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What's Up World? Welcome back to another episode of J G I Just Grow it the podcast.

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I'm your host, Big City Gardener. And today we're going over the planting schedule for the month of April.

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If you're not familiar, let me tell you, I started something on youtube called The Great Grow Along.

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What it is is seeing how much food you can actually grow in an urban garden.

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So I'm documenting what I'm planting,

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what I'm harvesting and basically everything I'm doing for the month.

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So I decided that I should at least come out with these episodes where I talk about the planting schedules for the month.

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Now, if you haven't listened to the March episode,

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go back and check that out. But if you're joining us for the first time,

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let me tell you how I break this down.

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I separate the month into two parts,

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the first half and the second half,

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I will list off the best plants to plant during the first half of the month.

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And then I will list the best plants to grow or plant during the second half of the month after I list those I will then come back and give you a list of everything else that you can plant during that month.

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So the first plants I name are the best plants for the first half.

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The second plants I name, those are the best plants for the second half of the month.

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And the third plants that I name or the third list of plants that I give you.

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Those are plants that are also suitable to be grown during the month of April.

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But like I said in the March episode,

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this is just what I've learned and written down over my years of gardening in zone nine,

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it may not apply to you. You may not live in the same zone.

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You may have a different microclimate than I do.

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It may be hotter or colder where you live.

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Don't judge me. OK?

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Use this as a guide or reminder to help you stay on top of planting your garden.

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One of my goals when it comes to gardening is to make sure that one,

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no space is wasted and two,

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no time is wasted. So one way I make sure that I don't waste any time or space is by having a planting schedule that I like to stick to.

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Now, I'm sharing it with you guys. So let's get started.

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Some of the best plants that you can grow during the first half of the month.

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Let's get to it. First off, we have basil,

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you can plant transplants out into your garden that you purchased from a local nursery center also,

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now that it's April and the soil temperatures are hotter and it's already warm outside.

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That means that we are able to directly seed basil into our garden.

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So if you miss the window of starting the seeds inside during the month of March,

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don't worry, you still have a chance to plant your basil seeds directly outside right now.

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Now, we have pole beans. You could plant pole beans towards the second half of March.

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Now, in my opinion, this is the ideal time to plant your pole beans,

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warmer temperatures outside, warmer soil.

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You know, pole beans take a little bit longer to mature than bush beans.

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So get them in early in the month if you plan on growing them.

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Next, we have things like runner bean and yard long beans this year.

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I'm gonna make sure that I grow a lot of those yard long beans.

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I just need to make sure I have enough trellises set up.

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Next. We have cantaloupe, probably my favorite melon.

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I don't grow cantaloupe very often. Uh I don't like dealing with all the pests that come with it,

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but I may try my luck this year.

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I think I have an area on the side of the driveway that could do well with cantaloupes.

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Next, we have peppers, whether they're chili peppers or sweet peppers.

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April is actually my preferred time to plant my peppers even though you can plant peppers early in March or late in March.

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I prefer to wait until April.

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What I noticed is if I plant my peppers too early in the year and that even includes in March,

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sometimes I end up with stunted growth on the peppers.

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So in order to avoid that, I just wait until April to plant my peppers.

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This also means that I'm able to start them a little bit later than I start my tomatoes or other things.

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At the beginning of the month, you can still plant things like corn cucumbers.

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And when it comes to cucumbers, you can directly seed them into the garden.

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There's no need to purchase transplants or to start these seeds inside before moving them out to the garden.

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Now's the time to get your ginger or your turmeric into the ground.

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If you're gonna grow gourds like or any of the decorative gourds now is the time to get those planted early.

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April is still one of the best times to plant all of your squash.

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So that includes your summer squash, your winter squash and even your pumpkins.

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April is still a great time to start our sweet potato slips.

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Living down here in zone nine, we have a long summer season and plants like sweet potatoes.

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They love the heat. As a matter of fact,

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you won't get any sweet potatoes if you are not growing them in a hot climate.

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So we're still able to start our sweet potato slips early in the month of April.

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Also, you can still get your sunflowers planted.

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This is a great time to plant sunflowers.

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Now, if you haven't already transplanted your tomatoes,

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this is the last chance you have to get your tomatoes into the garden.

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Make sure you get those, those tomatoes in the ground.

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During the first half of April,

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it would be better to get your tomatoes in the ground early in March.

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But if you miss that planting window or if I forgot to mention that March is tomato planting time.

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Make sure you get them in the garden early in April.

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Now, the best things that you should be growing towards the second half of April.

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The list is basically the same as early April.

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We're gonna run through it pretty quickly. You can start your basil seeds outdoors two,

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you can transplant basil seedlings outside into your garden.

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Three, you can still plant cantaloupe four.

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You can still plant corn.

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Five. You can plant every type of bean except bush beans.

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So this includes lima beans,

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runner beans, pole beans,

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yard long beans. Unfortunately,

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the bush bean season has already passed.

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Remember we were supposed to plant those towards the second half of March,

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late April, in my opinion,

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is the best time to get your cucumbers into the ground.

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I usually try to do it on April 15th,

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the soil temperature is warmer, it's warmer outside.

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That plant takes off and those vines start producing towards the end of May.

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We're still planting our peppers,

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all of our squash watermelon.

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And now's the time to start directly seeding your okra into the garden.

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Those are the best plants to get started in April.

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But that doesn't mean that those are the only things that we can grow.

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Now, let's talk about the other suitable things to grow during the month of April.

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Now, when I say suitable, it means that this is no longer the optimal time,

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but just because it is not the optimal time,

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that does not mean that we cannot still get these plants in our garden.

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Now, everything that we recommended to grow towards the end of March is suitable to still grow early April.

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That list includes things like arugula,

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basil bush beans,

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bitter melon, collard transplants,

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lettuce, all of our herbs including garlic chives,

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oregano, thyme, rosemary,

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things like that and watermelon.

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That's it. That is the planting schedule for the month of April spring is here for almost everybody on the map and that means it's time for us to get outside and enjoy our gardens.

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As a matter of fact, those harvest baskets are about to start filling up soon as always.

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Thanks for tuning in to just grow at the podcast.

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But before I can let you go, I do have an ask if you found this informative,

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you gained any value at all. Then please share this information with a friend or two or 10.

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I have a goal of turning, just grow it into a top 10 gardening podcast and I can only do that with your help.

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All of the five star reviews, all of the extra downloads that all means a lot.

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And it all helps me achieve that goal.

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So please share this with as many people as you possibly can.

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Anybody, you know who's getting started with gardening or any longtime gardeners again.

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All I'm trying to do is share the plant love with the world.

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Anyway, it's spring time. So that means it's time for everybody to get outside.

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If you haven't already planned out your garden,

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grab a notebook, a sheet of paper,

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a pencil or a pen, whatever it is that you use,

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go sit outside in your garden,

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close your eyes and visualize what you want your garden to look like this spring,

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then write that down on the paper,

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come up with the plan and let's just grow it until next time.

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You guys take it easy.