What to Plant in April in Zone 9

Get the last transplants in the ground

Nearly everything that needs a full summer to ripen, tomato, pepper, eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe, and the bean family, must go in this month, because zone 9 days routinely top 90 degrees with nights holding above 75 by June. Tomato fruit set already struggles once days pass 85 with nights above 70, and pepper follows the same slide about 5 degrees later, so both crops need weeks of cool growth banked before that arrives.

If you are choosing between two planting dates this month, pick the earlier one. A tomato transplanted in the first week has roughly a month more cool growth to build roots before heat stress arrives than one planted in the last week, and that head start often decides whether a plant fruits once or fruits for two months straight.

Herbs and specialty crops get one shot

Ginger, turmeric, peanut, and lemongrass round out this month's list, and all four want a full frost free season to bulk up, so a late start in April is workable but a start in May starts cutting into the harvest window that closes when the first frost returns in December.

Popcorn and dent corn also need to go in now; both take 100 to 120 days to dry down on the stalk, and a planting date past mid April risks the drying period running into the shorter, wetter days of fall when ears mold before they cure.

Scarlet runner bean, cucamelon, and malabar spinach are easier options if April is already slipping away, since all three shrug off a late start better than a tomato does and still produce within 70 to 80 days of a May planting.