April in the Garden
Blooming willow. Photo by Tenley Nelson.
By Tenley Nelson- Wood Frog Farm
Ah April. Break up month. A month of transition. From snow to puddles (or yard ponds). From winter quiet to a cacophony of wild sounds. It is a month of firsts and lasts. The last cabbage, the last squash from storage. The first swan, the first robin flying in from the south.
The beginning of the month was occupied with trying to get as much ice fishing in as possible before the ice- or more realistically, the trails to the ice- melted out. Not much was going on in my garden until very recently.
I have started a few trays of starts and they are shuttling in and out of the house to the flooded greenhouse (yay, yard pond!) for the warm afternoons. It has not been until the last week that spring has started to really stir in my blood. The snow and ice have melted from the garden except for the last 20 feet of the bottom of the slope where the raspberries are. I need to prune them before they start to grow, which will be any day now. I only did about half the row last fall and old floricanes stick out like a sore thumb.
Greenhouse lake. Photo by Tenley Nelson.
The black currants, always spring overachievers, have fat green buds but the red currants, aronia and honey berries are still mostly dormant. Clover is popping up in the pathways showing off the first spring green. And the un-weeded willow herb from last year and other slightly undesirable introduced plant survivors are growing too.
While on my garden inspection walk this week, I pulled out a few handfuls of “weeds” from the top beds. Soil sticking to strong roots, the smell of the soil biome waking up, the texture of earth heavy in organic matter clinging to my ungloved hands…I felt guilty disturbing these sturdy and strong plants. Who am I to say who stays and who goes?
The pussy willows are fully open and heavy with pollen, but two spring markers have eluded me. I have not yet heard a bumblebee or a wood frog. The wood frogs are singing in full force elsewhere in the state but so far, our vernal ponds have been silent. Every night I go out and sit on the steps and listen to the juncos trill while settling for sleep and the slurp and buzz of duck bills filtering algae out of the pond water but no frogs. Are they still asleep? Or was our heavy ice layer this year a murderous weight?
Black currant bud. Photo by Tenley Nelson.
Five chicks hatched in our incubator on April 20 and have been a delight to share space with and watch grow. Only having five has been unexpectedly fun without the stench and maintenance of 40! It was hard to imagine a year without any babies on the farm and it is just so fun to incubate chickens. My 11 hens wintered well and are laying a plethora of multicolored eggs. Their joy at dustbathing under willow clumps, chasing after insects, and scratching at the malleable earth is infectious.
This year is going to be different on the farm. For 20 years I have had a garden here in Strelna. For 20 years, I have spent nearly every single day from March till October tending to the plants’ needs. Gardening is not hard; it just takes time and attention. You must be consistent and curious and observant. This summer, I am not available every day to open and close tunnels and water pots, turn irrigation on and off, look for insects and pollinate zucchini flowers. So, I am taking a bit of a break from the normal series of events and only growing things that can look after themselves for stretches of time.
Pulling undesirable plants in newly thawed beds. Photo by Tenley Nelson.
Not having 30 trays of starts in the house in April is pretty nice! I am only up to nine and I should be able to permanently move them to the greenhouse this next week. I am looking forward to having the time and energy to focus elsewhere for a while knowing that with a little planning, the soil will be all the better off for the break from intense cropping.
I have 20 pounds of cover crop seed in storage that I will sow in the beds where the garden is not in production this year. Cover crops protect the soil surface by keeping it covered and pull up nutrients from the ground that are then re-deposited into the top few inches of soil as the plant debris turns into surface mulch. They can break up compacted soil with vigorous root development and produce biomass that can compost in place. I also have vinegar extracts of oyster shell, crab shell, and caribou bone that I made last year to spread over the soil to add micronutrients.
Clover. Photo by Tenley Nelson.
The garden fence needs fixing after heavy snows and ice have bent it out of shape. There is cleanup, bed definition, mulching, mowing and many other garden chores that are on the list. This “not gardening” for a season still feels full of gardening chores! I suppose it is more of a reduction in diversity of crops than an actual cessation of gardening.
I am not sure I have ever experienced a nicer end to April. The cold nights and sunny days in the 50s have been delightful even when the outdoor chores include winter dog poo removal from the yard. Our snow is melting fast, and it is wonderful to have dry roads again. The lake ice is getting darker. Soon open water will be upon us with summer just around the corner.
From my garden to yours, I wish you a very happy spring!
Pasque flower. Photo by Tenley Nelson.