Your veggie garden now...

While you are staying safe at home, here are a few great things you can do in the month of April to have an ample and productive vegetable garden:

• Test and troubleshoot irrigation and watering tools now so that watering needs are managed with less stress over last-minute discoveries of leaks or problems with timers in the dry months ahead.

• Weed! It is critically important at a time when weeds could be suppressing new perennial growth and competing for much-needed resources with young transplants. Staying on top of this now, even while we’re busy with the other spring tasks of planting and cutting back perennials, can help us avoid a seedbank building up for next year or taproots or root systems growing so large they become more difficult to remove later.

• Prepare beds for warmer season vegetables.  

• Anticipate any support structures and materials that may be needed for climbing or tall plants known to “flop”. 

• Plan a compost area! This might be a good time to choose a site and start collecting materials for composting or planning the logistics of your existing site for this season if there’s anything you want to try differently this year (ratios of carbon to nitrogen, or going from cold composting to a more intensive hot composting).  There is nitrogen in grass clippings, cover crop debris, or pulled weeds (careful about which parts of certain weeds to include in cold compost piles),  carbon from leaves raked out from beds and material from herbaceous perennial and woody cutbacks… There are many excellent resources online for composting guides, or local bookstores that are taking orders over the phone or online.

~ Spring pro-tips provided by MCBG Gardener Avvah Rossi ~

Speaking of veggie gardening here’s a free opportunity to learn to grow your own!

Growing Your Own Food – A FREE Virtual Workshop Series

This is the year to improve your skills in home gardening! UC Cooperative Extension North Coast is sponsoring a virtual workshop series focused on growing your own food. Panelists will be UC Plant Science Farm Advisor Glenn McGourty from Mendocino County and Garden Expert Kate Frey from Washington. This series is intended for anyone interested in gardening in the North Coast.

CLICK HERE for a class calendar and registration details!