April planting list

April is when my most favoritist veggies go in. I’m a warm-blooded girl and I must identify these heat lovers with backyards and beer in Austin. The Dallas Planting Manual says of April: “almost anything can be planted after April 15″.

There are two references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club

I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.

CCMG
beans, snap bush*, yellow bush, pinto
beans, snap pole, lima bush, lima pole (thru 20 Apr.)
cantaloupe*
corn, sweet*
cucumber*
eggplant transplants*
okra* (5 Apr. – 1 Jun.)
peas, southern
pepper seeds and transplants*
pumpkins* (I’m on the fence; see squash.)
radish
scarlet runner beans*
squash* (I’m still on the fence. Last year was such a disaster! But Jan’s hoping for flores de calabaza, so probably.)
sweet potato slips* (15 Apr. – 15 May)
tomatoes* (thru 15 Apr.)
watermelon*

DPM
doesn’t differ from CCMG

Don’t forget your basil and other warm season herbs. You’ll need them for pizza sauce.

Garden update:

Since I’m writing this list in March, not much has changed since I posted the March planting list, as far as harvesting. However, the fruit trees in the backyard orchard have almost all broken bud: pears, plums, peach, Texas persimmons, the pomegranate in front. The apple and Japanese persimmon are maybe a day away. The blueberry bush is blooming away. We didn’t get any blueberries last year, so I’m crossing my fingers.

All of my early spring planting (basically, the February planting list) is done, so the few days of soaking rain we just got has been most welcome. I planted our potatoes into Potato Bins in the backyard. This is my first year to try this method. Last year’s potato harvest was less than stellar. And since we don’t want to put planting beds in the backyard with the doggette, these seemed like a good solution. I’ll keep you posted.

Other things I planted: chives for Jan’s cheddar chive bread (it takes an entire chive plant for one batch), onions for storage, onions for green onions, more strawberries, spinach, peas, broccoli transplants, leeks, carrots, broccoli raab (which we fell in love with last fall). I think that’s it!