Feb. 23 Column: Season Introduction

daffodils, season introduction
grape hyacinths, season introduction

Today is a milestone because it marks the beginning of my weekly garden columns for the 2020 growing season! This first column is a season introduction. Here is a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Dig into learning. (or you can read my column lower in this post)

In it, I mentioned how dreadful earwigs were in Inland Northwest gardens last year. If you live in a different region of the country, I’d be interested to know if they were especially bothersome in your garden as well. But no matter where you live, how did you deal with them?

There are several options for dealing with earwigs organically, which you’ll find in my column. But even more importantly, I devoted nearly half of it to the many ways we gardeners can locate reliable sources to resolve problems as well as increase our gardening skills. It’s so important to look for research-based information and educational opportunities. You’ll find many classes listed in my online Events calendar.

One suggestion I didn’t have room to include in my column is to consider joining a local garden club. You will learn so much by going to their meetings, hearing wonderful speakers and talking with other garden club members. Here in Spokane, we have a lot of garden clubs. The largest, most active one is the Inland Empire Gardeners with over 400 members! Wow. They put on fabulous events such as the Garden Expo and Spokane in Bloom Garden Tour, and they hold monthly meetings with excellent speakers.

2020 Season Introduction!

If you are new to my columns — and this website — welcome! My columns run every Sunday in The Spokesman-Review newspaper here in Spokane, Wash. from February to October. And I always shoot a weekly video on a gardening topic, which you’ll find embedded within these weekly blog posts, as well as on my YouTube channel.

earwigs, season introduction

And one last thing about earwigs: I do have an information page on earwigs in my Organic Pest Control section, so be sure to take a look at it and the pages on many other troublesome insects.

If you need to find the section again, just go to SusansintheGarden.com, click on the “Guides” menu and look for “Organic Pest Control.”

OK, here is this week’s video, another season introduction of sorts!

Season Introduction garden column:

by Susan Mulvihill

Gardening is a learning process. If things don’t go according to plan, we take notes, do a little research, and remember that there’s always next year.

Last year, many Inland Northwest gardeners were inundated with earwigs that caused a lot of damage. I had the same problem.

Ordinarily, earwigs are considered beneficial since they feed on decomposing plants and are predators of aphids and mites. In my garden, these critters also helped themselves to celery stalks, yardlong bean seedlings, broccoli and cauliflower. I’ve been looking into ways to make them behave themselves this year.

Season introduction: Gardening resources and education

But first, let’s look at the types of resources and opportunities you can take advantage of in order to deal with challenges as well as advance your gardening skills.

The Spokane County and Kootenai County Master Gardener programs run plant clinics . The clinics provide free, research-based information to the public. To contact them, refer to the information box.

To locate reliable information on the web, consult educational resources. When wording your search, input the problem or question you have, followed by the phrase “site=edu” (e.g., “how to control earwigs site=edu”). Look through the results for links to university websites to know you are receiving reliable information.

There are educational opportunities to take advantage of as well. The Spokane County Master Gardeners and Spokane County Extension will be putting on several useful horticulture-related classes in the coming months. Take a look at their events calendar by going to extension.wsu.edu/spokane/events/. I’ll be teaching a class on raised bed gardening on Mar. 7 from 9 a.m. to noon.

This year’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show takes place in Seattle from Feb. 26 to Mar. 1. Each day, there will be 20 seminars and demonstrations on all sorts of gardening topics. Attending the show is a great way to celebrate this year’s garden season, learn new things and hit the ground running.

The Cabin Fever Gardening Symposium, a daylong educational event put on by the Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County, will take place on Mar. 21 at CenterPlace in Spokane Valley. Learn about it by going to mgfsc.org. During this event, I’ll give a presentation on growing edibles in the garden.

Many of our public and county library branches have scheduled free gardening talks. Find their schedules at spokanelibrary.org/calendar/ and scld.evanced.info/signup/calendar, respectively. The libraries also carry books and magazines on many horticultural topics.

Your friends and neighbors are another wonderful resource for gardening information. Take this opportunity to visit with them while learning new skills and how to solve problems they might have encountered.

Season introduction: Earwig problems

Back to the earwigs: If they cause damage to your vegetable plants, you have some options. If you sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of the plants, it creates a barrier that insects rarely cross. Diatomaceous earth is a flourlike substance made from the fossilized remains of algae. It is safe for humans but contains tiny sharp edges that cut into the skin of certain insects, causing them to dehydrate and die.

Another option is to make an earwig trap with an empty tuna or cat food can, or an empty plastic butter container with a hole cut into the lid. Submerge the container so the lip is at the soil surface and add some vegetable oil and perhaps a splash of soy sauce. The earwigs are attracted to this solution, fall in and drown.

Earwigs like to hide under mulch or garden debris during the day. If they are being troublesome, remove the mulch or debris. Or place sheets of corrugated cardboard or newspaper on the ground, pick them up in the morning and shake the earwigs hiding in them into a container of soapy water.

Today marks the beginning of my weekly garden columns and videos. Take a look at the information box to see what I’ll be growing in my vegetable garden this year.

Season introduction: Master Gardener contact information

Spokane County: 222 N. Havana St., (509) 477-2181, mgardener@spokanecounty.org.

Kootenai County: 1808 N. 3rd St., Coeur d’Alene, (208) 446-1680, kootenai@uidaho.edu

Season introduction: The 2020 Mulvihill Vegetable Garden Crops

Artichoke – Tavor

Basil – Italian Large Leaf

Beans, pole – Musica

Beets – Cylindra

Broccoli – Millenium

Carrot – Mokum, Scarlet Nantes

Celery – Tango

Chard – Ruby

Corn – Sweetness Bicolor

Cucumber – Lunchbox

Dill – Dukat Leafy

Leek – Bulgarian Giant

Lettuce – Bronze Beauty, Buttercrunch, Flashy Trout Back, Red Sails, Red Wing

Melon – Ha Ogen, Tuscan Napoli, Lambkin

Onion – Talon

Pea – Green Arrow

Pepper, hot – Early Jalapeno, Highlander

Pepper, sweet – Aconcagua, Jimmy Nardello, King Crimson, Marconi Rosso

Pumpkin – New England Pie

Spinach – Matador, Monstruex de Viroflay

Squash, summer – Clarimore, Trombetta di Albenga

Squash, winter – Delicata, Autumn Frost, Cushaw, Potimarron

Tomato, cherry – Sungold, Chef’s Choice Orange, Gilbertie, Federle

Turnip – Silky Sweet