Spring is the best. It’s the last stop before summer, flowers are blooming, and you’ve still got plenty of time to get your vegetable garden in tip-top shape.
With all the rain we’ve been having lately, it’s just cool enough to spend a morning outside in the garden. April is actually a great time to plant a whole bunch of summer produce favorites. According to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, April is the ideal time to plant the following in Travis County:
- Beans
- Corn
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Greens (seeds or transplant)
- Melon, cantaloupe, honeydew
- Okra
- Southern peas
- Pepper (transplants)
- Pumpkin
- Sweet potato
- Summer and winter squash
- Tomato (transplants)
- Watermelon
What’s a Transplant?
A transplant is a seed that has been grown inside and germinated for three to four weeks. This helps the roots withstand the move from inside to outside.
“The other reason to recommend transplants is the number of days it takes to harvest. Central Texas has two very short growing seasons. A crop like brussels sprouts just doesn’t have enough time in their ideal growing temperatures to amount to anything unless started as a transplant,” Texas A&M officials say. (Brussels sprouts are best planted in January or February.)
How To Keep Your Home Garden Healthy
One could really spend a whole day on the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension website learning about gardening and planting vegetables. But thankfully, they’ve got a great list of dos and don’ts if you don’t have that kind of free time.
Some highlights include:
- Apply preplant fertilizer to your garden.
- Keep a record of what’s going on in your garden — things like when you plant, and when you water.
- Water as needed and use mulch to conserve moisture.
- Keep out insects.
👋 Happy planting!
