Spring Gardening Guide: April
- Old Oak Homestead
- Mar 31
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Planting Zone: 8
April is here, flaunting a jam-packed schedule of gardening shenanigans. With daylight hours stretched like a yoga class, rain falling like Mother Nature’s own sprinkler system, and temperatures that make you want to ditch the sweater, it’s the perfect time for your early spring planting escapades. This month is also prime time for pest patrol, as those little critters start popping up like they own the place. So get your trowel and make April awesome! Let our Spring Gardening Guide be your trusty sidekick in crafting a thriving organic garden, ensuring you and your family a harvest so bountiful, you might need to start a veggie stand!
Spring Garden Planning
As Spring time really ramps up in April, let's gear up to tackle the tasks that'll help us make the most of this exciting time of year! Here's what we need to focus on this month:
Review your garden plan. Make sure you have sufficient equipment such as trellis' or stakes if you are planting pole beans, cucumbers or indeterminate tomatoes.
Now is a really good time to go back over what happened in the garden last year if you didn't do that last month. Was it overrun with pests or disease? April is when we here at Old Oak Homestead purchase beneficial nematodes as they attack and kill a large number of pests that are in the lava stage in the soil. We also use beneficial nematodes to help combat small hive beetles that if not kept on top of at the lava stage in the ground will become a pest in our apiary.
If you will have spaces in your garden, fill them with companion plants, herbs, flowers, or intercrop with other plants. This will encourage beneficial insects and makes your garden more interesting and absolutely gorgeous!
You may still need those row covers out, as we can still get unexpected cold weather. April can surprise us in the Georgia, just be prepared. After planting tender transplants, or as seeds begin to sprout, your row covers will come in handy to protect them from unexpected really cold or freezing weather.
Garden Preparedness and Maintenance
By now your garden beds should be ready for planting. If not, early April is the time to finish getting them ready. This will make life a lot easier. Making sure your garden is prepared ahead of time will save you much heartache and hard work later, trust us, we know this from personal experience of not being ready!
Trellising and Stakes.
Put stakes and trellises in place ready for when you start to transplant your seedlings.
Amending and Fertilizing the Garden Soil
Soil health is really important; this is the life of your plant. This is where your compost pile and your vermicompost (compost from your worm bin if you have one) is put to good use. When your beds are ready for planting, take enough compost and make a layer of at least 1-2 inches thick on the top of your cleaned out beds. If you did this in March you are ahead of the game. If you didn't do it this month. Top dressing your garden bed is a great way to make sure the soil has the nutrients it needs for when the plants are transplanted or the seeds are sown. We personally do not till this in, we allow the earthworms and the other microorganisms that live in the compost to do that work for us.
We mix equal parts of liquid calcium/Mg, molasses, and liquid kelp with worm casting tea and use it as a soil drench. This combo not only feeds the microorganisms but also balances the pH, making it less inviting for weeds. We've had success keeping nut grass under control with this method. We apply it as needed throughout the growing season. Just a heads up, a soil drench is different from a foliar spray. A soil drench goes directly into the soil, while a foliar spray is for the plant's leaves, stems, and fruit.
Weeding and Mulch the Garden Beds
Continue mulching your garden beds. This will help to keep weeds at bay as well as help prevent compaction and runoff.
If you do have weeds, go ahead and pull them out. Mulch around new transplants to control weeds. Weeds are an indiciation that something is wrong with your soil. More then likely calcium and other mineral deficency. You could use a soil drench to help with weed management.
Paths
Make sure your paths look good and are clear of weeds. Add new wood chips to paths. This is really important to do if you get to do this in March.
Irrigation
Ensure that drip irrigation is installed if it hasn't been done yet. Verify its proper functioning. Install new lines and parts, and replace the automatic timer battery as needed. It's crucial to install new lines if you plan to expand your growing area. Additionally, integrate container watering into the irrigation system with a timer to prevent them from drying out, as soil in containers dries out faster than in the ground.
Garden Tools and Supplies
Installing drip irrigation has been a game changer for us. This has meant that we can make sure our plants have all the water they need to thrive in the hot and sometimes dry months ahead.
Most vegetable plants need at least an inch of water per week, which in April, and many other times of the year, thankfully comes from the sky. However, if we do need to irrigate we make sure to water deeply. What helps us keep our soil moist and cooler is that it is covered with either food (our vegetable plants), mulch (wood chips) or crushed up leaves. This also helps prevent weeds as the ground hates not being covered. If the garden bed is not covered, nature will take care of that itself and weeds will grow.
Drip irrigation is the most efficent way to get water to the root zone. It also saves us time.
We have a well, but if you are on metered water, a drip irrigation system will save you money also. We use a timer on our system and highly recommend you invest in one too. Not only will a timer save on time and money, but we do not have to worry about the garden being watered especially if we go on vacation.
Thankfully a drip irrigation system can be modified and fitted to any situation! That is what we did. We looked at what we needed and then created our system. Since then we have made modifications and as our garden area increases so will our irrigation system. It is really important to include this in the planning stages of your garden.
Another tool that we have invested in is a deep root injector, this allows us to apply compost teas and compost extracts as soil drenches. This is ensures that really good biology is deep in the soil and around the roots where it suppose to be. This helps our plants in a number of ways: it helps produce nutrient dense foods, supports plant health, reduces weeds, and reduces the bad guy pest load. This is part of our weed and pest management control program. Simply put, we feed our soil.
When it comes to direct sowing, we also use the deep root injector when there is no plants to make sure that as we prep our beds, the soil drench is going deep into the ground. Then we will direct sow. Doing this early on April will help establish your soil for a bountiful harvest. We do other things as well but that is for another post!
Seedlings and Pest Control
Monitor and care for your seedlings that are indoors. Wait until the last frost date has passed to plant them outside. If you choose to plant a before this date, make sure you have row covers available so that you can cover your plants should we get an unexpected dip (think 32 degrees F) in temperature.
You can begin to harden off your transplants by placing them outside for a few hours at a time, gradually increasing the length of time they stay outdoors. This allows them to get use to being outside with out creating to much stress on the plant. This should be done one to two weeks before planting
Think about planting flowers and herbs that attract beneficial insects to your garden. This involves selecting flowers that offer easy access to pollen and nectar. Numerous plants that support beneficial insects are both edible and visually appealing. Beneficial insects require food throughout the season, so be sure to include plants of varying heights and flower types.
What to Sow and Plant in April
Direct sow - Early April
These may be succession plantings if you sowed these in March.
Transplant - Early April
Succession plantings are a great way to extend the growing season if you planted these in March.
Transplant or Direct Sow - Mid to Late April when ambient temperature at night is consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and above 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the day
Transplant or direct sow Corn, lima beans, and peanuts when soil temperatures are warm (65F)
Transplant or direct sow Watermelon, Squash (summer and winter) when soil temperatures are 70F and above
Direct sow (beans snap and dry, sunflowers, edamame) or transplant (cucumbers) late April when soil temperature is really warm around 75F
Have your row cover handy should there be an unexpected drop in temperature (think 40F or lower)
Fresh Harvest In April
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Herbs and Flowers
Don't forget about herbs and flowers! Cilantro, basil, thyme, rosemary can all be direct sown or if you seeded them indoors they can be transplanted after the last frost in April (Zone 8). We love to have basil ready to plant when we plant our tomatoes. They are great companions!
Flowers and herbs make great companion planting. Our all time favorite to plant is the African Marigold. It is stunning in the garden.
Sunflowers can be directly sown in or around your garden. Just follow the growing instructions on the back of the seed packet. Mexican sunflowers, both the red and the yellow are loved by bees.
Spring has arrived, and it's time to celebrate! This is the moment we've all been eagerly waiting for. If we had to sum up this month's agenda, it would be: Wrap up your prep work as soon as possible! Don't let those pesky pests gain a foothold early in the season—you won't regret it. Ensure you're building and maintaining healthy soil, as it's the key to a bountiful harvest, effective weed control, and managing pest pressure. Transform your garden into a vibrant oasis by filling empty spaces with a delightful mix of herbs and flowers! Not only will this foster a diverse community of beneficial insects, but these plants will also keep pests at bay while adding stunning beauty to your garden! But most importantly, have a blast this spring planting your vegetable garden!
Happy gardening!
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