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Wednesday, March 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Growidg vegetables id Cedtral Oregod
By Jack Remington
Correspondent
If you like the taste of
really fresh vegetables, want
to reduce your grocery bills,
are fit enough to dig, shovel
and rake, have a spare hour
or two each day, have a plot
of ground 10-by-10 feet or
more in full sun, know a little
about how plants grow and are
willing to learn more — then,
you are ready to try a veggie
garden!
We moved to Deschutes
County in 1988 and started
building our home seven
miles northeast of Bend. Even
before we completed the
house, the idea for a garden
came up, so in a small plot of
native soil we planted potatoes
to see what would happen. We
watered with a sprinkling can.
Small green shoots came up,
appeared to be healthy, grew
to maturity, turned brown and
died back as expected. What
was in the ground as a crop?
We dug under the brown stems
and found a few small marbles
the color and shape of pota-
toes, but far from what we
could buy at Safeway.
First lesson: native soil in
Deschutes County will not
grow much of anything except
native high desert plants and
invasive weeds.
Fortunately, Deschutes
County is home to a hor-
ticulture program through
the Oregon State University
Extension Service. A Master
Gardener course was offered
(for free in those days) and I
signed on. The instructor told
us the truth with his first state-
ment: “Vegetable gardening in
Central Oregon is tougher than
in most of Alaska.” Wild state-
ment? No. And 29 years later
I’m growing good veggies
(most years) but still learning
and trying to overcome the dif-
ficulties presented by the soil,
the high desert climate and
garden predators.
How to get started:
• Check out garden-
ing books and magazines at
the library or buy them at a
book store or Goodwill. Not
many have direct references
to Central Oregon, but some
covering cold-climate garden-
ing will help.
• Cruise your neighbor-
hood and talk to the owners of
gardens that look successful.
Some will be quite willing to
help.
• Search the Internet
Willa mette Valley
Bank, Matt Ingra m
Matt Ingram has always felt that he was born
to help people. Feeling a calling to serve his coun-
try, Matt entered the Navy after graduating high
school. He then served in law enforcement for over
17 years.
Matt later decided to go a different direction with his
career, but the need to serve his community never left
him. Twelve years ago, he and a close friend started their
own mortgage company. He has since become a veteran
in the mortgage industry with a proven track record. In
April of 2014 Matt joined Willamette Valley Bank, a
community bank with a local focus at their Bend Home
Loan Center.
Matt and his wife live in Sisters with their two
youngest children. Their oldest is a recent college
graduate and pharmacist. Matt looks forward to
being the local home-loan lender for you and your
family.
for Central Oregon Master
Gardener Program. It’s still
available and still an excellent
source for learning about vege-
table gardens. The course cov-
ers much more than veggies,
including soils and fertilizers,
orchards, lawns, house- plants
and landscape design. There
are many other references on
the net pertaining to gardening
in cold climates that you can
pursue. Call Deschutes County
Extension at 541-548-6088.
Average annual precipita-
tion in our area is only about
12 inches a year, and precipi-
tation seems to be lessening
each year as climate change
gradually warms the earth. So,
unless you want to do a lot of
hand-watering, build an irriga-
tion system. There are plenty
of equipment dealers avail-
able. A recent improvement
in watering is the “drip” sys-
tem using PVC pipe at ground
level drilled with tiny holes
which deliver water exactly
where the plants need it. If
your plot is native soil, buy
good topsoil and mix it with
existing soil and, at the same
time, add a lot of organic mat-
ter in the form of compost or
manure. For this you will need
a good shovel and probably a
garden fork.
S o m e
folks will
want to
dig
out
the exist-
ing soil and
go entirely
PHOTO BY JESS DRAPER
with topsoil,
c o m p o s t You CAN grow vegetables in Sisters!
and manure.
To confine it, improve grow- Oregon Vegetable Garden
ing temperatures and make Calendar, an excellent guide
the work easier, build wooden for when to plant or trans-
raised beds. A rototiller is a plant. Follow the directions
very handy tool for thoroughly on the seed packets for depth
preparing your soil for plant- and spacing. A hand trowel is
ing, but a shovel can do the very useful for planting and
job and provide good exercise. for controlling weeds, which
After your soil is prepared, somehow find their way into
buy some red worms and add every garden.
Garden enemies:
them. They are great “tillers”
You are not the only animal
and providers of free organic
that likes vegetables!
fertilizer.
Expect others to find your
Before you plant anything
get a soil test, which will tell plot — from tiny insects to
you if the soil is acid, alkaline deer. I solved the deer problem
or neutral. Most vegetables do by building a gated, woven-
well in soil that is close to neu- willow fence, seven to eight
tral. Choose seeds for plants feet high, but it would not
with short growing seasons stop a determined raccoon or
(average growing season here mouse. Gophers can invade
is less than 90 days). Or, buy from underground, their natu-
nursery plants that are ready to ral habitat. Bugs will come,
and probably plant diseases,
transplant.
The OSU Extension
See VEGGIES on page 23
Service offers a Central
382 E. Hood Ave., Sisters
541-549-6406
villageinteriorsdesign.com
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