The majority of the vegetables which come out of my garden during April are a continuation of those being harvested for the preceding few months. Eggplants, beans, Capsicums and chillies are all plentiful but as I’ve highlighted them in previous Top 5 in season posts I wont repeat them here. Instead I will focus on the new things just starting to come into season and others which are reaching their peak in April.
Tamarillo – My tamarillos generally starts ripening in April. I don’t seem to have as many on the tree this year. I don’t know whether this is because they are being eaten or that the tree is getting old. The few I do have ripening though will probably be enjoyed in April.
Sweet Potato – In Melbourne reliably warm weather usually begins in November and ends at the end of April giving Sweet Potato the 5 months it usually needs to crop. Last year I harvested most of my sweet potatoes towards the end of April. This year I’m growing them in pots for the first time but I imagine I should still be able to starting harvesting in a few weeks.
Rainbow Chard – By April Spring sown chard plants are often huge. They have gotten through the heat of summer and are putting on new growth in the cooler Autumn conditions. I find that if I don’t harvest from them very regularly they can become absolute monsters.
Celery – In my garden celery is a mild season crop. It seems to enjoy the moderate temperatures of Autumn and Spring over either the extremes of summer or winter. As a result Spring sown celery is usually reaching its peak towards the end of April. I have a number of plants dotted around my garden which should produce enough stalks to enjoy it regularly.
Horseradish – Although you can wait until later in Autumn to harvest horseradish April is as good a time as any to dig up its roots. The roots will be nearing maximum size having grown since late Winter/early Spring. I find horseradish works well with other Autumn crops like Beetroot so now is a good time to dig it up.
Those are my top 5. What will you be harvesting in April?
I have absolutely never eaten tamarillo. What are they like?
The celery is beautiful – such a great crop to grow in the kitchen garden.
Tamarillo is a bit like a cross between tomato and passionfruit but of course that only helps if you know what passionfruit tastes like and can imagine it crossed with a tomato….
Those are impressive harvests for late in the year. I haven’t tried celery as a spring crop, maybe I’ll see if I can find a bit of space in the garden this season, although I fear I should have sown the seeds already for this spring. It grew through the winter like a champ this year, even through a few freezing nights without protection. And chard will take any weather that my climate will throw its way. I’m hoping that the overwintered chard will resist bolting through April so that I will have something substantial to harvest. April is a rather lean month, most of the overwintered veggies have finished and the spring plantings aren’t mature enough to harvest. I should be able to start harvesting fava (broadbean) leaves, perhaps some baby lettuces, pea shoots, and green garlic, maybe some baby beets. Other than that I’ll be cleaning out the freezer and going to the farmer’s market.
The hungry gap then – we have much the same in November. I find my chard is still usable til then but not much longer. I need to sow all the things you should be harvesting next month – must get on to it over Easter.
Well April is still early spring here. And I still have a bit of snow in the shaded parts of the garden. So we don’t get much. I’m hoping for some overwintered spinach and kale. If I’m lucky I might get some lettuce and baby choys, but I don’t always.
I shall cross my fingers that the weather is warm enough for your greens.
Your chard looks lovely and healthy – my overwintering plants have been stripped of the few leaves they had by the hens, who are eating anything green they can find in the garden. I’m hoping the parsley will start to grow again soon, the chives are up and there are pots of mint and tarragon in the greenhouse, so there should be some fresh herbs to harvest in April.
Fresh herbs is a start, she says attempting positivity….it must warm up for you soon…
I think I will be harvesting snow in April :-). Seriously, winter is not leaving us. The spinach, red-cabbage and broccoli are growing nicely in the greenhouse but they are too young to harvest. Awesome harvest you have.
Actually I’m quite glad I got a harvest of water yesterday as my tank was running low.
I am so disorganised with planning and planting that I lurch from famine to glut and back again with monotonous regularity. I plead time-poorness!
Very early on in April, I’ll harvest a little more corn (most is in the freezer), lots and lots of basil and parsley and the last of the tomatoes, both red and green. They are looking very sad but I still have enough to process one or two jars of passata, as they really aren’t tasty enough for eating unprocessed. I still have green tomato chutney from last year but I could do with a bit more green tomato pickle.
I still have lots of capsicum (none have turned red, yet) and lots of chilli, to harvest. There are also (only!) three butternuts and then… it will all come to a grinding halt due to my lack of planning.
Oh and I had lots of silverbeet which would have seen me through April but the chooks reckon they had dibs on it and who am I to argue?
I fed silver beet to my chicks for the first time yesterday – they seemed very pleased. I have some brassicas in but I still think I’ll have a gap between the summer crops finishing and them starting to produce but we will see. I don’t have any green tomatoes – my plants died back so early that any that had formed ripened.
My tomatoes died very early this year too. In past I’ve sometimes had them going til May. This years came up on their own so no idea what they are. Size of small ping pong balls with zebra type stripes. Tasty but not sweet.
I’ve never had any success with celery. Had years of seedlings arising in spring but they shrivel in the summer sun. I might try them in the semi shade.
Could the tomatoes be Tigerella? They are nice tomato tasting tomatoes if you know what I mean. Semi shade could be a good idea to try. Mine get about 5-6 hours sun and although they are usually better in winter they can be OK in summer. This year about one plant in four did really well – ie could be used for salad and the others were fine for flavouring stock.
Wow fresh horseradish and sweet potatoes, nice harvest.
I’ve not tasted tamarillo, not sure we have it here.
Always a big fan of your April harvest.
We’ve still to crack growing celery but have lots of horseradish but so far haven’t dared harvest any to cook with. It’s still only a young plant can’t be much more than 20 years old 🙂
Oh goodness its roots must be huge. A 20 year old plant here would occupy pretty much my whole garden I reckon.
Sadly we won’t be harvesting anything much in April, as we weren’t organized enough to plant. I’d love to know what you’re planting now.
This weekend I planted peas, broad beans, broccoli, turnips and parsnips. I haven’t tried sowing parsnips at this time of year before so they are something of an experiment. It is a good time to plant the rest, as well as most other brassicas.
Top 5 here – pumpkins, potatoes, beans, corn, cucumbers add zuchinnis and tomatoes makes 7, we have an April glut – I need to get busy preserving. I have never grown tamarillos, sweet potatoes or horse radish – they all look delicious and rewarding.
The potatoes interests me in that in Melbourne our nights are too warm to get great crops from plants grown over summer. I guess your nights are that much cooler that they are happy and productive.