Weeding Between the LInes

By Jim McGinty

Clearly spring is stretching winter into summer, with 22 degree Fahrenheit nights and 62 degree days, and our precious tomato plants are still unsafe in the open garden. What is a gardener to do? The answer, of course, is “take a chance!”:  try planting some hardy cool weather plant seeds at mid-April (peas, cauliflower, celery, leeks, onions, radishes), and some not-quite-so-hardy seeds at the end of April (brussels sprouts, spinach, chard, kale, cabbage), and see what happens. Even with a protective “frost blanket” of Ree-May or Agribon row cover (which can save baby plants in temperatures down to 26 degrees), the frost monster might wipe out your too-early efforts, BUT maybe not, and that first crop of spinach will taste all the better! 

If your fruit tree leaf buds have not burst into glorious color yet, you have a little time yet to spray those trees with dormant oil – the fine oil will smother all those life-sucking scale insects. You can also finish pruning your fruit trees, but leave the trees alone from bud break to full leaf-out, so the trees can create new growth for this season. This is also a great time to plant or transplant fruit trees, berry bushes, and perennials such as asparagus, rhubarb, and horseradish. You can also pull back the over-winter mulch on your garlic and strawberries – the sun will warm the soil, and give the plants a much-needed boost – just be sure to save that mulch, so you can re-apply it in a couple of weeks to intimidate the weeds. While the mulch is off the plants, now is a good time to lightly spread some composted manure or delayed-action chicken poo pellets around said plants – your garlic and strawberry production will dramatically increase.

Out in the main garden, now is the time to add lots of well-rotted/composted manure, last year’s tree leaves, and (my personal favorite) aged poultry litter (being the over-wintered poo, wood chips, leaves and straw). I like to rototill or shovel/fork my soil amendments under, and let the spring rains and the wormies do all the rest of the work.

Finally, don’t forget to feed your established rhubarb and horseradish plants with some really fresh manure, and the same applies to your awakening compost bins and piles.

GARDENING CALENDAR

The Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer a short series of gardening classes in April, with topics such as “Improving your garden soil” on April 14 at the County Extension Office (from 6-8:30 p.m. - 227 S. Garden Avenue, Newport) , and “Extending the growing season/Seed germination” at the Camas Center (6-8 p.m. - 1981 Le Clerc Road, Cusick). You can obtain additional class information, and register for the classes by calling the Extension Office at 509-447-2401.

On April 6 I’ll be teaching a class on plant propagation at the Newport College Center, from 6-8 p.m. We’ll learn how to make more of those expensive plants we all love, but at a price we can afford. You can call the Newport Center (1302 West Fifth Avenue, Newport) at 509-447-3835 for more details, and to register for the class.

Our local gardening club will conduct the first garden tour of the summer on April 12:  we’ll depart Camden Grange promptly at 7 p.m. to check out a neighborhood market garden – the owner/operator regularly sells plant starts and produce at the Clayton Farmers’ Market, and we’ll see how he does his garden magic – lots to learn and see, and we’ll have a lot of fun, too.

On April 30, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will hold their annual Master Gardener Plant Sale at Stratton Elementary School (1201 West Fifth Street, Newport) from 9 a.m. to noon. You’ll want to check out their huge plant selection and great prices – free, helpful gardening advice is also offered, from people who actually know what they are doing!

Whew – our gardening season is just starting, but the weeds are already ankle high – makes you wonder who is really in charge here!

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