In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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April 24, 2007

Crazy weather & looking forward

Our weather has been a veritable rollercoaster of conditions the past few weeks: rain, wind, ice, sun, and warmth all mixed topsy-turvy and thrown at us. The garden is confused. It now appears we’ll have nice weather for a while.

My chard and arrugula remain unscathed. Even the tomatoes have weathered the storms with no ill effects. The basil is growing slowly, the parsley spreading quickly. The marigolds continue to bloom, and I’ve been diligent about picking off the spent flowers.

The bean seeds didn’t germinate, and I suspect they rotted in the cold ground. I’ve lost three romaine lettuce plants to some sort of fungal condition, I believe. They sort of withered up, and when I picked them up, I saw the root had rotted away. I think the combination of damp weather and cold soil was lethal for the lettuce. The remaining nine plants appear healthy and strong. Now that the weather is warming up, I hope that’s the last I see of those problems.

I’m anxious to plant the pole bean starter plants I bought. I also bought three more types of basil: Thai spicy, purple and lime. They’ll go in another part of the vegetable garden. I also have potatoes growing and doing well in another bed. The flowers - poppies, flowering tobacco, kniphofia, drumstick alliums, and roses - planted in and among the food crops are blooming and thriving. I remain optimistic it will be a great gardening year.

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