Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Well, I’d like to say that “spring sprang” or maybe “spring has sprung” but a whole lot of experienced local gardeners are waiting (with baited breath, due no doubt to an excess of fish in their diet, LOL) a bit longer to plant out their tomatoes and peppers!  I know that the local retail plant sales folks are enjoying a land office business in replacement warm- weather plant starts.  On the other hand, do we really have 90 days of frost-free weather until all those hamburger bun-sized, slicer tomatoes are ripe?  Ah, the joys of gardening in our challenging environment.  Pro-tip here:  floating row cover (manufacturer names include Ree-May and Agri-bon) is your lifeline in our USDA zone 5.5, as the heavy-weight version will (probably) protect your precious plant progeny down to +26 degrees Fahrenheit.  Floating row cover (also known as a “frost blanket”) is locally sold by Northwest Seed and Pet in Spokane.

Here at Rancho McGinty, the garlic stalks are dark green, and twenty inches tall – garlic LOVES lots of potassium (from our woodstove ashes) and rainfall. The cabbage starts are kinda thinking about growing up out there, and the onion starts (bought from our favorite supplier, Dixondale Farms) are liking our cooler, damper weather a LOT.  I have yet to plant out the sweet potatoe slips, ‘cuz I’m (and I’m not afraid to say it) reluctant to plant jungle crops outside right now.  Our sweet potatoe slips (bought from George’s Plant Farm) are currently growing in a potting soil-filled gallon pot indoors, and look amazing – and safe.

In the orchard, most of the early fruit trees are covered with blossoms, while the late versions are (wisely?) holding off on sending their flower children out into the cold, cold world.  We’ll see who bears ripe fruit.

Now is a good time to direct seed some of the crops that will handle a little cool weather, before Summer settles in:  beets, carrots, chard, kohlrabi, cabbage, turnips, radishes, spinach, and peas.  Please remember to read the seed packet directions on how to plant those seeds – some of those aforementioned seeds are really small, and will not germinate if deeply planted.

This is also a great time to plant new trees, bushes, and shrubs – and remember to watch for the seed stalks on your rhubarb plants – remove them with a sharp knife at their base, as the seed stalks take away precious energy from the leaf stalks (the red part we like in strawberry-rhubarb pie!).

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On 04 June, local garden enthusiast Josie Donahue will present a class (and garden tour!) on improving your garden soil using Bio-char and the Hugelkulture method.  Both improvements are easy and inexpensive, and can make your veggie harvest even better.  The class, offered by Camden Grange and Community Center, located at 7 Camden Road, Elk, WA, runs from 1-3 P.M., and costs $5 per person. 

You can register for this class at the grange website:  camdengrange.org

On 14 June, our local garden club will be off touring for the first time this season, with a return to an amazing garden we stomped through last summer.  This year, the host gardener has improved her garden, and especially improved her drip irrigation system, and we can all benefit from learning how to grow better food plants, using less water, and saving on time spent moving those garden hoses!

We will depart from Camden Grange and Community Center promptly at 7 P.M., and the public is always welcome to accompany us on our peregrinations.

That’s it for this month – time to weed, and mow, and mulch, and dream of red, ripe, juicy tomatoes – I’ll just leave the salt shaker in the garden as an inspiration (or threat!) to the tomato plants.