What to Sow in April for Self-Sufficiency

Thank you 🙏🏼 ❤

This is my favourite video you have posted- full of useful ideas for everyone

Summer squash and zucchini is NOT anywhere close to prolific in the deep south in the United States where we have the squash vine borer. Also I have problems with an abundance of male flowers and zero female flowers. Additionally we have squash bugs. Growing zucchini in zone 8 here is extremely difficult. Stubborn tho I am, this year I'm going to try a decoy system to plant a Blue Hubbard winter squash first just for the vine borer and then waiting two weeks to plant others that hopefully the borers won't be interested in since they'll have had their fill from the first squash. I learned about this method over the winter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will work.

Also Fennel tastes great raw made into a salad with a vinaigrette dressing mixed with fresh juicy orange slices and lots of green onions. Whoops, I forgot Tarragon needs to be added to the dressing.

Huw, Please help me out. I am so fed up with low quality seed trays we have here in Poland. I cannot find anywhere (online nor offline), and I live in the capital, seed trays that will last in the same shape more than one season... it's such a shame and every gardener I know complains about it! I don't care about the shipping cost anymore I need hr10! Please let me know where I can buy them with shipping to Poland. Thanks in advance :) Klaudia

Hi Huw,can you give us tips and guides on how to grow chayote squash

Fresh capers from nasturtium taste just like washing.

Typo wasabi ,lol.

I just did my April plantings today. Red Pontiac potatoes, mustard greens, swiss chard, peas, lettuce, spring onions, radishes, and beets. I will do cucumbers and dill in a couple weeks. I had forgotten about nasturtium, I might do that again this year.

I've never understood how people grow fennel from April sowings - it flowers in June so every time I've tried it's bolted before the bulbs. Best to sow July for autumn winter harvest surely?

Thank you!!!

Too bad we can't grow bread and butter lol

Great video. Certainly going to be useful at some point for me when I have the land to get serious about growing food.

Tangentially to all this i know wildflower meadows arent covered really on this channel but I'm hoping I haven't sown a little wildflower meadow too early as we had a light frost last night...I may have been overzealous in my seed sowing.

If anyone has any experience with wildflower meadow sowing and frost I'd appreciate any advice from experience.

Wonderful talk. Great ideas. Looking forward to next month even though I am in the US. 90 degree days here in Florida for the foreseeable future.

So envy about your climate! 😄 So green already in your greenhouse. Thank you for your videos, so much good info. We still have 82 cm of snow and the last frost can be around 6.6. - Mirja, North-Finland -

How long will purple sprouting broccoli live for if you keep harvesting through spring? Does it take most of the year to grow? Thanks

Are there any other types of potatoes that you would suggest because in American I can't seem to find anyone willing to sell that variety. They look great and my climate is similar enough to yours (just a bit less wet) that I wanted to try them this year and had no luck finding any.

I’ve never grown zucchini, but looking forward to it. We buy a lot of it for a simple soup (just garlic, oil, salt & grated zucchini) grilled (garlic, salt & pepper) & in a zucchini loaf bread

What I've done with my large lot is each year I pick a space to put down black plastic to kill weeds, etc. (The piece from the previous year's space so you don't have to buy tons of it). Then that space the following year is cardboarded, composted, and mulched. 3rd year plant.

My last frost date is June 2nd, when would you multi sow beets, radishes, before planting them out in the garden? Thanks Huw

What about things to sew in Australia in April?😊

Love April, those first warm sunny days and loads of seedlings on the way

Icelandic moss is about the only thing trying to grow at the moment. Its freezing.

Love this monthly series!!

Welldone Brother !
your job is great ❤
your quality in your videos is amazing .

Huw what litre are your black pots you use for potatoes? Looking at investing.

I love your channel so much! Your garden is beautiful!

My heart is breaking, Norway needs your books ❤ Perhaps even a signed copy 😇 Thank you for your amazing videos, been following you for years.

I adore basil too

hi is there a Discord group? If not start one!

I never get good results from sarpo mira, tried them in the ground, in tyres, in 30l buckets, must be my location. Winston earlies, prize every time!

I grow pumpkins Jack O Lantern for the hens , great as a treat during winter months ,they love them. The seeds are supposed to be a natural wormer for them too. Grow up and over the chicken run or a weedy patch of ground, just leave them to it .Biggest problem is storage space during winter. Happy hens.

Listening to your comments on Florence Fennel. If you are shallow frying in oil try grating a little Parmesan Cheese on it when frying, I love it.

Wait what!...You can freeze chopped/quartered raw tomatoes without blanching? I'm a Beginner gardener so it's quite daunting, and confusing, finding out this sort of information!

Optimistic but down to earth advice - thanks Hugh. Gives me hope for the coming season.

Hello friend..great job!!

Thank you for those inspirations and ideas, Huw. Today we started our own container garden at my Kita (Kita being a form of kindergarten/preschool/nursery here in berlin/Germany with mixed age and mixed ability classes ranging from 1 year olds to 6 year olds) some of my students did sow paprikas, tomatos (yes, I know a bit late, but I already have some seedlings at home to switch out, if needed) and nasturtiums. Some parents brought big containers, soil, strawberry plants, cucumbers and some herbs. tomorrow we will set up the containers, plant strawberries and blackberries, sow carrots, radishes and calendulas. I have a good idea of what we will grow with the kids and how to keep those little ones excited, but, if I may, I would like to ask you (and the community) for advise on how to best feed container growing veg and fruit in general, since we unfortunatelly cannot make our own compost or have a worm farm on site. Would a slow releasing granulated organic feed directly mixed in the soil be better or should we adapt a regular feeding regime together with watering? thanks a lot!

I canned a bunch of winter squash with garlic and rosemary. It was great. Also made a spicy squash and sausage soup and pressure canned that. Excellent, best soup I ever made in the Devraux Pressure canning book.

If you have a lot of zucchini, shred it up and pack into ziplock bags and freeze it. I add it to soup, I make zucchini bread & muffins, I find lots of winter dishes which I can put it in, and if it's shredded into small bits, you get all the nutrients and not the deary "zucchini again" thought.

My first growing potatoes. I'm looking forward to this.

Have you ever grown cannellini beans successfully?

Great advice. Thank you.

Minute..... Small

Do you know, that you can eat the rhubarb flower too? You can eat about a vegetable "meatballs" or fried.. enjoy

Hi Huw, I wonder if I can put toms in my polytunnel shelving safely. I would appreciate any advice from any others on our community too. I am UK based. US zone 8 equivalent. Temps have been between 15 and 7 degrees C

Hi Hugh
Love your videos and I really appreciate the what to sew in what month advice. So many benefits of growing your own food. If you also count in that you pretty well grown organically. Okay for Seeds might not of started out Organic who cares. You haven’t put any chemicals on etc. Compare the price of buying organic vegetables to you growing them and you save hundreds if not, thousands of pounds

I've sown carrots in an old wheelbarrow this year. I hope it is high enough.

Make courgette curry - it’s ridiculously tasty and sweet 😋 and you will always want to grow more courgettes!

I substitute zucchini in a crab cake recipe and add whatever herbs and peppers we have

Last year I listened to all my beetroot to field mice for the first time - heartbreaking! Any ways to tackle this Huw or others?