APRIL GARDENING TASKS

APRIL GARDENING TASKS

April is a busy month for the gardener!  Fortunately there is big pay-off for the work - abundant veggies, fruit and flowers for months to come!

• Plant summer flowering plants like bachelor buttons, coreopsis, cosmo, linaria, marigold, petunia, snapdragons and sunflower. Go to Annie’s Annuals and Perennials in Richmond  for something different http://www.anniesannuals.com/
• Plant summer bulbs like alstroemeria, dahlias and gladiolas
• Snails and slugs are voracious this time of year so get out in the garden early morning or evening and destroy them
• Remove spent blossoms from azalea, camellias, poppies and spring bulbs
• Remove frost damage from plants...cut back to new growth
• Weed Just don’t step on our wet, clay soil right now.  Remove weeds that you can easily reach from hardscape.

Vegetable Garden

• Prepare your garden beds remove weeds, add some compost, turn the soil and level the ground
• You can still plant root crops like beets, carrots, potatoes, radishes
• Beans, cucumber, pumpkin, squash can be sowed in pots now or directly into garden soil as the month warms up
• Plant herbs like parsley, cilantro, thyme, rosemary  

If you are a novice gardener, check out the Alameda County Master Gardener site:
http://acmg.ucdavis.edu/Growing_Your_Own_Food/

Also, a free, two-hour workshop is scheduled for April 28 at Lake Merritt Demonstration Garden:
“Creating a Bountiful Summer Vegetable Garden that Fills Your Plate and Fits Your Space”
http://acmg.ucdavis.edu/?calitem=157934&g=12389

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