Newsletter May 2024
May is the Grow, Gather, and GIVE BACK Month
In this Issue...
- Thank You Givers!
- Upcoming Events - PLANT SALE May 4th
- Year-to-Date Harvest Numbers
- What to do in the May Garden
- NEW Postings
- How to Volunteer / Donate
To all the Givers… thank you for your support!
Our gardens thrive on the love of gardening and by the help of our community such as a recent grant donation by the Noon Rotary Club. FBG is a 501c3 organization separate from the Food Bank Association. While the Food Banks are our primary beneficiary, we also give to the schools, soup kitchens, and many other organizations. Your dollars and volunteer hours support those in immediate need and inspire others to start their own backyard "food bank". We thank you for your generous spirit, whether you purchase veggies at the May 4th plant sale, donate tools, cash, or just send a kind word while walking by a garden; it all helps to keep us inspired, working, and helping to keep our community well fed.
In gratitude,
Mark Paxton, President Food Bank Growers
Upcoming Events
May 4th (this Saturday) PLANT SALE at Chimacum High School 10:00-4:00
This is the biggest Master Gardener/FBG joint sale ever. Fluff up your landscape or plant out your garden with Plant Starts - it’s all there. Funds raised go to support our gardens and gleaners who provide fresh food for our community.
June 3, 2024, 3 pm (Monday) Overwintering Growing Results
Presentation at WSU Extension classroom in Port Hadlock.
Jude Rubin, of Shooting Star Farm will present results from their JCMGF grant. They explored a number of varieties and grew them with varying degrees of cover through the winter to test both what varieties are most productive for overwinter growing and the covering treatment that works best.
2024 Year-to-Date Harvest, Hours, and Starts
Perennial herbs have sprung back up on the harvest board.
748.55 pounds
1107.25 Volunteer Hours
260 Starts
NEW Postings on FoodBankGrowers.org
Starts via the Plant Train from Swan School
May in the Garden, by Dianna Wiklund
This May the temperatures are likely to start out below our average of 62°/49°. The forecast pattern from last winter is still holding, the first two weeks are forecast to be cooler and wetter and then the forecast is warmer and dry for the second half of the month. We normally get about 1.62 inches of rain in May. We are not forecast to get our usual highs but we will have to wait and see. Weather is getting less predictable every year. NOAA is forecasting a return to La Nina this summer but they are also predicting record breaking high temps. globally. It is a wait and see game. This is when a soil thermometer is especially important. Check your soil temperatures to be sure when to plant and transplant to reduce shock and improve germination.
Garden work
Weeding is the big thing now. Figuring out whether you need to pull a week or just chop and drop is a big challenge.
Here are my basic guidelines:
- If it has a tap root like a dandelion or dock, pull it. Remove the roots from the garden but you can use the tops as mulch.
- If it sends out runners like buttercup or quackgrass remove as much of the runner/root system as you can. Take it completely out of the garden so it can not restart growing.
- If it has thorns or any spikey bits remove it from the garden.
- If it is perennial, remove it. I have trouble with Thimbleberry/Salal/Salmonberry in my garden.
- All others I tend to just cut down at the base and leave them as mulch. “Chop and Drop”. Leaving the roots systems to decompose in the soil disturbed the mycelium less which will give you a healthier garden.
Transplanting
You can plant out most of your cool season starts now. I tend to cover all my starts with cloches made from used clear plastic bottles. This works great on many levels; it reduces transplant shock, it keeps the birds from pulling them up and reduces slug damage. Floating row covers also help but I find my cats like to lounge on them and squash my plants.
You want night time temps. Mostly overnight temperatures to be in the 50°s F to transplant or direct seed most of your warm season crops. I will be waiting until my soil thermometer tells me the soil temperature is also over 50°F at night before I start putting out Tomates and other warmth loving plants.
Planting
When our soils finally warm you can direct sow or transplant out corn and beans and squash. These warm season crops (especially corn) can be a gamble around here. I often say I am just growing corn for entertainment and to support my bush beans, as it is not alway warm enough to mature. But you will notice I do still plant it because fresh corn is wonderful.
I started my corn in toilet paper tubes in my greenhouse the last week of April in the hopes that it will be warm enough to plant it before the roots reach the bottom of the tube. Corn doesn’t like having its roots messed with so I really try to minimize it. When I do transplant it I will either cover them with a Hoop House or cloches for as long as possible.
Once we start getting temperature in the 70’s during the day then I will put my cherry tomatoes outside. I have given up planting other types outside as my place is just too cool. I do know people in Port Townsend that grow great tomatoes outside. This is very site dependent.
Most other produce can be directly planted now although Basil, Squash and Cucumbers will still benefit from being inside and warm until the temperature really starts to warm up
Harvesting
Finally we can start eating fresh from the garden. Salad greens, flowers and fresh snap peas. Baby beets and maybe some carrot thinnings for those who got started early. Sprouting broccoli if managed right can still be producing. A wonderful and welcome beginning to the harvest to come.
Happy Gardening
Dianna Wiklund 🌻
FBG Garden Coordinator
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