2010 Garden Journal - April
April came in warm and sunny. The Easter long weekend was one of the best we have had in many years with temperatures as high as 24C on Good Friday and Easter Saturday. April 2010 can be characterized as a month of 'earliests'. It was the earliest we have seen the grass turning green, the earliest I have ever put annuals in my planters and the earliest we have ever planted in the vegetable garden.
April 1 - planted front Urns with pansies and bacopa.
April 3 & 4 - dug up spring planting portion of the vegetable garden. Planted early greens - mesclun mix, spinach and swiss chard (all from 2009 seeds) on April 3 and peas on April 4. Peas were planted in double rows (six inches apart) with varieties planted 3 feet apart. Early start to plantings of spinach, lettuce and chard were planted in small groups so each could be covered by a pot for frost protection. See blog entry on Frost Protection.
April 5 - Spring is definitely on it's way. Acer Rubrum buds are open and putting on a show. Magnolia, lilac and serviceberry buds are swelling, spireas are starting to leaf out and the grass is really greening up.
April 8 - Spinach in the garden appears to be germinating and temperatures are predicted to drop to 1C this evening and next. I covered both the lettuce and spinach rows with pots and heavy plastic just in case.
April 14 - tree swallows made nest in my purple martin house. While not purple martins they are enjoyable to watch and something new in the yard for this year.
April 16 - Forysthia is now in full bloom. Unfortunately that means the tent caterpillars are here. I have sprayed with BTK every 3-4 days. Bloodroot is blooming in the back bush. They were newly planted last year so the patch is still quite small. Glory of the Snow is blooming and I noticed for the first year they are spreading to other areas of the garden.
April 17 - replanted my yellow peppers as something ate the tops off the new seedlings just after removing the greenhouse lid. Could be a bug or a mouse? The second batch seemed to have trouble sprouting so I planted again, in potting soil in strawberry containers on April 22.
April 22 - Serviceberry and magnolia are starting to bloom. Bergenia, early irises are also blooming this week. Peas are up about 1 inch and lettuce, spinach and chard are all sprouted in the garden. I had to cover them all today as we are expecting below freezing temperatures for the next two nights.
April 26 - Started cucumber, summer squash and gourd seeds indoors today. Transplanted red pepper plants into small coffee cups. In the garden the serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and Pyrus Calleryana 'Chanticleer' (Chanticleer Pear) are in full bloom. After the rain yesterday, my pink tulips are all blooming as are the violets in the back bush. The magnolia is still blooming with some buds still to open and the Sugar Tyme crab apple buds are swelling.
Weather wise we continued with warmer than normal temperatures. The normal maximum temperature in April averages 11.2C in our area while the average in 2010 was 16.5C. The normal minimum temperature in April is 1.2C while the average in 2010 was 3.8C. We experienced below average precipitation in April with 61.2mm in April 2010 compared to a norm of 78mm.
Weather information from climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca for Hamilton A station.