Registration Extended to April 1

A series of articles presented by Candy Horton, an OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer

I was working in the garden this past weekend.  I was installing a new cold frame and noticed spinach coming up.  Some of the seeds I planted last November are now coming up.  I am so excited about that; I should be able to start harvesting again in just a few weeks.  I did get my first batch of radishes and lettuce planted and should be harvesting these soon, too.   I’m planting cool-weather plants and do well in this type of weather.  I check to see if the bean seeds I planted last year are coming up. I’m hoping that will be soon.

Some things that I have to do in the garden this coming week are to clean out the weeds from around the beds and walking paths.  I need to move the compost over into the second compost bin so that I will have compost to use this fall, and I can start the next batch with all of the cleanup I’m doing.  I want to clean the strawberry bed and add new plants and leaf mulch to finish cleaning that bin.  Once I know how many strawberries made it through the winter, I can add more if needed.  The ones I have seen are beautiful and look very healthy.   I am working on the bed that will have the peas in it.  It’s a 4’ x 12’ bed.  The seeds I have are supposed to be self-supporting.  I will plant 2 short rows this week, then in 3 weeks, plant two more and continue this until I have all the rows planted.  As the plants die down, I will pull them and start the process over.  With peas being a cool weather plant, I may have to take a break in the hottest few months and start back up in the fall.

I checked on the seeds I started in the milk jugs and were outside.  I have a lot of seeds coming up.  Most are flowers, but the trays’ seeds are coming up quickly.  The broccoli and cabbage are doing good.  I will plant more seeds in milk jugs through the end of this month and another couple of trays.

As for the next section of the potager garden, I have the layout ready.  The center section is going to be 8 feet wide.  I will add a water feature, a resting spot, and insect hotels in this section.   The insect hotels will be the first thing I will add to the garden.  Insect hotels are a way to invite beneficial insects into your garden.  Many insects use leaves, sticks, plant stalks, and holes in wood to build their homes for the winter.  By building or providing these items for insects to build their homes in, you provide a safe habitat for them.  And they will help care for the bad insects that invade your garden.  According to the Oklahoma State University Extension group, less than 1% of all insects are pests.  The rest of the insects benefit us or serve as an important food source for vertebrate predators.  Native pollinators such as bees also need nesting sites, and because of urban development, places where they can build their nests are becoming harder to find.  These are solitary bees such as mason or leafcutter bees.  I want to add a nesting box for them as well.  Utah State University Extension has a really good article on how to make and manage a wild bee house or hotel, as well as a lot of good information on where to place them in your garden and how to protect the bees once they have started nesting.  I have the links for both articles below.   When I started building this garden, I never thought about insects and worms; I just wanted a garden.  I soon realized that with this eventually being a walled garden and a sort of outdoor room, I want to invite into this room everything that will help to make it a safe, restful, and healthy space, and that includes the insects, birds, butterflies and all other types of habitat.

Plant Disease and Insect Advisory (okstate.edu)

making-managing-wild-bee-hotels.pdf (usu.edu)