Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

I trust your 2020 garden plans and activities are racing right along, as we leave the starting blocks on our sprint to ripe produce, before the checkered flag (I know – I mixed metaphors) of the first killing frost shuts us down.

If we want edible veggies, and veggies for preserving, now is the time to plant out those crops that can handle a light frost:  Brussels sprouts, broccoli, turnips, leeks, peas, cauliflower, potatoes, onions, carrots, radishes, kale, chard, spinach, and cabbage. 

By the end of May, we should be able to push our gardening luck and plant out the whiny, less-hardy crops:  tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash (even the nasty-tasting, ornamental-only, livestock-grade stuff, which describes ALL of it!), beans, corn, pumpkins, basil, and cucumbers.  Here at Rancho McGinty, we have pre-cut pieces of floating row cover (“Ree-May” or “Agribon” brands, locally sold by “Northwest Seed and Pet”, or readily available through the internet) ready to plop over the plants, at the first hint of an over-night sneak frost.  Floating row cover is pretty amazing stuff:  it protects most plants down to +26 degrees F., and used as a crop cover, it protects our dainty plants from pest infestation (think no aphids in your Brussels sprouts!), while it allows sunlight, water, and air to infiltrate.  Good stuff, but it needs to be removed during wind/insect/human-intervention paintbrush pollination time – we just pull it back in the morning to allow the bees to do their flower thing, then replace it in the early afternoon.

If your garlic spears have popped up, now is the time to carefully pull back the over-Winter mulch, and lightly fertilize between the rows with your choice of aged poultry poo, or a 5-5-5 chemical fertilizer.  Once the fertilizer has been watered into the rows, you can carefully replace the mulch around the garlic spears to reduce the weed population.

In the strawberry bed, now is NOT the time to fertilize the plants, unless your goal is lots of pretty, green leaves – if you want delicious strawberries, wait until the plants produce blossoms, then fertilize.

In the fruit tree orchard, now is the time to stop pruning, and let the trees blossom forth – be sure to take time to sniff the flowers – my favorite aromas are from the choke cherry, apple, and pear blossoms.

If you were late to the gate (returning to the race metaphor – stay with me!) with spraying the fruit trees with dormant oil, you will want to wait until early Winter or next Spring – any smothering oil sprayed on the trees now will impact (negatively) your fruit harvest.

GARDENING CALENDAR

To the best of my knowledge, no public face-to-face gardening events are taking place for a while, though for those with an internet connection, this is a great time to check out the Master Gardener “Short Course” modules produced by the states of Oregon and Idaho, and offered for free during this break in normal life – just use your favorite browser to search for topic, and enjoy on-line, virtual gardening, without the weeding!

Our local gardening club also has an on-line presence, and you can check us out at our website (www.elk-camdengardenkeepers.blogspot.com), or look up our Facebook page (Elk-Camden Garden Keepers).

That’s it for now – I see asparagus spears popping up in their raised bed, and the over-Wintered kale needs some pruning – don’t let all those Spring gardening chores “run” you down 😀.