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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2017)
20 Wednesday, March 15, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon GARDEN: Plots are available for local citizens Continued from page 15 helped fund the installation of the vents. Since there is no heat, the greenhouse gets too cold to be used in the winter. It is utilized by garden mem- bers to start plants early in the season, to be planted out in their raised beds as night- time temperatures rise above freezing. There are shelves and counters to hold starter flats. There are also 20 three- by-three-foot raised beds for planting more tender, cold-sensitive plants. The east side of the greenhouse is open space where veg- etables and flowers in pots may be placed. The green- house is particularly help- ful for gardeners wanting to grow tomatoes. Pepper plants are no longer allowed in the greenhouse because of their tendency to attract aphids. Anticipated improvements in the greenhouse this summer will be gravel to cover the dirt floor and an automatic irrigation system for the raised beds. Marvin Benson and his wife Trine live just north of the garden on the grounds of the airport. Marvin serves as the garden manager and Trine is the membership chairperson. “The garden wouldn’t be anything like it is without Marvin,” said Lawton. Marvin and volunteers built the fence, which sur- rounds the garden, to protect it from the local deer. Airport owner Benny Benson did the engineering on the green- house and his employees constructed it. About the only project left to complete at the garden is to finish out the planting of trees on the berm surround- ing the garden on two sides. The soil from the airport runway extension created the berm, which acts as a windbreak from the prevail- ing winds. Sisters resident Bruce Rognlien donated 12 aspen trees last spring, a few trees came from Bi-Mart, and some evergreens have been dug up (by permit) and brought in from the forest. A board of directors elected by the garden mem- bership oversees the opera- tion and maintenance of the garden. Penny Elson is the current president. MYTHS: Go ahead and water on hot, sunny days Continued from page 19 plants are not growing well, give it a try. In most soils and gardens, they can do more damage than good. — Steve Renquist, OSU Extension horticulturist MYTH: When you plant a new tree/shrub, dig the hole and add an amendment to the soil before you fill the hole. R EALITY: Alth o u g h amendment of soil with organic matter is often a good idea, it should be done on an area-wide basis, not just in a planting hole for an individual plant. Adding an organic amendment to the soil only in the planting hole will tend to reduce growth of the plant. This happens because roots may stay within the amended soil and not grow into the native soil, creating a root-bound plant within the amended soil. If the organic amendment is not completely decomposed it may require nitrogen for further decom- position, which will compete with plant roots for minerals, thereby resulting in reduced growth. And in the case of large shrubs or trees, decom- position of the amendment will cause the plant to settle and the root collar will sink below the soil. – Neil Bell, OSU Extension horticulturist MYTH: Brown recluse and hobo spiders are common in Oregon. REALITY: It is commonly thought that hobo and brown recluse spiders cause necrotic bites in this state, when in fact the brown recluse is not found in Oregon and the hobo spider does not cause necrotic bites. The hobo spider was in fact removed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of venomous spiders in 2015. The black widow is the most harmful spider to humans in the state. – Heather Stoven, OSU Extension entomology specialist MYTH: Watering on hot sunny days will burn the plants because the water drop- lets magnify the sun’s rays. REALITY: It rains during the summer all over the world and plants are just fine. More of an issue is that the irriga- tion water will evaporate and not be as effective. (Sensitive houseplants can show leaf damage from water applied to leaves.) – Brooke Edmunds, OSU Extension horticulturist Sisters salutes Kiwanis Food Bank wrote: Kiwanis Food Bank buys much the food it distributes but counts heavily on food drives and donations. The food bank thanks those who ran food drives in 2016: Sisters High School, Sis- ters Elementary School, our USPS mail carriers, St. Edward’s Catholic Church, Sisters Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Sisters Rotary, Sisters Community Church, SPRD, Caldera, Sisters Garden Club, Habitat for Humanity, Sisters Com- munity Garden, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and Ponderosa Lodge. In addition, Ray’s Food Place sold Christmas food bags totaling 15,000 pounds that were purchased by hun- dreds of community mem- bers. Melvin’s Fir Street Market and Angeline’s Bakery & Café donate food throughout the year. Also, in 2016, an amaz- ing 7,000 pounds of food was placed in the donor box outside the food bank at the corner of West Main Avenue and Oak Street! Thank you so much to the Sisters community for your support of the food bank! You could save up to $1350 on a Carrier Unit with Cool Cash! The Cool Cash program through Carrier comes along every year April through June. 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