The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

The month of May is such a busy one for gardeners, I thought I would do a weekly list instead of a monthly one.

My garden is in a zone 3, but much of this will be the same, regardless of where you live in Canada and the northern states.

The predicated temps here for this week are lows of 2 to 7 degrees this week, highs in the 20 to 27 degree range. We have a lovely week ahead. The weather is up and down here at this time of the year. Do not be tempted to put out your tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, or other heat lovers.. we may yet get a dump of snow, knowing how mother nature tends to roll.

Hubby and I both have days off, so we have started on the yard work… the entire month is going to be busy, but this is what we are working on now…

Vegetables

• Get your beds ready for planting. Feed your soil to feed your plants with compost/manure. No chemical fertilisers needed. Trust your gut. Our grandmothers did not go around sprinkling Miracle Grow around ; )
• Add 1 to 2 inches of compost or bagged manure annually, but some add as much as 6 inches annually. Add what you can afford, and what you think your garden needs. Feeding your soil and your soil life will give you stronger, healthier, bigger vegetables.
• Btw, there is no need to worry about your beds growing ‘too high’. The soil life will break down that compost by the end of the year, providing you with amazing soil and bigger, healthier, happier veggies.
• Direct sow cool season crops of cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, pak choi, lettuce, peas, chard.
• You can also plant seedlings of these cool season crops, be prepared to cover with a frost blanket (like white landscape fabric) if frost is in the forecast. I will be planting out my purple cauliflower, Artwork broccoli, cabbage, celery, and pak choi seedlings out in the garden.
• Some will also sow carrots and beets now. I generally prefer to wait till the soil is warmer for better and faster germination, knowing that mother nature can throw us a curveball at any time. I think I will sow a couple rows of carrots this weekend and do the the bulk of my sowing in two or three weeks. You really have nothing to lose by waiting as they germinate so much better in warm soil, so don’t fret if you do not have time to get to it till end of month.
• It is too late to direct sow spinach, but you can still plant out starter plants.
• Start hardening off your tomato and pepper plants. They can be planted outside once the nighttime temps are regularly at, or about, 10°C (50°F).

The saying is that you can plant them out in the garden when you can sit on the garden bed with your bare bottom and not get chilled.

To harden off plants, you want to place them in shade or dappled sunlight for just 1 to 2 hours to start, increasing the sunlight a little bit daily. I am still leaving mine in the shade at this time, will move them out to the sunlight as we get closer to the long weekend.

They grow sturdier and happier if they get out in the fresh air, sun or shade, plus the wind makes the stalks stronger.

Herbs

• Dill – Sow seeds now. Remember that they will self seed fantastically, so sow your dill wherever you want it to be for the next decade, or forever, really. In my opinion, you can never have too much dill.
• Cilantro – if you like it, is time to sow or plant it out. It does not like the heat so will bolt as soon as the soil and the air warms up. Sow/plant in a morning sun location to try to extend the timing, water regularly to slow down the bolting.
• Borage – another happy self seeder. Grow it once and you will have it forever. The bees absolutely adore this herb. There is a saying that goes like this… bees love to forage for borage. This herb also puts minerals back into the soil, and into your compost. Plant with your strawberries as a great companion for both the minerals and increased pollination as it attracts the bees.

We do not use cilantro, no one like the flavour in our family. However, I like to grow it, if I have room, as when it bolts, the bees and pollinators are all over it. Great herb to grow if you want to attract bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects.

To stagger your dill harvest, sow some seeds every two weeks this month, and even into June. I find that my volunteer dill (comes up from last year’s self seeding) are almost too done by the time I am pickling cucumbers. If I toss in a few fresh seeds, I will have lovely fronds for my barbecued potatoes and pickling till frost.

Plant your herbal planters now, too. Grow it on your deck or patio, close to the kitchen for easy and quick harvests. Add a few flowers to your herbal planter, too. It looks great and feeds the bees.

Flowers

• Direct sow cosmos and zinnias. You can hold off on this for another two weeks if your weather is inclement.
• Plant out sweet pea starts, or direct sow sweet peas. Soak them for 2 to 24 hours first for faster germination by a couple of weeks! It really makes a difference.
• If your sweet pea starts are 6 inches or taller, pinch them above the 2nd or 3rd set of leaves for bushier plants and more flowers this summer.
• Snapdragons can also be planted out now, if they have been hardened off.
• Feed your soil to feed your plants, get your beds ready for planting. Top dress with an inch or two of compost or bagged manure. Lightly scratch into the surface. This will be enough to keep your flowers blooming all summer long. If you have poor soil, with a garden fork, lightly dig in 4 to 6 inches of compost.
• Keep in mind that both cosmos and zinnias do not want fertiliser, they do not love rich soil.
• Some will direct sow sunflowers now, I wait till the soil temps are warmer for better and faster germination.
• Get your pots ready for planting up. Fill with a good high porosity potting soil and compost blend. Two parts potting soil mixed with 1 part bagged manure or compost will feed your flowers nicely.
• Place a slow release fertiliser (with a high middle number )on top of the potting soil before you plant, mix in to the top inch or two with your fingers. Redo again in late July.

Yard Work

• Rake the lawn. Dethatch, if needed, overseed, if needed.
• Fertilise the lawn… if you are so inclined ; ) Water afterwards if no rain is in the forecast.
• Most garden centers/greenhouses will sell sod by the piece. If you have a small patch of lawn that is ruined from voles, dew worms, or doggie pee, consider removing the brown grass and replacing with sod. Remove grass, add a bit of compost or garden loam, lay sod, water daily. Great grass in 3 weeks.
• Build new beds, or put in metal raised beds. Not to worry, They do not overheat, will only get a degree or two warmer than wooden ones, and that is just on the side of the bed that the sun is directly shining on. We are putting 2 more of these metal beds in the yard. Still looking for the right ones, but need to decide asap. Mine need to be 5 or 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, ideally, and will take either 12 or 18 inches tall.
• Think about lasagna gardening when filling new beds. Fill up the bottom with branches, twigs, grass clippings, leaves, straw, all kinds of organic matter so that you need less soil up front, and it will break down to feed your beds each year. Top that organic matter with compost/sea soil and then a good compost/loam garden blend and you will have amazing gardens right from the get go.

• Make a pollinator strip garden aka a cutting garden. Grow flowers for the bees, birds, and yourself!

Participate in No-Mow-May…

• Supports pollinators who are just waking up and looking for food
• Boosts biodiversity right in your own backyard
• Encourages healthier soil and natural habitats
• Flowers look great in the lawn – look into bellis, forget-me-nots, clover… Check out the low growing alternative grass mixes at WCS or Vesey’s.

This read is quick and gives you 5 reasons for mowing less often. I like it.

Pruning

If you have not yet done so (I have not), this is the last chance to do your shrub pruning.

• Thin out lilacs, if you have a really dense one, as we do. This is the only time that we can see the framework and get in there to remove some of the interior. In two weeks time, it will be green, lush, and flowering… too late, in other words.
• Do not trim or shape your lilacs until after they have bloomed though!
• Cut back your roses by 1/3 to 1/2. Trim to an outward facing bud. Remove any branches growing inwards, towards the center of the shrub. Keep it in a vase shape, everything growing outwards. Take out old, thick branches, really skinny branches, and anything that is criss-crossing another branch.
• Do the same with your other shrubs. Remove thick, old branches, cutting them down right close to the ground. This will rejuvenate your shrub into making new, fresh growth. Cut down by 1/3 to 1/2.
• Prune hedges.

If you start to see aphids on your roses or shrubs, do not panic.

The ladybugs and other beneficial insects are starting to emerge from your leaf piles, their winter hidey holes… and they are hungry! They are also laying their eggs so you will soon have loads of ladybug larvae around.

If you spray now, you will kill the larvae and will struggle with pests for the rest of the summer. Aphids tend to come in two waves, for the most part. Spring and late summer. Let the good bugs deal with them. If you spray now, you will also kill off the parasitic insects that prevent leaf miners, caterpillars on your cabbages, and thrips in your dahlias. This is all happening right now, we just cannot see it.

If you really want to do something, spray the aphids off with a strong jet of water. Remember that even though soap spray are eco-friendly, they also kill ladybugs, parasitic insects, and bees. Plus, what on earth will your little baby birdies eat?

I know you all hate to hear this. I really do. But I SWEAR, just leave the bad bugs be and nature will correct itself : )

We just picked up this new Carmine Jewel cherry in a tree form. How lovely is this, eh? So… we are removing the wee shrub form one that we just planted last fall and replacing it with this tree. It is going to make this corner garden just perfect.

The ugly mulch will be replaced with nicer mulch as it composts down, but you know how it is… ugly mulch is better than no mulch! Weed barrier and moisture retention. Oh, and yes, that plastic lattice is going, too. Hubby was hoping I would be okay with that…

Anyways… see you next week. Let’s see how much we can all get done, eh?

Happy Gardening ~ Tanja