With Spring fully here, April was a busy month in our 36th garden. The first week of April, we planted tomatoes, peppers, and collard greens in trays on a grow-shelf indoors. This way these sun-loving plants can get enough light and water without being exposed to the cold, wind, and occasional frosts as the weather begins to warm. We planted plenty of each plant hoping we will have an overabundance to share with neighbors. (Next year, we'll shoot for early to mid-March for getting these starts going so that they have a full 8 weeks before the average last frost in this region).

The second week of April, we planted a round of crops that can handle colder weather. Carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, spinach, and peas all went in the ground. We planted the carrots and radishes along side each other as many believe they grow well as a team.

On April 18th, a mighty group of volunteers helped us do a second round of cold weather crops, and also to prepare a bed for some highly anticipated blueberry bushes! The bed for the blueberries runs along the eastern edge of the garden as a border between the alley and our property. The blueberry bushes will serve as a living edible fence that will protect our beds from wind and hold in soil and other organic matter like leaves and straw on the property, halting erosion.