Late April is a great time to plant second and third planting of veggies that have short growing seasons. I personally hate to pick green beans. I just don’t find the task fun. Since I have the space, after the second picking, I just pull up the whole plant and sit outside and harvest in a less back-breaking manner.
I can do this because I plant in April a second crop and then in May a third and fourth crop that will keep us in fresh green beans most of the season. I stop planting in late July as the germination rates go down in the hot humid month of August.
April is also when I try to plant something different. One of the joys of gardening is finding that new variety of an old favorite to try your hand at…this year I’m going with Chinese Red Noodle beans, Flashy Butter Oak lettuce, Burgundy okra, Macarenia zinnias and Red Swan beans. One of the delights of gardening is pouring over the seeds in the store displays! I love trying new varieties!
Go for it and plant something new! Have you ever tried eggplant? It is a superfood that contains uniquely high levels of chlorogenic acid which is one of the most powerful antioxidants produced in plants. Eggplant parmigiana in fresh tomato sauce is delicious!
Last season I tried Armenian cucumbers available in the Livingston Seed display at Buchheit. It is a very mild thin skinned cucumber that does not turn bitter in hot weather. Why I am planting it again is for a food crop for my poultry. When picked at 2” or less they are great to add to a salad but I often got busy last year and several of them grew well over a foot long. Another great advantage to having chickens is nothing in the garden goes to waste and the larger cucumbers were fed to the flock much to their delight.
Homesteading is so much more than learning how to provide great tasting food for your table, it is also slowing down and enjoying the journey. Take a few minutes today and get outside and dig in the dirt and enjoy life!
