April 2025 Garden Report

1st week

• potted up remaining plants from mid March starts -- oregano, yarrow, bee balm, eggplant (redos)
• restarted tomatoes from seed
• added flowers for pollinators ($1 sale at Home Depot-- violas, pansies and snapdragons)

2nd week

• started basil and lots of flowers (cosmos, calendula, nasturtiums...)  Couldn't start everything because not enough room on heat mats. Will start the rest next week (beans, marigolds...)
• planted big shady west box

3rd week

• started marigolds and zinnias, plus round two on nasturtiums
• installed more grow lights
  
• potted up tomatoes and make-up eggplants and peppers
  

4th week

• de-crusted tops of starts (and not for the first time)
• IMPORTANT--This was an ongoing, time-consuming pain this year. After some research, I've concluded it's a mixture of the fans in the shed (incl the humidity one on the wall) and me using too much compost in my soil mixture. Next year I need to get the mixture exact (instead of being cheap) and perhaps add coconut coir to the top. Last year we had a humidity problem (fungus gnats, green algae). Now we've sung too far in the opposite direction. Read up and this to get it right next year.
• spring yard clean-up, front and back! 
• It's safe to spring clean with the temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees during the day. Also, the whole 'save the dandelions for the bees' things is overstated, according to the Master Gardener program. 
• So, I trimmed bushes, cut shoots from trees, lawns, and blew out seed pods from hornbeams
• watering everything (takes a lot of time!)
• harvested & flash froze dill, parsley, cilantro
• trained peas (and made string supports)

5th week

• potted up last week's starts
• transplanted flowers and collards into shady west 
• watered all the plants in the shed every few days

 

Garden Shed Set Up

Okay, here's the final garden set up.  I will try to leave it as close to this as possible. (The final new set of lights still need to be put up in this picture, but still...this is how it should look from here on out.)

 

 

 

Harvests

We started harvesting the third week of April, starting with kale, mustard greens, and bok choy (more than this--this was just one day)

 

 

Plus dill, parsley and cilantro, which we used in meals and also flash froze to preserve (picture below was flash frozen amount, then me chopping them up to freeze). This is a new process, so we'll see how it works. 

 

 

I want to be better at maximizing our harvest.  Last year 

(1) we missed the window on some things (especially greens!) 

(2) I didn't harvest with increased yield in mind. Frequently harvesting crops can encourage plants to produce more.

 

Here's my solution:

(1) I will walk the garden every day, looking for what to harvest (plus weeds, pruning needs, and evidence of unwanted insects.)

(2) I made this paper and put it on the fridge, listing anticipated harvest times for what will be ready in May. This will keep it top of mind for me, but also help Jac know what to work into our meals.

At the end of May, I will post an updated version that will be helpful as I learn actual harvest times (vs what the seed packet says).

 
Section by Section Review

(1) kitchen boxes

Left box at the end of the month:

Right box at end of month:

• peas: the peas have grown quite a bit, but definitely need to be more dense next year AND have string supports in place before planting.
• onions: not sure how well the onions are doing.  I did a test to see if trimming of little dead ends is okay, and it seems to help.  May have planted them too densely but to do less is kind of wasting this space.  
• brassicas: this is NOT the place for brassicas. Compared to their brassica buddies elsewhere, these are pitiful little things.
• thoughts: the right box for sure need to be more shade loving plants (which I knew, argh). Greens? The left box gets more sun so the peas are good here, but the onions are not a good fit for the dimensions of this box. They need to go elsewhere, but where?  And what takes their place. More greens???
  
  

(2) dressing room boxes

These are doing so well. Here's a shot from the end of the month:

Compare to the beginning of the month!

 

•  brassicas: this is a great spot for them! They are taking off, especially in the eastern box. Definitely do this next year.
• dill: great companion plant for keeping caterpillar moth at bay (plus the little mock moths). Plus great to harvest so much!  Definitely do this next year too!
• peas: considering how big some of the brassicas are getting, the peas might not do great here.  Perhaps plant them several weeks earlier than the brassicas in order to get a head start on the height.  As with all peas, they need to be planted more densely, and the support strings need to be added ahead of time.
• flowers: always include flowers. They complete the box. :)
  

 

(3) sitting area boxes

Here's the start of the month:

Here's the end of the month:

• These boxes have the same plants as the dressing room boxes, with the addition of onions. So far it's going okay -- the brassicas are smaller than the dressing room box, but larger than elsewhere. We shall see.  No real changes in mind (for now).
• Great dill harvest this year. Do the same next year!
  

 

(3) troughs

Here's the beginning of the month:

And here's the end of the month.  They've started to take off:

• The little cages are important to keep birds and Billys and Olivers off!  
• I didn't plant the troughs densely enough, especially given that I've decided to put all perennials in the small pots in front. I need to re-diagram it out so that the troughs are more filled.
• peas (for all troughs): changes for next year:
  (1) more dense!!--one trough has two rows and that's working best
  (2) add doubled up strings to the bottom (below the cattle panel) to help with support before they reach the cattle panel
  
  

Trough 1

•  peas: see above. This variety (troughs 1 & 2) not as prolific as those in 3 & 4.
• kale: grew well but shaded the beets. Next year plan to do root vegetables in different trough than greens because they get shaded. Also, is enough kale?
• cilantro & parsley: Both grew well and I was able to preserve some. Plant more of both next year, especially parsley.
• radishes: Should have been done mid-month. Taking forever!!!
  
• snapdragons: a very nice touch, but had to be bought. The seeds never germinated, but I think they need to be cold stratified first.
  

Trough 2

• peas: see above
• bok choy: These did amazing, bit space out a bit more next year. These were much smaller than the spaced out bok choy in trough 4. They did shade the lettuce tho.
• swiss chard: growing on the side. A little slow so far.
  
• lettuce: It's growing but taking it's time! I planted them mid-March and this is where they were at end of April. Not super stellar. I think it was a soil temperature thing. So:
  (1) Look into advice on how to get it going sooner, like how to warm up the soil temperature with the use of tarps.
  (2) Consider starting lettuce inside. Got lots of germination fails, plus starting inside might speed the process (again, tho, soil temp!)
  
  

Trough 3

• peas: This variety is going great!  Check back at end of May on ending results. This trough was planted with two rows -- definitely the way to go! (but do the WHOLE cattle panel -- look at that wasted space on the ends.)
• carrots: what's up! Research why they take so long to grow! (needs?)
• kale and parsley: see trough 1 write up
  
• swiss chard: growing on the side. A little slow so far. 
  
• spinach: Everything the same as lettuce above. Maybe next year the greens should go in the greenstalk bins and brassicas go in troughs?
  
  

Trough 4

• peas: same as trough 3. Aaaah, look at all the wasted opportunity on both ends.
  
• bok choy: Did amazing. Maybe more next year?
• beets: Seem to be doing okay. We shall see.
  
• mustard greens:  Only planted two, but did well. Didn't eat much as of end of May. Perhaps it's not our thing?
  
• lettuces: Everything the same as lettuce above.
  
  

Trough 5

• peas: different variety, not as prolific as that in troughs 3-4, but planted in two rows so more dense.
  
• arugula: Slow to start (see lettuce discussion, trough 2).  The common arugula germinated fine but the wild rocket arugula had horrible germination!
  
• turnips:  So far so good.
• snapdragons
  
  

(4) Greenstalks

• brassicas, dill, and flowers: not sure how this will turn out. They are definitely not growing as well as in the boxes against the house, likely due to too much shade. If it doesn't work out, perhaps put brassicas in a trough and lettuces here, since lettuces need less shade?  The dill, however, was great!

 

(5) Shady West

Large box at the beginning of the month:

 

And end of month:

 

Another beginning of the month shot of the large box: 

And end of month shot:  

• I'm holding off planting the smaller box until June. That will help stagger the harvests. It doesn't get much sun now anyway (much less than the large--and more westerly--box.)
• Uneven soil level was a problem. Do better in leveling it first next year--plus allow time for settling, and factor in the internal braces.
• No need to list exactly whats in the box -- I closely followed the plan. 
• The onions are possibly not going to work out. I bought these as a bare root bunch from Cooks, but wasn't able to plant them for several weeks. A second bunch that I planted right away (kitchen box) are fairing much better. Morale of the story: Don't buy it unless you are sure you can get to it right away!

 

Future years:
I think a lot about how on earth am I going to maintain this when I am back to working full time. The workload will be less because the beds will be full and the planning and figuring out will be done. But still, it's a concern. Removing weekends and hours after work (because gardening will not take over our lives!), here's one plan for getting it all done by using holidays, district days, and annual days:

       January:

• two planning days--plant tags made, seeds ordered [MLK day + grade transmittal day]
  
  
  February:
• one day early-month for seed starting spring plants [health & wellness day]
• two days for soil / garden prep  [teacher comp day + president's day]
  
  
  March:
  
• one day early-month for potting up cool weather plants [annual day OR pd day -- only use pd day if not a teacher work day]
• one day mid-month for seed starting summer plants that need an early start, ie: peppers, eggplant, tomatillo [annual day]
• four to five days end-of-month for:
  (1) transplanting cool weather plants
  (2) direct sowing cool weather plants
  (3) seed starting remaining summer plants
  [spring break is the last week of March]
  
  
  April & May --- TBD as I progress thru them this year
  
• [one pd day in April -- only use pd day if not a teacher work day]
• [Memorial day in May]

 

What I can and should do over the weekends or in the evenings after school is any prep needed for the above days to go smoothly, like

• making sure I have all the needed supplies ahead of time
• organizing the shed and setting up the lights
• setting up trellises and netting and greenstalks, etc

 

IMPORTANT

I never estimate enough time for garden tasks, even simple ones. Remember, everything will take forever given how many plants there are! Like, here's what watering the shed plants in May looks like:

 

This took hours. I had planned to pot up some things, but by the time I was done watering, I was TIRED!  So, budget lots of extra time for everything.  Lots!