Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Spring is officially here, but it’s still a tad early to bet your tomatoe plants on overnight temperatures.

The garden area here at Rancho McGinty is finally snow-free, and farm hand Pat and I can almost walk around out there without the mud suctioning off our boot soles and heels.

We did check on our Winter 2016-2017 experiment, for which we left some cold-weather hardy veggies in the ground, just to see how they would survive our -17 degree Fahrenheit temperatures:  the kale plants look great, with intact 2016 leaves, and new sprouts already showing. All the other plants are brown mush: chard, broccoli, onions, Brussels sprouts, and even the parsley – lesson learned.

We did just plant some lettuce (“La Chuga”) seedlings in one of our raised beds (the soil temperatures in the raised bed are significantly warmer than in the surrounding open garden, and the plants are protected from a light freeze by two layers of heavy grade row cover), but only because we ran out of room in the plant nursery. I do plan to seed in some radishes in the same raised bed soon, as the supermarket radishes we bought for tonight’s dinner tasted like Styrofoam.

Out in the orchard, it will soon be time to dormant spray the fruit trees, just as soon as we have a couple of nights clear of frost. I plan to prune the trees this coming weekend, as the fruit and leaf buds are starting to show that fuzzy look, and because fruit tree grafting time is upon us.

If you have woodstove ashes from our decade-long winter, you could lightly sprinkle them around your fruit trees and bushes – the potash will produce more and better fruit.

Speaking of chores, now is the right time to plant or transplant all those fruit bushes and trees that survived winter – provided you can dig a hole through the still-frozen dirt.

As daytime temperatures continue (!) to rise, you will want to pull back any mulch layers from your over-wintered crops (garlic, etc.) and fruit bushes (blueberries, etc.) – just wait until the mulch has warmed and dried.

If you are growing rhubarb, now is a good time to use your sharpened shovel (you did sharpen your garden tools during those pre-spring days??!!) to chop out a quarter of the root (which can be separated and potted up for more rhubarb plants), and fill the hole with rotted manure. Your rhubarb plant will reward you with larger leaves and tastier stalks.

Provided your compost pile/container has thawed, it’s time to add some fresh manure, and then turn and water all those mostly-dormant bacteria and creatures, so they can produce some of that “black gold” compost for your spring gardening adventures.

Those brown berry canes from last summer are prime targets for your sharp (!) pruning shears – just be sure to leave the new green or purple fruiting canes for this year’s harvest – I predict blackberry milkshakes in my future! Remember to burn or otherwise destroy all those brown canes, as they may be harboring over-wintering enemy insects.

If this is the year you add aged manure to your garden (two year rotation – manure in 2017, no manure in 2018), now is a great time to spread it around – no doubt your non-gardening friends have been complaining for years that you spread it around pretty thick anyway?

GARDEN CALENDAR

On the 11^th of April, our local gardening club will meet in Camden Grange at 7 p.m. for an evening of mini-classes and snacks and general socializing, albeit with a growing-food theme. Next month, we hope to start our garden tours, but for this month, we’ll stay indoors where it’s both warm and fun. You can check on our club’s activities, and read gardening tips and tales here on the blog. And feel free to contribute your articles, photos and garden news! Email items to Su at 1936school@gmail.com for posting.

On the 20^th of April, our neighborhood beekeeping friends (the Backyard Beekeepers Association) will meet in the Deer Park Senior Center (316 E. Crawford, Deer Park) at 7 p.m. for another session of information, classes, and congeniality – for more information, you can visit their website at www.backyard-beekeepers.org.

On the 26^th of April, I will teach a class on renovating old apple trees, in the Newport College Center (1204 W.Fifth Street, Newport) from 6-8 p.m.  We will talk about how to bring all those abandoned apple trees back into production – heirloom apples are SO much better tasting than anything in the supermarkets.

You can obtain more details, or register for the class by calling 800-845-3324, or you can do the same on-line at www.sccel.spokane.edu/Act2.

On the 29^th of April, those perky, praiseworthy plant huggers, the Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners, will hold their annual Spring Plant Sale at Stratton Elementary School (1201 W. Fifth St., Newport) from 9 a.m. to noon. Lots of plants, good prices, and knowledgeable advice from people who actually know what they’re doing in the garden – buy lots (of plants, NOT Master Gardeners)!

That’s it for now – see you out in the garden.