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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cool weather gives garden a slow start


This is not what a gardener wants to see on their broccoli plant, especially one that has been grown under a floating row cover to keep out insects. Special to 
 (SUSAN MULVIHILL Special to / The Spokesman-Review)

I think it’s safe to say that most gardeners are feeling pretty frustrated with the the growing season’s slow start. When I started writing this column in February, I promised I would take you out to my garden for updates. Today is the first update, although I don’t have anything exciting to report due to our chilly, rainy weather.

As of last week, every crop had been planted in my garden, including the warm-season crops of peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupes and squash. The first three are in beds covered with red plastic mulch to help raise the soil temperature and increase production.

I started my pea, bean, tomato, broccoli and corn seeds indoors because they need a head start before getting transplanted into the garden. Because quail visit our garden regularly, these beds are temporarily covered with netting for added protection.

One issue many gardeners, myself included, have been experiencing is poor seed germination. I’ve had to replant my carrot and parsnip seeds despite planting them the usual way. Because the soil surface can become crusty in the spring, I sprinkle the seeds onto the prepared bed and cover them with a light seed-starting mix to help the seedlings sprout. It’s likely our cooler, damper weather is the culprit for the poor germination. Once the seedlings are 3 inches tall, it’ll be time to thin them 3 inches apart.

I’m very pleased with how well the Italian pole beans are doing. They are quickly climbing up the bean tower and already are 3 feet tall. Most of the lettuce seeds germinated well and we started harvesting them two weeks ago. I cut individual leaves rather than the whole plant so I can harvest them for a longer period of time.

The seed potatoes were slow to sprout but they are up and growing. I’m watching for any signs of Colorado potato beetles or their orange eggs, which are laid on the undersides of the leaves. If I spot either, I’ll hand-pick them and spray the plants with the San Diego strain of Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis.

The cole crops that I planted this year – red cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli – are spending their lives underneath a floating row cover to keep the aphids and cabbage loopers at bay. However, you can imagine my surprise at recently finding two of those green worms on a broccoli plant growing underneath the cover. My only theory is that a cabbage butterfly made its way into our open greenhouse before my seedlings were planted. However it happened, I hand-picked the damaged leaves and will spray Bt.

The tomato plants are growing at a glacial pace, but they do have a couple of flowers on them – a sneak preview of the delights to come later in the season.

I started onions from sets – small bulbs – which grow very quickly. We have harvested a few of the plants as scallions after the bulbs firmed up, which takes about a month from when they were planted.

I’ve noticed some vegetable plants’ leaves are looking rather pale, so I fed them with an organic vegetable fertilizer to get them back on track.

At this point, I just have two tasks on my list: some occasional weeding – while being careful not to cultivate the soil too deeply, which stirs up more weed seeds – and monitoring the garden daily for signs of trouble. My reward will be more harvesting and enjoyment of the early crops.