruit and provide support for plants
There is a lot of growth happening in spring, and often plants need support. Good staking, thinning, and tying is very important for airflow and preventing stress injury. Thinning fruit is the process of manually removing some fruit when the fruit is still small, usually on peaches, plums, apples, pears, and nectarines. When fruit is too thickly set, it can cause limbs to become to heavy, which can cause them to break. Peaches are especially notorious for this, and I always brace mine by propping a few wooden stakes under branches to support them until the fruit has been picked. Thinning also improves fruit’s size and quality, and enables more sunlight to reach each fruit for even ripening. Often fruit trees, when healthy, will drop/thin the fruit themselves to an extent, but especially in a good year, may need more thinning by hand- especially plums, which are prone to overbearing. Train and tie up growth from vines like grapes and passionfruit regularly. It’s also a good time to bend down or spread branches of fruit trees to train them- I tie a rope and either stake into the ground, or tie to bricks. Here is a good overview.
I’ve compiled this post into a succint checklist, which you can download and print if desired. Keep in mind this is for my zone 9b garden- if you are behind me, you have much more time to get these done.
Sowing
Audre Lorde
It is the sink of the afternoon
the children asleep or weary.
I have finished planting the tomatoes
in this brief sun after four days of rain
now there is brown earth under my fingernails
And sun full on my skin
with my head thick as honey
the tips of my fingers are stinging
from the rich earth
but more so from the lack of your body
I have been to this place before
where blood seething commanded
my fingers fresh from the earth
dream of plowing a furrow
whose name should be you.
from The Selected Works of Audre Lorde
I would love a post on your composting setup- what you do/don't put in your compost, the bin, how often you tend to it (turn, water, etc) and if you have to deal with pests? Thanks so much!