Year after year, Marisha Auerbach’s Grow Your Own Produce workshop series has been a staple in People’s events calendar. Her workshops take place once a month February through November, and those who take the whole 10-class series are effectively guided through an entire year of growing their own produce. Even if you decide to take specific workshops here and there, you will still learn what to plant during that month, what kinds of garden maintenance to do, and how to plan ahead for the coming months.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marisha continues to offer her Grow Your Own Produce series online via Zoom. She has also shared the following April To-Do list, which she usually shares in her classes, for all the folks out there who are looking to start a garden this Spring. For more guidance on these to-dos, sign up for Marisha’s next workshop on April 15th! You can check out more of Marisha’s upcoming Permaculture workshops on her website.
What to do in April
The average last frost date in Portland, OR is between March 23 - April 26. Try to hold back from planting warm season veggies until the end of April.
Watch the weather. Check air temperatures and soil temperatures.
Prepare beds for the garden 1 – 3 weeks before planting.
Weed while the ground is soft, wet, and warm and the weeds are young.
Mulch to prevent weeds. Rake back mulch and warm the soil before planting seeds.
Compost and collect organic matter for the compost pile.
Turn your compost pile.
Add compost and amend your soil.
Get a soil test done to ensure that you have ample nutrients for your plants.
Add lime to “sweeten” your soil if you have not done so already.
Patrol for slugs and cutworms. Manage hiding places for these pests, snails & other pests.
Protect your plants from deer and other wildlife.
Ensure good air flow around your plants to prevent fungal disease.
Build trellises for vining plants.
In The Vegetable Garden
Check your soil and air temperatures to know when the time is right to direct sow crops or transplant starts outside.
Direct sow cold-tolerant vegetables outdoors, such as arugula, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, parsnips, carrots, lettuces, parsley, parsnips, leeks, radishes, spinach, turnips, quinoa, and shallots outdoors. You may choose to transplant those plants that are most tasty to slugs.
If you have starts, transplant arugula, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuces, mustard greens, and spinach in the garden.
Soak your pea seeds in preparation for planting. Just before planting, cover in legume inoculant.
Start tomatillos, basil, ground cherries, and eggplant indoors.
Tend to your indoor tomato and pepper plants.
Pre-sprout your potatoes for planting outdoors after they harden off.
Plant perennial vegetables. Top dress established plantings with compost.
Fertilize overwintering crops with nitrogen to perk them up.
Harvest spring ephemerals such as rhubarb, lovage, ramps, and spring garlic.
Harvest Leafy Greens and other remaining crops from the winter garden.
Fertilize your garlic with nitrogen to encourage strong growth.
Begin harvesting!
Work on using up your winter stores of food as fresh garden produce will be coming soon.
Fruit Trees and Berry Bushes
Tend to the air flow for your fruiting plants by pruning, thinning, and mulching. This will prevent pests and diseases in the future.
Finish planting bare root trees and shrubs.
Prune woody plants. Prune azaleas, rhododendrons, forsythia, and other flowering shrubs when they are done blooming. Prune summer flowering shrubs before they put on new growth.
Control foliar diseases using compost tea on roses, apples, pears, cherry, etc.
Watch for currant worms. Ideally, feed the worms to your chickens.
Finish grafting fruit trees.
Fertilize and prune your berry bushes.
Divide and transplant strawberries and raspberries. Top dress with compost.
Check your trees and shrubs for insect or disease problems.
Spray fruit trees for fungal diseases such as scab and mildew.
Inoculate mushrooms in woodchip mulch, straw, or logs.
Perennials
Take pictures and label the locations of your bulbs for dividing in the fall.
Consider where you may want to plant more bulbs to enhance repetition and beauty in your landscape. Mark these areas for fall bulb planting.
Divide, transplant, and fertilize perennials. Make sure you do this before your perennials begin to flower or get too large (by May for many perennials).
Transplant any potted plants into larger containers.
Direct sow hardy flowers, such as Alyssum, Borage, Calendula, Feverfew, Love in a Mist, Mallow, Nasturtiums, Phlox, Marigolds, and Flax. In late April, sow half-hardy flowers such as Blazing Star, Canna, Chinese Aster, Cosmos, Flowering Tobacco, Lavaterra, Pincushion Flower, and Sunflowers.
Plant summer blooming bulbs or tubers including Gladiolas, Crocosmia, Dahlias, Calla Lilies, etc.
Take cuttings of early flowering perennial shrubs and bring indoors for forcing into bloom.
Dry herbs for tea, including Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Applemint, Raspberry leaf, and more.
What’s Fresh this month?
Greens: chervil, kale, arugula, fava bean leaves, sorrel, chard, lettuce, parsley, pea shoots, mache
Young Stalks: rhubarb, asparagus, lovage, cardoon, bamboo
Alliums: leeks, spring onions, chives & garlic chives, welsh onions, Eqyptian walking onions
Roots: horseradish, parsnips, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes
Take care to eat your roots before they get woody and start to flower!
Marisha’s Grow Your Own Produce Series takes place from 7-9pm on the first Wednesday of the month. Her next workshop, Cole Crops, Greens, & Soil Building, is on April 15th from 7-9pm.
