Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

This Summer’s heat is upon us, and our gardens will definitely appreciate our watering, feeding, and harvesting efforts (well, maybe not the “harvesting” part, so much – I don’t know if the blueberry plants appreciate us munching on their progeny, LOL).  

Here at Rancho McGinty, the garlic harvest is almost finished, and the bulbs look great, with nary a split outer skin or gopher bite.  Growing the bulbs through heavy weed fabric really (!) means limited competition from weeds, and therefore the bulbs are seriously large.

The aforementioned blueberries are almost ready to harvest, though quite a few of them have fallen victims to the “I’m just checking to see if it’s time to pick blueberries!” scheme.  Blueberry milkshakes are on the horizon!

Long-time wife and fellow gardener Pat and I have been eating salads from our “Earth Box” gardens on the front deck:  “Igloo” lettuce, “Bloomsdale Longstanding” spinach, and “Wayahead”slicer tomatoes – with (wait for it!) Kraft brand “Catalina” salad dressing – it’s an ‘80’s thing.

Out in the main garden, the key, now, is adequate watering and moisture preservation:  early morning (on a timer!), deep, infrequent watering, and thick mulch are the answers.  I prefer to use weep hose and drip irrigation – no overhead, wasteful “Rainbird”-type sprayers in this heat.

In this heat, some of the leafy greens may appreciate some shade cloth to reduce sunscald and heat stress:  commercial (30-50% dark) shade cloth can block direct sunlight damage, and keep your green leaves from bleaching (and tasting nasty).  A good, inexpensive alternative to commercial shade cloth are ordinary, dark sheer curtains – check the thrift stores!

And if you are ready to seed plants for an Autumn harvest, now is the time to seed leaf lettuce, peas, chard, and spinach – you may need to replenish the soil fertility, but there is still time until first frost.

Out in the orchard, the aphids are finally gone (for now), due primarily to three, weekly sprayings of Neem oil – the new leaves look lush and green.  It’s time to thin the fruit, which is always a heartbreaker for dedicated fruit tree folks:  we waited all Winter and Spring for the blossoms, and then the fruit, and now we are supposed to discard ANY baby fruit that are too close to each other??!!  Separate them, or the poor dears will bang into each other in the wind, and then bruise, and spoil – NOT our goal.

While you are being mean to the baby fruit, look for long, heavily-populated branches which may need some support as the remaining (sigh) fruit gain in size and weight – I use repurposed forked branches.

GARDENING CALENDAR:

On the 8^th of August, those fans of fantastic flora, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer a class on dividing perennials, instructed by He Who Knows Flowering Bulbs Like No Other, Master Gardener Steve Nokes.  If you want to know (more!) about correctly dividing gladiolas, tulips, daffodils, etc., you will want to attend this class at 6:30 P.M. in the C.R.E.A.T.E. place, located at 900 West Fourth Street, Newport.  You can call the W.S.U. Extension Office at 509-447-2401 to register for the class, and ask for more details.

On the 13^th of August, our local gardening club will offer the final garden tour for Summer 2024, with a visit to the garden of one of our favorite guest speakers.  We will see how to use strategic garden planning for raised bed gardens, herb wheels, vineyards, and fruit tree orchards – all in a forested setting, with a solar and wind-powered lifestyle.  You will not want to miss this opportunity.  We will be leaving Camden Grange and Community Center (located at 7 Camden Road, Elk, WA) at 6:30 P.M., as the tour location is about 45 minutes away, up Le Clerc Road, on the other side of the Pend Oreille River.  

Speaking of our local gardening club, our first annual Zucchini Festival is coming up in September:  competition categories include largest Zuke (based on length, width, and weight), Zuke animal forms, most stylishly-dressed Zuke, Zukes fashioned into boats (do NOT need to float, LOL), and other categories as well.  So encourage your squash, and plan to squash all other challengers in the categories of your choice.  Finally, a good use for all those “baseball bat”-sized zukes hiding in the undergrowth!  More Festival details at our next meeting on 13 August.

Be careful in the heat out there:  wide-brimmed hats, long sleeves, sun block, bug spray, and lots of refreshing liquids.

 

 

 

 

July garden tour confirmed!

we are back on for a garden tour tomorrow evening, 09 july, 7:00 p.m. departure time from camden grange (located at 7 camden road, elk, wa).  we will be checking out and learning from a large family garden located in spring valley, so a 30 minute trip, one way.  lots of raised beds, green houses, drip irrigation (really important to learn this topic this summer!), and more.  

our weather will be hot, so please appropriately dress, and hydrate.  

our garden club freebie table will be set up in the grange, with donated gardening-related stuff to take home - if you have something (no, not all those decade-old "national geographic" magazines, LOL!), to donate, please bring it/them along.

see you tomorrow evening, jim.

509-292-0326

July garden tour?

well, our july garden tour host just informed me that she does not want to have us tramping around her garden this coming tuesday evening.  so, if one of you would like to volunteer your garden for an impromptu tour, please let me know.  

if no one raises their hand, we will skip the july tour/meeting on 09 july, and we'll also miss the 100 degree + heat as well, so that could be a mixed blessing.

please let me know what you think, jim.

509-292-0326

Garden club tour Tuesday, June 11

YES, it's Garden Tour time once again!!!  We (minus me, as I will be busy marrying off another Grandson) will assemble at Camden Grange and Community Center (located at 7 Camden Road, Elk, Wa) for a tour of "Faith Farm", operated by Sandy and Greg Coehlo.  Club secretary/treasurer Jane Bolz will guide the group to the tour site, leaving the Grange at 7 p.m. sharp. You will have lots of opportunities to chat with Sandy about: market farming, greenhouses, roadside advertising/weed block, livestock, and much more.  Lots to learn here, so bring your notebooks and cellphones.  

As an added pre-tour event, long-time club member Barbara Midtbo (our very own club Tomato Lady) will be at the grange at 6:30 pm with micro- and patio tomato plants available; these are perfect for the small deck garden.  Lots of tomatoes in a little space.  Barbara is well known among many long standing members for raising healthy plant starts  and making them available to members and non-members of the Elk/Camden Garden Club for just a donation to our Garden Club, so bring some cash, as well, LOL!

have fun, jim.

509-292-0326

Join the grange hall cleanup!

yep - this saturday, the 25th of may, from 9 a.m. to noon, we plan to clean up the grange kitchen and main hall areas.  members of all our grange-sponsored clubs are invited to assist, as well as the friends of camden grange, and the general public at large - we're inclusive!

please bring along some of the following cleaning implements:  canister ("shop vac") vacuums, push brooms, house brooms and dust pans, short step stools/ladders, rubber gloves, big black plastic trash bags, rags and buckets, and some enthusiasm - no heavy cleaning, no remodelling, or repairs - just cleaning.

we will stop cleaning at noon, and dine on a free lunch, in the newly-cleaned kitchen ("careful with that ketchup, bob, we just cleaned that tabletop!", LOL).

areas and tasks under consideration:

main hall - remove unused kitchen range (will need an appliance dolly for this)  to the basement, swamp out the "greeters" station just inside the front door, vacuum under the rows of theatre seats, move some stuff (VHS tapes?) down to the basement.

kitchen - clean off countertops (behind microwave, under all the countertop applicances, etc.), clean off top of refrigerator, vacuum up the fly collection in the window frames and out of the overhead light fixtures.

porches/steps - remove webs and expired bugs from the little library area, sweep off porches and steps.

stuff like that.

hope to see you there, jim mcginty

509-292-0326

Garden club meeting notice

we will be assembling tuesday evening, the 14th of may, in camden grange and community center (located at 7 camden road, elk, wa) at 7 p.m. for our month of may meeting.  much-sought-after master gardener kamori cattadoris will join us for a class on starting, maintaining, and using a home herb garden.  great handout, lots of colorful and descriptive slides, and kamori loves to answer our questions - don't miss this meeting!

we will also have time to socialize, lie about our past and present gardening efforts, and eat the delicious treats we all bring to the meeting.

our freebie table will be set up as well, so if you have useful garden-related items, plant starts, seed packets, books, etc., please bring them along - BUT, please remember to take home the stuff you bring, if no one else wants it - knowwhatimean?!

see you there, jim.

509-292-0326

Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

According to many local, long-time gardeners, the presence of snow on the North slope of Mount Spokane is THE sign that garden planting is still a bad idea.  Other folks never plant anything until after Memorial Day;  other gardeners follow their favorite guru, and wait the recommended four weeks past the last frost date, and some folks just plant everything whenever, and replace the withered remains when an unexpected frost hits.  Garden supply centers LOVE our local, unpredictable climate:  “Well, hello Bob, how many replacement tomato plants would you like this time?”.

My long-time gardening partner and wife, Pat, and I will be gardening in our Earth Box raised beds on the front deck, again this year.  Last year, we learned that the Earth Box method worked great for salad makings (lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, etc.), and not so much for our favorite root crops (potatoes, garlic, onions, etc.) – lesson learned – we’ll shop at the local farmers’ market!

Here at Rancho McGinty, the garlic spears in the main garden are about 14 inches tall, and looking really good – I planted the garlic cloves last October, into holes die-cut in black, woven weed block material (bought from 

Amazon).  I placed drip irrigation “weep hose” down in between the rows of garlic, and when it’s time to feed the garlic plants (they love homebrew manure tea!), I just use my “fertigator” (fertilizer irrigator – an inline bottle of the aforementioned manure tea), and it’s done – easy.

Out in the garden, now is the time to plant those seed potatoes and onion sets, and it’s probably safe to sow seeds for some of the cool weather crops:  beets, carrots, chard, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips.  

Please don’t forget your compost piles or bins:  tee-shirt weather means it’s time to get your compost cooking (yes, successful composting efforts will produce visible steam on our semi-frosty mornings) with additions of fresh grass clippings, fresh (whew!) manure, last year’s leaves, and a sprinkling of water.  Every week, turn or toss the mixture into the another pile or bin, add some more grass clippings and water, and then start a new batch of compost – you will NEVER have enough!

Speaking of never having enough, I’m just now learning about the benefits of (wait for it) sheep wool pellets.  My favorite sheep raiser tells me these are excellent for the garden, and her appraisal reads true:  wool pellets hold twenty times their weight in water (reducing your expensive watering activities), wool pellets puff up in water and increase the porosity (oxygen) in the soil, wool pellets are a slow release fertilizer (naturally high in nitrogen), and wool pellets (barbed by nature) are VERY unfriendly to slugs and snails.  Something new in gardening to check out.

GARDENING CALENDAR:

On 11 May, for all of you mushroom enthusiasts, there will be a Mushroom Festival at Happy Dell Park in Kettle Falls, 9 A.M. to 8 P.M.

Activities include fungi identification classes, cooking demonstrations, children’s games, and admission is free.  More details from Gabe at 509-738-2087, or e-mail Kelly at childrenofearth@outlook.com

Also on 11 May, our local Farmers’ and Artisan’s Market opens from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. at Camden Grange and Community Center (located at 7 Camden Road, Elk, WA).  Plant starts, produce, live music, arts and crafts, and just a whole lot of fun.  

On 14 May, our local garden club will meet in the aforementioned Camden Grange and Community Center (still located at 7 Camden Road, Elk, WA) at 7 P.M. for an evening of friendship, snacks, and the much-requested return of Master Gardener Kamori Cattadoris with a presentation on starting and using a home herb garden – how to, and what for!

On 19 May, we are all invited to a day-long workshop in Spring Valley on gardening techniques, greenhouse construction and use, food preservation classes, herbal preparations, and much more.  Workshops and demonstrations run from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., and there is no admission charge:  a fun day in the sun (?) at 6561 Spring Valley Road, Newport, WA – you can call 509-860-4792 for more details.

That’s it for now – gonna be a busy Spring.