It’s almost time for the posts on Facebook about how “I wanted a garden, but I missed the time to plant”. And it is only the first week of April.
In growing zones 7 to 8, we won’t cross the last frost date till in April (for us it is April 15th). We have so much time left, if you use it wisely. You cannot sit around, but if you quickly put in a couple of days of hard work,
But more so, planting a garden isn’t a one time thing – you can plant all season long, over and over. Or…you buy starts and pop them in the ground when it is time. If you missed planting tomatoes? There is no shame in buying up a number of starts (and honestly, if you want to grow 20 different types, but only one plant each? Just buy them. It is cheaper than buying seeds).
For example, in our grow zone you shouldn’t be putting out tomatoes and pepper plants until Mother’s Day at earliest – and that is many weeks away. The baby starts are just showing up at stores/nurseries.
Look, I should not be left unattended at the feed store, when a new rack of starts is wheeled out.
Pot them up into gallon pots, in 6 weeks they will be huge plants (they must be kept warm of course, in a greenhouse for now).
1 day old in their new containers, in the sun. In 6 weeks time they will be at least 2 ft high and staked up.
It is time to put out lettuce starts and to sow bush green peas. They enjoy the cooler temperatures and can take a chill at night. I typically use our raised beds for the first crops, then go to the in ground as we reach April 15th. Raised beds get warmer earlier overall.
Baby starts now, but soon they will be huge.
For the other starts I pick up – cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage and such, I split them up and pot into 4″ pots to mature more. These I keep outside in our potting area. They are hardened off already, and I want the soil to be warmer before they go into the ground. And here’s a tip: I buy these as starts rather than seeds in spring. Why? To get an early crop of cauliflower and broccoli, you must beat the late spring heat surges. Or they can bolt to seed. I save the starting from seed for the mid summer starts, for fall crops. When there is more time. For kale though, I grow it for the chickens, so I just buy a few dozen plants, to get a jump start on growing, then have plants from seeds coming in behind them.
So don’t stress. The days are far longer, the daytime is warmer, and it’s time to get working. For us, we will cross 13 hours of daylight soon, far removed from the dark days of December when we had 8.5 hours of daylight. (March 31st at our house we will have 14 hours and 46 minutes of light.)
Garden Tasks For April:
- Walk your beds/garden and look for dead plants or damaged ones to pull out or fix.
- Check fencing and fix as needed
- Plant onion bare root sets if you have purchased them soon.
- Plant rhubarb roots and bare root asparagus and strawberries as soon as possible.
- Start potatoes. They can go in now.
- Weed beds.
- Lay down more wood chips in pathways, if you do this.
- Clean out birdhouses, bird baths and bird feeders. Scrub them good.
- Feed existing fruit trees, blueberries and berry canes if you haven’t yet.
- Turn compost piles. Or start one!
- If you have small starts, pot them up as needed to the next size.
- Start putting starts for lettuce, kale, bok choy, and so on in the ground.
- Clean up raspberry canes, cutting dead ones out
Seeds To Plant:
To see more on when to seed, and transplant, see here.
Below are seeds you can start in April and or are ready to transplant. The dates are not set in stone, it is a guide of what week may be most preferable to get them started. If you have a cold/wet spring, waiting a week or two more before seeding is smart.
Needless to say, the start of April is go time. And if you miss out and start seeding later? It’s OK for many crops. And for temperamental ones that bolt in heat you always can grow those as a fall crop, where they often fare better than in spring, if you miss the window, or late winter is too warm/cold.
What we are doing is using the last frost date as our guide, and backing up to figure out when to seed, be it inside, outdoors direct, or when to transplant your seedling you started inside.
So for Zone 8b, if the last frost date is April 15th, the dates going back:
- 1 week: April 8th
- 2 weeks: April 1st
Seed Chart
Beans
- Bush: 52-59 days, seed direct after last frost, start inside 2 weeks before last frost. Plant every 2 weeks in ground for continuous crops.
- Pole: 63-69 days, seed direct after last frost, start inside 2 weeks before last frost.
Beets
- 48-60 days, seed direct from March and on, every 2 weeks for continuous crops.
Cabbage
- 80 to 150 days, start in greenhouse 6 weeks before last frost, transplant 3 weeks before last frost date.
Cauliflower
- 75-85 days. Start in greenhouse 6-8 weeks before last frost. Transplant after last frost.
Carrots
- 65-70 days, seed direct in ground, starting a few weeks before last frost. Repeat every 2 weeks for continuous crops.
Celery
- 120 days, start in greenhouse 8 weeks before last frost. Transplant after last frost.
Corn
- Sweet Corn: 65-85 days, seed direct after last frost date.
- Popcorn: Same as above.
Cucumbers
- Pickling: 50-60 days, seed direct after last frost.
- Eating: 50-70 days, seed direct after last frost.
Greens
- Bok Choy: 44 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
- Kale: 50-70 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
- Spinach: 44 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Direct seed after last frost. (If too hot, grow for fall)
- Swiss Chard: 55 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
- Swiss Chard and Kale can be reseeded, directly, or in greenhouse, through the growing season.
Herbs
- Start in greenhouse, transplant or set outside after last frost.
Kohlrabi
- 60 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
Lettuce
- Romaine: 60-80 days, start in greenhouse 4 to 6 weeks before last frost, transplant after last frost. Repeat every 2 weeks of seeding.
- Other leaf lettuce: 30-45 days, start in greenhouse 2 weeks before last frost, transplant after last frost. Repeat every 2 weeks of seeding.
Onions
- Eating: 110 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Transplant after last frost. (We grow Walla Walla). If starting this late, I would suggest buying onion starts instead of seeds.
- Bunching: 75 days, start in greenhouse before last frost. Transplant after last frost. Seed every 2 weeks for continuous crops. Bunching onions are green onions, and grow quickly so can be started from seed even in spring.
Parsnips
- 130 days, seed direct when seeding carrots.
Peas
- Dwarf: Seed directly before last frost. Direct seed after last frost for continuous crop till heat hits.
- Bush: 55-70 days, seed directly before last frost.
- Pole: 65-70 days, seed directly before last frost.
Peppers
- Hot: 70 days, Start in greenhouse before last frost. Transplant after. This late in the season you may want to consider using starts you buy, however seeds will grow quickly this time of year and often catch up.
- Sweet: 75 days, same as above.
- Ancho: 80 days, same as above.
Pumpkin
- Jack Be Little: 95 days, start seeds 2 weeks before last frost, transplant after last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
- Regular Pumpkins: 90-120 days, start 2 weeks before last frost. Transplant after last frost. Direct seed after last frost.
Radishes
- 24-30 days, seed direct after last frost.
Rhubarb
- Start 8 to 12 weeks before last frost, in greenhouse. Transplant after last frost. Let establish before you harvest plants. A full year is the best.
Squash
- Summer Squash: 40-70 days, seed direct after last frost. If starting in greenhouse, 2 weeks before last frost.
- Butternut: 95 days, start in greenhouse 2 weeks before last frost, transplant after last frost date.
- Winter Squash: 105-110 days, start in greenhouse 2 weeks before last frost, transplant after last frost date.
Strawberry
- Alpine: Alpine plants produce ever bearing, for a fall crop from first year plants, start seeds in greenhouse before last frost. Slow germination is normal. Once last frost is passed, transplant to gallon pots, set outside to finish growing.
Tomatoes
- Dwarf: 60 days, start in greenhouse before last frost, or for bigger plants, up to 8 weeks. Transplant in first week of May. Seeds will grow quickly though in this time, so you can still plant in early April and they will catch up.
- Shorter Season: 48-68 days, same as above.
- Heirloom: 60-80 days, same as above.
Watermelon
- 80+ days, seed direct after last frost.
~Sarah