Weeding between the lines

​By Jim McGinty

 

By golly, it’s time to plant some of those cool-weather compliant vegetable friends outside in the garden, finally!

Here at Rancho McGinty, the cabbage starts (Stonehead, Late Flat Dutch, and Emerald Cross varieties) just went into their raised beds, planted through weed fabric (‘cuz I don’t want to weed more than I gotta!), and covered with floating row cover (Ree-may brand, available from Northwest Seed and Pet, in Spokane) to protect the little guys from those spoiling late frosts.  We have pushed our luck here with plants protected by Ree-May and it’s competitor, Agribon, down to plus 26 degrees Fahrenheit – the plants seemed happy the day after.

The garlic, planted last September through (again) weed fabric, is up and about ten inches tall – dark green stalks, and they already have that appetizing fragrance.

Potatoes, onions, and leeks are the next to be transplanted – they can all stand a “little” bit of frost, though I will cover them all with floating row cover.

Based on our recent shopping experiences, long-time wife Pat and I agree that this will be a great year to start or continue/expand a food garden – prices on even the mundane veggies seem to increase every week.  Remember that having the ability to grow your own food is a lot like having the ability to print your own money, though without having the whole Secret Service organization tramp through your garden, LOL.

In the fruit tree orchard, now is a great time to prune out all those unnecessary “suckers”, or water sprouts, or (officially) epicormic sprouts – you will know them by their long, lanky, sky-high growth habit – they can be pruned out at any time.

Here at Rancho McGinty, we are still seeing overnight below freezing temperatures, so we (and I hope, YOU) are holding off on planting those heat-loving, whiney-baby plant starts like tomatoes, peppers, Styrofoam ® brand eggplants, cucumbers, and others.  The “old-timer” gardeners in the area recommend waiting until all the snow has melted off the North side of Mount Spokane, before planting anything remotely frost-intolerant – that said, if you want some ripe corn, green beans, or even ornamental (though still poisonous) squash, you will have to push your luck:  black plastic mulch, drip irrigation, floating row cover, and maybe a comfy overnight electric blanket on the raised bed.

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On the 10^th of May, our local garden club will meet in Camden Grange and Community Center (7 Camden Road, Elk, WA 99009) for our last (we hope!) indoor meeting from 7-9 P.M.

We gardeners will be in high gear, garden season-wise, as it’s past time for planning – it’s time to plant, and weed, and water, and fun things like that. Cubicle workers know that a bad day in the garden is better than the best day in the office.

We plan our indoor meetings built around lots of socializing, trading of tips and tricks, learning (a class on companion planting is scheduled), and eating delicious snacks provided by our club members.

Our 14 June meeting is scheduled as an outdoor evening tour of a local garden, weather permitting, of course.

You can keep up on our garden club doings by checking out our webpage (www.elk-camdengardenkeepers.blogspot.com), or by looking for our Facebook page, “Elk-Camden Garden Keepers”.

On the 21^st of May, I will be teaching a class on garden drip irrigation systems, from 1-3 P.M. in the aforementioned Camden Grange and Community Center.  We will talk about how to make your garden more productive, reduce your dependence on expensive water, and maybe help with that bad back after a day of moving garden hoses and sprinklers. 

That’s it for this month – please remember to plant a couple of pumpkin seeds out there for the October Elk Park Committee’s Halloween party – free pumpkins for all the local kidlings.