A Dry & Cool Spring – End Of May In The Potager – The Marigold Potager

It’s the May 24 weekend. No, not the long weekend, that one was early this year, but the actual 24th of May… a great time for planting your tender plants in most all parts of Canada. Yay!

I got all my seeds in before the cold snap but this weekend has been a busy planting time for me. Making up my planters, planting up my (bazillion) flower pots, planting tomatoes, direct sowing squash and cucumbers. Yes, they have plenty of time to do their thing!

*Cover your newly sown carrots with burlap sacks to keep the soil moist till they germinate.*

CARROTS – many of you are probably sowing carrots right now, this weekend, or have just recently sown your carrots.

I find that they come up really quickly in warm soil, tend to take longer when the soil is cool. Carrots can take from 5 days to 21 days to germinate.

The key to carrot sowing? Water, water, water. Water them daily, or even twice a day. You can cover them with burlap sacks (or something) to keep the soil moist for longer. They do not need light to germinate. Check under the cover daily, remove when you see some of the carrot tops showing, the rest will soon follow.

If you forget to water, wait for rain that does not come, let the soil dry out, your carrot seeds will die and you will have to resow your seeds.

A burlap sack pulled aside with carrot seeds germinating under the sack. The burlap keeps the soil moist so that they seeds germinate quickly and do not dry out and die. — *Remove the burlap when you see germination happening.*

As it is so dry this year…

Make a furrow to sow the seeds in.
Water the furrow before sowing the seeds.
Cover the seeds with 3/4 to 1 inch of soil.
Water the rows/the bed.
Cover with burlap, a board, anything to create shade (optional). Water through the burlap sacks.
Check on the seeds daily by lifting cover. Remove when you see germination.
Water, water, water. They need moist soil to germinate.

After they germinate, decrease watering to twice a week. When they are of a good size, use weeping hoses or drip systems to deep water the soil once or twice a week.

*The apple is fairly humming with bees as it is simply covered in blossoms.*

*Tree form Romeo cherry is full of flowers.*

It’s going to be a banner year for fruits over here! My apple trees are loaded with flowers, the Romeo Sweetheart Cherry is loaded, even my baby Saskatoons are full of flowers!

Two green aphids on the back of young, red rose leaves. — *Aphids on rose leaves.*

Okay, now for the stuff that everyone hates to hear… #sorrynotsorry

Quick reminder that you may start seeing garden pests as the temps warm up and more food is available. Remember… where there are bad bugs, there are also good bugs! You just might not be able to see them ; ) Here are some safe ways to deal with the pesky kinds.

Whiteflies – impossible to kill as they fly away when you try to spray them, so you are killing everything else instead. Spray with a strong jet of water each time you go by with the hose, let the ladybugs get them, Birds eat the bugs and give them to their young (it is baby bird season). remove the plant if it gets buggy every year and you hate the bugs (Virginia Creeper, grape vines, Engelmann’s Ivy…) My motto is that life is too short for ugly plants/plants you hate. If you hate dealing with the annual bugs, turf it and put in a clematis : )
Aphids – come in cycles through the year. Remember all those ladybugs we had in our leaf mulch and dormant perennial flowers? They will take care of the aphids. Just give them time! Nothing natural is immediate. Those ladybugs have laid eggs and their larvae are starting to come forth.. and they are hungry! They will eat even more bugs and bug eggs than the parents do. If you spray (yes, even with soap) you are killing these baby ladybugs, too.
Caterpillars – on your brassicas. Those white cabbage moths lay their eggs on your young plants and as the eggs hatch, the caterpillars eat your crops. The least expensive and easiest way to deal with them is to cover your crops! Use insect netting. Plant alyssum and calendula in your garden to attract parasitoids. They will happily munch away those eggs and caterpillars. Love this type of organic gardening – pretty flowers to attract good bugs to eat the bad bugs. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Ants – I admit, I hate them. We have them everywhere in our yard here in Central Alberta. Sadly, we just have to coexist. The ant/pest control companies sprays only work for one summer (if that) and they kill off the good bugs, too, which leaves your yard open to pests. It is totally not worth it, as those companies are not cheap. If the ants are in your garden beds, a safe, organic control is to mix borax with sugar and water to form a paste, put out on a plate where the ants are. Or, dip a few cotton balls into the mixture and place them on top of the ant nests. *Borax can be harmful to humans and pets, so wear gloves when using this mixture and wash your hands immediately afterward. I don’t recommend DE unless you are able to keep bees and other critters off of it, as DE kills them all.
Tent caterpillars – seem to be abounding in the area this time of year. Yes, the can defoliate a part of your tree, are a bit unsightly, but they will not kill your tree. Meaning that there is no reason to kill the caterpillars.
When deciding if you need to act, keep in mind that tent caterpillars have only one generation a year, and each female lays only a single egg mass. Since tent caterpillars are native to North America, insect parasites and natural predators like birds and rodents control a certain amount of the population. Tent caterpillars – Canada.ca

Plant flowers and herbs – Bees, hover flies, tachinid flies, lacewings, most all predatory insects and pollinators, tend to like high pollen flowers, such as the flat umbels of dill and cilantro gone to seed.

Want to read more about organic pest control ideas, see here.

A railing planter box full of shade plants. Tradescantia, white begonias, and bright pink and green coleus.

Plant your plants, sow your seeds, it is go time!

Don’t forget to harden off tender plants before putting them out. Plants are prone to sunburn if they go straight out on a sunny day. The leaves will turn white if they get sunburnt and they do not ever go green again. You just have to wait for the plant to grow new leaves.

To harden off your plants, place in a shady spot where they receive dappled light for 2 or 3 hours the first day. Each day, introduce your plant to a couple more hours of sunshine and plant out on the 3rd or 4th day. If they are in the greenhouse, they will not need to be hardened off, they are good to go.