Linda Gilkeson

That recent cold snap was a surprise, with temperatures well below freezing and the first snowfall in some areas. If your winter veggies were not all mulched by then I doubt they came to harm as the soil was still relatively warm. In this warmer lull, however, do get the mulching done before temperatures drop again. Mulch is especially necessary to protect the shoulders of root crops poking above the surface, but it also protects soil from erosion in heavy winter rains. I always set aside a big bag of leaves to use at the last minute, just before a really cold spell, to cover over top of the leaves of carrot, beets and other root crops. I wait as late as possible for this because I don’t want to smother the leaves prematurely (or provide rats with a tempting winter nest). I know for a fact there are still people out there that haven’t planted their garlic and it is still not too late, but do get that done now while it isn’t so cold. No matter how late you plant garlic, it wi…

The golden days of fall are such a delight…but they do remind us that there are things to do before winter: All you Brussels sprout growers, if you haven’t done so, this is the week to pinch out the tips of the plants to hasten the growth of the sprouts along the stem. If you have good-sized sprouts forming already, you don’t necessarily have to do this, but if your plants only have tiny little sprouts at this point, do force them to make sprouts by pruning the tops. If the plants don’t develop their crop this fall, you won’t be getting sprouts this winter. Cleanup: If your apple trees had scabby apples this year, be extra careful to rake up all the fallen apple leaves and compost them. Not to worry if the compost heats up or not—as long as the leaves decompose by spring, the overwintering spores of apple scab will die. Also, those squash leaves with powdery mildew are fine to put into the compost pile. Things it would be best not to compost: tomato plants with late bligh…

Well, so that summer went by in a blur…and here we are at the last planting window of the season. What to plant: If you sow this week, you should still be able to grow nice-sized plants of hardy winter lettuce and arugula before winter. It is expected to be pretty hot this week, so cover seed beds with burlap or other covers to cool the soil enough to allow seeds to germinate. Now is the right time to scatter corn salad seeds under tomatoes, squash and other plants that won’t continue in cold weather. Corn salad may not germinate until the soil cools down, so don’t worry if they don’t come up immediately; it is the hardiest salad green I know of and will continue to grow (slowly) during the winter. If you will be growing winter greens in a coldframe, plastic tunnel or unheated greenhouse, you could also sow Chinese cabbages, leaf mustard and other hardy greens now, because the protected environments provide a little more growing time. If you can find seedlings of spinac…

A scary weather forecast for record-setting high temperatures this week, lingering over a longer than usual period, should send you out to the garden today to take some simple steps to protect your vegetables. Basically it boils down to 3 things: Shade, water, harvest. Of course, shade cloth, which I have discussed in detail earlier is a very handy tool to have, but you can use anything from curtain material to paper to old sheets if you have to. A reminder that floating row covers and insect netting do not shade or cool beds. If you have covered carrots or other vegetables to prevent insect attack, lay shade cloth or a light weight fabric on top of the insect barrier to shade beds if you have small seedlings (as you would right now if you sowed carrots earlier this month). Mature plants now generally have leaves well adapted to sun and their leaves also shade and cool the soil for roots. Priorities for shading this time around are the Brassica family (broccoli, caulifl…

If you haven’t already sown beets, chard and leaf beet, rutabaga, radicchio, kohlrabi for winter harvests, do it right now so that plants have enough time to get to a mature size by the end of October. It is also time to plant out starts of winter broccoli and cauliflower and long-season cabbage (it is too late to sow from seed). If you sow now, you can still get very nice heads of the small pointy ‘sweetheart’ cabbages (Caraflex F1, Early Jersey Wakefield, Greyhound). For successful winter harvests, plants have to have enough hours of daylight in the growing season to reach a good size because they can’t grow in the winter cold. When the sun is high in the sky at this time of year most gardens have enough daylength for good plant growth, but as the sun gets lower in in August, sunlight is increasingly blocked in the morning and afternoon by buildings, trees, even mountains. If you are gardening in a wide open area without such obstructions, you can plant a couple of weeks l…

I still feel like we are caught somewhere in endless spring, but believe it or not, some important planting windows for winter harvests are upon us. Winter broccoli and winter cauliflower: Sow seeds from now until the end of June, either directly in the garden or in seed flats or pots. Given the rampaging slugs, pillbugs, birds and root rot diseases still plaguing us during all this wet weather, I have opted to sow mine in seedling trays and will keep them in the kitchen until they germinate (no need for bottom heat at this point). After that I will do the dance—outdoors during the day and safe and sound indoors at night, until they are big enough to plant out. If you sow directly in the garden, do sow lots of extra seeds to make sure you have enough surviving plants. These are crops that are going to occupy the garden for the rest of the season, but don’t produce heads until they have been through the chill of winter. They can be interplanted with other crops, such as lettu…

Planting now? With that really good warm day yesterday, I know you are ready to plant everything—but whoa! There is no point in trying to rush warmth-loving plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, corn, beans, into the garden as it is still too cool for them. Indeed, cool weather crops (cabbage family, peas, lettuce, onions, leeks) now in the garden are growing slowly enough as it is, though they are finally picking up speed with the warmer temperatures this week. When tomatoes can go outdoors is debatable: they are generally more robust than the other tender plants and some varieties can take pretty cool weather. It doesn’t mean that they grow much, just that they tolerate it. Varieties such as ‘Oregon Spring’ and ‘Siletz’ can set fruit at 10oC [50oF], but the big, potato leaved varieties, such as ‘Brandywine’, need seriously warm weather to do well. If you have already set out your tomatoes, do what you can to keep them warm at night, whether it is using floatin…

Our cold, wet spring continues…with the soil too wet to work in most gardens. For much of the region, March set records for rainfall, so it has been really, really wet. This spring certainly shows how valuable it is to fill your garden with mature, hardy vegetable plants before winter. Despite the bitter cold, a lot of crops made it through the winter and these deep rooted plants are now producing crops without anyone having to plant or cultivate cold, wet soil. Overwintered crops being harvested in coastal gardens now include greens (chard, spinach, kale), roots (carrots, beets, parsnips), as well as leeks, Brussels sprouts, winter cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli. I lost a lot of my winter cauliflower and broccoli plants, with stems crushed under the weight of, heavy snow, but the few that survived are producing lovely heads now. Which reminds me to remind you that it is now time to dig up any remaining root crops and put them in the refrigerator. They should be h…

As our cool spring weather continues, everyone is asking about when to plant: Soil Temperature: On the theme of testing, right now I am checking a soil thermometer out in a garden bed. It shows that the soil is far too cold to plant anything (and of course our soils are far too wet to be handled at all). As of today my soil temperature had come up to 4 degrees C by afternoon, but is lower in the mornings after overnight frosts. So we are a long way from the 12-15 C minimum for planting cool season crops! Bear in mind that the optimum germination temperatures for even cool season vegetables is minimum 21 C ; peas, for example, germinate best at 24 C. Which is why sprouting early peas indoors is such a good idea, giving them a nice warm germination period, after which they can go outdoors to cooler weather. To hasten soil warming, rake off any mulch on the surface and lay clear plastic on the soil to trap heat. Black plastic won’t heat the soil nearly as fast as clear. If yo…

This certainly is a different spring than we have had for the last couple of years. I was walking around Victoria on the weekend noting all of the street trees that should have been blooming for weeks by now, without a blossom to be seen. Chirpy little notes in my own garden journals show that last year this time crocuses, Siberian iris and daffodils were all blooming in my yard…and there are none to be seen this year (awe still have snow along the roads!) Starting Seeds: If you are starting your own seeds indoors, you might want to adjust your schedule to take this late, cold season into account. I have always started seeds of leeks, onions, celery and celeriac sometime after mid-February, but this year am waiting until the very end of the month to sow them. I don’t want to have to manage plants that are getting larger and larger, while the soil is still too cold for them to be set outdoors in the garden. In fact, I am pushing back all of my planting dates a week or two a…

Funny how fast those snowdrops pop up the minute the frost leaves the ground! With the going of the snow and the arrival of more seasonal temperatures, it is time to come out of hibernation. First, I want to let everyone know that my newest publication is out and making its way to bookstores. You can also order it from my web site or get it directly from me at any of my talks and workshops. Resilient Gardens 2017: Pollinator Gardens, Garlic Diseases, Pest Update. The focus in this publication is on how to grow safe, hospitable and abundant coastal gardens for pollinators. Topics include pollination biology and common pollinators, what to plant to feed them (and what not to plant), nest sites for bees and protecting pollinators from insecticides. The second section focuses on identifying and managing garlic root diseases in an effort to clear up confusion about the various fungal diseases that attack garlic (although White Rot is the disease everyone fears, there are other…

Well, the La Nina weather pattern is certainly delivering as promised: wet and windy indeed, with a record-setting October for number of rainy days and, in some areas, record total rainfall for the month. Despite this, however, it has been warm enough for cabbages and other hardy plants to continue slow growth and for cutworms to be out and about (see below). There isn’t cold weather in the immediate forecast and Environment Canada’s long range forecast shows a probability of somewhat above average temperatures through January, but remember that the coldest weather we have had in the last couple of winters occurred in late November. So…just sayin’… be prepared to finish mulching by then and have some tarps or sheets of plastic handy to cover leafy greens in case of really cold weather. The hardy greens, such as chard and leaf beet, winter lettuce, Komatsuna, Mizuna, leaf mustards and hardy Chinese cabbages are usually fine to about -5oC (23oF) without covers. At those temper…

That nice spell of warm weather was just what we needed to bring on the last growth of late crops. Here are some things to do—and not do—right now: Keep insect covers on until the end of October. A perennial question is when to take off the netting or row cover protecting carrots, winter radishes, turnips, and small cabbage family greens from root maggots. There are still lots of adult flies floating around, laying eggs on unprotected plants. Give the covers another month or until the first heavy frost, whichever comes first.  Rinse the covers to clean them and store until next year. For you eager Brussels sprout growers: It is time to pinch or cut out the centre top-knot of leaves to force the plants to develop sprouts. If your plants already have nice-sized sprouts, this is optional. Plants set out later may just be showing the first small sprouts on the bottom third of the stem. These benefit from stopping the top growth to hasten sprout development. I am still hearing…

The seeding season is about over: Only the smallest leafy greens (corn salad, lettuce, arugula) can be sown this week and still have a chance of making a good crop this fall. If you want more kale, chard, spinach or Chinese cabbage, look for well-grown starts at local nurseries. These still have enough time to produce a usable harvest for this fall and winter (but do get them planted as soon as possible). The wet weather this week provides a good opportunity to transplant seedlings you started earlier. I have a bed of leafy greens and lettuce that should be thinned so I will transplant some of the plants into an empty bed vacated [finally!] by the last of my onions. Splitters: With this wet weather, watch out for splitting fruit and vegetables. I found an exploded zucchini this morning, cracked from one end to the other. This happens when plants have been kept rather short on water as many gardens are on the coast during the dry season. With the arrival of substantial rainfa…

Right now is a great time to seed spinach for harvest this fall. Spinach sown at this time of year usually overwinters to produce a big spring crop, no matter how beat up plants are by winter. I just seeded mine to take advantage of that spell of cooler moist weather over the last couple of day, but it should be fine to sow it up to the middle of the month. Do use burlap or other covers to keep the seedbed cool and moist in the hot weather forecast for this week. So far I have only had one variety of spinach not work on this schedule (‘Melo Nero’ all bolted). Though I have certainly not tried every spinach there is, I do know that Long Standing Bloomsdale, Viking, Tyee and Large Leaved Winter spinach all do well. Spinach generally, however, is not happy about being out in endless winter rain and is broken down by wet snow. If you can grow it in a bed protected by the overhang of a roof or under a plastic tunnel or coldframe, the leaves will hold up better (the same goes for win…

July 1st is Carrot Day too! It is time to sow the carrots as well as beets, rutabagas, turnips, winter radishes that you want to eat over the winter. The first week of July seems to work fine for carrots for most gardens in the region. You can sow beets and turnips a week or two later with good results, but if you start seeds much later than that, you will run out of growing days to mature the roots. They will still be edible of course, just small. If they are small in the fall, that’s all…because plants and roots grow as large as they are going to get by about the end of October. Plants don’t grow noticeably in the winter months andm because carrots and other roots are biennial plants, in the spring they will just send up flower stalks rather than grow larger roots. And here is a review of how to start seeds in the summer: The soil is too warm right now for good germination of carrot (and lettuce) seeds so you should shade seedbeds until the seed has germinated. This will …

Based on emails I have been getting, I thought a quick review of how to approach pest and disease problems would be useful, plus an alert about the 2 most serious pest problems in food garden (IMHO): The first thing to do when you see something you are concerned about is NOT to remove the odd looking or damaged leaves. This is like caring for a sick friend by reducing their food intake. There are a few exceptions, such as leafminers on chard, beets or spinach, when it is a good idea to remove and destroy the parts of leaves with leafminer tracks to kill larvae that would become the next generation. It is a losing battle to try to control leaf diseases caused by fungi (powdery mildews, downy mildews, rusts) by pulling off leaves during the growing season: the spores are everywhere and blow in the wind so removing leaves only harms the plant by removing leaf area. At the end of the season, collecting and destroying infected leaves or fruit is a good way to remove overwintering…