South Puget (Olympia) Sound Last Frost Dates

Thinking about planting? Here's a helpful post from last year to help you avoid frost for those sensitive crops.

South Puget (Olympia) Sound Last Frost Dates

Probability/confidence of noted date to be last 32F frost	10%	50%	90%
Date	April 17th	May 5th	May 23rd

Source: NDAA NCDC

Dates below are WRT 50% confidence last 32F frost dates

Crop	Start Indoors	Plant in Garden	Harden off?	Notes
Onion (yellow & red), chives, shallots	Feb	April-May	Yes	Trim onion starts to 3"-5" high to develop strong root system
Broccoli	Feb	March	Yes
Bell Peppers	Early March	May	Yes
Cilantro	March	May	Yes	Can also be directly sown in the garden.  Prefers cooler temps
Cauliflower	March	May	Yes	Can also sow directly in garden April thru June
Italian Kale	March	May	Yes	Can also sow directly in garden in May
Carrots	No	March - July	NA	Carrots have very sensitive roots and forking generally results from transplanting starts.  T(soil)>50F for germination, but tolerates colder temps
Tomatoes	Late March - early April	May	Yes	Start and transplant earlier if using greenhouse or row cover
Sugar Snap Peas	No	As soon as soil can be worked in spring	NA	Peas are very cold tolerant
Cabbage	No	April-June	NA	Germination requires T(soil) = 55F.  May-June sown crops will be ready in the fall
Red Potatoes	No	Mid April	NA	Sow seed potatoes up to 3 weeks before last frost
Spinach	No	T(soil)>= 50F	NA	Sow fall varieties in August and September
Basil	April	May	Yes	Direct sowing not recommended unless nighttime temps will not drop below 50F
Cucumber	April	May	Yes	Cucumbers have very sensitive roots.  Disturb them minimally when transplanting
Corn	April	May-June	Yes	Ideally corn is directly sown in the garden.  However, due to the short PNW summer, indoor starts are often necessary.  Be sure to minimally disturb roots when transplanting.

By Todd Morgan, Master Gardener

IDCG Spring Work Party

Intel DuPont Community Garden

2800 Center Drive, DuPont, Washington 98327

Come join us get the Community Garden ship shape for the new growing season! Adults and kids alike are invited to come lend a hand.

GOAL: We'll focus on cleaning up any remaining beds and putting fresh wood chips in walkways.

BRING:Pitchforks, shovels, rakes and especially wheelbarrows

WEAR:Dress for the weather because the event will be held whether it rains or shines.

BONUS: Hot beverages and snacks will be provided.

See our Facebook Event HERE!

Planting Winter Crops

Are you thinking about planting one or more winter crops? Here is some guidance from Territorial Seed for summer/fall planting to ensure winter/spring harvests. http://www.territorialseed.com/product/14053

News Letter Vol1, Issue 3

August 2012                                                                                                                                       Vol. #1, Issue #3

Well, our collective harvest this year has passed 3000 pounds!!   Many thanks to all of you who are a part of this project – for the community you’ve created, as well as the community you are serving.   In this issue of the newsletter, we’re asking you to set aside a Saturday morning in September to help keep our greenhouse project on schedule, as well as make a decision on how we handle the “gleaning” of crops ready for harvest.

Crop Report:   Year-to-date, we have logged over 3000 pounds of produce harvested, with over 2700 of this donated to Lakes FISH, Steilacoom and Thurston County food banks.   This is 800 pounds more than we did last year at the same period!!   See chart below for cumulative harvest report.  Now is the right time to plant a fall crop, or over-wintering crop – garlic, carrots, leeks, kale are all hardy enough to over-winter.

New greenhouse construction:   the framing of the four walls and roof trusses was completed this week.   Watch a 30-second time-lapse video of a month’s worth of work here  http://youtu.be/U1Y0GYXjO6o .    Next steps are to roll out the weed barrier on the ground, and construct and fill the ten raised-beds.  We need many hands to do this work – please save the date of September 22^nd for a morning of assembling wood frames, heating and irrigation lines, as well as shoveling and spreading lots of topsoil in the beds. 

Please make a gleaning choice for your plot:    for most gardeners, keeping on top of your harvests throughout the entire season is a challenge – especially during vacations, or in August when two days’ growth can turn a perfect squash into a giant torpedo, or tomatoes drop and split.    This year we are instituting a policy where gardeners who see crops in other beds that are overdue for harvest, can do so before it goes too far past.   If you pick something from another bed for the donation cooler, be absolutely sure you’ve recorded the harvest tag completely, so that plot and plot-owner’s yield is accurate.   If you know you’ll be away from the garden and want someone specifically to glean your harvest-ready crop, put your name/plot# on the sign-up sheet (in the tool-shed and by the scale in the greenhouse).  You can also opt-out of this gleaning policy – if it’s not okay with you to have your harvest-ready produce gleaned, you can put a “DO NOT GLEAN” stake in your plot.   These red stakes are located on the table in the shed as well as by the scale in the greenhouse.

At-home volunteer needed:    we bid a sad but grateful goodbye to Carmen and John P., who are being re-posted to Texas next month.   In addition to their gardening, Carmen maintained regular updates to the IDCG Facebook page and Blogspot.   We need a volunteer willing to add a couple of posts per month, so that our public web-presence is up-to-date.  Please contact Stu if you are willing to do this.

Saving work for food-bank volunteers and deliverers:   How you bag and tag your produce donations really matters to the IDCG gardeners who make the deliveries to the food banks, as well as to the food bank employees.    We have bagged, tagged and boxed over 800 separate harvests, and some of you use a lot of tape on the tags.   A one-inch strip on the top is all that is needed, and makes it easier to remove.   Also, please do not put a double-knot in the bag when it goes into the cooler; the food bank volunteers wear latex gloves, and it saves time if you don’t use a double-knot.    A special thanks to Holly Wickenhagen, TJ Bolen, Dennis Clarke, Stephanie Gonzalez, and Kristin Paul for making our Lakewood FISH deliveries this summer.

Happy Gardening!!  Save the morning of September 22 for a work event, and email Stu if you can take over the IDCG Facebook page and Blogspot.

Donated Seeds for 2012!

Thank you Territorial Seed Company, Tomato Bob and Johnny's Seeds for donating to our community garden this year!  Your donated seeds will help grow food for the food banks we deliver to!

The seeds have been organized, so growers please be kind and keep the seeds tidy for the next person.

Enjoy!