Fine Austin Gardening Tips for the month of April

Time to work on that Fine Austin garden!

It’s that time of year when Spring is “springing up all around us, and it’s time to spruce up your garden for a beautiful, color-filled Summer.  Here are some tips to take note of during the month of April.

• Its time to fertilize your perennials.  Give them the nutricious boost they need to grow and flower and prepare them for the coming summer heat.
• Thin newly planted vegetables from the mid-March garden.
• Control downy and powdery mildews on vegetable plants by watering the early morning or in the early evening.
• Prune spring flowering shrubs after blooming (Azaleas, Flowering Quince, Indian Hawthorne)
• Don’t be concerned about the old leaves on Magnolia Photinia, Gardenia, Cleyera, Abelia, Ligustrum or Pittosporum turning yellow and falling.  This is a natural occurrence this time of year.

What to plant in April:

Vegetable Seeds: Lima Beans, Snap Beans, Beets, Chard, Okra, Black-eyed Peas, Radishes, New Zealand Spinach, Summer Squash, Cantaloupe, Sweet Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Pumpkin, Watermelon

Vegetable Plants: Eggplant, Pepper, Summer Squash, Sweet Potato Slips, Tomatillo, Tomato

Annual Flower/Ornamental Seeds: Ageratum, Balsam, Castor Bean, Celosia, Cleome, Coleus, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Cypress Vine, Four O’clocks, Globe Amaranth, Gourds, Hyacinth Bean Vine, Impatiens, Marigold, Moonflower Vine, Morning Glory Vine, Periwinkle, Sunflower, Tithonia, Zinnia

Annual Flower/Ornamental Plants: Ageratum, Ajuga, Balsam, Begonia, Blue Daze, Caladiums, Celosia, Coleus, Copper Plant, Gazania, Geranium, Globe Amaranth, Impatiens, Marigold, Penta, Periwinkle, Drummond Phlox, Portulaca, Purple Fountain Grass, Purslane, Torenia, Zinnia

Perennial Plants: Black-eyed Susan, Purple Coneflower, Shasta Daisy, Ox-eye Daisy, Four-nerve Daisy, Lantana, Plumbago, Salvia, Yarrow

Ornamental Grasses: Ornamental grasses produce their feathery or unique blooms in the fall, so plant them now! Mexican wire or Mexican Feather Grass, Big Muhly, Lindheirmer Muhly, Inland Sea Oats and Sideoats Grama

Warm-season Bulbs: Caladium, Elephant Ears, Lily