8
in other words
january21
2016
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Planting Peas
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
Master Gardener™ class signups
being taken
The OSU Extension office
in Columbia County will be offering
the Master Gardener™ training again
this spring. This year the class will be
in St. Helens. The classes will be held
on Mondays from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
for about 10 weeks starting February
1st, 2016. The classes
will cover vegetable and
fruit gardening, soils and
fertilizers, insect and
disease identification and
control, weed identification
and management, and lots
of other topics of interest
to gardeners. Cost of the
program is $80.00 which
includes a large resource
book. Master Gardeners™
are
responsible
for
providing
volunteer
gardening education to the
community as partial pay-
back for the training. If
interested in the program,
call the Extension office at
503 397-3462 for an information packet.
Program on Plants and Plantings for
Pollinators
There will be a program on
choosing the right plants and designing
the right plantings for pollinators. The
program will be held at the Loo-Wit
room of the St. Helens High School
on Thursday, January 28th at 6:30 pm.
The speaker is Horticulturalist Neil Bell
from Oregon State University Extension
Service in Marion County. With bees
and other pollinators at some risk, this
program will show how gardeners can
support these species by the landscape
plant materials they choose. The program
is free and open to all.
Grafting workshop in February
The OSU Extension office in
St. Helens will be hosting a grafting
workshop tentatively scheduled for
February 13 th from 9 am - 12:00 pm.
Participants will be taught how to
graft apple scions on to dwarf apple
rootstocks. Each participant will receive
5 rootstocks to work with and supplies to
secure the graft. Scion varieties will be
available or participants can bring their
own varieties they wish to graft. Cost of
the workshop is $15. The class is limited
to 20 people so early registration will
assure a place. To register or for more
information, call the Extension office at
503 397-3462.
Planting peas
Peas are one of the earliest
crops a home gardener can sow. There
are two types of peas available for home
gardening - shelling peas and edible pod
peas.
Oregon Sugar Pod II
Shelling peas have pods with
fiber called “parchment,” making the
pods too tough to eat. Edible pod peas
lack parchment fiber making the pod
more tender.
When considering pea varieties,
look at the potential height of the pea
vine. Some varieties grow into tall vines
that need trellising whereas others have
short vines that don’t need as much
support.
Enation virus-resistant shelling
pea varieties adapted to Pacific
Northwest conditions include: Oregon
Trail, Oregon Pioneer and Maestro.
Having pods without parchment,
edible pod peas include the thin-walled
snow peas, or Chinese pod peas and the
relatively new snap pea. Both the peas
and its pod are meant to be eaten intact
and are delicious cooked or raw. Oregon
Giant and Oregon Sugar Pod II are both
enation resistant snow peas.
Snap peas have round pods with
thick walls. Sugar Daddy snap peas have
the added attraction of having stringless
pods. Cascadia is a newer, high quality,
very thick-walled and enation resistant
snap pea developed at OSU. Both these
are bush varieties. Sugar Snap and Super
Sugar Snap are pole varieties that are
not enation resistant so they need to be
planted to mature before July.
Peas can be planted as early as
mid-January in the Oregon Coast and
Willamette Valley regions, but waiting
until later is less of a gamble. When
planting in February through mid-April,
cover the soil with clear plastic for a few
sunny days before planting to warm the
soil and speed germination. Remove the
plastic to plant. It can be put back until
you start to see the seedlings poking
through. Floating row
covers or cloches put
over the seedlings for
a month or so also
improve early-season
growth. Be sure to
watch out for slugs and
treat as appropriate.
For a continuous
supply of peas from late
spring to fall, plant more
peas every few weeks.
But after April 1, plant
only enation virus-
resistant varieties, as
peas grown in warmer
weather are susceptible
to a disease called pea
enation virus.
To ensure an adequate supply of
nitrogen, the seed can be inoculated with
nitrogen-fixing bacteria, purchased at a
local garden store, immediately before
seeding.
Peas grow best well-drained,
with fertile soil. Plant them about two
inches apart, even though many sources
say they may be planted more closely
together. If planting peas in the early
spring, plant the seeds about one inch
deep. But if planting peas after the soil
warms and dries up (April or later), plant
the seeds a bit deeper - about one-and-a-
half to two inches deep.
A 30- to 50-foot row of peas
will feed a family of four for the season,
including enough for some freezing.
Space rows of short-vined (bush) peas
36 inches apart and tall types 48 inches
apart. Thinning is not necessary.
Tall peas should be grown along
a fence or trellis. Short or bush varieties
can be planted in rows or broadcast
planted into a raised bed at a rate of
about one pound per 100 square feet.
Most gardeners think that peas
can’t be planted in the summer. But at
the coast and in the Willamette Valley,
peas can be planted until Aug. 1, as long
REQUEST TOWING SERVICE FROM
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Family owned & operated
for over 45 years
Shop Hours: Mon - Fri 9:00 - 6:00
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 sign up for email
notification of when to find the latest
edition on the web at http://extension.
oregonstate.edu/columbia/.
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
291
A
Street
FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES
IN AND AROUND THE
VERNONIA AREA
Polife and County personnel are required
to use a rotation of available providers,
UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK
for a servife by name.
as the varieties are enation mosaic-virus
resistant. Peas planted after Aug. 1 may
be damaged by fall freezes.
Food Safety or Food Preservation
Questions? OSU Extension Service
Has Answers.
Are you planning to preserve
food from your garden or purchased
from a farm this summer? If so, call
or visit the OSU Extension Service
office before you start canning, freezing,
or drying. Costly and potentially harmful
mistakes can be made by using outdated
canning recipes and instructions. You
can find free publications AND pressure
gauge testing at the Columbia County
Extension office located at 505 N.
Columbia River Highway in St. Helens
(across from the Legacy Clinic). If you
have questions, phone the office at 503
397-3462. You can download for free
all our food preservation publications
athttp://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/
food-preservation. An additional great
resource is the National Center for
Home Food Preservation at http://www.
uga.edu/nchfp/.
Take excess produce to the food bank,
senior centers, or community meals
programs. Cash donations to buy food
are also greatly appreciated.
834 Bridge St., Vernonia
(503) 429-6364
call Kim
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