April Ramblings in the Food Garden

I can hardly believe that is going on April already.    

The time of new beginnings, our hearts full of hope for the new gardening season ahead. 

But oh my goodness, has it ever been chilly out there! 

The days are beautiful and sunny but we wake up to frost on the ground in the mornings and have a cold wind blowing near daily. Brr!  

The plums seems to be a few weeks behind due to these chilly temps, are just starting to put on their blossoms. 

These trees are so incredibly pretty when in full bloom and smell like sweet heaven. With three plum trees out front, the entire yard will soon be buzzing with pollinators and smelling like candy. 

Greenhouse season is starting to get crazy busy. 

We have been sowing and planting and doing workshops... and are now ready to open for the season this weekend with all sorts of cool season veggie starts.

While the greenhouse kept us hopping, we were somehow still able to check a bunch of chores off the spring yard and garden to-do list. Like this one in the picture that has been in the works forever! 

The last phase of our yard renovation plan finally got underway. 

We decided to to with a wildflower lawn in this area to provide three season food (hopefully) for the birds, bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects. 

I am really hoping that it looks amazing by summertime already! I will write a blog post about this area very soon with more information about the seeds we used, the soil, the prep, and will keep you updated on how it looks and fares. 

The plum trees last year at this time.

What are we still working on in the yard? 

While we accomplished a whole bunch last month, there is still so much yet to do. Spring is such a crazy busy time. 

The roses have yet to be pruned, they just keep getting bumped to the bottom of the list. Need to get to them very soon. Eek!  

My currants (red, pink, and black) need to be pruned into that classic vase/bowl shape, as well, to help cut back on the currant worms.

The new compost bin(s) need to be built sometime soon-ish.

My spring bulbs should start blooming over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy the daffodils and tulips, deadhead them when finished, but leave the foliage to die back naturally.

Garden clean up, rake out the dead foliage from the perennials that have died back, etc.. We have most of this done already but I noticed that the lavender has been completely smashed by that snow we had so will likely need to come up completely.  

Feed the roses, perennial beds, fruit trees, fruiting shrubs with a couple shovelfuls manure or compost. This is really a necessity for blueberries and raspberries, they love that boost of organic material in spring to help them put on lots of berries. 

Top beds with fresh bark mulch. We love our new chipper/shredder, by the way! Small but mighty! 

Direct sow some Sweet Peas.

We have a bit of winter cabbage, some purple sprouting broccoli, and a few heads of cauliflower in these side yard beds to harvest and enjoy this month and then will see what goes into them in May. 

The cauliflower turned out amazing. I thought it was done for and had planned to pull it out a few weeks ago. Luckily, I never did get around to them! 

They were planted in late summer, grew really tall (3-4 feet) but did not produce anything. Yesterday, I went to pick up some purple sprouting broccoli for dinner and came in with two perfect heads of the beautiful purple cauliflower that you see in the picture above. Roasted veggies for supper! 

 

The potager garden beds are cleaned up and ready to be planted up this weekend with cool season veggies right now though. Cannot wait! Ready to put in those greens and brassicas! 

What to plant in them now? All the yummy stuff that loves this cool, wet weather! 

Plant in the garden now, from seed ....

Beets (grown for tops)

Cabbage

Carrots 

Kale

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Lettuce

Onions (seeds, sets, seedlings) 

Peas

Parsnips

Radishes

Scallions

Spinach

Swiss chard

Turnips

*note that beets sown in cool temps will not form big roots, are grown more for their leaves. Plant in May or June for beetroots. 

Plant now from transplants...

Asparagus

 Broccoli/sprouting broccoli

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Celery

Kale

Leeks

Lettuce

Mesclun (mixed greens)

Onions (seeds, sets, seedlings) 

Peas

Spinach

Swiss Chard

For fun, here is a post I did a few years ago about different types of carrots. 

Here is a blog post about how to grow great onions from sets! 

Growing great carrots!

Many times I have folks tell me that their carrots did not grow and did not even germinate... here are some tips for growing great carrots.

- Amend your garden with compost so that the soil is good, rich, loose and friable.
- Ensure that the soil is free of rocks and clay, for good strong, long carrots.
- Plant your seeds when the weather has stabilised and day time temps are reliably above 10 C.
- Water the bed before planting.
- Plant your seeds in trenches that are about 1/2 inch deep and sow seeds one to two inches apart. If you plant closer together, you will be doing a lot of thinning out.
- The seeds can be sown in rows, plant another row every three weeks, make the rows 6 to 8 inches apart. You can also plant them in thick bands where the seeds are sown in 3 inch wide strips. Blocks, such as in square foot plantings, also work really well for carrots (about 16 carrots per square block).
I generally sow my carrots in blocks that are 12 inches wide and 4 feet long (as in French Intensive growing), sowing 4 rows of carrots about 3 inches apart. 
- Cover the seed lightly and gently tamp down the soil with either the back of a rake or with your hands. Do not step on the rows or compact the soil.
- Water in well and keep the bed watered till germination in about 7 to 21 days. If they seeds start to germinate under ground and are allowed to dry out, you will never see a carrot as the seeds will all die in the bed. Germination will occur faster as soil warms up.
- Keep your bed weed free and deep water once or twice a week.
-If you have sown thickly you will need to thin out the seedlings when they are small, about an inch high. Thin to one inch apart. Then in several weeks time as they grow, thin to 3 or 4 inches apart.

I generally plant mine an inch or two apart. As the carrots grow and I want some for salads, I will begin to pick every second carrot on an as needed basis. That way, the every other carrot gets to size up nicely to full size plus I get to enjoy baby carrots throughout the growing season.
Remember that baby carrots are not going to have that same full, sweet flavour as the mature ones do, are going to be much milder in flavour.

If you do not see any carrots after 14 to 21 days it is due to either the seed drying up in the bed or they were planted before the soil was warm enough, thus the seed died. No worries! There are hundreds of carrot seeds in those packages. Sow a new patch, all will be well. 

Best tasting carrots ever, according to my family, dogs included ... Nantes, Half Long Danvers and Chantenay ... but I sure am excited to try the new Romance Nantes this year as they are said to be sweeter and tastier! 

I sow carrots in April, May, and again in early July... surprisingly, the ones sown into warmer soil germinate much faster. 

For the bees and pollinators.. 

Put a birdbath or fountain out by your fruit trees or perennial gardens for the birds and the bees. Bees also need water to drink and will be very grateful for the full meal deal in your garden. 

Place flat stones in the birdbath or fill it with marbles to give them a safe landing pad so that they do not drown. More stones than I have in this picture, this was the only birdbath picture I could find today... sitting beside some super happy looking garlic chives. 

If you are having a hard time getting your fruits trees fruiting even though they are full of blooms each spring, this trick may encourage the bees to come pollinate your trees for you.

The garlic is fine, does not need any special attention. You can side dress with a bit of compost or manure, if you would like. I do nothing : ) 

Water once a week when we start to get less rain and the beds begin to dry out. 

Happy gardening!