Linda Gilkeson

Carrot Day

It is time for my annual reminder to sow lots of carrots for winter harvests in the next week or two. For me, July 1 is always Carrot Day as well as Canada Day (US readers: think 4th of July). As long as you sow before July 10, your carrots should have time to grow to a nice size by fall. They stay in the garden to be harvested periodically over the winter until the following April. Carrots sown earlier in the season can also spend the winter in the garden (if you haven’t eaten them all), but sowing carrots later doesn’t leave enough growing season to allow them to reach full size. Small carrots can be eaten, of course, but they don’t grow during the winter or in the spring either, as that is when carrots use up the food stored in their roots to make flower stalks. At this time of year the soil is often too warm for carrot seeds to germinate, but with that wonderful heavy rain last night and cooler weather forecast for the next week, conditions are ideal for good germination…

Winter Cabbage, Irrigation Tips, Beet Leafminers

From now on, continue to be alert for heat waves and be prepared to shade seedbeds and seedlings and to mulch plants to cool the soil. The heat wave earlier this month resulted in injury to unprotected seedlings that is showing up now. Heat injury appears as white or biscuit coloured patches on leaves; whole leaves may turn white in the worst cases. If the stems of the plants weren’t injured, the plants should produce new leaves and recover, but if roots or stems were fried, then you will need to replant. See photos of sunscald on a variety of leaves and fruit. Which reminds me to remind you that I don’t put everything that might apply to the current date in each message. For additional information, especially if you are new to this series, check my archive of past messages for other notes at the same time of year. Winter crops to sow (already!) If you are planning to grow winter cabbages, such as January King, Danish Ballhead, Langedijker Red or other varieties th…

Garden Heat Alert

Yesterday in many gardens in the region it was suddenly very warm, even hot for this time of year. More of the same is predicted for the next couple of days with inland gardens and those in the most protected sites possibly experiencing highs of 29oC (84oF) today and tomorrow so take steps this morning if possible to shade seedbeds and seedlings. This is the worst time of year for veggie gardens to have hot weather because plants are small and their roots are close to the surface. Without shading from leaves, their roots are likely to fry in the hot soil. If you can, lay down at least a thin layer of mulch right now too. Grass clippings are particularly good right for this purpose since they are soft and it is easier to spread them around seedlings without damaging the small plants. Old leaves from last year are very brittle and are easy to crushed up to make a fine mulch. It is impossible to keep seedbeds evenly moist all day, but even if you could, high temperatures inhibi…

Planting and Pest Prevention

Carry right on planting anything that tolerates or thrives in cool weather: cabbage/mustard family plants, onions and leeks, lettuces and leafy greens, peas, broad beans, carrots, beets, parsnips. A note about parsnips: make sure you sow fresh seed (packaged for this year). Parsnips seeds are only viable for a year or so. Parsnips germinate best in cool weather, but by the time you wait long enough to discover that old seed is never coming up, the soil could be too warm for good germination. It is still too cool at night in most places for peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, corn and beans. When tomatoes can go outdoors depends on your garden microclimate and how prepared you are to protect them with cloches or floating row covers if it turns cool after you plant. Tomatoes are more robust than other warmth-loving plants and some people have already planted theirs. The general rule is to plant tomatoes when nights are mostly staying above 10oC (50oF) and most coastal garde…

Digging Roots; Planting Early (or not)

Spring certainly went sproing into nearly summer-like weather this week! Given how long it took the snow to melt from my yard I thought the soil would stay cold longer than usual, meaning no rush to dig up overwintered root crops. At the rate the soil is now warming, however, carrots, beets and other roots should be dug up by the end of March/early April as usual. If left in the garden, they start to grow, using up the sugars stored in their roots to produce a flower stalk. The roots lose flavour and crispness and grow lots of strange little side roots. Don’t be too hasty in clearing out the rest of the garden right now, though. Really battered plants can still grow a new crop and even Brussels sprouts stalks that have already been picked and have no leaves left usually grow tasty new shoots all along the stem. After 6 weeks under heavy snow my lettuce was flatter than I have ever see it, but has since popped up and is growing fine. Ditto for chard, spinach, kale, cauliflowe…

It's Time to Start Seeds

This chilly weather is certainly dragging on, but if you have good growing conditions for seedlings indoors, it should cheer you up to be starting seeds. I wait until now to sow leeks, onions, celeriac and celery as I have found they grow into plants that are just as productive as ones started earlier in February. You can sow peppers and eggplants now if you haven’t already done so. Start tomatoes too if you have space to move them into larger pots later or if they will be planted in a greenhouse. Tomatoes grow quickly therefore you can wait to start them in mid-March and still have nice-sized plants to set outdoors in mid-May. If you are eager to harvest the earliest possible zucchini, start a couple of seeds in early March, but be prepared to move them into 1 gallon pots after a few weeks to keep them growing until they can be planted out in May. As to when in May that might be, it depends on the weather…and who know at this point? There is no advantage to starting seedlings …

Cold Snap Forecast

Right now the forecast after Sunday shows a period of colder weather than we have had so far this winter. Forecasts are for overnight lows of -5 to -8oC (18-23oF) for much of the south coastal region. It could be colder than that in gardens in frost pockets and low-lying inland areas. If you have been lulled by the mostly warmer-than-normal winter so far, it is time to check up on your frost protection. As I was checking my garden last evening I found that I need to considerably beef up mulch that has become flattened around leeks, celeriac, cabbage and some other plants. The forecast does include some snow, which is a good thing for gardens because it adds a layer of insulation over everything. Late cold weather is always harder on fruit trees and other plants once they have started to grow than it is when plants are fully dormant, but don’t worry about garlic and spring bulbs that have poked up shoots. They are quite hardy and likely to be fine. Fruit tree buds on the earl…

Pruning, Grow Lights, #!#@#! Spotted Wing Drosophila and Yams

Well, I don’t know if there will be a winter this year or not, but other than windstorms, there hasn’t been much winter in evidence. As I started to write this, it was sunny and unusually warm outdoors and I suddenly remembered that early warm weather makes trees bloom early….I leaped up and shot out the door to start pruning my trees and grapes.

Pruning: So this is a reminder to get started now on pruning, especially if you have a lot to do. Start with the earliest flowering trees, such as cherries and peaches as they are most likely to burst into bloom soon. Be sure to only prune cherries and peaches on a dry day, frequently sterilizing your pruners as you go to avoid spreading bacterial canker, which is all too common on these trees in the coastal climate. To sterilizer tools, wipe your pruners with rubbing alcohol or soak them in 1 part hydrogen peroxide bleach to 9 parts water and rinse well.

Read more about Pruning, Grow Lights, #*!#*@#! Spotted Wing Drosophila and Yams

First Cold Snap

Just a quick note that the first cold weather of the year is forecast for this week, with night time lows by Wednesday and Thursday forecast to drop well below freezing in some parts of the region. That’s the signal to finish mulching everything if you haven’t done so already. Now is the time to add mulch right up over the tops of carrots, beets and other roots to make sure the shoulders of the roots don’t get nipped by frost. I like to have at least 6 inches of leaves on top of carrots, etc. when really cold weather starts. Tip: When you harvest your root crops this winter, stick in a marker of some kind to show where to start digging next time—with all that mulch on top you can’t tell what has been harvested already. It has been so warm this fall that many things have continued to grow, which is all to the good if some of your cabbages or Brussels sprout plants were rather small at the end of the summer. I keep getting inquiries about garlic that has started to grow: bu…

Leaf Mulch, Clean Bees and Cutworms

Here is my usual seasonal reminder to collect fallen leaves for garden mulching while they are all around us and to be had for free. Do collect enough to mulch the garden for the winter and also to stockpile for mulching next summer. I store leaves for summer use in bags or covered bins, keeping them dry over the winter to prevent them from decomposing before I need them in June or July. For winter mulching, start putting leaves directly on the garden now as they are collected. Don’t shred the leaves first: what we want for winter is a fluffy, coarse mulch that won’t break down until spring. Shredded or mowed leaves decompose quickly, which is fine if you want to make leaf mold (pure decomposed leaves) or add leaves to a fall compost pile (but shredding is optional: whole leaves decompose fine, just a bit slower). Start mulching for winter by working leaves under and between large plants, such as cabbage and winter broccoli, to cover the soil. Push leaves into spaces between…

Last sowing, confusing bugs, splitter alert

There is still time to sow hardy winter lettuce and arugula if you do it this week and now is also the perfect time to sow corn salad for winter salads. Pull back mulches and scatter seeds under tomatoes, squash and other plants that will be finished in October. Corn salad seeds may not germinate until the soil cools down, so don’t worry if they don’t come up immediately; it is extremely hardy and one of the few greens that can grow (slowly) during the winter. If you are sowing winter greens in a coldframe, plastic tunnel or unheated greenhouse, you could also sow Chinese cabbage, leaf mustard and other hardy greens now, because the warmer environments provide a little more growing time. If you can buy starts of spinach, lettuce, Chinese cabbage and other leafy greens you can still transplant those into your garden (on Salt Spring, Chorus Frog Farm stand still has these available). Grow them as quickly as possible in nitrogen-rich soil with plenty of water. Even if plants don’t…

Sow Spinach and Greens; Pests and Problems

Yesterday should have been “Spinach Day” in my garden, but it is far too hot to attempt to sow anything right now. I have had good results sowing spinach as late as the middle of August so will wait to until it cools down in a couple of days to plant seeds. The forecast for Saturday is for cooler weather, with a small chance of the ever-receding mirage of rain showers in some places. Gardeners along the outer coast and Strait of Juan de Fuca, where summers are cool and foggy should sow spinach right now to give it time to grow to a good size before winter. Winter lettuce, arugula, salad radishes and winter radishes and other leafy greens, including leaf mustards, leaf spinach (‘Komatsuna’), leaf radish and Chinese cabbage varieties can also still be started from seed this week, but wait until temperatures drop in a day or two to sow these outdoors. Lettuce seeds simply won’t germinate if it too hot, no matter how carefully you keep them watered. Starting seeds in flats or po…

Winter Planting and Garden Editing

Many vegetables for harvest over the winter and early next spring should be planted at this time of year. So take advantage of the somewhat cooler weather forecast for the next few days to sow seeds of beets, chard and leaf beet, rutabaga, radicchio, kohlrabi and the small, quick growing, cabbage varieties (e.g., ‘Caraflex F1’, ‘Early Jersey Wakefield’, ‘Greyhound’). These should be sown immediately to have enough time to grow to a good size by the end of October. Most varieties of chard survive well outdoors through most winters, but they don’t all make it if there is exceptionally cold weather. That’s why at this time of year I include a couple of the hardier chards in my plantings: ‘Lucullus’ (wide stems, light green savoyed leaves) and ‘Leaf Beet’ (narrow stems, dark green, smoother leaf). The latter may also be called ‘Perpetual Spinach’ or ‘Bietina’ by different seed sources. From now to early August you can sow kale, collards, daikon & other winter radishes, b…

Heat Alert! Sowing Winter Brassicas

The recent cool weather is giving way to what is forecast to be pretty hot weather starting this weekend. This is a reminder that if you haven’t done so already, do finish mulching vegetables before it gets hot; it will conserve soil moisture and keep roots cool. Some people had quite a bit of rain, others not so much over the last week—but at least it was something after the driest May on record. It was so dry in May that powdery mildew showed up on a variety of plants (strawberries, kale, roses, etc.)--much earlier than we usually see it. On the other hand, some diseases of wet weather, such as apple scab, were noticeably absent.

Because it has been cool, young leaves of vegetable will be tender and prone to sunscald damage. Temperatures that could fry leaves this week wouldn’t likely damage plants later in the summer after leaf cells have had time to adapt to summer weather. Be ready this weekend to deploy some k…

Sowing Sprouts, Irrigation and Pest du Jour

Just a quick note this time, but I couldn’t let another day go by without reminding everyone that it is time to sow seeds of Brussels sprouts and any cabbage varieties that need over 120 days to mature (e.g., January King, Danish Ballhead, Red Langedijker). Getting the timing right for these crops seems to be a perennial problem for many due to conflicting information on seed packets and from nurseries. The long season cabbages really do need the whole summer to develop a good-sized head, but no matter what size they are by fall, they still provide a harvest. Timing of Brussels sprouts, on the other hand, is a trickier because if sown too late (after the first week of June), plants usually don’t have enough growing season left to produce sprouts before winter—and if they don’t form sprouts by the end of October, they aren’t likely to have them at all. Of course you can sow Br. sprouts earlier, but by waiting until now to sow them, you largely avoid …

Tomatoes, Corn, Beans, Peas and Pests du Jour

With the warmth last week and the forecast of another sunny week, you can keep right on planting any and all cool weather crops (peas, lettuce, onions, leeks, all of the cabbage/mustard family, leafy greens, Swiss chard, carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes, etc.). It is still too cool at night in most places to rush warmth-loving plants into the ground, including tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, corn and beans. And don’t push sweet basil outdoors too early, either: it can’t handle cool, wet weather. When tomatoes can go outdoors depends on your garden microclimate and how prepared you are to protect them with cloches, floating row covers or coldframes if it turns cool after you plant. Tomatoes are more robust than the other tender plants listed (and some tomato varieties can take cooler weather than others), but that just means they tolerate it, not that they thrive. If it is too cool for growth the leaves often turn purple from temporary nutrient deficiencies cau…

Wet Soil, Cool Crops and Pollinator Plantings

Our cold spring continues…with the soil too soggy to work in many gardens, especially after this recent heavy rain. If you squeeze a small handful of soil and it stays together in a compact clod, then it is too wet to handle; it should be moist but still easy to crumble apart after you squeeze it. Trying to turn in amendments in wet soil compacts the soil and crushes the air spaces that let in oxygen and let out carbon dioxide (plant roots, soil microbes, earthworms, etc. all need to breath). If hard clods form when your soil dries out, it is a sign of compaction, often seen in clay soils. Wait until such soil are drier before handling them and keep adding compost and organic matter from mulches to improve soil structure.

Gardeners are always eager to get out there and plant something, but really, there is no rush, especially if have crops in the ground year round. If you are not harvesting lots of overwintered crop…

Starting Seeds and Onion Sets

Despite the slow start to spring (as snow flurries Friday morning reminded me), this is a good week to start seeds indoors for early crops and for plants that take the whole growing season to mature. I used to start leeks in mid-February, but now wait until the first week of March and find they grow just as big as always. And starting later means less time spent babysitting seedlings. While onions grown from sets mature around mid-July, earlier than onions from seed, growing onions from seed allows you to try many more varieties than are sold as sets. The downside is that seedling onions take most of the summer to reach maturity. You can grow your own sets, however, which gives you the wide choice of varieties along with the earlier harvest, which allows you to plant another crop after the onions. Choose storage varieties for onion sets and sow seeds thickly enough to keep the crowded bulbs very small. You can grow a lot of sets in 1-2 square feet. I sow mine directly in t…

Bitter Cold Alert for Gardeners and Growers

I waited, hoping to see that the forecast cold would be moderated by a warmer weather system as the last one was—but it hasn’t happened. The predicted cold weather, starting Sunday or Monday is for extreme lows over the next 3-5 days that would be very damaging this late in the winter. All around the region the forecast is for lows of -5 to -8 degrees C (18-23 F). Even Seattle has forecast lows of 23-26F). I discussed cold-proofing tips in my previous message. Given how cold it could be, I suggest you harvest as much of the above ground crops (leeks, cabbage, kale, Br. sprouts, chard, etc.) as you can stuff in your refrigerator and cover everything you can’t harvest. I am breaking into my stash of leaves for next summer’s mulch to cover cabbage heads and renew the mulch on beds of root crops. My purple sprouting broccoli and winter cauliflowers were looking so promising with little heads starting that I will be covering them with tarps to try to prevent damage to the tender…

Big Chill Coming - Yams Again - Fruit Sources

Well, nuts! To prove my contention that you just can’t trust February, the current forecast is for a few days of really cold air to hit this weekend. With lows of -4 and -5oC (25 to 23oF) predicted for the south coast (even for Victoria, which is unusual), you may need to take steps to protect some plants if that cold does materialize. I am afraid those temperature will kill any early peach and cherry flowers that are opening now, but don’t worry about garlic, spring bulbs, buds on native shrubs and trees or fruit trees that flower later -- they should be okay. Do worry about half-hardy herbs, such as rosemary, and new shoots of artichokes and other less robust perennials. Mulch right over the crowns of plants or cover them with plastic. It would be a good idea to cover spinach, lettuce, chard and other overwintered greens too; the roots should survive the low temperatures, but new leaves could be ruined as -5oC is pretty much the lower limit for many greens (kale would be fine…

Spring Is Coming - Seeds, Yams, Pruning and Tool Disinfecting

With the gardening season arriving quickly (yay!), it is time to sort out our seed collections, decide what to buy and check seed suppliers for new varieties: Germination test: If you are wondering whether seeds in old packets are still good, you can check with a quick germination test: Count out 20 seeds if you have lots, 5 seeds if you only have a few. Spread them on a wet paper towel or cloth and cover with another piece of towel to keep them moist. If you are testing many different varieties, you can germinate them all on the same paper towel. Before wetting the towel, use a waterproof pen or pencil to draw a circle for each group of seeds and label it. Then wet the paper and place the seeds in their labelled circles. Of course, be careful handling that setup so you don’t scramble the seeds… Put the moist towel with the seeds in a plastic bag or container and close loosely to maintain a bit of air flow. Keep the seeds warm, check daily for moisture and watch for th…

Linda Gilkeson

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