Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Warmer, drier weather is upon us, so the question is, “is it now safe to plant directly into the garden?” 

For cool weather crops (potatoes, radishes, beets, onions, parsnips, rutabagas, etc.), now is a great time to transplant or plant seeds for veggies that can handle a minor frost. Some plants (I call them “the drama queens”) cannot survive 33 degrees Fahrenheit without some damage, or wilting, or looking like you drove a herd of bison down the row – these plants (tomatoes, peppers, basil, eggplant, melons, ornamental squash, etc.) will prosper and thrive if planted at the end of May - probably. Just remember the killer frosts we suffered in early June 2016, and (to borrow a motto), be prepared: frost blankets or light flannel sheets ready to cover the sensitive little green darlings, or maybe overhead water sprayers, or even strings of electric Christmas light ropes or seasonally appropriate bulbs.

This year, my gardening partner and full-time wife, Pat, and I are planting giant sugar beets (called mangels or mangelwurtzels) for our livestock – we grew the plants in the past, and the chickens really enjoyed the soccer-ball-sized roots, AND the dark green, dinner-plate-sized leaves. Historically, farmers in our weather-challenging Northeast Washington region grew thousands of acres of mangels for both conversion to beet sugar (the sweetener of choice before the advent of cheaper cane sugar), and as a winter livestock feed. I made sure to heavily fertilize the beet garden with LOTS of over-wintered chicken poo and mostly-fermented goat and sheep straw bedding. Old farming records show that chopped mangels were successfully fed to cows, horses, goats, sheep, and poultry – and the tender, early season mangels and their leaves were eagerly eaten by the farmers and their families after a long winter. Our mangel seeds came from the Sustainable Seed Company, and from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

Out in the garden, it’s time to hill up dirt around your potato plants as they grow taller, and now is a great time to pump up the process in your compost bins, by adding all those newly mown grass clippings.

In the orchard, it’s time to stop pruning the trees, until after the leaves have filled the canopy (late June?), though you can still cut out all those “water sprouts” or “suckers” at any time.

GARDEN CALENDAR

On the 9^th of May, our local gardening club will tour a local home garden – details on the tour are still firming, but it looks to be a fun and informative evening.  We’ll meet at Camden Grange (21 Camden Road, Elk) for a 7 p.m. departure, and the public is always welcome to join us. If you want to know more about the tour as details become available, check back, as we'll post them to the blog.

On the 10^th of May, I’ll be teaching a class on plant propagation from 6-8 p.m., at the Newport College Center (1302 W. Fifth St., Newport). Students will learn how make more of the plants they want, cheaply and quickly. You can register for the class by calling 800-845-3324, or you can visit the college website.

On the 11^th of May, those twinkle-toed, twig tweakers, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County, will offer a class on building and using a greenhouse or hoophouse designed for gardening success in our area of the world. The class will run from 6-8 p.m., and will cost $5 for the general public – the class location is still firming (either at the Newport Extension Service Office or at the Camus Center in Cusick). You can call the Newport Extension Service Office at 509-447-2401 for more details or to register for the class.

On the 13^th of May, The Inland Empire Gardeners will offer their Garden Expo 2017, at Spokane Community College (1810 N. Greene St., Spokane), from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Expo features hundreds of vendors with offerings that include veggie and fruit plants, garden art and tools, classes and demonstrations, complete with live music and fresh food.  Expo entry and parking are both free, but remember to bring a wheeled carrying conveyance, and some money for all those cool, rare, or misunderstood plants.

On the 24^th of May, I’ll be teaching a class on fruit tree pruning, from 6-8 p.m., at the Newport College Center (1302 W. Fifth St., Newport).  We’ll talk about and demonstrate how to prune your fruit tree for maximum production and minimum maintenance. You can register for the class by calling 800-845-3324, or you can visit the college website at sccel.spokane.edu/ACT2.

That’s it for this month – time to enter the garden, and either plant something, or weed something – I’m thinking the taller, good-looking plants are probably the weeds.

Winter Sowing info

Meeting agenda and composting class

Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, the 11th of April, at 7 p.m. in Camden Grange. 

We have another of our famed mini-class symposiums, with the following speakers and topics:  Jane Bolz will talk about her rodent (gopher, mole, vole) defeating, alternative raised beds; Steve Byars will talk about the relatively new seed starting method of "Wintersown" seeds; Kevin Miller and Su Chism will talk about the possible gardening uses of surplus mini-totes (or super sacks); and I will have a short demonstration of fruit tree pruning techniques (complete with volunteer tree!). 

Club members are asked to bring to the meeting some of their favorite snacks/desserts, unwanted seeds or plants, and those dratted duplicate seed company catalogs.

Club blogmeister Su Chism is offering club members LOTS of drywall scraps and chunks, for those of you who want to use the product in your garden soil. I researched the subject of adding drywall/wallboard/sheetrock to soil, and found that (as usual, these days), there is ambivalence (meaning "good" vs. "bad").  Some knowledgeable folks say that drywall breaks up clay and heavy soil, and is therefore good, while other knowledgeable folks say that drywall adds nothing useful.  Your mileage may vary, though you will still have to run the drywall through a chipper/shredder or under a rototiller.

For those who want some additional information on the subject, you may find University of Wisconsin bulletin A3782, "Using recycled wallboard for crop production", written by Richard Wolkowski, here.

Finally, the Master Gardeners of Pend Oreille County will offer a class, "The Soil Food Web and Composting", with Spokane County Master Gardener Ryan Herring, on the 13th of April, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the Extension Office (227 S. Garden Ave.) in Newport. The class will focus on the soil web, and discuss what steps you can take to start improving your garden soil – a hands-on "building a compost pile" activity will take place in the second half of the class, so bring work gloves, and dress appropriately for outdoor activities. Cost for the class is $5 per person for the public, and you can bring a friend or neighbor for just $2 more.  You can register for the class by calling the Extension Office at 509-447-2401.

jim

Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Spring is officially here, but it’s still a tad early to bet your tomatoe plants on overnight temperatures.

The garden area here at Rancho McGinty is finally snow-free, and farm hand Pat and I can almost walk around out there without the mud suctioning off our boot soles and heels.

We did check on our Winter 2016-2017 experiment, for which we left some cold-weather hardy veggies in the ground, just to see how they would survive our -17 degree Fahrenheit temperatures:  the kale plants look great, with intact 2016 leaves, and new sprouts already showing. All the other plants are brown mush: chard, broccoli, onions, Brussels sprouts, and even the parsley – lesson learned.

We did just plant some lettuce (“La Chuga”) seedlings in one of our raised beds (the soil temperatures in the raised bed are significantly warmer than in the surrounding open garden, and the plants are protected from a light freeze by two layers of heavy grade row cover), but only because we ran out of room in the plant nursery. I do plan to seed in some radishes in the same raised bed soon, as the supermarket radishes we bought for tonight’s dinner tasted like Styrofoam.

Out in the orchard, it will soon be time to dormant spray the fruit trees, just as soon as we have a couple of nights clear of frost. I plan to prune the trees this coming weekend, as the fruit and leaf buds are starting to show that fuzzy look, and because fruit tree grafting time is upon us.

If you have woodstove ashes from our decade-long winter, you could lightly sprinkle them around your fruit trees and bushes – the potash will produce more and better fruit.

Speaking of chores, now is the right time to plant or transplant all those fruit bushes and trees that survived winter – provided you can dig a hole through the still-frozen dirt.

As daytime temperatures continue (!) to rise, you will want to pull back any mulch layers from your over-wintered crops (garlic, etc.) and fruit bushes (blueberries, etc.) – just wait until the mulch has warmed and dried.

If you are growing rhubarb, now is a good time to use your sharpened shovel (you did sharpen your garden tools during those pre-spring days??!!) to chop out a quarter of the root (which can be separated and potted up for more rhubarb plants), and fill the hole with rotted manure. Your rhubarb plant will reward you with larger leaves and tastier stalks.

Provided your compost pile/container has thawed, it’s time to add some fresh manure, and then turn and water all those mostly-dormant bacteria and creatures, so they can produce some of that “black gold” compost for your spring gardening adventures.

Those brown berry canes from last summer are prime targets for your sharp (!) pruning shears – just be sure to leave the new green or purple fruiting canes for this year’s harvest – I predict blackberry milkshakes in my future! Remember to burn or otherwise destroy all those brown canes, as they may be harboring over-wintering enemy insects.

If this is the year you add aged manure to your garden (two year rotation – manure in 2017, no manure in 2018), now is a great time to spread it around – no doubt your non-gardening friends have been complaining for years that you spread it around pretty thick anyway?

GARDEN CALENDAR

On the 11^th of April, our local gardening club will meet in Camden Grange at 7 p.m. for an evening of mini-classes and snacks and general socializing, albeit with a growing-food theme. Next month, we hope to start our garden tours, but for this month, we’ll stay indoors where it’s both warm and fun. You can check on our club’s activities, and read gardening tips and tales here on the blog. And feel free to contribute your articles, photos and garden news! Email items to Su at 1936school@gmail.com for posting.

On the 20^th of April, our neighborhood beekeeping friends (the Backyard Beekeepers Association) will meet in the Deer Park Senior Center (316 E. Crawford, Deer Park) at 7 p.m. for another session of information, classes, and congeniality – for more information, you can visit their website at www.backyard-beekeepers.org.

On the 26^th of April, I will teach a class on renovating old apple trees, in the Newport College Center (1204 W.Fifth Street, Newport) from 6-8 p.m.  We will talk about how to bring all those abandoned apple trees back into production – heirloom apples are SO much better tasting than anything in the supermarkets.

You can obtain more details, or register for the class by calling 800-845-3324, or you can do the same on-line at www.sccel.spokane.edu/Act2.

On the 29^th of April, those perky, praiseworthy plant huggers, the Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners, will hold their annual Spring Plant Sale at Stratton Elementary School (1201 W. Fifth St., Newport) from 9 a.m. to noon. Lots of plants, good prices, and knowledgeable advice from people who actually know what they’re doing in the garden – buy lots (of plants, NOT Master Gardeners)!

That’s it for now – see you out in the garden.

Mid-March notes

Club member Kevin Miller has a bunch of "mini-totes" for free distribution to experimenting gardeners (that would be ALL of us!). The woven-poly fabric cubes are 48" x 48" x 48," and normally hold about 1000# of potatoes. Club member Steve Byars plans to grow potatoes in his totes, using the "add a layer of dirt and straw every time you see six inches of green potato growth" method. Steve will use his tractor to tip over his potato-filled totes in August when the vines die - maybe the club membership will want to be there for the unveiling.  If you are interested in obtaining one or more of these totes, let me know, and we'll arrange it.

Junior club member Rylan (grandson of club member Diane Lukas, and son of club member Sarah Thibodeau) is currently unbelted, as he lost his favorite brown belt at the March club meeting in Camden Grange. If you have seen or know the whereabouts of Rylan's missing belt, please call me with rescue details.

Speaking of the March meeting, members once again asked if the club will be operating a booth at the 2017 Garden Expo in May, and answer is NO - the Expo filing fee date for this year has come and gone. I DO recommend you add the event to your MUST ATTEND calendar:  May 13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., located at Spokane Community College (1810 N. Greene St.). More than 200 vendors with thousands of plants, tools, garden art, food booths, and much more – free entrance and parking, but be sure to bring a wagon and some money!

jim

It's garden club meeting time again!

Hello all you frustrated gardeners. Even though we can't get into our gardens yet (at least most of us can't) we can still share our dreams of this year's abundant flowers and veggies at the Elk-Camden Garden Keepers meeting TODAY, March 14, 7 p.m., at the Camden Grange. It is a little early for touring but I think you will enjoy a demonstration by member Sandy Coehlo on do-it-yourself soil block makers.  Sandy decided buying a soil block maker wasn't in their family budget but wanted to use one anyway so she just made her own. She will share her story and her method just in time to start seeds for some of us.

Also, Pat and I will share a slide presentation on season extension as a way of dealing with some of the challenges of gardening in the good old Pacific Northwest. 

Two presentations and a chance to gripe about the weather and exceeding long winter.  What more could you ask? See you tomorrow.

Jim

A couple of notes for impatient gardeners

On the 11th of March, the Inland Northwest Food Network will host a seed swap at the Coeur d'Alene library (702 E. Front St., CDA) from 1-3 p.m. The focus in on heirloom, open-pollinated plants, so home-grown and purchased seeds will be available for swap – local seed-saving experts will be on hand to explain how to save your seeds from the 2017 garden, and there is a suggested $5 donation – "suggested" is the operative word.

Our first club meeting for 2017 is scheduled for the 14th of March, at 7 p.m. in the Camden Grange. We will all commiserate over the long, still-ongoing winter, and watch a slide show on garden season extension techniques – start early, grow strong, and hang on!

On the 19th of March, the Sustainable Preparedness Expo will be held at Priest River Junior High School from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will offer classes on off-grid power supplies, winter gardening in North Idaho, long-term fuel storage, and much more. Entry and parking are free, door prizes will be offered, and vendors of appropriate stuff will be numerous. Pat and I have attended a couple of these expos and they are usually both fun and informative – plus they are free, so bring some friends.

jim