Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

What to do in the garden today: weed, water, transplant, fertilize, mulch, re-seed the empty spots, or drive into town to take financial advantage of all the “end of gardening season” (huh!?) sales? 

If we learn nothing else from gardening, it’s that we can’t possibly do it all, in a timely manner, to our satisfaction. Weeds intuitively know that “the two-legged destroyers” will eventually lose interest, hurt themselves, or otherwise move on, so that all the good little weed seeds can sprout and grow EVERYWHERE!  Muh-wah-hah-hah! (evil, maniacal laughter).

So we can choose to complete one task (leaving all the other important tasks undone), or work a little on every task (ensuring that one will never finish ALL the tasks before snow fall), or hire (incompetent) help who will never do the job the way WE would, or maybe we should just choose to recline in our shady spot, out of the heat and humidity, with our favorite beverage in one hand, and a sharp #2 Ticonderoga pencil in the other hand, and dream up a garden tool to take care of all (or at least some) of the chores: I mean, like the “Garden Weasel,” the “Furrow-meister,” the “Weed-evator,” or the laser-guided “Vapo-Bug.”

Or we can just continue in our own misguided way, grateful for every ripe tomato, spicy garlic clove, or juicy blackberry – life is made up of epi-doses of a little here, and a little there.

Out in the garden, now is the time to test daily for adequate soil moisture – damp earth down about three to four inches is good – you can purchase an expensive electronic soil moisture meter, or you can just employ your built in Mark I Finger Moisture Probe.

If possible, try to water in the early hours of the day (using a water timer?) – less moisture lost to evaporation, and less of a chance that overnight watering will not allow your plant leaves to dry before soil-borne diseases take down your beloved plants.

Be sure to check your berry plants for ripe fruit – the more you pick, the more the plant will produce – up to a point, of course. Now is the time to start thinking about the autumn garden – start seeding those cool weather plants: lettuce, kale, chard, bush beans, etc., and get ready for ANOTHER harvest. There is no sense in letting your sweat-quity dirt rest before freezing temperatures terminate your garden experience.

If you DO intend for your garden or individual plots to rest for the balance of the summer, be sure to plant a green cover crop, like buckwheat or winter peas: the plants will keep the winds from blowing all your hard soil-improvement work into the neighbor’s yard, and will send down healthy roots to bring nutrients up to the soil surface – those same roots, after you have rototilled the cover crop back into the garden soil, will add valuable organic matter and improve the texture (the “tilth”) of your most expensive dirt.

If you are growing squash (for your livestock, no doubt!), or if you are growing melons, watch for the plants to set three or four flowers, and then remove further blossoms, so the plants can concentrate on growing fewer, bigger and better food.

In the orchard, remember to prune out all those water sprouts, as they do nothing to help your trees produce fruit, and watch the newest, most delicate leaves for evil, sap-sucking aphids, and their farmer/slave drivers, the ants: we spray a mixture of Neem oil and diatomaceous earth (three tablespoons of Neem oil, and one quarter cup of D.E. in a gallon of warm tap water) on the trees once every week during peak leaf growth (right about now).  Spraying once weekly kills the adult insects, and the next spraying kills their eggs, and additional sprayings keep the monsters at bay.

I’m seeing garlic scapes (those whitish pods on the tops of some of the garlic stalks), out in the garden, and those will need to be removed (sliced and added to salads, coated with panko batter and deep fried, etc.), so the plants will focus on producing delicious, large bulbs.

Despite all those big-box “end of gardening season” sales, we still have yet to see any tomato horn worms, Colorado potatoe beetles, or cabbage worms, so vigilance is a must!  Check the leaf undersides for egg clusters (rub them out, or otherwise destroy ALL the eggs), and maintain a fresh supply of anti-evil-doer treatments:  the aforementioned Neem oil and diatomaceous earth, bacillus thuringiensis (“B.T.” is easier to remember and say), and ordinary liquid dish soap. We use the treatments in a cascading order of bug violence:  first we try the liquid dish soap (three tablespoons of soap, 1 teaspoon of your favorite cooking oil, mixed into a gallon of warm tap water – the cooking oil acts as a “sticker”, and keeps the soap from dripping right off the leaves), then we try the B.T. powder or liquid spray, then we bring out the Neem and D.E.

GARDEN CALENDAR

On the 11^th of July, our local garden club will tour another garden in the Elk area: lots of raised beds, huge composting program, fruit and veggie production, and much more! We will depart from Camden Grange promptly at 7 p.m., and convoy/car pool a short distance into Elk – lots to learn, and knowledgeable folks to quiz. Check back here for additional information on the tour.

On the 13^th of July, the WSU Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County, and the WSU County Extension Office will offer a class on photography in the garden. If your garden photos look like a fuzzy mass of unorganized greenery, then this class is for you – the class will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m., and will cost $5. You can call the Extension Office at 509-447-2401 for more details, or to register for the class, which will be held at the Extension Office (227 South Garden Avenue, Newport). Instructor Lori Stratton would like students to bring their cameras and their questions.

Okay – enough dillydallying – back out to the garden!