Community Garden, Growing Green

Garden Update and What is Coming Up Next

English Daisy – one of my new favorites!

It is almost that time…the true planting date for our area!  This quick reference frost chart gives you a pretty good idea of when that will be in some major U.S. cities.  Our date is May 10 according to the chart.  That’s an average, remember.  But it is a pretty close guess.  In the Boise, Idaho area a fellow gardener on Facebook recently suggested that if you can still see snow on Bogus Basin it is too early to plant.  I have a hard time following that rule, because I am so anxious to get the plants started.  I already have most of my tomatoes in the ground (most in walls of water) and my peppers too, though I don’t think they will do much until it warms up a bit anyway.  The peppers are not under walls of water but I can cover them in a pinch if it looks as though we will get a freeze.  I am crossing my fingers on this one.

So start deciding what and where you want your warm season veggies to be! I think I am going to start getting them in the ground this week, but you may want to wait another week or two just to be prudent.  You can even wait until just after Memorial Day if you want to be especially careful or you aren’t in a big hurry.  I am in a big hurry.  So I think sometime in the next week or so I am at least going to plant my cucumbers.  And possibly some squash family plants out at the church garden (pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut, etc.).  Then on to the beans.  And the melons.

A gopher or some other critter is eating everything at my plot at the church garden, including my onion starts of all things.  I thought at least those would be safe.  Oh, well.  Time to start some research on organic gopher removal.  I put out a stick of gum.  It’s supposed to be indigestible to them.  I wonder if he ate it yet?  I will have to go check today.  If not, maybe it gave the pest a cavity or two. 😉

My raspberry bushes are growing beautifully with all the rain.  They have already begun to flower and are continuing to send new growth out into the lawn.  I have another friend who wanted some more starts so I had better start digging before we mow the grass again and cut them down.

Raspberry Bushes

My herbs are doing well too!  Check it out – the cilantro is growing well in it’s outdoor pots.

Cilantro

It has started to get some of it’s true leaves and is about 2 inches high.  Mmmmm!  Oh, and I changed my mind on that last planter box.  I found an Italian Oregano plant and couldn’t resist.  So I will have to be content with cilantro in only two outside planters instead of three.  Hope that your garden is growing beautifully!  Have a great weekend!

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