Coping with the Cool Spring

The rain, the rain. Please make it stop. Tomorrow. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow.

I'm going to pass on some excellent words of wisdom from Linda Gilkeson's newsletter. (I hope she forgives me, but it's such great advice. You should all run over to your computer and buy one of her books. I have the winter garden book and it is an excellent resource. And sign up for her newsletter, too while you're at it.) Here is some great advice for coping with the very cool spring we've been having. (Note that she's not on the wet coast, so consider that when she's talking about things like tomatoes, melons, cukes, peppers. Sorry, gang, but with rare exception, they're only going to make it out here in a greenhouse or cold frame. Please, prove me wrong if you can explain otherwise! I know some people do grow tomatoes on their decks.)

Cool Spring: As often happens a warm winter hasn't led to a warm spring. In fact, there has been some pretty cold weather this month that will have those who have already put out their tomatoes, beans, corn, squash and other heat-loving crops worrying. Root diseases are the biggest problem in wet, cool weather and if infected, the plants usually die.

If you have plants under cloches or floating row covers they will fare better in this weather. My favourite cloche for individual plants is a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut out. Set it over the plant and push a stick through the handle of the jug to keep it in place. Put the lid or a flat stone on the mouth of the jug at night to keep the heat in and take it off during the day to allow ventilation. For seedlings in beds use floating row covers to warm up the crop (also useful to keep birds from pulling up small seedlings).

If you haven't set out the most delicate plants (cucumbers, melons, peppers, sweet basil), I would wait until next weekend when it sounds like temperatures will be higher. I just gave my seedlings a good dose of fish fertilizer to see them through a few more days in their pots. If you planted beans earlier this month, it might be a good idea to sprout more beans in vermiculite indoors to fill in gaps in the rows. The new seedlings will quickly catch up to earlier sown plants that have been struggling outdoors in cool weather.

Tomorrow, I'll put up her advice on winter gardens. Yup, you read that right.