April Garden

It’s April and the weather is just perfect! Here’s what we’ve been up to at the Edible Teaching Garden. We grew seedlings of Brandywine Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Parsley, Cilantro, and Bell Peppers last month and have been putting them in our freshly composted beds. We give the tomatoes lots of space for air flow, and mulch around the bases of the plants really well.

This month we are growing seedlings of: Eggplants, Hot Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Okra, Cucumber, and Swiss Chard. We water our seedlings every day and give them lots of sun so that in just a few weeks we will be able to put them in the ground.

Unfortunately, with this new warm weather the pests have been coming out as well. We’ve mostly seen fuzzy caterpillars, which you just physically remove and kill, and small caterpillars that we spray with B.T. Powder. In the 4×4 raised beds, we have also seen large ant piles form. Ants are not a pest to plants just to humans, but you will want to deal with the pile if it begins to take up too much room. One way to do this, is by pouring boiling water in the ant hill. Whichever method you choose, you just want to ensure that the queen ant is killed or else the pile will just return.