April is so exciting in the garden. If you have some old winter brassicas that have any harlequin bugs on them, do not let them live! Hit them with chickens of fire or something, but this is the crucial time to get a handle on them. Directly sow carrots, beets, chard, radishes, spinach, and some late garden peas every 2 weeks. In the greenhouse or a south window, start lettuce, collards, and Chinese greens. On the first sign of an asparagus spear, hoe the patch and mulch loosely with hay. When the peas and carrots emerge, try sowing some White Dutch Clover between the rows after a vigorous hoeing. Thin all carrots and beets about 14 days after emergence as after that point, they will stunt/slow each other's growth. Around April 5th, transplant all of your bulb onion seeds and/or sets. You may also wish to take an early gamble on setting out some tomatoes, but be prepared to protect them from frost! Transplant your brassicas all month, protecting them from sharp frost. Heap your raspberries and black berries with sawdust as mulch. Hill the potatoes when they are 8 inches high and squoosh the potato bugs. You may try letting chickens of runner ducks run through them to help with the de-bugging effort.

Come May, it's time to weed all that stuff, phew. Hoe annuals with a straight back when it's dry, and dig biennials and perennials when it's wet. Plant any remaining seed potatoes. Have all your brassicas transplanted by the beginning of the month and have the bulk of the nightshades in by the end. I recommend mulching tomatoes before planting, peppers two weeks after, and eggplants never as mulched eggplants have many more flea beetles than unmulched ones. May day is when I like to start my winter keeper tomatoes for transplant in early June (they grow more quickly now than your earlier ones did.) Keep your garlic and onions weeded and enjoy your broccoli and peas. Come mid month, start direct sowing cucumbers, melons, corn, summer and winter squash, beans, and some more radishes.