Spring has sprung! Here's what to do in your Brevard garden in April | Sally Scalera

Hopefully, you will have some time this month to be outside. April is a great month to get out in the yard to spruce things up and make a few changes.

Here are some ideas of things you can do this month:

Learn Florida-Friendly Landscaping. The Florida-Friendly Landscaping eight-week class series begins Tuesday, April 4. Classes will meet from 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday for eight weeks. If you would like to learn how to grow plants, while protecting water quality, consider joining the class. Here are just some of the topics that will be covered: botany, our dirt needs life, attracting wildlife, hands-on gardening (learn how to start seeds and start plants from cuttings), introduction to landscape design, palms, lawns, trees, growing edible plants, container gardening, pests and diseases.  This class is being offered in-person and on Zoom. Follow this link to register: 2023fflclassseries.eventbrite.com.

More about Florida-Friendly Landscaping:Class series will help you make the most of your Brevard yard | Sally Scalera

Spring Fling in the garden. Mark your calendar for 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 15. We will be throwing a Spring Fling in the garden that day. The garden I am referring to is our Brevard Discovery Garden next to our UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County office at 3695 Lake Drive in Cocoa. Not only will the garden be open to wander through and explore, but we will also have some plants for sale. There will be a selection of keystone species and other native plants, Florida-friendly plants and even some vegetables. Plus, we will have some decorative dish gardens filled with easy-to-care-for succulent plants. If you have any dull tools, our sharpening master will be on hand to clean and sharpen your tools. The minimum suggested donation for sharpening is $5 for two tools per visitor. I will also be conducting a free Hands-on Plant Propagation Workshop from 10-11 a.m. in the Extension Office Auditorium. For more information, check out this Eventbrite link: BDGplantpropagationWksp.eventbrite.com.

Arbor Day on Earth Day. Another event is scheduled for Saturday, April 22, at Riverfront Park in Cocoa Village. The City of Cocoa will celebrate Arbor Day on Earth Day from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There will be workshops, a plant sale with various vendors (including the Brevard Discovery Garden), food trucks and music. I will hold three free workshops during the event, one on Keystone species, a Pruning demonstration and a presentation on how to add life to the soil.

Finding the right tree:Here's a list of deciduous fruit trees to grow in Brevard County | Sally Scalera

Fruit tree sale. Also scheduled for Saturday, April 22, is a fruit tree sale organized and run by the Brevard Tropical Fruit Club. If you enjoy eating fruit and want to grow your own, be sure to show up early. The sale will begin at 8 a.m. (and no earlier) at the Melbourne Auditorium in the field to the southeast of the building.

Fertilize your lawn. April is a good time to fertilize your lawn or consider following nature’s way and establishing the soil food web to take care of your lawn, ornamental plants, trees and palms. If you haven’t had your soil tested within the past year or two, get it tested now. Search for "soil testing form" at edis.ifas.ufl.edu, and be sure to pay for the $10 Test B. Never apply fertilizer if heavy rain is in the forecast, and don’t apply more than 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. To reduce the potentially harmful effect of fertilizer, consider using an organic fertilizer. It will contain the highest amount of slow-release nitrogen and other nutrients. The soil microbes must first consume the fertilizer before the nutrients are made available for the plants, in small amounts, continually, which helps to protect water quality. If you would like to learn how to get the biology around the roots of the plants throughout your yard, email the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County Master Gardeners at brevard-mg1@ifas.ufl.edu.

Fight weeds, mow weekly. Mow your turf weekly. This also keeps the weeds from producing seeds. Set the mower blades on the highest setting. Let the grass clippings fall on the lawn (and put any that land on impervious surfaces back onto the grass) so the organic matter and nutrients return to the soil and stay out of the Indian River Lagoon or the St. Johns River.

Don’t prune palms or trees this month. Bats and other wildlife are raising their offspring now.

Prune shrubs after blooming. If your azalea or gardenia shrubs are getting too large, prune them after they have finished blooming.

Vegetables to plant. Vegetables that can be planted in April include beans (bush and pole), Chinese cabbage, okra, Southern peas, squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, calabaza, chayote, yard-long beans, jicama, Malabar spinach and other tropical crops. Okra, southern peas and Swiss chard can be started from seed now, and planted in the garden in May.

Sun-loving spring flowers. If you’re interested in adding some flowers to your landscape, here are some plants that can handle full sun through the summer; floss flower (Ageratum), amaranthus, asters, celosia, coleus, cosmos, dahlia, dahlberg daisy, lisianthus, blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella), gazania, gerbera daisy, kalanchoe, sunflowers, gomphrena, melampodium, lobelia, portulaca, blue salvia, red salvia, dusty miller, marigolds and zinnias.

Flowers for shady. For shady areas, consider planting some of these flowers or colorful foliage plants: non-stop and tuberous begonias, caladium, coleus, firecracker flower (Crossandra spp.), impatiens and geraniums.

Herbs for April. In the herb garden, you can plant basil, chives, garlic chives, dill, borage, pineapple sage, Mexican oregano, fennel, Mexican tarragon, oregano, mint, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram and thyme.

What's at the farmers market. If you haven’t checked out the Brevard County Farmers Market, it is held from 3-6 p.m. Thursday afternoons at the Wickham Park Pavilion. Here are some of the delicious items that will be available this month.

• Vendors will be selling fresh herbs, microgreens, shoots and wheatgrass.

• Vegetables that will be available are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and potatoes.

• There will be honey, beef jerky, fresh salsas, candied jalapenos, sweet relish, cupcakes and other sweets, homemade jams, apple butter, jellies and a variety of homemade nut butter.

• For pasta lovers, there will be freshly made pasta, sauces, cheese and other delicious Italian items.

• On the second Thursday of every month, Deep Roots Meat comes with their Florida-grown, grass-fed Angus beef straight from their farm.!

Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Email her at sasc@ufl.edu.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: What to plant, what to prune, what to fertilize in Brevard in April