April is here and that means garden season is here, yay! If you’re new to gardening and are wondering “What seeds to start in April?” then I’ve got you! If you’ve got some experience and depending on where you are (and how motivated you are) you may have even started seeds in February! And if you can transplant in April that’s wonderful, but for me here in northeast Arkansas zone 7, we can’t transplant small plants until early May! So in April we’re getting going on direct sowing, enjoying beautiful weather and watching all those brown, naked oak trees start to green up again!
Get your bird feeders ready!
It’s that time of year where more birds are coming back so it’s a good time to deep clean and restock all of your bird feeders! Hummingbirds are a bit behind other birds but they’ll be here soon so let’s be ready for them!
Willy Nilly Sowing Flower Seeds
You don’t always have to perfectly sow seeds in a seed tray in a greenhouse or even in your garden in order to have success! You can sometimes throw random seeds all over your garden and as long as you keep a watchful eye when hand weeding that area in the coming months, you very well could have some germinate and grow for you! So pick a spot that you’ll remember to keep an eye on, maybe a perennial flower that won’t get huge but will love the location you’re putting them and GIVE IT A TRY! If you have done this before, comment below which seed varieties and did you have success? I’ve done this with squash, watermelon, tomatoes, dianthus, sunflowers, etc. Flowers are great seeds to start in April!
Fertilize your Berries!
If you have existing grapes, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries in your garden, NOW is the time to fertilize them PRIOR to them putting on their new growth for the spring! This benefits the plants a lot more to get that shot of plant food prior to pushing all that new growth!
Keep an eye out for random (and predictable) cold snaps and frosts all throughout April! You’ll want to keep an eye on the 7 day and daily weather forecast starting now all the way up to first frost in Oct/Nov if you’re an avid gardener like myself OR just want to maximize your growing season this year!
These seeds are cold loving plants and can be direct sowed in your garden or raised beds if you have your soil prepared. These are the seeds to start in April, right in the ground.
- Beets
- Carrots
- Swiss Chard
- Kolhrabi
- Cabbage
- Leaf Lettuce
- Mustard Greens
- Collards
- Turnips
- Radishes
- Spinach
- Bunching Onions
- Peas
You can be starting warm loving seeds indoors! These guys do not love the cold and will thrive in our warm summers so they need some protection the next 4-6 weeks until all chances of frost are gone! So these guys you’ll either need to start in a greenhouse, indoors, under a grow light or wait and buy retail seedlings in May! These are the seeds to start indoors for summer only.
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Okra
- Squash
- Cucumbers
- Melons
- Watermelons
- Eggplants
Other Tips!
If you started seeds any time in February or April, likely your little babies will be ready to be potted up right now if you haven’t done it yet! You want to give brand new seedlings 4-5 weeks to grow and build up a good root system before attempting to do this and you also want to keep in mind that you will likely only pot up a seedling 2-3 times before they’re going into the ground in your garden!
This is a great time of year to plant new large trees, fruit trees and shrubs! We personally get a good amount of rainfall in April and our March winds have died down so this is a wonderful month for new plants to get settled in and get a really great start!
April is also a great time for planning any landscaping projects you may want to tackle this year. I’ll tell you the advice I can never seem to take myself and that is, don’t try to take on too many projects for the year that will cause you to stay so busy in the garden that you don’t make time to enjoy it!
If you’re growing brassicas (broccoli, cabbage and kale) then you NEED to cover them. The cabbage moth and flea beetle love these plants even more than you do, yes really! You can attempt to grow these without landscape fabric but it’s really affordable and a complete life changer! Here is a link to one I’ve used for years and get on Amazon for a very reasonable price!
I hope these garden tips have been helpful for you! I love to garden and love to share any information or knowledge I have in order to help others learn and grow as well!
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