10
community
april26
2011
Diggin’ In The Dirt: A Cool Spring
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University Extension
Service-- Columbia County
16th Annual Spring Garden Fair
Saturday, April 30th in St. Helens!
It’s that time of year again.
The OSU/Columbia County Master
Gardeners™ are putting on their
Spring Garden Fair Saturday, April
30 th , from 9:00A.M. Until 3:00 P.M. at
the St. Helens High School Commons.
Highlighting the Fair are the tomato
plants. Over 6,000 plants, consisting
of over 40 varieties, both heirlooms
and standards, will be sold for $1.25
each. There will be many other vendors
selling a variety of annual, herbaceous
perennial and woody plants. Garden
art, garden books and other garden
accoutrements will also be available.
Master Gardeners will be available to
answer tomato and gardening questions.
There will be displays and raffles. As
always, admission to the fair is free. See
you there!
Transplanting root-bound trees
This is the month when volumes
of plants are moved from nurseries to
yards. Most woody plants (trees and
shrubs) are sold in containers. The
plant you buy may have been in the pot
anywhere from two to four years. It is
not uncommon to find plants that are
quite root-bound. Those plants have
circling large roots or perhaps roots with
big kinks.
Unfortunately,
root-bound
plants may take a long time to move
into the surrounding soil that they remove air pockets. Mulch the tree with
are supposed to live in. As their tops 4-6 inches of good compost and any of
develop but the roots do not, they can be the potting mix you removed from the
killed during periods of warm weather. roots earlier.
A surprising number of trees that fail to
You can add a little nitrogen to
thrive are found to have never grown the surface. Remember to control any
into the soil at all.
invading weeds and especially to keep
Can you re-invigorate a root the planting watered throughout the
system before you
summer and into fall.
plant the tree or shrub?
You can, if you follow
Will we have fruit?
Can you re-
the advice from an
The cool weather may
invigorate a root
Extension specialist
have an impact on fruit set.
system before
from WSU. Ms.
Two factors are in play.
you plant the tree
Chalker-Scott suggests
First, if at your locations,
or shrub? You
taking the plant out of
your trees may be slower to
can, if you follow
the container and then
bloom. In general, delayed
the advice from
washing all the soil
bloom tends to favor better
an
Extension
or planting media off
pollination because the
specialist from
the roots. This can be
weather (less rain and cold)
WSU.
done in a wheelbarrow.
usually improves. That
Straighten as many
said, there is a forecast for
roots as you can. Then
some very cold weather
take a look at all the roots. Look for roots that may hit around April 24th. Fully
that are circling or kinked and try to cut opened blossoms facing sub-freezing
back to places where you can straighten temperatures may be damaged. With
the growth out. Keep the roots moist as apples, we can lose a lot of blooms
you do this and try to be in the shade. and still have a crop if the late or early
She reports cutting as much as 70% of a blooms set fruit. With cherries, we want
root system and having the tree perform
nicely.
Before you start the root pruning,
dig a nice hole for the tree that is wide
but not deep. Once the tree is ready to
go in, create a mound in the center of
the hole onto which you can place the
plant and distribute the roots around the
mound. Back-fill the hole with topsoil
from the site. Firm the back-filled soil
with your hands or by gentle watering to
Digitaria (crab grass)
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all the fruit we can get, so each blossom
lost is significant. The bees have been
sluggish in the cold. Mason bees
emerged late and honey bees are spotty.
Now we need good pollination weather.
Mild temperatures and only moderate
amounts of rain would be perfect.
Crab grass isn’t quack grass
We are often asked how to
control crabgrass in lawns. The problem
is that crabgrass is seldom found in our
lawns. It is in the garden beds and along
the roadside. In fact, it is fairly common
wherever the ground is bare or disturbed
in the spring. That is because crabgrass
is an annual grass. It germinates in the
spring and summer, sets seed and dies.
It cannot compete with our turf grasses
that grow all year long.
The only annual grass that competes
well is annual bluegrass that grows in
the winter and is going to seed now (if
you aren’t mowing it much).
The weedy grasses in most
lawns are quack grass, velvet grass,
Elytrigia repens (quack grass)
bentgrass, and the above-mentioned
annual bluegrass. There are some
products that control bluegrass. These
are applied in the fall/winter. Sadly, we
have no options to control bentgrass,
quack grass or velvet grass without
damaging our desired turf varieties.
Many homeowners will treat the
“bad” grass patches with Roundup™
and then overseed with lawn seed when
the treated grasses die. Or fertilize them
so they all get deeper green, and live
with them for a number of years.
The Extension Service offers its
programs and materials equally to all
people.
Free newsletter
The Oregon State University
Extension office in Columbia County
publishes a monthly newsletter on
gardening and farming topics (called
County Living) written/edited by yours
truly. All you need to do is ask for it and
it will be mailed to you. Call (503) 397-
3462 to be put on the list. Alternatively,
you can find it on the web at
“http://extension.oregonstate.edu/
columbia/ and click on newsletters.
Contact information for the Extension
office
Oregon State University Extension
Service – Columbia County
505 N. Columbia River Highway (across
from the Legacy clinic)
St. Helens, OR 97051
(503) 397-3462
Email: chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu
s t o We
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