Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Spring sprang, I think – at this point, the last few days of March 2018, there is no snow anywhere on Rancho McGinty – though we have not placed the snowshovels in storage!

Out in the open garden, the compost piles are coming back to life, with daytime steam emanating from the mixture of last year’s maple leaves and barnyard poo. Also, the garden soil is softening, and I am finding just how many garden projects I forgot, or failed to finish before last year’s first snowfall. If there is good news out there in the garden, it’s that I am finding some missing/never-noticed tools, and there is the (possibly misconstrued) concept that this year’s garden will be our best garden ever! I anticipate lush green growth, tons of delicious produce, few if any evil-doing diseases and insects, and loud acclamation from passing and envious motorists.  

Out in the orchard, this spring’s fuzzy buds are out on the fruit tree branches, signaling that pruning season is about to end: we don’t prune once those precious buds start to break open, and we wait to further prune until all the leaves are full sized. If you have not already sprayed your expensive fruit trees with dormant spray, you have a couple of weeks when the daytime temperatures will be in the 40s Fahrenheit. Dormant spray kills/suffocates a host of overwintering pests:  scale, leaf roller, coddling moth larvae, mealy bugs, and mites, all of which will compete with you for homegrown fruit.

If you are waiting to plant or transplant fruit bushes or trees, now is a perfect time – remember the old adage, “$25 tree, $200 hole” (actually, I just made up that old adage), so be sure to dig a hole three times the diameter of the root ball, plant the tree in a rodent-defeating wire basket if you have this issue, backfill with good soil mixed with compost, and soak the tree roots thoroughly to remove air pockets, and to hydrate those important root fibers.  

By mid-April, you may be able to rototill or dig into the garden soil some composted manure and/or organic matter (you DID remember to accumulate/beg for your neighbor’s black plastic trash bags of tree leaves last autumn?!).  

I anticipate continuing nightly frosts until the end of April and into early May, based on my years of painful (and expensive) plant replacements (sob!).

This IS a good time to divide that immense rhubarb plant by using a sharp shovel to slice out about a quarter of the root (you can replant the slice, or trade it to a neighbor), and fill in the empty space with some aged manure – your rhubarb plant will reward your effort!

Likewise, your asparagus crowns will appreciate a few shovel loads of manure – remember to call me at the time of harvest!

If you are waiting to start some veggie seeds indoors, now it the time to begin Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, eggplants (why?!), leeks, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce.

GARDEN CALENDAR

On April 10, our local garden club will meet in Camden Grange, located at 21 Elk-

Camden Road, Elk, at 7 p.m. to talk about our 2018 garden plans, learn how propagate new plants from existing plants or “liberated” plants (as my beloved gardening partner and wife Pat refers to abandoned or underused plants found on the wayside), and to confirm or deny rumors started when certain members “forgot” to attend the March meeting. Our meetings are always open to the public, and both new and experienced gardeners always learn something new at each meeting.  You can always check on our club doings by checking here at the blog.

On April 12, those gleeful gardening gurus the Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners will offer a class from 6:30-8:30 p.m., on developing healthy garden soil using both purchased and locally-developed amendments. You can register for the class, which costs $5 per person, by calling the WSU Extension Office at 509-447-2401. The class will be held in the Extension Office, which is located at 227 S. Garden Ave., Newport.

On the 21st of April, the Master Gardeners will be back with a class on raising healthy trees and shrubs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the CREATE center at 900 W. Fourth St., Newport.  The class will begin with indoor classroom work, then proceed outside for show-and-tell, and some simple pruning techniques, so dress for the weather.  The class costs $5 per person, and you can register for the class by calling that same 509-447-2401 phone number.

And on the 28^th of April, those busy botanical bargainers will hold their annual Master Gardener Plant Sale, from 9 a.m. to noon, in the Stratton Elementary gymnasium (1201 W. Fifth St., Newport). This is THE place to purchase your garden, flower, shrub and tree starts, and you will be able to ask gardening questions of people who actually know what they are talking about!

That’s it for this month – time to slowly tilt the recliner forward, and take a step towards the light.