Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

I’m telling you, the transition from Late Spring to Mid-Summer was a dandy – one day, it was in the lower seventies, Fahrenheit, and the next day the temperatures were (and still are) hovering in the upper nineties, with an occasional spike (gasp!) into the hundreds.  Here at Rancho McGinty, the livestock, the garden, the orchards, and even the humans are still trying to figure out what happened!

In the orchard, the fruit trees are completely devoid of fruit – that last frost killed the struggling blossoms, despite our attempts to wrap the trees in frost blankets (“Ree-May” floating row cover).  Longtime wife Pat and I will be buying apples (say, What??!!) to slice and dehydrate for Winter cobblers.  Additionally, the vulture lawyers for the birds who normally dine on our precious cherry crop have sent threatening letters regarding the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (written with feather quills, no doubt, but it still looks like chicken scratching to me).

Out in the garden, the garlic crop is a bust:  I suspect we will harvest just enough for our own gastronomic purposes, and some for replanting in September, and that will be that.  

On the other hand, the potatoes, onions, leeks, tomatoes, cabbage, kale, and even the inedible/poisonous squash look amazingly good.  

Speaking of tomatoes, I’m trying a new (to me) growing technique for the indeterminate varieties (those tomatoe plants that love to grow tall and spread all over the garden):  I’m attaching the central leaders up to twine hanging from overhead supports, and pruning off the offending lateral branches.  No more out-of-control tomatoe plant monsters?  We’ll see by August.

 

If you do have fruit depending from your tree branches, now is the time to thin those babies so that they don’t bang into each other, and bruise.  Six to twelve inches apart is a good standard, and despite your trauma caused by discarding perfectly good fruit, remember that the more leaves per fruit, the sweeter the fruit.

Out in the garden, now is a great time to plant some Autumn crops:  beets, carrots, bush beans, and other short-season veggies can all be seeded now for late harvest – just remember to plant the seeds a tad (?) deeper than you did your Spring crop seeds.

Be sure to keep an eye (pun intended) on the potatoes that may be peeking out from under the green plants – we want to hill dirt/compost/mulch up over the exposed spuds to prevent the production of solanine (part of the green tint in potatoes exposed to sunlight).  Too much ingested solanine in humans may cause headaches, nausea, and other symptoms I cannot mention in a family-oriented garden column, though I do wonder why the “potentially toxic” solanine has NO effect on the rodents that dine on my hard-won potatoes?

If your raspberry plants have finished producing black, red, purple, or golden goodness, you can safely prune out the tired looking, brown canes, as they are ready for retirement.  

Also, please remember to water and turn your compost piles – all those microbes, earth worms, and insects really need a moist environment all Summer-long, in order to produce your “brown gold”.

Finally, remember to take a moment and enjoy your garden:  all your hard work will produce food that cannot be matched by anything you can buy in the stores, or even at the farmers’ markets.

GARDENING CALENDAR:

On July 8^th, those problematic produce propagators, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer an on-line Zoom class preparing you to answer that perennial question of “what is that plant that is taking over my garden/flower bed/orchard/front room?”.  The class, “Weeds of Pend Oreille County” will run from 6:30 P.M. to 8 P.M., and will be taught by Master Gardener Loretta Nichols.  You can sign up for the class by calling the Extension Office at 509-447-2401 – the cost is $5.

You can also check in on the happenings with our local gardening club here, or at our Facebook page.

During this hot period of our lives, drink lots of water (chilled adult beverages are NOT a recommended substitute!), stay out of the heat when possible, and remember that snow-shoveling weather is only five months away.