Weeding Between the Lines

By Jim McGinty

Kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place: we’ve recently seen temperature extremes between 82 degrees Fahrenheit (daytime) and 25 degrees (night time).  A little chilly to plant out the tomatoes, but we have planted broccoli (Flash – a hybrid that may not available these days, and Pac-Man) starts, onion (Candy Red, and Redwing) sets, and we seeded peas (Sugar Snap, and Melting Sugar). We did cover the plants with floating row cover to negate the freezing temperatures (Ree-May or Agribon, available from Northwest Seed and Pet in Spokane, will protect the precious plant progeny down to about 24 degrees). The garlic crop (planted last autumn) looks fantastic with dark blue green stalks  about 14 inches tall, while the berry plants (strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries) have all set flowers, and in the case of the strawberries, have small reddish fruit already! 

In the orchard, it’s really too late to continue pruning:  we’ll wait until the leaves have all fully formed, before more snipping and lopping takes place. I just started spraying the fruit trees for aphids (and their hosting buddies, the ants), with Safer brand insecticidal soap (I drench the tree branches and leaves once a week for three weeks to kill the aphid adults and their eggs), and I reserve the Natria neem oil for the “hard core” insects that just don’t want to listen.

If you have not already done so, now is the perfect time to prune out all those brown berry canes from last year in the raspberry patch (this year’s fruit-bearing canes will be greenish with swollen buds around the edges of the canes). This is also the perfect time to fertilize those raspberries with aged manure – I prefer aged chicken poo, but most other types will be fine.

While you are carting fertilizer about, don’t forget to drop/spread some of the good stuff on the blueberries, cranberries, asparagus, and rhubarb (I usually drop a shovel or two of the poo under the new rhubarb leaves – rhubarb does indeed respond well to spring fertilizing!).

Out in the garden, it’s nearly time to plant out the root crops and cool weather veggies – just guessing here, but our last frost date this spring will be on “your guess is as good as anyone’s” day, so watch your local weather, and be prepared to cover the baby greens with floating row cover, light flannel sheets, or other frost blankets. Scheduled for planting soon are potatoes, radishes, parsnips, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, and turnips. Later (?) in the month or maybe even in early June, you can consider planting out some of the warmer weather crops such as corn, beans, tomatoes, squash (ornamental varieties and chicken-feed varieties only, of course), cucumbers, and peppers.  And remember to plant some flowers among your edibles:  all our senses deserve to be revived in the verdant spring, like seeing that perfect white daisy in a green meadow.

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On May 10, our local garden club will offer some indoor gardening mini-classes on topics such as homemade seed tape, pruning fruit trees, and building expandable tomato cages.  We meet in Camden Grange at 7 p.m., and the public is always welcome.

On May 12, those dedicated Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners will offer a class on “How to prepare a garden bed” at the Pend Oreille County Extension Office (227 South Garden Ave., Newport), from 6-8:30 p.m. You’ll learn lots of tips on how to make your garden beds comfy and hospitable for all those salad greens and ripe tomatoes.

You will want to reserve May 14 for the annual Garden Expo held at Spokane Community College (1810 N. Green St., Spokane) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plan to bring transportation (red wagon, garden cart, wheelbarrow, etc.) for all the plants and garden art/wind chimes/tools/decorations you’ll want to buy in over 200 booths.  Oh, and bring some money – our local garden club will be selling plant starts and other cool garden things from our booth as well. Learn more about the 17th Annual Garden Expo here.

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled afternoon of weed-eliminating, aphid-decimating, and compost-manipulating –  my back hurts already.