In the Garden: Time to get ready for the season
Gardening is such a delightful pursuit that gives us a peaceful connection to the environment around us. After a strange winter with many temperature extremes and spotty precipitation, it’s a pleasure to open the 2015 gardening season with today’s column.
While it’s still too wet to work with your soil, there is certainly plenty of planning and organizing to be done.
Are you as excited about the new season as I am? Like you, I’ve been poring over the seed catalogs that have arrived almost daily for months. Take a look at the list of the vegetable crops I’ll be growing this year. While many are tried-and-true varieties that have performed beautifully in my garden, there are several new ones I couldn’t resist trying out.
When selecting varieties to grow in the Inland Northwest, remember that we have about 120 frost-free days in which to grow them. Our average last frost date is in mid-May and the first frosts usually occur in mid- to late September.
When I choose tomato, melon, pumpkin and winter squash varieties, I look for those with the shortest number of days to maturity, which is listed on the seed packets.
So far, I’ve started leek seeds indoors since they are slow to establish. I’ll start artichokes on March 1, celery on March 15, tomatoes and zinnias on April 1, and peas in mid-April. On May 1, I’ll start basil, beans, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins and squash so they are ready for transplanting when the temperatures rise in the garden.
What’s new in my garden? Last October, my husband, Bill, and I built a small hoop house, which is a plastic-covered greenhouse. It fits over two raised beds and will have a dual purpose. First, I’ll take advantage of the warmer inside temperatures to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and melons earlier than usual. Second, I’ll replace those crops with cold-tolerant veggies – kale, arugula, spinach and corn salad (also called mache) – in the fall so I can grow them through the winter months.
This was my second winter of growing vegetables and I’ve learned that, as long as they get plenty of daylight, it really can be done in northern climates such as ours. This is a great way to produce fresh salad greens while the rest of the garden is waiting for spring to arrive. I’ll write more about this as the season progresses.
Other topics you can look forward to this season include a look at the newest varieties of vegetables and annual flowers, profiles of local gardeners, how to conserve water in your garden, growing tomatoes in containers, previews of spectacular garden tours in the Inland Northwest, and everything you need to know about growing stunning daylilies and clematis.
But one topic deserves special attention: the importance of taking good care of our soil. Did you know the United Nations has declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils?
Soil is the very foundation of life. I recently learned from North Carolina State University professor of soil science David Lindbo that “there are more microbes in one teaspoon of soil than there are people on Earth.” Those microbes play many vital roles, so let’s nurture them.
It is vital that we replenish lost nutrients and rebuild the soil every year. This can be accomplished through the use of compost and mulches, along with appropriate watering of our gardens. So let’s get the 2015 garden season underway while keeping this goal in mind.