May garden club meeting alert

With iffy weather, and limited sunlight at 8 p.m., and due to an amazing number of club member requests on the topic of attracting pollinators, we will have a class on 11 May 2021, at 7 P.M. in Camden Grange.  I think we have all noticed the lack of buzzing pollinators out in the garden, and so Diane Stutzman from Desert Jewels Nursery, in Spokane Valley, has agreed to talk with us about doing something to bring (and keep?) those invaluable insects IN our gardens.  Diane also has a lot of experience with growing plants in drought conditions, and in case you have not noticed, we are certainly WAY behind in our rain totals for this Spring.  I read that we (here in Northeast Washington) are in our eighth year of the current "official" drought, so the more we know about growing plants that are hardy, adapted, and drought tolerant, the better for our appetites and food budget.  Diane brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the class, so be sure to take notes.  This meeting and class will be video recorded, and available on-line for those members who are unable to attend in person.

Club members are encouraged to bring their favorite snacks to the meeting to share with other goodie-deprived members - several of us club members have had our lives enhanced by brownies 😉 - just sayin'.

also, our club videographer Geoff Carson tells me that our club's April meeting and Outdoor Hydroponics class (courtesy of club member Steve Byars) is now available on "Youtube".  You can access the video class here at our club's blogsite or via our club's Facebook page.

If you have not already paid your 2021 annual club membership dues, please seek out club treasurer Jane Bolz at the May meeting:  $5 for one person, $10 for a family.  Remember, our membership card has a "secret" code that allows the bearer to claim a 15% discount on garden-related items (no, not for the purchase of chinchillas, Jim Hoffman!) at "Northwest Seed and Pet" stores.

Finally, the North Country Food Pantry is looking for garden volunteers, both experienced and inexperienced, to help with the Spring garden preparations and planting.  The Food Pantry is located at 40015 North Collins Rd., Elk, WA  99009, and you can call them at 509-292-2530 to volunteer, or to donate garden-related equipment, tools, supplies, etc.

see you at the meeting, jim.

Hydroponic gardening class now online

Video of club member Steve Byars’ class on growing food hydroponically, using inexpendive materials and simple building/growing techniques, is now online for your viewing pleasure. Steve presented the informatio at the April club meeting, and supervised the construction of a hydroponic mini-garden right there in Camden Grange. Check it out right here.

Weedingbetween the lines

By Jim McGinty

 

My earlier weather prediction for Spring 2021 has fallen by the wayside:  cool (yes), long (yes), wet (a decided NO).  The National Weather Service reports that in the month of March 2021, we received one quarter of an inch of rain, while normal March rainfall is about two inches.  April’s precipitation looks to be similar, with most of the alleged “moisture” falling as a heavy mist, with occasional drips.

In the home garden and orchard, this means we should have already started watering our garlic, asparagus, berry bushes, and fruit trees.

This looks to be a “water-wise” gardening year, so remember to water early in the day (reducing “hot” weather water evaporation), water deeply and infrequently (to encourage deep root growth), and water efficiently (use timers, check soil moisture using your Mark I digital finger probe, install drip irrigation and weep hose, and apply a thick organic mulch to retain your expensive moisture).  

Here at Rancho McGinty, the garlic crop is looking really good, while the asparagus patch may not have survived the +1 degree Fahrenheit temperatures of mid-February.  So far, we’ve already planted crops that can handle a modicum of frost:  potatoes, onions, leeks, and cabbage.  Next up will be the kale, spinach, and beets, with the heat lovers (tomatoes, peppers, ornamental squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes) all impatiently awaiting the end of May or maybe early June.

Out in the orchard, pruning time is about over, with the bud break emergence of blossoms and leaves – unless you are more concerned with long term fruit production from neglected trees, in which case, remember to prune out only one third of the tree canopy.  You will lose fruit production this year, but you will see more and better fruit in the coming years.  Also, please remember that all those water sprouts, or suckers, can be pruned out at any time – they just suck energy from the tree.

Speaking of fruit tree blossoms, many local gardeners and orchardists have commented to me on the reduction in the numbers of pollinators:  seems we have fewer bees buzzing around, and that’s a serious problem for those of us who like to eat!

There are a number of valid-sounding theories on what is happening to our favorite pollinators, but for us home food growers, the bottom line is that we are harvesting fewer fruits and veggies.

Some food crops do not need outside pollination (wind, insects, birds, etc.), such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, tubular Styrofoam ® (I mean eggplant), okra, and peas.  Longtime wife Pat bought me a battery-powered hand pollinator (it looks kinda like a yellow and black striped electric toothbrush!), which makes ME an outside pollinator, or maybe a “pollen pimp” 😉:  I’ll let you know if human pollination efforts are worthwhile.

Some food crops do not need outside pollination because we eat them before the fact:  potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and most herbs.

For the most part, pollination is important for most of our food; even the alfalfa flowers in our local hayfields must be pollinated in order to produce sustenance for our beefy herbivores.

What can we home gardeners do to attract more pollinators?

Plant colorful flowers that will bloom in waves throughout the Summer (honeysuckle, zinnias, daisies, marigolds); plant shade trees (especially nectar-producing trees like Tulip Poplars); encourage the native flowering plants (currently known as “weeds”), like yarrow, service berry, and Oregon grape; provide clean water (bees gotta drink too, ya know!) that will NOT attract mosquitos; and if you must use pesticides, wisely use them (spray in early evening, and don’t spray the flowers).

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On the 13^th of May, local Pend Oreille County Master Gardener Jane Bolz will be teaching an on-line “Zoom” class from 6:30 P.M. to 8 P.M., on how to grow and use micro-greens and sprouts.  Micro-greens and sprouts are essentially baby veggies, provide more nutrition than their mature versions, and they are easy to grow indoors – they are a space-saving, nearly-instant food.  You can register for the $5 “Zoom” class by calling the Pend Oreille County Extension office at 509-447-2401.

Finally, don’t forget to check the blogsite and/or Facebook page for our local garden club, to see what we are up to, and whether we need bail money: www.elk-camdengardenkeepers.blogspot.com, and Elk-Camden Garden Keepers on Facebook.  

That’s it for now – Summer is on the way, no, really!

 

 

 

 

Time to plant potatoes!

it is indeed time to plant those starchy sources of fiber, iron, and potassium, the spuds.  after a lot of research and experience, i prefer the trench and hill method, but others like using the grow bag, stacked tyres and straw, and even the no-dig solutions to producing home grown french fries, mashed potatoes, hash browns, and baked potatoes smothered in butter, sour cream, chives, chili, cheddar cheese, and other great toppings.

if you have not purchased your seed potatoes yet, club member Steve Byars has an answer:  he is offering for free to other club members some of his 2020 crop of potatoes that have sprouted, and are ready to plant.  Norland Red and Yukon Gold varieties, and they are a snap to plant:  using my favorite trench method (but the basics are adaptable to your favorite method), carefully plant the sprouted spud into the trench about six inches deep, being sure to preserve all the sprouts you can (you WILL break a few, believe me), and cautiously backfill dirt onto the potatoe and it's associated sprouts.  you can leave the sprouts poking out of the ground - once the potatoe contacts the dirt, miracles happen, and even a mild frost that zaps the exposed sprout will not affect all the underground action.  i plant the seed potatoes about twelve inches apart, and in long, straight rows about three feet apart - drip or "weep" hose is excellent in this application, and is a real water (and therefore money) saver.  when the trenched potatoe plants are about ten inches tall, i carefully rake soil from the trench excavation half way up the plants, and continue hilling until the plants are about twenty-four inches tall.  

if you are interested in Steve's free seed spud offer, you can contact me and i'll hook you up!  my e-mail address is j.p.mcgintyelk2@gmail.com.  

thanks, jim.

Garden Club Meeting Alert

we will be meeting in Camden grange at 7 p.m., this coming tuesday evening, the 13th of april.  our scheduled speaker is our own steve byars, who will be showing and telling all about his homemade hydroponic garden.  steve will have the materials and tools on hand to show us how to build our own system, so we can grow salads all winter long, and indoors!

also, barbara midtbo will be bringing some samples of her tomatoe offerings, and IF you have ordered tomatoes from barbara, and IF you call/e-mail her to confirm your order, she will bring it to the meeting as well.  you can call her at 509-953-6442, or e-mail her at bamidtbo@gmail.com.

i've attached barbara's final list of tomatoe offerings, so please browse, and order soon!

also also, club secretary/treasurer jane bolz will be there to collect our annual club dues ($5 per person, or $10 per household), and issue club membership cards.

club videographer geoff carson will be video recording the meeting and class, so if you are still on the run from the law, you will want to appropriately seat yourself.

final also, club member joe schofield is looking for work pruning fruit trees in the neighborhood - if you have trees that could use a haircut or new style, experienced pruner joe plans to attend the meeting.  

please remember to bring along some of your favorite snacks or dessert to share with the rest of us, and if you still have unwanted seeds, plants, or books, there will be someone there to rehome them.

see you there, jim.

509-292-0326

Get ready to meet!

Due to a large outpouring of club member demands, our local garden club will be meeting in person at Camden Grange at 7 P.M. on Tuesday, the 9^th of March.

This is a club members only meeting – we are not advertising the event to the public.  It’s just us!  Please do not pass this invitation on to non-club members – the grange hall is commodious, but not big enough for a large crowd of rowdy gardeners.

We will be observing current health guidelines (masks, distancing, recent bathing, etc.).

I understand that some members will not attend due to concerns over indoor meetings.  I hope to arrange a video recording of the meeting, and the class on the topic of “growing food in a short Summer season”, so maybe members can virtually attend.

If you attend in person, please remember to bring any unwanted, garden-related stuff (seeds, seed packets, plants, magazines and/or catalogs, etc.), as well as a favorite dessert/snack of your choice.

Toward the end of the meeting, I will be asking the attending members if they want to continue monthly in-person meetings for the months of April and May, with possible outdoor garden tours for the Summer months.

See you there!

 

Jim.

 

Weeding between the lines for March 2021

By Jim McGinty

 

Looking out my window, at the end of February, all I see is white snow and brown mud – not at all conducive to H.G.T. (Happy Gardening Thoughts), but the promise is still out there.  I tell everyone that gardeners must be the most optimistic people on the planet:  we’re already planning the best ever garden, featuring a complete lack of weeds and back pains, ripe veggies and fruit just falling off the vines into our harvest baskets, and even full cooperation from the Frost Giants.  On further reflection, maybe the correct word describing us gardeners is not “optimistic”, but rather “delusional”.   We’ll know by August, right?

I’m seeing a lack, or a deficiency (one may not use the word “shortage” in print these days) of seed packets in many garden centers and even hardware stores – fewer choices and higher prices.  Even some of the really big names in seed suppliers are restricting purchases to commercial farmers, or are claiming that sales orders have overwhelmed their staff members to the point that they are temporarily limiting new purchases.

Might be time to inventory your own seed bank, and talk with your gardening neighbors about swapping seeds, or you might ask the local public libraries if they are offering a seed exchange program.  

Here at Rancho McGinty, we are starting seeds indoors for early Spring transplants (onions, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, etc.), and also the seeds for those Frost-intolerant, long generation plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc.).

Longtime wife Pat and I are also laying out the 2021 garden on paper (way easier to move pencil marks than to move dirt and raised beds, when the paper version does not match reality J), and checking our garden notes from last year to ensure we plant stuff in new places (“crop rotation” is the official name of the process) – last year’s Colorado Potatoe Beetle babies pop up in last year’s spud bed, and find that this year we planted celery there – starving Beetles – bummer!

If you can get out to the berry garden, now is the perfect time to prune out last year’s canes, the one’s that produced those delicious berries – cut down to the ground all the brown canes, leaving the green or blue canes to do their magic.

If you are raising currents, now is the time to prune out the older (three years old or older) trunks – we’re looking for fruit here, not leaves.

In the orchard, now is the time to finish cutting off all the branches that cross and rub, show Winter damage, or are growing back inside the tree canopies. Also, dormant oil spraying is on the calendar – the oil smothers over-Wintering pests like scale insects, bud moths, leaf rollers, mites, and many other enemies.  Be sure to spray on a plus forty degrees Fahrenheit day – saturate the branches, twigs, and trunk.

GARDEN CALENDAR:

On the 11^th of March, those prolific plant protectors, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer a free on-line class/panel on the topic of growing small fruits and berries in our often-challenging environment.  You can register for the Zoom discussion, which runs from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M., by calling the Extension office in Newport at 509-447-2401.

That’s it for now – this is a planning month, and not a planting month.  Wait for it – wait for it – Spring will arrive, and possibly soon.