April.

Feeding the beds before you plant

• Finish installing drip irrigation before beds fill up

  If irrigation didn't get done in March, this is the last window. Once tomato cages and bean trellises are in, running new tubing becomes a wrestling match. Do it now while you can still see the soil.

• Set up a rain gauge

  You cannot eyeball an inch of rain. Get a gauge, empty it after every rain, and log the total. April through September, aim for one inch a week; supplement with irrigation when the sky doesn't deliver.

Everything cold-hardy goes out

• Begin hardening off transplants

  Seven days minimum. Two hours the first day in a sheltered spot, add an hour each day, increase sun exposure gradually. Skip hardening off and you'll lose the plant in one afternoon.

• Pick smaller brassica seedlings for transplant

  Overly mature broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage that gets chilled during transplant will bolt to flower without heading up. Small and stocky beats large and leggy every time.

• Thin seedlings to proper spacing

  Crowded direct-sown beets, carrots, or lettuce compete for water and light and end up as neither one nor the other. Thin ruthlessly when they're 2 inches tall.

• Add bird netting over freshly sown beds

  Robins and crows love pulling seedlings out of freshly worked soil. Netting or floating row cover keeps them off until the plants are established.

• Keep potatoes hilled up as they emerge

  As green tops emerge, mound soil or straw around them so only 3–4 inches shows. Repeat every 2 weeks. Potatoes form on the stem above the seed piece; more stem covered = more potatoes.

The permanent additions

• Plant new trees and shrubs

  Fruit trees, ornamental trees, and berry bushes go in April — soil is workable and the plants are still dormant. Dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball, backfill with native soil, water deeply, mulch.