Happy April!!

April brings new beginnings, newly sprouted seedlings and the sunshine that makes us feel whole... or is it just me? Nah, I know this is an exciting time for us all.

The sunshine can be a bit tricky if you are in Southern California zones 9 & 10 like me though. One day, it'll be sunshine and 80 degrees and the next is chilly and foggy. We are past the chance of frost once the second week of April hits so I guess it is go-time for the garden, huh?

I know we all want to get our hands and plants into the dirt but let me convince you to do a little behind the scenes work before diving in, k?

First start with this new digital planner I put together for you. The reason I went digital is because I'm notorious for leaving my paper notebook out in the rain or accidentally burying it in one of my garden beds. I guess it'll compost, right?

Digital is nicer for a few reasons but the biggest one is that it is easy to reference as the years go by. You can just hit the search bar and find all the notes you took on how you grew your tomatoes in the past or how you dealt with those pesky aphids. Did we have a bunch of snails tear up our garden in 2023 or 2024? I dunno, let's check our digital planner. See what I mean?

After you've got your basic info in the planner, let's plan out what we want to plant. I know it is easy to blackout at the garden center or the nursery buying plants and then have no idea where it'll all fit.

Go over to the Plant Cards slide of the planner and input the information from the plant start tags just in case you lose them. If the planner isn't your style, make sure you take photos of the tags. That info could help later in the season.

Make a sketch of your garden space and draw out what you plan to plant in those areas. It doesn't have to be pretty, just realistic. Like I'd leave 2ft between Tomato plants because they get pretty big, but I'd only leave about 6-8" between Calendula plants. I like to use graph paper to help scale my garden space and plants.

Now that you have your sketch, you'll have a realistic idea of what you can fit in your garden. Make a list of how many of each plant you drew in. Now you can skip off to your local plant dealer without worrying about buying too many or not enough plants. If you're local to Fallbrook, CA - make sure to stop by my farm stand for some organically grown plant starts ready to fill to your garden beds.

After you're back from the garden center, download the next guide for tips on how to transplant for optimal harvests! It isn't anything too crazy, just some pointers of things I've learned over the years that helps set your plants up for success.

Different types of plants thrive with different planting techniques. Check out this next guide with tips to set your plants up for success.

BONUS: High Density Planting Guide - Learn how to maximize every inch of your garden space

Coming soon:
Quick Reference Cards - Tips on planting each variety
Tool Resource Page - Which tools are worth splurging for

Monthly Online Meetup - Stay tuned for an email with the date for the zoom meetup!

Now you're set up for success in April!

One more thing! Follow the private Instagram account just for you guys! Click here