Is it just me, or did March just fly by? January and February dragged on, kicking and screaming, and then everything just started moving in March! I can’t believe it’s time to really get going in the garden, and that it’s already time to figure out what to plant in April!
This year I am cutting down on the “chaos gardening” and focusing on growing crops that our family eats a lot of. I want to have a good harvest of potatoes and sweet potatoes, carrots and broccoli, and lots and lots of green beans and butternut squash. Here is a list of the seeds I will be direct sowing, and some I will be transplanting this month. Buckle up! Once the threat of frost is past, there is a lot to plant in April.
What to Plant in April
Basil
I’m really excited about basil this year because I want to make homemade pesto to keep in the freezer. While I was perusing YouTube watching More Than Farmers I found a video where Michelle was showing off their basil bush. It was HUGE! So now I am determined to have one huge basil bush rather than lots of little plants. To achieve this you want to prune, prune, prune! Each time you collect basil for dinner you’ll be creating space for more leaves to grow! Cheers to basil filled meals this summer, gosh I’m drooling just thinking about the smell.
Cantaloupe & Other Melons
This year I tried starting some cantaloupe inside and one seed JUST sprouted. I’m hoping I’ll get a couple more to sprout before it’s time to transplant them. Otherwise I’ll be planting a few more seeds to grow up one of my trellises. Hopefully we will have plenty of cantaloupe to pick for some tasty breakfasts.
Cilantro
I think I mentioned this in my What to Grow in March post, but cilantro is something I want growing in abundance, so I do practice chaos gardening with cilantro. My version of chaos gardening is clearing a patch of soil, scratching it up a bit so the seeds can tuck themselves in a bit, and then just scattering seeds about in the allotted area. Then I step on them or lightly cover them with dirt! If you didn’t get cilantro planted in March you can still throw some seeds around! Cilantro does like cooler weather, so plant it soon, and once it starts to bolt let it be! You can use the seeds for even more cilantro next year!
Cucumbers
Oh it’s the best time of the year! Cucumbers have always been my favorite vegetable, and it’s time to get them growing! I always grow my cukes up a trellis, the grow well and they’re easier to see. This year I put a cattle panel trellis over one of my boxes. This way I can keep them out of the way of the garlic that’s already growing there, and they will shade the salad box next to it in the late afternoon sun. This year I need to replenish my pickles so I’ll be making lots and lots of jars of pickles. I get pickled out pretty quickly, so I’ll plant a row of pickling cucumbers so there are lots of cucumbers growing around the same time. Once I’m pickled out I’ll rip them out and plant something new!
Pumpkins
It’s time to get ready for fall, y’all! If you want to grow your own pumpkin patch now is the time to get those seeds in the ground! Just be aware that pumpkin vines will spread out. Like across your entire yard spread out. When growing pumpkins I will carefully move the vines around so that they stay out of the way of the lawnmower and littles pathways.
Corn
I’m so excited to grow corn this year! I have a spot all ready that I’m affectionately calling my corn field (it’s, ya know, 50 sqft). I’m hoping to can up a bunch of corn and have lots of corn on the cob on hand for summer bbqs. Corn is also great to dry and give to the chickens as a treat when the months get cooler. My hope is to someday grow our own popcorn! I hope to do canning corn one year and popcorn the next. Let’s see how many jars I can put up this year and then we’ll determine the corn variety for next year.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes is one of my goal harvests this year. I’m hoping to harvest enough sweet potatoes to last us the entire year! Sweet potato leaves are beautiful, so I’m thinking I’ll plant some around the front yard for ornamental ground cover, and to save space in the boxes in the backyard. The leaves will also grow up, so I’ll probably add in some structures for the leaves to grow up to up the “wow” factor.
Tomatoes
Now is the time to transplant your tomatoes! If you didn’t start your tomatoes indoors this winter you can absolutely pick some up at a local nursery. I’ve even had luck starting seeds outside, in fact a lot of my tomatoes are volunteers that just pop up wherever the chickens pooped out some seeds. Did you know that tomato seeds can survive the digestive tract? Fun fact! This year I’m going to be growing a tomato tunnel, so I’ll be planting them along the cattle panel arch in my garden boxes.
Did you know that you can grow tomato plants from the suckers you prune off of your growing tomato plants? A lot of my starts didn’t do very well this year, so I’ll be pruning the suckers off of the tomatoes and using those to start additional tomato plants. After pruning the sucker you put them in a little bit of water until roots develop. Then they are ready to plant out with the other tomatoes!
Squash
And last, but certainly not least, squash is one of my favorite things to plant in April! Now is the time to plant both summer and winter squash. If you’re dreaming of grilled zucchini or zucchini bread it’s time to get some seeds planted. If you’re hoping to put away a bunch of winter squash now is the time to plan your patch! I’m planning to grow quite a few butternut squash plants within the corn field. Planting squash with your corn acts as ground cover so you’ll have less weeds to battle, and also helps keep moisture in the ground.
I can’t wait to finally get the garden really started! I have big goals to feed the family from our backyard and am excited to see how much my little garden can produce this year. What are your garden goals for 2025?
Hope to see you in the garden soon!
What do you think?