Plants to Plant in April

When visiting the garden centers, I am quite surprised to find so many plants available for planting.  What surprised me the most was finding garden peas plants.  There are cucumber and squash plants available along with cantaloupes and watermelons.  Take your pick!  Grow what you like and, if nothing else, see what happens.

Here at the Back Forty Garden, we have planted tomatoes and peppers.  There is something peculiar about tomatoes:  I have volunteer plants that are sprouting up all over and I've transplanted some of them.  I am guessing and hoping that they are the non-hybrid.

Now, if you adhere to sage gardeners, we are supposed to rotate the crop.  They say not to plant eggplants, tomatoes, and potatoes in the same spot year after year.  I have just pulled up or dug up red potatoes and white potatoes and in their places, I have sowed zucchini.

The above mentioned vegetables plants are heavy feeders and they do deplete the soil of valuable nutrients.  But we do the best that we can and I realize that some gardeners have limited space.  Our garden plots keep expanding and I am finding other spots to put down some plants or sow some seeds.

Eggplants:  I prefer the Black Beauty.  It's a non-hybrid and has been true and tried.  The fruit is rather large, plump, and solid with a shiny dark purple, almost black color.  It will take a good 120 - 130 days for this warm weather vegetable to mature.

Sweet Potatoes:  One year I planted this kind of a potato from small plants, shoots, or root (whatever you would like to call 'em).  They have come up here and there, spontaneously, ever since.  The potato, we didn't like the taste of, but the vines make attractive ground cover.  You may also plant them whole or cut up making sure that there are "eyes."  It will take about 180 days for a plant/seedling to mature.

Caring for new seedlings:  It does not make me happy to go out into the garden to find that the tender leaves have been eaten by some bugs or insects.  To combat this, I "dust" the plants with all- purpose flower.  I've a duster/sifter and I pump out the flour in skirts all over the plant.  It does not harm the plants and it is environmentally sound (except to the bugs).

Happy Gardening!

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