April is starting off cold as the cold weather returns. This weather feels like an April Fool’s joke. Not funny, Mother Nature!
With the temperature set to dip to around 32-Fahrenheit (0-Celsius) Friday and Saturday morning, I’m worried about the blooming fruit trees and the garden. Thankfully, I haven’t done anything crazy as to plant tomatoes, sweet potatoes, or ginger yet, most of vegetables in the garden should weather through a light freeze with no problem.
Still, it’s not something I like to have happen, especially in April.
Anyway, let’s do a wrap up on March.
March was a busy month. I was either pulling weeds or transplanting. After getting a truckload of soil delivered earlier in the month, I had sifted three large containers of soil. I have to sift the soil in order to use it in containers. There were quite a bit of large wood chunks in the soil that I first had to push it through a coarse sifter before pushing it through a fine sifter.
After sifting, I mixed some perlite and peat moss. I had this large bag of peat moss since 2023 and I didn’t had to start using it until last year when I had to mix a few batches of my homemade compost. I use peat moss mainly to lower the pH since most plants benefit from a lower pH. I had to add extra sulfur to the soil in order to plant my new blueberry plant. Blueberry’s leaves turn red when the pH isn’t low enough.
That plant arrived around mid-month, its poor roots were root bounded and not in much soil. Immediately, I transferred it to a larger pot but I didn’t put in any soil acidifier. Its leaves didn’t look good when I transplanted but as of last night, it’s looking a lot healthier.
I even gave it some company by putting a lobelia next to it. Oh look! The lobelia is starting to bloom.
Unlike in February when I got to take a trip, I didn’t get to take day trips in March. It seemed each time I was off from work, my mom chose the same day to be off from work, too. Lucky guess, maybe? I never tell her when I take days off work. So, with being stuck at home, I worked on the garden instead.
I ended up finishing the build on three PVC trellis, designed by me with the help of AI. After building each trellis, I shook it to check the swaying distance. It was much better than the trellis I had last year. These new trellises are supposed to hold up in the wind, which I get quite a bit in my area and AI told me with the weight of 6-8 tomato and/or cucumber plants bearing down on the trellis, the trellises should be able to withstand a maximum of 45 mile/hour wind.
Last weekend, I even painted them for UV protection. I think they now has that clean look about them.
Finally, the asparagus bed! Ever since I planted asparagus in 2024, I’ve been looking forward to see the difference in the size of the spears each each. These photos were taken 10 days apart and you can see in the first photo, there was nothing except for those few spears but now, it’s full of asparagus spears. I picked a few and they were delicious.
What to look for in April?
I understand that a lot of the blogging community is participating in some sort of an A-Z challenge. I think I’ll skip this year. Life is hectic enough these days, I don’t think I can add one more thing.
I’m looking forward to spring (or is it late spring or summer???). I no longer know the season around here. It’s definitely too warm for spring. I have been waiting for the potatoes to sprout, so hopefully they will soon. I hope for at least one day trip in April, I guess that’s something to look forward to.
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