By Jim McGinty
Summer 2020 is officially here, and the garden and orchards are exploding with green leaves, baby fruit and veggies, and (sigh) lots of weeds. One of the nice things about the “unified” gardens and barnyard here at Rancho McGinty, is that our weeds become food for our goats, sheep, and chickens. Our chickens lay eggs with dark orange yolks from eating all the greens, and our four-legged “petting zoo” residents really enjoy their treats – I would like to say that all those wheelbarrow loads of handpicked weeds cut down on our feed store bill, but that’s a pipe dream.
For those of us who would like to control (as if we could!) the weed takeover, here is a time-tested recipe for a vinegar-based weed killer/controller (though I sometimes think the weeds are just amused by our efforts): combine one gallon warm white vinegar (store-bought is fine), 2 cups Epsom salts, and 3 tablespoons liquid dish washing detergent (“Dawn” brand works really well). Spray on offending greenery, and watch the little devils shrivel and … we’ll see.
This recipe is courtesy of local garden club members Marlene Routt and Stephanie Routt, who also hosted our club’s first “virtual garden tour” in June. As we cannot legally assemble for outdoor gatherings, this event was filmed by club member Geoff Carson, and will soon be available to other club members and the public – stay tuned for details.
Other notes: long time readers of this gardening column will undoubtedly remember my seasonal mini-rants on organizing, inventorying, and buying garden seed before those “out of stock” notices show up on your shopping list. This Spring, of course, a whole lot of us discovered that all the new or returning gardeners bought up transplants and seeds meant for US! So, I will again ask everyone to check the status of their seed supplies, as I continue to hear that seed suppliers are already predicting shortages in many crop varieties. This is also a good year to learn how to save seed from the varieties you enjoy – for the most part, seed saving is easy, and there are literally hundreds of “Youtube” videos on the topic, though my favorite book on seed saving is “Seed to Seed”, by Suzanne Ashworth. ‘Nuff said.
Out in the garden, now is the time to watch for signs of insufficient water or nutrients. When checking the plants (something I do daily), I check for soil moisture content by poking my pointer finger (the “Mark I Digital Moisture Meter”) down into the dirt alongside a sampling of the row, and if there is no sign of wet/moist dirt, it’s time to irrigate. Underfed plants usually show limp or weak or yellow leaves (though there may be other underlying causes – just to make life fun for us gardeners!), and a good foliar drenching (spraying the leaves until the solution runs off) of your favorite plant juice (“Alaska” brand fish fertilizer, “Miracle Gro” if you are so inclined, or even homemade manure tea) may be indicated. Long term fertilizing methods might include poultry poo (we use chicken house floor scrapings which include the aforementioned poo, pine shavings, and dirt), commercially-produced 10-10-10 fertilizer, or some of the organic “Gardens Alive” (513-354-1482) plant specific products (my gardening partner Pat and I really like using their “Root Crops Alive”, and “Tomatoes Alive” powders – makes for great potatoes, beets, tomatoes, etc.).
If your June-bearing strawberry plants have produced their last berry, now is a good time to fertilize the plants, or if you have ever-bearing plants, now is NOT a good time to fertilize the plants, unless you want a LOT of ornamental strawberry leaves – best to wait until mid-season.
As you empty garden spaces of cool-weather plants (broccoli, cabbage, etc.), now is a good time to fill in the areas with warm-weather plants (lettuce, other salad greens, more basil, more green beans). You may want to re-fertilize those areas before planting, based on how hungry were the cool-weather crops.
In the fruit tree orchard, now is the time to finish thinning the baby fruit, such that they do not knock into each other during high winds, and damage/bruise their branch mates – bruised fruit = rotten fruit.
Remember to check daily for aphid infestation on the tree leaves, especially the tender new leaves, as the sap sucking aphids can really ruin a harvest. I use this spray mixture, applied once a week for three weeks: combine one gallon of warm water with two tablespoons of Neem oil, one tablespoon of liquid dish washing detergent, and one or two teaspoons of diatomaceous earth (NOT the pool grade of D.E.).
GARDEN CALENDAR
Our local gardening club members are hoping for the opportunity to gather for a garden club tour this Summer, and I hope we will be able to legally do so, maybe in August?
Meanwhile, those persistent plant propagators, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County are offering on-line and “Zoom” gardening classes. You can check for class details on their website: http://extension.wsu.edu/pendoreille/gardening, or you can call the extension office in Newport at 509-447-2401, for more information.
Our local gardening club also has current (?) information on growing food and flowers in our area of the world, and you can check back here at our blog or at our Facebook group page. We hope to have our June “virtual garden tour” video up and running soon-ish, so please check out those two club resources.
I can see ripe, red strawberries growing in the garden, from my office chair, so it’s time to harvest, and, just maybe whip up some milkshakes – blueberries are next, then blackberries – I do love being a gardener (and a consumer of homemade milkshakes J) at this time of year.
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