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April Gardening In The Low Desert

© Pat Kolb

Happy April, the month in which we begin to see the rewards of our gardening efforts!

Hopefully by now, you have finished most of your vegetable planting but there is still time to plant warm weather stuff. Beans and cucumbers should be sown by mid-April, and set out eggplant, okra, peanuts, squash and sweet potato anytime this month. Since squash is so prolific, be wary of planting too much or you might be forced to make midnight deposits on neighbors' doorsteps to get rid of the overabundance. Tomatoes and peppers can still be set out. When planting tomatoes, pull off the lower leaves, especially if they are wilted and yellow, and lay the plant down in a sloping trench, or just dig a deeper hole and set them in deep. The plant will put out roots all along the stem. I like to put these prolific growers in a slight basin for water retention. Basin gardening was how the native Americans made good use of limited rainfall.

Don't forget all kinds of peppers, the hot ones especially like it here!

Sweet corn will do well here but is a heavy feeder and does require some space. Plant in blocks of 4 rows for good pollination and keep varieties separated to prevent cross-pollination.

Plant citrus this month from containers. Valencias are the preferred juice orange and Mandarin or Tangerine is the sweetest and easiest to peel but may be seedy. Triveta (ripens January), and Valencia (ripens March), Minneola Tangelo (ripens January but hangs on at least through now), Kinnow tangerine (ripens January but hangs on at least through now are popular as well as Lisbon lemon and Bears lime. Grapefruit is the easiest citrus to grow near Phoenix. The Kinnow has more seeds than the Minneola and my vote would be for the Minneola and Grapefruit but Trevita is very popular with many people who have only two trees. Citrus trees should be planted 12-15 feet on center and the best would be 20 feet on center to allow for the maximum growth and health of the tree. After planting, make a basin around the tree and water two or three times a week until well established. To protect trees from sunburn, wrap trunks in white cloth or newspapers, or apply a coat of white latex paint.

And for those who like to eat good stuff from the garden, flowers, flowers, flowers! Many flowers are edible, such as nasturtiums, borage, calendulas, etc.

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