Spring vegetable Gardening tips
If you have been in the PNW for more than 20 minutes you know it rains. A lot. The upside of this is the fact that things grow pretty well out here. Sure things would grow better if the sun would come out for more than 4 minutes at a time but let’s try to stay positive, this is only the first paragraph. Normally, the things that grow out here aren’t very tasty but with a little know-how you could be growing some fresh veggies that also don’t taste particularly good but they ARE good for you. So you got that going for you, which is nice.
Thank god for ranch dressing.
Not everything is going to take off like you might hope but there are some really great planting choices that should put some food on the table. Given the right conditions a person could really score some quality roughage. So whaddya say, want to grow some veggies?
First let’s talk soil. The soil around here can be provide some challenges as a lot of it is sand or clay. What you want is loam (whatever that is). There are things one can do to treat the soil such as digging in lime or adding compost or manure. I prefer to just give all that noise a pass and build some raised garden beds with purchased soil.
This is a best option if you have clay soil. The second best way to garden in clay is to turn it into pottery, fill the pottery with dirt and grow plants in that. We’ll save that for a different blog (we won’t).
Next thing we should cover is what to plant. Everybody loves to grow tomatoes but the harsh truth is that tomatoes don’t grow all that well out here. Tomatoes, beans, summer squash, peppers, eggplants, and tomatillos need warmth and something called sunlight (which is rare in these parts) to germinate, produce fruit, and mature. In cold, damp soil, seeds rot. During wet weather, bees are less likely to be active, further reducing your chances of success. That doesn’t mean you CAN’T grow tomatoes, they just take a little extra care to provide a yield worth the effort. The first plants you should consider planting in the spring include peas, lettuce, broccoli, kale, and collards. Plant these crops in late March and again in July for a fall crop. In April, plant the root vegetables, including radishes, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and beets. You like beets, right?
A great resource for more information is the WSU website for gardening at http://gardening.wsu.edu/. Take some time to review the info they have when deciding what and where you will plant. The site will also have info on a number of other related subjects such as greenhouses, local wildlife, and ornamental plants. Remember, every vegetable you grow is one you don’t have to buy so you can feel a lot better about letting it go bad in your vegetable crisper.
Happy Gardening!
Austin J. M. Caylor