Patty Moreno: I’m Patty Moreno, the garden girl.
Mel Bartholomew: And I’m Mel Bartholomew with Square Foot Gardening.
Patty Moreno: This month is an amazing month in the garden. It’s April and pretty much, everybody is starting to plant in their garden.
Mel Bartholomew: That’s okay. In one way or another, just remember the old song, “An April Showers Brings Mayflowers. So we know it’s warming up everywhere, some parts of the country would’ve planted along time ago, the last month, other, we have to wait for another almost a month to really put in a summer crop. But we’d get going now all over the country with the spring crop. These are the cool weather different plants.
Patty Moreno: Right
Mel Bartholomew: We got to control our garden plants, like we do kids, you know.
Patty Moreno: Uh-huh.
Mel Bartholomew: You stay over here and you stay over there. So, if you could start putting all those kind of plants, ah spring crop out now.
Patty Moreno: So, it’s April, I’ve got tons of seedlings ready to go out in the garden, but I can’t exactly just bring them out and plant it, right?
Mel Bartholomew: Nope, because you’re going to change the environment. They’ve been indoors, a sunny window or under light has been warm, they are just happy as can be. You can’t suddenly put them out the doors where it’s cold and chilly and the wind is blowing. Wind is very important, people don’t think of that. But, you’ve got to gradually get them used to going from the indoors to the outdoors.
Patty Moreno: So, it’s April it’s the rainy season.
Mel Bartholomew: Yup.
Patty Moreno: We mentioned that earlier. I think now is the great time to start collecting rainwater.
Mel Bartholomew: Yes, absolutely. And, where does it rain and where does it run off, and where’s the best place where your house is perfect because all the rain comes off the roof down the pipe and right at the bottom of the pipe, what does it do, it runs out and spills out of the ground, well it’s collected right there. And we could do that by having an old-fashioned rain barrel.
Patty Moreno: I love the fact that I have different areas in my garden collecting water. One of the things is it is free.
Mel Bartholomew: Oh well, that’s good.
Patty Moreno: I don’t have to pay anybody for the water.
Mel Bartholomew: Right.
Patty Moreno: Another benefit to it is that it doesn’t have the chemicals.
Mel Bartholomew: Yes.
Patty Moreno: That regular tap water has—
Mel Bartholomew: Right, nature doesn’t put chlorine in the rainwater.
Patty Moreno: Exactly. There’s lot of chemicals in municipal water that actually damaged the soil. We want that soil to be alive and we want the plants to live.
Mel Bartholomew: Right.
Patty Moreno: so we don’t necessarily want to give them, you know, exclusively tap water, so our rain barrel is going to give us water that is chemical-free, it’s also free
Mel Bartholomew: Yes, it’s free, you don’t have to pay for it, plus we’re doing a great thing for the environment. We’re saving water that doesn’t have to be collected and treated and stored and all that. So let’s start thinking about when to save water and April showers is a good time to get started
Patty Moreno: Exactly. And you know, we’re using the Square Foot Gardening Method so our garden is next to our home.
Mel Bartholomew: Yup.
Patty Moreno: Our gutter comes off of our roof so our rain barrel’s going to be nice and close to our garden so we’re not going to have to move, water around.
Mel Bartholomew: Right, or carry it very far. Now there’s lot of products in the market to replace that rain barrel. They might be made out of plastic or metal, and they’re smaller than the big rain barrel, but they all work pretty good. And you just tie those right into your downspout.
Patty Moreno: It’s April, it’s fun time in the garden. Stay tuned for next month, May. It’s warm enough.
Mel Bartholomew: Yes, and we’re going to have a lot of tips for you, how to expand your garden and make it the best you’ve ever had. This is Mel Bartholomew reaching you at your garden.