The rain has been a blessing, but enough already. It looks like we will start drying and warming so the gardens will get into full summer mode. Weeds and all!
   By now you should be seeing the onion tops die and the garlic tops yellowing from the bottom up. Get both those crops out of the garden soon. Do not wash either. In both cases the bulbs should be allowed to cure for storage. Spread both crops out in a shady dry location such as the garage and the tops will wither and the bulbs will make skins. Once the tops are withered, trim the roots and the tops and store the bulbs away. Our onions are not long term keepers, but they should last several months. The garlic will last into the winter. 
   For a garlic crop next season, store away some of the smaller garlic bulbs, or entire bulbs. This will be your planting stock for this fall. Put these into a paper bag, label them as garlic planting stock so you don't eat them. Then in October, we will use our planting stock for a new crop. The great thing about garlic, once you purchase planting stock you can generally grow a crop and your own planting stock perpetually into the future.
   With the rain, the garden will respond nicely to another feeding of nitrogen. Sprinkle around some blood meal and work it into the soil.
    Happy Gardening.

   After a hot weekend and nearly three weeks without rain it looks like we are in for a rainy spell. This will be what a lot of our gardens need. As I was working on a few tasks at the garden last weekend I notice a trend especially among our new gardeners of inadequate watering.
   Whenever I plant new crops, whether seeds or transplants, I water those every day until those crops are sprouted or established. Every day! Especially when it's hot. Once the crops are growing, then I back off to a less frequent watering  schedule. Every other day. For those of you with the new soil, a more frequent watering schedule will help the soil from getting a hard crust. With a hard crust, the water you apply seems to just run off. Take a trowel or small hoe, scratch the surface of the soil between you plants and seedlings and then water. The water will soak in much better.
   With our raised beds, we have no problems with over watering, any excess water will drain out. That's good and bad. Good because you really can't overwater your garden especially in this recent hot dry weather (more of which IS coming). But you don't want to over water constantly, you'll wash away some of our fertilizer. We all have the best water gauge in the world, an index finger. Stick your finger into the soil, if your finger comes out dry, water. If your finger comes out moist, maybe wait. And certainly after you finish watering and your finger comes out of the soil wet the entire length, you've watered correctly. Your plants will be happy and productive.
   With 2-3" of rain possible over the next week some of our crops will especially benefit. Our baby potatoes will love this water and really start growing. The fruit will love a good deep soaking rain, blueberries will get plump.
   Use the time between showers over the next week to take care of weeding, the moist soil will make those weeds easier to pull.
    Happy Gardening

   Planting is in full swing and we've got warm temperatures to get seeds and transplants off to a good start. The warm sunny days also dry out our beds so keep your garden watered. Feel free to use liquid plant food as you water, dilute the plant food down by half so you don't overdo it.
  Once your tomatoes are well established it is a good idea to mulch them with wheat straw (hay is all we have available right now). Lay a few sheets of newsprint or cardboard on the soil around the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants then cover the paper with the straw. This will help with multiple issues. First, the mulch layer will keep the soil moist, saves watering. Secondly and most importantly, the mulch layer will help with blight issues.
   I hate being the bearer of bad news, but we know that eventually our tomatoes will succumb to blight. Early blight is a soil borne fungus. As water splashes on the lower leaves of our tomato plants it will carry fungal spores from the soil to the leaves, infecting the leaves. Infected leaves turn yellow. As the season progresses, the fungus will move upward on the plant until all the leaves are yellow and our tomato season will be over. To slow the progression of blight, a layer of mulch around the tomatoes helps prevent the spores from infecting the lower leaves of our tomatoes.
  Normally, about mid May I'll also start a fungal spray program. Copper fungicides will help with out blight issues but don't go crazy. Spray only to wet the leaves, we don't want the copper spray to drip off the leaves as excess copper is not good for the soil. I'll spray every 10 days depending on the weather.
   In the meantime, keep planting all your warm season crops. Happy gardening!