If you’re wondering what you can plant here in Zone 10 in April, you’ve come to the right place. While we tend to do the lion’s share of our planting in the fall, there are still some tasty options you can get started in your vegetable garden in April as spring kicks off.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a fantastic warm-season crop here in Florida. They are colorful, tasty tubers with flesh that ranges from yellow to orange to purple. They are a fantastic source of vitamin A, and they are so tasty! While they do require a relatively long growing season, the sweet reward of these versatile tubers is well worth the way.
April is the perfect time to plant sweet potatoes in your vegetable garden. They love sandy soil and are most commonly grown from ‘slips’ or baby plants sprouted from a mature sweet potato. It is possible to grow sweet potatoes yourself, but we recommend starting your sweet potato journey with certified disease-free plants from a reputable garden center to avoid any unwanted surprises down the road. Plant sweet potato transplants about 12 to 14 inches apart, in rows approximately 48 inches apart. Be sure to water them consistently and often, as they can split while growing due to inconsistent watering.
Beans
There are two times of the year to plant beans in South Florida. The first is during the early spring months (February through May) and then again in late summer to early fall (August through October). Being warm-season vegetables, if you plant at these times, you can avoid both the coldest and hottest months of the year in Florida.
You have two choices for planting beans in your vegetable garden this April: bush beans or pole beans. As their name would infer, bush beans grow into a small bush. On the other hand, pole beans grow into a vine and need a trellis of some kind or another. They can actually add a ton of visual appeal to your landscape!
Both bush beans and pole beans mature relatively quickly, which is great for those impatient growers who just want to get to harvest time. You can expect to harvest your beans in about eight weeks and should be able to pick several harvests off of each plant.
Southern Peas
There are so many different varieties of southern peas to choose from at the garden center! Some are easier to shell than others, some a little more tender, some a little starchier. Regardless, these are one of the easiest veggies to grow in your summer gardens, and late March to mid-April is the ideal time to start planting them. We love peas because they are so easy to cook with, they’re quite tasty, and when it comes to pulling their weight in the garden, they are fantastic nitrogen fixers, just like beans!
Peas grow quite well in sandy soil and hot weather, making them a perfect candidate for a crop in your summer vegetable garden. You can continue planting southern peas throughout the summer season. They enjoy full sun and take anywhere from 65 to 120 days to produce a harvest. Once they start producing, you may have to pick them out every day or two so that they are easy to shell and don’t dry out.
Living in Florida gives us the benefit of growing and harvesting our delicious vegetables almost 365 days a year. If you’re on the hunt for seeds, seedlings, or anything else you might need for your summer garden, stop by Living Color Garden Center for a visit!