Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Heavy rain today, with the promise of sunshine for the next week – sounds like the weeds and grass will be happy.  Here at Rancho McGinty, the recent cooler temperatures mean that the veggie seeds I planted two weeks ago probably rotted in the ground – veggies like soil temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and our soil thermometer currently reads a chilly 41 degrees – I’ll replant those seeds during our upcoming “heat wave.”  Looking good, so far though, are the red cabbage and green cabbage plants, the potatoes, the onions (more on this later), the chard and kale plants, and the garlic and asparagus – all cool weather crops.  

This year, I’m using black plastic polyfilm in which to grow most of our onions.  The strip is 24 inches wide, with 3-4 inch-diameter holes burned into the plastic, down the length of the garden.  Under the black plastic is a drip irrigation weep hose, and yes, I did remember to move the poly film strip off of the weep hose, BEFORE I burned the holes with our propane flame weeder – that was the fun part of the project.  I planted most of the 200-plus onion sets into the holes, one set per hole, and between the added soil heat resulting from the black surface, and the lack of competing weeds, the onions are far and away taller and greener than their cousins which were planted in the open garden, with a grass clippings mulch around them.  Stay tuned for additional onion updates.

In the orchard, our apple, pear, and cherry trees were covered in flowers this spring – if we can avoid a late frost, and if I can remember to adequately water the trees this summer, we should have a bumper crop of delicious fruit.  This is a good time to prune out all those unnecessary water sprouts or suckers in the trees, and I’ll watch for fruit to appear – I’ll want to thin the nickel-sized diameter babies to 6 inches or so apart (I don’t want the fruits banging into each other – bruises equal rotten spots).  

Starting next week, (when it’s probably safe from a late frost?), we should be able to transplant all those leggy warm weather veggie starts:  peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, pumpkins, and the livestock fodder squash.  I’m thinking I will also plant seeds for the hot weather crops as well:  sweet corn, dry beans and green beans, and cucumbers.  I plan to protect all those tender, touchy plants under agricultural row cover (Ree-May ®, or Agribon ®, available at Spokane’s Northwest Seed and Pet), just in case the we get nipped.

Speaking of tender, touchy things, please remember that our favorite flora fans, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County, offer a gardener’s answer clinic for garden-related questions on plant and insect identification, soil improvements and composting, and much more.  You can visit the clinic site at the WSU Extension Office (227-A South Garden Avenue, Newport) on Thursdays, from 4:30-6 p.m., or you can e-mail questions (and photos!) to pomastergardeners@outlook.com, or if you insist on old-school contacts, you can call them (on the telephone- gasp!) at 509-447-2401.

GARDEN CALENDAR

On the 11^th of June, our local gardening club will begin our summer tour season with a visit to a neighboring family garden, which is in the process of conversion to a small commercial garden (long-term retirement income thinking).  Lots to see here with home-built greenhouses, salad crops growing through black polyfilm mulch, and much more (“mulch” more?).  You can obtain more information on the tour by accessing our club’s website here, or by checking our Facebook group page.

On the 20^th of June, our sister organization, the Backyard Beekeepers, will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Deer Park Senior Center, for an evening of bee information and bee training.  If you want to raise bees in our non-jungle area of the world, you will want to talk with these folks before spending any of your precious time or money.

Outside, I can hear the quack grass and dandelion plants taking over my hard-won spaces in the garden, lawn, and orchard – they, however, can hear me attaching a new one pound propane tank to my flame weeder – vengeance is MINE!