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