8
in other words
october20
2016
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Garden Recap
C H I RO P R AC T I C C L I N I C, I NC.
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die, except for the pregnant queens who
hide in wood piles and other protected
places to survive winter. The old nests
are not reused.
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 fall? 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can be made by using outdated can-
ning recipes and instructions. You can
find free publications at the Columbia
County Extension office located at 505
N. Columbia River Highway in St. Hel-
ens (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 publica-
tions at http://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.
The Extension Service offers its pro-
grams 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 Country 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/colum-
bia/.
Contact information for the Extension
office
Oregon State University Extension Ser-
vice – Columbia County
505 N. Columbia River Highway (across
from the Legacy clinic)
St. Helens, OR 97051
(503) 397-3462
Email: chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu
D
VERNONIA
2016 Garden Recap
Most tree fruits did exception-
ally well. Plums, pears, cherries, apples,
and other fruits were loaded. Pollination
weather was near perfect. Most varieties
were ripe 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule.
It is not likely that we will get the same
fruit load next year. Some apple variet-
ies (Gravenstein is a good example) are
known for alternate bearing. That means
that a heavy crop one year leads to a
very low to non-existent crop the fol-
lowing year. Other apple varieties are
not alternate bearing types (Akane,
for example). Pears and plums may
also alternate bear though not with
the same predictability as some apple
trees.
Leafy vegetables (lettuce, chard,
kale, etc.) did very well. Spinach and
chard had the usual issues with leaf
miners. Peppers and tomatoes were
generally productive though more
people than normal were concerned
about tomato plants that didn’t
thrive but rather limped along. We
had good weather in May but June
turned somewhat cooler and drizzly,
which may have left some early and
late blight fungal damage on tomato
plants. It also seems that people that
can’t rotate tomato ground for at least
DM
Fall Mushroom Show
Miller Hall, Western Forestry Center,
Portland 10/30 12:00-5:00 pm. http://
wildmushrooms.org/node/516 Admis-
sion: Adults $5; Seniors and students $3;
Children under 12 free. Free to Oregon
Mycological Society (OMS) Members.
Beautifully arranged tables dis-
play wild, locally foraged mushrooms of
the Pacific Northwest, carefully picked,
identified and arranged to educate the
public about fungi. The number and type
of mushrooms vary with fruiting condi-
tions. This colorful event also features
special interest tables, including mush-
room cookery and preservation, toxic
mushroom information, dyeing with
mushrooms, a truffle exhibit, mushroom
themed art, a “Kids Corner,” mushroom
cultivation, as well as books, posters,
“grow-your-own-at-home” kits for sale,
and much more! And there are plenty of
knowledgeable OMS members on hand
to answer questions, identify mush-
rooms that you bring in, and chat with
about fungi.
an
2017 OSU Master Gardener ™ class
will be held in Vernonia
The Columbia County/OSU
Master Gardener™ training will be held
in Vernonia on ten consecutive Tuesdays
from about 9:30 am to 3:30 pm start-
ing on February 21, 2017. If you think
you might be interested, call the OSU
Extension office in St. Helens at (503)
397-3462 or email either myself (chip.
bubl@oregonstate.edu) or Vicki Krenz
(vicki.krenz@oregonstate.edu) to get on
a mailing list for the classes when the
informational packets and applications
are sent out in October. The class will be
held at the Vernonia Health Center and
space is somewhat limited. Cost of the
class is $80 and there are a few scholar-
ships available.
three years may have had more issues.
It is something I want to look into more
next year. Squash and corn were fine.
Garden insects (of the vexing
types) were a mixed bag. There were a
lot of 12 spotted cucumber beetles (look
like a slightly elongated lady beetle and
very yellow) that raised havoc with
some commercial vegetable crops but
were less of a nuisance in the more di-
verse home gardens. The brown marmo-
rated stink bugs were present, but not in
the numbers we had expected. Still, they
caused feeding damage on pears, pep-
pers, and a bit on tomatoes when they
pierced the fruit to suck out their meal.
What they left was a hard and sometimes
dimpled depression on the fruit just un-
der the skin. Aphid numbers started out
high, then crashed only to rebound in
late August, especially on cabbage fam-
ily plants. Cabbage whiteflies were also
more in evidence this year. While not a
garden pest, ash whiteflies were a huge
topic of conversation at the Extension
office. Several weeks ago, they moved
off their summer deciduous hosts (main-
ly Oregon ash) to their winter hangouts
on broadleaf evergreen plants. Large
clouds of them were common in areas
near the Columbia River (where most of
the Oregon ash are). Their numbers may
be increasing as this new pest expands
but there is a parasitic wasp that has also
shown up and could, eventually, reduce
them to a minor problem
Slugs were slowed by the dry
summer but are out in force now. They
are eating and breeding. Control ef-
forts now will pay off for next year. Lay
boards on the ground, turn them over in
the morning, and chop, chop. Baits are
also useful. Read and follow all bait in-
structions and be especially careful with
baits containing metaldehyde if you
have dogs that might eat the bait.
Brush rabbits and quail were
quite abundant this year. Quail go up
and down but brush rabbits are usually
kept down by coyotes and large raptors.
Perhaps something changed that allowed
for the bunny population to explode. If
this is permanent, gardeners will have
to rethink fencing. If you were suddenly
seeing rabbits in significant numbers this
year, let me know. I am trying to get an
idea about how widespread this rabbit
explosion is.
Yellow jackets, both the above
and below ground types, were not abun-
dant. They are still around but are now
having premonitions of the end. All will
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eu
622 Bridge Street Vernonia, OR 97064
phone (503) 429-0880 -- fax (503) 429-0881
For fast
cash!
010412
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
2245 Baseline St., Cornelius
(Across from Fred Meyer)
503-530-8119
State Licensed PB-0388
Open
everyday
at 9 a.m.
