In the Garden: April

Early April is a great time to pull a few weeds, enjoy the emergence of daffodils and tulips, and to finalize your garden plans. With gardens, a little planning goes a long way, so let’s get started.

The first thing you’ll need is a pencil and paper. I highly suggest a spiral notebook or a three-ring binder, where you can keep all your notes and information together. Make a list of what you’d like to grow: salad greens, vegetables, herbs, cutting flowers, landscape plants, or perhaps some annuals or perennial plants for pollinators. This is a starting point; final selections will follow.

Now, take a walk around your outdoor space and determine which areas are suitable for growing (pro tip: if weeds grow in your soil, other plants can grow there, too). In addition to planting directly into the ground, you can add raised beds, containers and grow bags throughout your yard, including your porch, deck, driveway, and patio. Wheelbarrows and old wagons make great beds for smaller plants and can be easily moved. Pots and containers take advantage of even the smallest spaces.

In your notebook, draw a simple sketch of your planting areas in relation to your house. Label east, west, north and south to remind you which way the sun will be moving. Measure planting areas and add the dimensions to your sketch so you’ll know how much space you have, and jot down a note about the amount of sun in each of your potential growing areas. Also mark the location of outdoor hoses to help you plan.

Do you have space for a trellis for vining plants? Consider green beans or a clematis. Herbs grown near the kitchen and containers of flowers near windows or on the deck provide sweet scents and the chance to watch pollinators at work. It’s a good idea to put low maintenance plants on the outer edges of your yard, and plants that need frequent attention closer to the house.

Before you purchase plants or seeds, it’s important to know where you’re going to put them when they’re ready to go in the ground. Many veggies and flowering plants require full sun to thrive. Full sun means six or more daily hours of direct sunlight, though the hours do not need to be consecutive. For example, an area that gets morning sun followed by a few hours of shade, and then receives additional direct sun is fine if the total hours add up to six or more. There are many plants that are happy to grow in shady or semi-shady areas.

With your planting areas mapped out, go through your wish list to decide what – and how much – to grow this season. A little research, online or at a garden store, will give you the info you need to choose plants that will thrive for you. Seed packets list when to plant your seeds and whether to start your plants indoors in pots or plant the seeds directly into the soil. The packets also state how much sun your plants need, how far apart to plant them, how large they will get, and how long they take to grow. If you’re buying baby plants, you’ll find similar information on the plant tag.

Summer veggies, herbs, and other warm weather plants should not be planted until overnight soil temperatures are between 50- and 60-degrees Fahrenheit. Until then, your plants could be damaged or killed by frost, low temperatures, or too much rain.

A good rule of thumb for our location is to wait until after Mother’s Day to plant outdoors. Our frost-free growing season typically runs from mid-May to mid-October but is often shorter or longer. Be sure to ask friends and neighbors what grows well for them, as there are many micro-climates in Point Roberts.

A couple of other things to consider, based on research versus local lore or word of mouth. Tilling your soil each year or season damages the structure of your soil and the important subsoil edaphon (the marvelous underground life of invertebrates, bacteria, mycelium, and other soil components necessary for your plants to thrive). This means that annually digging and turning your soil is unnecessary.

It is also not necessary to amend your soil each year, as adding too much fertilizer, compost, and/or bulky organic materials can also damage your soil as well as your plants. Before spending money on pricey inputs, have a professional soil test done and add only what’s necessary.

As always, I’m available to answer gardening questions during Senior Lunch at the community center on Wednesdays and Fridays between noon and 1 pm. We’ll be having our final seed exchange of the year in a few weeks, date and time to be announced soon.