Weeding Between the Lines

By Jim McGinty

Spring sprang a full month ahead of whatever passes for weather “normal” these days. Many local gardeners, including some longtime gardeners who should know better, are asking, “Is it time to start seed yet?” and “Can we plant early this year?” For the second year in a row (66 percent ?), we have 50-plus degree Fahrenheit temperatures in February – at least here in Northeast Washington.

The answers are “yes” and “yes”, but (you had to guess there would be a “but” in there, somewhere, right?), you want to start your seeds (onions, parsley, tomatoes, cabbage and broccoli should be started now; peppers and more tomatoes by mid-March) in “waves,” that is to say, start seeds of the same type and quantity a couple of weeks apart. If you are able to safely plant that first wave of victims/volunteers, and grow them to harvest, more power to you, but (there is that “but” again), if we have a week of killing frosts that wipes out the poor seedlings, well, you have a back up wave or two waiting in the wings, so to speak. If all (!) the waves safely produce food for your family, you’ll have the best-tasting veggies on the planet to eat, preserve (through canning, freezing, dehydrating, etc.), trade or give to your neighbors, or maybe you’ll want to donate them to our local, deserving food bank (North County Food Pantry, 509-292-2530). As to the mythical “last frost date”, beyond which all plantings WILL be safe from those savage icy blasts, no one knows, and as a prudent gardener, you will have all those waves of leafy, green helpers ready to throw themselves outside into your garden. Humble, yet thorough, that’s us! 

Speaking of prudent gardening, now is a great time to prune all of your fruit trees and bushes: cut out those dead, diseased, or damaged limbs, and all of those cursed water sprouts, and all of last year’s fruit-bearing raspberry canes (the brown, scruffy canes, not the green, shiny ones that will bear all those mouth-watering berries this summer). If you have access to woodstove ashes, now is the time to sprinkle those ashes around your fruit trees and bushes – don’t get carried away, but the included potash increases fruit sweetness. If you are growing currents and/or gooseberries, you can safely lop or saw off all those three year-old (or older) trunks, as they will produce no fruit. 

Have you bought your seeds for this year – or better, have you traded seeds with your gardening neighbor or fellow garden club member yet? Once again, those mail-order seed catalogs, with hundreds of pages of beautifully posed and photographed veggies and fruit, have notices showing ‘’out of stock” or “crop failure – no seeds for 2016.” Don’t wait too long, or there will be nothing left but seed packets for ornamental or poisonous squash (is there another kind?!). Finally, now is the perfect time to evaluate your inventory of expensive garden tools: check for broken tines, cracked or splintered handles, dull or rusty edges, and missing tools (I usually “discover” some trowels and pruners with the rototiller every spring – I call the events “serendipitous,” while my gardening partner, Pat, calls them “evidence”).

GARDENING CALENDAR

On March 1, the Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners will offer a class on growing and pruning fruit trees: tree specialist and friend John Stuart and I will show how to care for your expensive backyard orchard.  Class runs from 6-8 p.m. at the Camas Center (located at 1981 Leclerc Rd., Cusick), and you can call the WSU/Pend Oreille County Extension office at 509-447-2401 for more details, cost, and registration.

On March 2, I’ll be teaching another much-requested class, this one on crosscut saws. We’ll discuss vintage two-man and one-man saw history, as well as purchasing, renovating, and sharpening. Class will run from 6-8 p.m. at the Newport College Center (1302 W. 5^th Ave., Newport) – you can call the center at 509-447-3835 for more details, cost, and to register for the class.

On March 8, at the Camas Center, Stan Urmann (“Mr. Blueberry”) will teach a class on his favorite subject, growing and eating blueberries – if you want to successfully raise blueberry plants in your garden, Stan’s your source for simple and reliable information. Class runs from 6-8 p.m., and all the Camas information is the same as the earlier calendar entry.

Also on March 8, our local garden club meets for the first time this year, from 7-9 p.m., in Camden Grange. We’ll have a short “welcome back” organizational meeting, and then we’ll launch right off for the 2016 gardening season with a class on homemade seed tape, a seed-and-plant swap fest, our member-provided tasty snacks, and we’ll start and/or update rumors about you – be sure to be there! If you have an abundance of duplicate or unwanted garden seed and garden equipment catalogs, please bring them along – we would rather recycle/pass them along, than burden the landfills.

On March 9, I’ll offer a class on seed starting, at the Newport College Center, from 6-8 p.m. We’ll talk about and demonstrate the how, when, and why of home garden seed starting – it’s time to start seeds now, and you can call the Center at 509-447-3835 for class details and to register.

On March 16, I’ll bring a willing tree volunteer to a fruit tree pruning class at the Newport College Center. From 6-8 p.m., we’ll discuss the hows of artful pruning, and then we’ll get into the gritty, clippy details, one branch at a time.  Once again, you can call the center at 509-447-3835 for more information, and to register for the class.

On March 23, I’ll teach “sharp” individuals the skills of fruit tree grafting, in the Newport College Center, from 6-8 p.m.: students will want to bring their favorite SHARP pocket knife, and a cutting surface (a plastic kitchen cutting mat is excellent). Class details and registration are available from the center by calling 509-447-3835.

On March 29, John Stuart and I are back at the Camas Center to demonstrate the art of fruit tree grafting – this is a hands-on class from 6-8 p.m., so motivated students will want to bring their own wicked-sharp pocket knives and cutting boards (kitchen cutting mat, 12-inch square of plywood, etc.).  Once again, you can call the Pend Oreille County Extension office for more details.

Good grief – the gardening season is just beginning, and I’m already pooped – good thing we started early, huh?!