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Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Maritime Pacific Northwest

Its nearly May, and time for a garden tour.

April is probably one of the dead spots for harvesting vegetables in the
Willamette Valley, USDA zone 8. Its between overwintered vegetables and
early seedlings.

Here's whats harvesting in the garden:

Overwintered cauliflower
New* joi choi
Overwintered lettuce
Overwintered leeks
Perrenial bunching onions
New* arugula
Overwintered chard (not great)
Overwintered mustard (not real great)
new* mustard

*new means started in pots inside and set out under cloches

Other activity under cloches:
Tomatos
lettuce

Activity outside:
transplanted kohlrabi
direct sown peas
transplanted joi choi and bok choi 

In the Greenhouse:
Green tomatos
Green peppers on overwintered plants
Lots of miscellanous starts in 1" to 4" pots.
Blooming 4' tall cannas.
Blooming 5' tall bougainvilla.
Huge hanging baskets full of blooming scented geraniums.

Moved outside from the greenhouse:
Impatiens. These did great in the cool greenhouse overwinter. They're about
3 feet across.
Fuschias. These also did great in the cool greenhouse overwinter. They're
also about 2 1/2 feet across.
Giant elephant ears, aka taro.

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I think THE foremost problem in spring gardening in W. Oregon is slugs.
Quite frankly, if one wants a good return on one's efforts its better to
plant after mid June when things finally dry out and the slug population
declines. I've pretty much given up on direct sowing in the garden until
June. This is a combination of wet, cold, and slug predation. I'm in a
particularly bad site for slugs, being moist and shady.

However, I'm not serious (Ha Ha) about gardening, being a sort of hobbiest,
and I'm willing to go to great lengths for my lettuce. 

I've made sheet metal collars to go around transplants, and this works well
enough so transplants survive.

I have much better luck with overwintered vegetables this time of year. I
think the overwintered lettuce I'm harvesting now is much tougher than the
transplants I've set out. I think lettuce develops a sort of (ineffective)
defense against slugs if it survives long enough. Generally transplants get
eaten back - then if they survive they are more resistant. Overwintered
lettuce has had more trials, slug bites, and is more apt to survive.

I'm still out there snipping slugs in two, and I don't like it. It seems
futile but necessary. 

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Good Planting
Good Gardening
Good Harvesting


Eric
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