This Month in the Garden
Winter Weed, Disease and Pest Control Tips
Shotweed (Cardamine oligosperma)
The daffodils may be up, but it's not too late for winter weed and disease control. Already, there have been some periods of dry, partly sunny days. Take advantage of a break between showers to do some of those garden chores you neglected last fall.
If it starts to rain, stay motivated. Head inside for a hot cup of tea, and stay inspired with those seed catalogs and a sketch book. Or take your cup and settle in for a session on the Internet. There are several good websites and blogs with weed galleries to aid in weed identification. Limiting your search to West Coast, Pacific Northwest, King County or Seattle weeds will save you from looking at pics of weeds that don't reside in our area. Then, head back outside as soon as the showers stop.
- Being careful to leave soggy soil untrampled, remove garden stakes, trellises, weed buckets, etc., you may have left in the garden, and clean and store them.
- Clean and sharpen those tools. Dirty tools help spread disease and dull pruning cuts create places for disease to enter.
- Scour your garden for signs of slug and snail eggs and destroy them.
- Make plans to replace any rotten wood on your framed raised beds.
- Purge dead plants and other detritus that may have blown into your garden. Chances are this material is harboring insects or disease, so dispose in trash, not your compost pile.
- Remove all dead leaves and debris around your roses. Black spot spores hide there. This too, belongs in the garbage, not your compost pile.
- Add agricultural lime to the bed where you plan to grow cabbage family plants this season. It may be late, but it can still help sweeten acidic soil.
- Pull those winter weeds, especially that pesky Shotweed (Cardamine oligosperma or Little Western Bittercress) with the pretty little white flowers. By February it's already sprouting up everywhere, and easy to identify. It's easy to anytime, you will be thankful later, when a flowering plant shoots seeds in your eye.
- Try pouring boiling water on unwanted weeds, being careful not to pour on plants. Or use a flame weeder to outwit tough-to-pull weeds.
- Dig up unwanted grasses, especially quack grass. Loosen soil and carefully remove plant and long runners. While grasses aren't growing topside, their roots grow below throughout winter, quickly turning that little clump of quack grass into an unmanageable bed-full. Even a small piece of white root left behind, will grow into a new plant.
- Cover your weeded areas with an organic mulch right away to smother seeds so they can’t get light for germination. Be aware that any compost from a cold-composted pile will spread more weed seeds.
- Pull true dandelions, and save the fresh greens for your salad. Delicious!
If it starts to rain, stay motivated. Head inside for a hot cup of tea, and stay inspired with those seed catalogs and a sketch book. Or take your cup and settle in for a session on the Internet. There are several good websites and blogs with weed galleries to aid in weed identification. Limiting your search to West Coast, Pacific Northwest, King County or Seattle weeds will save you from looking at pics of weeds that don't reside in our area. Then, head back outside as soon as the showers stop.