Grass to Veggies: April of 2020 Summary

Triumph Tulip

April is when things start getting really hectic. The weather is unpredictable, you don't know if it's going to be 80 degrees, snowing, hailing, raining, or all of the above in the same day. The cold weather plants need to go in the ground as soon as possible to take advantage of the nice days as long as there aren't any big snowstorms on the horizon. Some of the plants are getting too big for their pots and want to go in the ground ASAP. In preparation for weening the plants to be outside, I did 19 trips up and down the stairs, twice a day, every day. One trip to get the plants outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, then another to get them back inside so they don't freeze. It's just hectic, I never quite know what I'll end up doing in the urban farm in April and when I do have a set plan the weather usually has other plans. I was able to start buying some early season produce from my favorite local farm, Ollin Farms. For the first two weeks I bought a 2 pound (.91 kilos) bag of spinach each week, and I went through each bag in its entirety! I was so happy to taste fresh food again.

Early April:

-Potato towers prepped! This year I layered Dirt, Peat Moss, Compost / dirt, then repeated a few times in the potato towers. I'm hoping the peat moss allows for more drainage and makes it easier for the potatoes to grow!

-The individual pieces that make up the PVC trellises were glued together with PVC cement and the third trellis that was annihilated by the wind last year was rebuilt!! Hopefully this combined with weighing them down with sandbags this year will make them much better trellises that the wind won't knock down and destroy.

-Cold weather herbs and plants were planted, here's the complete list that was planted outside, from seed:

Mint Mountain
Cilantro - Slo Bolt
Dill Bouquet
Chives Common
Parsley - Giant of Italy
Hyssop Anise
Rosemary - Rosi
Sage - Broadleaf
Lavender
Cilantro
Arugula
Radishes - Red Meat
Carrot - Danvers 126 Half Long
Carrot - Amarillo
Onion - Bunching
Onion - He Shi Ko Bunching
Onion - Southport Red Globe
Onion - Yellow Sweet Spanish
Peas - Oregon Sugar Pod II - On Trellis 1

-After I planted these I quickly realized that I didn't leave any room for the warm weather herbs, doh. I'll find a different place for those, maybe spreading the herbs out across the garden will turn out to be a better plan anyways. Pests tend to not like fragrant plants.

Middle April:

-Snow!!! Not much was accomplished outside

Late April:

-Potato towers planted! Nine in each tower, 3 x 3 grid, each row offset from each other, the 1st and 3rd rows line up. Varying depths used for planting. Closest to the patio is about 4 inches down, 2nd row is about 3 inches down, and row closest to yard is about 2 inches down.

-Hanging Plants Planted - Pulling inside at night when temps forecast to be below 50 F (10 C). 11 Hanging Baskets total:

Coconut Lined Hanging Baskets:

Morning Glory Moonflower
Nasturitum - Bloody Mary
Black Eyed Susan - Cosmic Candy
Balloon Flower - Blue
Morning Glory - Kikyozaki Mixed
Canterbury Bells Mixed
Chinese Lantern - Gigantea

Plastic Hanging Baskets (boo):

Nasturtium - Orchid Cream
Morning Glory - Keiryu Mountain Stream
Morning Glory - Sunrise Serenade
Calendula - Playtime Mix

-New Tomato Starts - My original tomato starts were on the brink of extinction so I figured I'd better start some more tomatoes before it's too late so I can still get some tomatoes this year (I want my pasta sauce and salsa, damnit) in case all of the original tomato plants end up perishing. Here's what I planted for round two:

3 Black Cherry Tomatoes
3 Orange Icicle Tomatoes
3 Mushroom Basket Tomatoes
3 Brads Atomic Grape Tomatoes
3 Cape Gooseberries
3 Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries

-Cold Weather Plant Starts - I started some cold weather plants in pots. I didn't plant them straight in the ground because I still needed to check / replace irrigation lines and get the planting areas prepped for plants / seeds but I needed to get the cool weather plants started ASAP. I just planted them in pots that I can then move into the ground at a later date when I'm ready. This way I get the plants growing while still allowing me to do my thing and not freak me out.

-Irrigation lines checked and replaced (the ones that had developed big holes). This is always a balancing act, I don't want to turn on the irrigation lines too early because then I have to drain the system if a big snow storm rolls in. At the same time I want to turn it on and check all the lines as early as possible so I can get more things planted as early as possible. It can also be a bit time consuming if there are a lot of lines that need to be replaced. This year there was only a handful, they're usually casualties of the fire pit or the hoe (I rarely use the hoe because of this).

Just another nice and relaxing April on the Urban Farm. I truly do love getting all of this going, it's such a breathe of fresh air when your veggies are growing and fresh food is just around the corner, you can practically taste it (in my dreams I can anyways, and yes, I do dream about vegetables sometimes, okay maybe a lot).