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 8th 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 13th 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.
