April is one of the best months of the year. We are two weeks into spring. The pink full moon has peaked. And the garden centers are open and calling to us.
The new plants and bright colors are hard to resist and it is easy to come home with many more than you intended.
Flowering bedding plants will give some instant color, but it’s best to wait to plant until early May. In the meantime, keep watering those little six-packs of petunias or impatiens if you couldn’t resist buying them.
However, pansies are a good choice for some early color. They seem to love the cold weather. By July, they will have faded away with the summer heat. Come late September, they may pop up again and last until that first snow.
We could have used more snow this winter, at least in our area. My garden soil is dry and I know I will be wrestling with the water hose this summer.
The color of your soil is a good indicator of how your garden will grow. Soil with too much iron will be orange to yellowish brown. With the right organic material, it will be almost black. Soils that drain will be bright in color, but if it is wet and soggy, look for patterns of red, yellow, and gray. Compost, grass clippings, or dried manure are good amendments for your soil.
One other important ingredient in soil is worms. In fact, the March full moon is called the worm moon as earthworms come to the surface and their burrowing allows oxygen to spread into the soil. Their castings provide fertilizer, too.
April is the month to plant cool-season crops such as peas, spinach, lettuce, and radishes. Potatoes can be planted and perhaps this is a year to try parsnips and rutabagas.
Be patient about planting tomatoes and peppers, as a late frost would be their nemesis.
Preparing the garden for your plants can be a family affair. Most young children love to dig in the dirt. When they see the first green sprigs of what they planted break through the ground, it is an exciting day. Keeping their interest on hot July days when the swimming pool beckons may be hard. But chances are, seeing the plants grow each day that they planted may just change their whole idea of eating vegetables.
One last suggestion — If you get a lily for Easter, find a place to plant it in your yard and enjoy the blooms again later in the summer.
NOTE: I am going to be reading from my book “Garden Walks With Judy” at Prairie Lights bookstore at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 19 in Iowa City. The book is a collection of some of my columns from the last 30 years.
Judy Terry is a garden columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
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