In the Garden with Kerry Heafner

April is finally here and if you’re like me, you’re ready to get out into the garden and plant!  But first, let me show you something really cool!  Every year, I get a few questions about a green, gooey-looking substance that appears in yards on bare soil.  This substance is dark green after a rain, but then dries out to a black crust.  What is it?  Well, this is a colony of a photosynthetic bacterium called Nostoc.  We used to call organisms like these “blue-green algae” but they aren’t algae at all.  They’re a bacterium that photosynthesizes and if you look at a sample under a light microscope, you’ll see the cells arranged like strings of pearls.  And, at various intervals in the strings of cells, there will be enlarged cells called “heterocysts” that may do your soil a favor.  Heterocysts are cells that contain enzymes capable of converting nitrogen from the atmosphere into nitrates.  In other words, Nostoc is a nitrogen-fixing organism.  There’s no need to do anything about it; Nostoc is perfectly harmless to humans and pets and when the ground dries out, it will too and will hardly be noticeable.  Just another example of nature doing its thing!

Alright, let’s hit that veggie garden! Vegetable gardens get underway in earnest this month. The Queen Mother of all spring and summer gardens, the tomato, should be transplanted into the garden this month.  Full sun is best, at least six to eight hours of sunlight daily.  Set them deep with a generous handful of compost and a handful of gypsum (calcium sulfate) to stave off blossom end rot (BER) going into each hole.  Gypsum is a terrific way to add calcium without liming the soil.  Space individual tomato plants far enough apart to allow adequate air flow between them and mulch with hay, wheat straw, dried grass clippings, or dried leaves to prevent rain from splashing soil-borne fungi up onto the leaves.  Pine straw is also a great mulch for vegetable gardens.  If you’re staking tomato plants up, set the stakes in place before planting so the root system won’t be damaged.  Dig the planting hole two to three times wider than the pot or root ball, pinch off the first pair or two of true leaves, and set tomato plants deep.  Adventitious roots will form along the stem and the more roots the plant has, the better it pulls nutrients out of the soil.  Water well at planting, and don’t forget to side dress every three weeks or so with calcium nitrate.  Of course, if you compost, side-dress with compost instead of calcium nitrate and improve the soil health while you’re at it.  Tomatoes are heavy feeders, so don’t be stingy with compost if you have it.

Cucumbers, squash, watermelons, and cantaloupes can be seeded directly into the garden this month.  Transplants should have been started from seeds in mid to late March and should go into the ground as soon as the first true leaf emerges and expands. Cucurbits may be tricky to transplant if they get too big.  All are heavy feeders, so amend soil as you did for tomatoes, with a generous helping of homemade compost and gypsum.  This is once situation where I may add a handful of either 8-24-24 or 13-13-13 to the planting hole, then cover it with soil so the roots don’t contact it directly.  If growing yellow and zucchini squash is old hat, try some of the white scalloped varieties. They are, in my humble opinion, far superior in flavor.  If rain is scarce, take care to not wet the foliage when watering, make sure plants are in as sunny a location as possible, and space plants far enough apart to allow good air flow between them.  If powdery mildew becomes especially problematic later on, a contact fungicide can be purchased from your local garden center. Always read and follow instructions on the container for the best results.  I wish I had a conclusive answer for managing the squash vine borer moth, but I don’t.  Pheromone traps can be purchased online and may be worth a try.  Also try covering the stems of squash plants with strips of newspaper or even aluminum foil.  You might also try spraying a pyrethrin-based insecticide on the stem closest to the ground.  If you do this, take exceptional care not to spray it on the flowers.  For the last several years, many gardeners have bemoaned the lack of bees and other pollinating insects in their vegetable garden.  I can’t say I’ve experienced this, but I always try to plant some flowers close by so pollinators will come around.  Zinnias, Sunflowers, Celosia, Porterweed, Black-Eyed Susans, anything you can get to plant close to veggie garden will help. 

April is the perfect month to seed or sod new lawns.  If establishing a new lawn via seeding, determine the total weight of seed needed to establish a known area based on the recommended Pure Live Seed (PLS) seeding rate for the desired turfgrass species.  For Bermudagrass, that’s 0.75-to-1-pound PLS per 1,000 square feet.  For Centipedegrass, that’s 0.5-to-1-pound PLS per 1,000 square feet.  For Zoysiagrass, that’s 1 to 2 pounds PLS per 1,000 square feet.  Mixing turfgrass species is not a good idea because of unique cultural requirements, especially for Centipedegrass.  You may, however, mix cultivars of the same species.  Always have the soil tested with establishing a new lawn.  The pH will have to be adjusted before the first seeds are put down, and if liming is required, this will take a couple months to achieve.  Add fertilizers according to soil test result recommendations.  

Folks, if you’re hiring a lawn chemical company to manage weeds and fertilize your lawn, always know what chemicals are being applied.  It is you’re right to know as you are paying for the service.  If the company doesn’t tell you what chemicals are being applied to your lawn, think very seriously about whether you need to be doing business with them.  Also, keep in mind that most lawn disasters being with three words, “My yard man…”  Just something to consider as we kick off the 2024 home gardening season.

Finally, join us on Monday evenings at 6:00 at Henrietta Johnson Recreation Center on Burg Jones Lane in Monroe for a gardening class and great fellowship!  The Grateful Harvest Garden Club is spearheaded by Lesa James, and this will be the second year of growing a community garden located behind the rec center.  We start at 6:00 p.m. and now that we have more daylight, we’ll be out in the garden a lot more!  Follow the Grateful Harvest Garden Club on Facebook for more information and updates. 

Alright, y’all.  Get out there and get growing!