Gardening by the month… April
Today we begin a blog series designed to guide you in your vegetable garden tasks as you move through the calendar year. For us in the northeast, April begins our time spent in the garden. We thought we would share with you the tasks and timing of our garden efforts this month.
At the beginning of April, we begin monitoring our soil condition for wetness. We stay clear of soil that is more than damp. If we were to begin disrupting soil when it hadn’t drained from the winter wetness, we would destroy the soil structure. We refrain from even walking through the garden during those wet, soppy, early spring days. Once the days have thawed the ground and sufficiently drained the excess water from the soil we begin our work. We rake all cover material of leaves or straw into our pathways between our planting rows. We top dress our planting areas with 2” of compost to build up the soil with organic matter. In addition to this, we spread a dry granular organic fertilizer sprinkled over the rows at 5lbs/ 100sq’. North Country Organic’s ProGro or Espoma’s Plant-tone are recommended choices for this. We then lightly pitch fork these top dressings into the soil to a depth of 6”. We do not till as this collapses the soil rearranging its many layers and disturbing the microorganisms colonizing at their ideal soil depths. Many perennials and cold tolerant vegetables can be planted well before the final frost date of May 10th in our area of Connecticut, however we must allow the soil temperature to reach 50 degrees F before we plant any delicate new roots into our garden. We often check with a soil thermometer for a few days before planting. Completing this soil preparation before any planting, fortifies the base creating the environment necessary to ensure the abundant harvest.