So much to do, so little time!

Here in Middle Georgia, April is the main month for gardening. Almost everything needs to be fertilized because it's starting to grow like crazy, it's prime planting time for summer vegetables and warm season annuals, and perennials have returned to the garden centers (and need to get planted before it gets too hot). To add to it all, the weeds are growing faster and the plants need to be watered more often. If only I could take the whole month off from work and just work in the garden...

I planted some tulips with my violas in some pots in December. I wasn't sure how the tulips would do. Fifteen weeks later, they bloomed beautifully! The only thing I would do differently next time is plant them earlier, so they'll bloom a little earlier. My violas stopped blooming for much of the winter (I don't know exactly why), but I kept watering them. They started blooming again when springtime arrived.

'Happy Generation' tulip planted with violas

I got most of my vegetables planted yesterday. Since I really don't have much experience with vegetable gardening, I wanted to do a little bit of everything to see what works. I'm doing the square-foot gardening method, where you plant things within a grid of squares instead of rows, so I planted something different in almost every square. So far I have cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, bush beans, onions, carrots, and radishes. I bought seedlings for the tomatoes and peppers (I didn't want to bother with starting my own seeds this year), and planted everything else from seed because radishes, carrots, and beans don't transplant well.

Who says a vegetable garden can't be beautiful?

Well, we're halfway through April, so I guess it's a good time to see what's left on the April gardening checklist!
     Plant warm-season vegetables
     Fertilize vegetables
     Plant summer annuals
     Fertilize annuals
     Fertilize lawn (late April)
     Plant, transplant, or divide perennials
     Fertilize perennials
     Plant or transplant shrubs
     Fertilize shrubs
     Prune camellias and other shrubs that have just finished blooming
     Fertilize trees
     Mulch new beds or refresh mulch on existing beds

It looks like I have a lot left on my list! Of course, if you're not starting three new flower beds and a vegetable garden this year (like I am), your list may be much shorter. For my friends who live north of me, your time to do all this will come after your last frost date (so you can start planning for it now!). If you're not sure, you can look up your last frost date here.

What are you planting this spring?