As we end the last week of spring and look forward to summer the local gardens and landscapes are looking good. The vegetable gardens have all been planted and now we wait for the harvest.

 

Some of you may already be enjoying salads, but for the most part the vegetable gardens are not producing yet. It is important to keep up on the weeding so go through the vegetable garden every 10-14 days with a hoe and dislodge any weeds before they become established.

 

This is also the time when you can check your plants for any pests or disease and treat the problem as soon as you notice it. Check onions for root maggots as well as the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower which can be susceptible to cut worm. This year I transplanted all my broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower into 4 inch peat pots and kept them in the greenhouse to grow and just planted them outside in the garden 10 days ago. I am hoping that planting later and the peat pot will discourage the cut worm from attacking the plants roots.

 

The weather has been good growing weather with warm daytime temperatures so you may need to give the garden good thorough water every few days. It is better to water for a longer period of time and less often so that the water goes deep into the soil, rather than water for a few minutes and only wetting the surface of the soil. You want the plants roots to grow deep so that they do not dry out as quickly rather than stay on the surface. Although the daytime temperatures have been warm the night time temperatures have been cold.

 

 If you live in the outlying areas of town you may have experienced some frost. Last Sunday and there was some frost in the Pineview, Beaverly, and Hart areas and the last few mornings there has been frost in my yard. I have been covering the corn, beans, and squash every night with ‘Reemay’ so that the plants are protected. Reemay is a protective frost blanket that will protect plants if temperatures go down to -4 or -5. The nice thing about reemay is that you can keep it on the plants during the day as it allows the moisture and sun to filter through. We also recommend it for covering carrots after they have been seeded until mid July so that the carrot rust fly cannot lay its eggs on the soil which later hatch and become the maggots that eat into the carrot.

 

 

 

 

• Highway 97 north  at Northwood PulpMill Road and Aberdeen
• Highway 16 West  across fro the Bon Voyage Plaza