What to Plant in April | Gulf Coast Region
“It’s love that keeps you walking over a place and it’s love that makes you imagine what can be done on it. More and more since Tanya and I have lived on this farm, our life has been taken up with imagining what would be possible. And we’ll be involved in that until we die, or until our energy plays out. Our life here has developed in response to this place and the potential in it. By now we’ve realized some of it, but the most exciting thing is that we know we haven’t realized very much of it.” —The Plowboy Interview: Wendell Berry,Issue Number 20, March/April 1973
To read more about what to plant in other months and regions, visit our What to Plant Now home page.
For planting times specific to your zip code, check out the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner.
Top Crops for Gulf Coast Gardening:
Here are the Top Ten crops for the Gulf Coast region, followed by other recommended crops, as rated in our National Survey of Most Productive Garden Crops. (The criteria for selection include ease of culture, efficient use of garden space and time, ease of storage and desirability at the table.) The recommended crops are sorted by plant family to help you plan rotations so that the same plant families are not grown consecutively in the same area, as much as possible.
Top 10 Crops: Gulf Coast
- Sweet pepper
- Cherry tomato
- Bulb onion
- Slicing tomato
- Garlic
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Potato
- Cucumber
- Summer squash
Other Highly Recommended Crops:
Cabbage family: Broccoli, collards
Cucumber family: Cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon, winter squash
Leafy greens: Arugula, chard, mustard (all types)
Legumes: Lima bean, snap beans (all types), Southern peas
Root crops:Beet, garlic, onions, sweet potato, turnip
Tomato family: Eggplant, peppers (all types), tomato (all types)
Miscellaneous:Okra
RESOURCES
* To learn more about when to sow seeds (indoors and outdoors) or when to transplant your seedlings to the garden, see: Know When to Plant What: Find Your Average Last Spring Frost Date.
* To learn more about how to start seeds, check out Seed-starting Basics. For a primer on how to transplant seedlings, see Garden Transplanting: Expert Advice.
* Find garden seeds from great mail-order companies with our Plant and Seed Finder.
* Learn more about high-quality seeds and great seed companies in Best Seeds for a Bigger, Better Garden and Best Garden Seed Companies.
* You might also try swapping seeds locally.
* For tips on growing everything from artichokes to winter squash, see our Crop-by-Crop Growing Guide.