8
in other words
december15
2016
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Great Christmas Ideas
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
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 starting
on February 21, 2017. If you think
you might be interested, call the OSU
Extension offi ce 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. 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 scholarships
available.
Jan’s Great Christmas ideas
Jan McNeilan, our thoughtful
emeritus OSU Extension Service Master
Gardener program leader in Metro
Portland (and whose husband, Ray, co-
founded the program in the late 1970s in
Oregon), has the following gift ideas to
share (slightly edited):
• A gardener’s journal to record planting
dates, varieties, successes from year to
year
• A gift certifi cate for ‘x’ hours of help
in the yard
• Hand soaps and creams designed
especially for extra dirty, chapped hands
• A nice pair of leather gardening gloves
to prevent injury and chapped, rough
skin, or fl exible, rubberized cotton
gloves that keep fi ngernails clean and
hands dry while mucking about in the
garden
• A water timer for hose-fed sprinklers
for carefree watering
• A high-quality pruning saw, hand
pruner or lopper to make winter pruning
a pleasure and a good pruning book to
help the education process (the one by
Christopher Brickell is especially useful)
• Easy grip or smaller hand tools for
gardeners with arthritis
• A long spouted water pot for easy
houseplant care
• A new ever-sharp pair of garden
scissors for snipping herbs and fl owers
• A hand-woven basket with a handle for
gathering herbs and vegetables
• A large garden cart to carry tools and
soil amendments out to the garden in one
trip
• Kneepads or a gardening stool to make
weeding and low work less of a strain
• Metal supports for tall spring tulips and
later for supporting tomato plants
• Permanent tags to mark the sites of
your favorite perennials and bulbs or to
mark the rows in next spring’s vegetable
patch
• A seed sower to easily set tiny seeds
into soil at exactly the proper interval
• A soil thermometer to measure soil
temperature, vital for spring planting
• Tools, tools and more tools - those hand
trowels by OXO are really well made as
are some of the cast aluminum products;
well-designed and constructed shovels
and spading forks are a joy
• A gift certifi cate for plants/tools from a
favorite nursery or garden center
• Children’s gardening tools to encourage
young folks to start the gardening habit
• And, of course, presents for wildlife
such as bird feeders or baths, bat houses,
orchard mason bee blocks, etc.
Winter fruit sprays needed
Fungi and bacteria love moist
weather. They work their way into trees
and berry plants through injuries, buds,
leaf scars or other locations. The peach
leaf curl symptoms that we see in April
are caused by the curl fungus infecting
peach buds over the next few months.
Many diseases can be lessened
by winter dormant fungicide applications
over the next three months. The useful
products for the home gardener are
lime sulfur and copper sulfate. Both
are considered organic and both will
help. There are a number of trade names
available. These spray treatments can
be used on any fruit or berries with this
exception: Do not use lime sulfur on
apricots as they are very sensitive to the
typical concentration of sulfur in these
sprays.
But neither spray is a cure-all.
Pruning helps to improve air circulation.
But weather patterns determine the
ultimate disease potential.
Some
varieties are very disease resistant. If
you love peaches, try Frost or some
other curl resistant variety and place it
where it gets good air circulation. Scab
free apples include Akane and Chehalis.
Mice and more mice
It is time for my annual rodent
291
A
Street
GET PREPARED FOR WINTER
• chains • antifreeze • winter tires mounted & balanced
• wipers • generators • kerosene • flashlights • boots
• batteries • lamp oil • gas cans • candles • propane
Family owned & operated
for over 45 years
834 Bridge St., Vernonia
(503) 429-6364
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Small and Large Animals
call Kim
Lovable service at
a reasonable price
• Bathing
• Haircuts
• Nail Clipping
• Nail Polishing
• Specialty
Shampoos
warning. Judging by the size and heft
of the voles (also known as meadow
mice) that our cats have brought home,
they aren’t going into the winter hungry.
However, as the temperatures cool and
the rains beat down, vole fat cover starts
to erode. They may fi nd your young
trees and shrubs tasty additions to their
diet. This is especially true when snow
is on the ground. This disrupts the voles’
normal foraging routes. They tunnel up
next to your young tree and start to eat.
If they are there for a while, the tree may
be girdled, right at ground level.
Your best defense is to keep the
vegetation around trees and shrubs as
low as possible in a three feet radius and
keep the area as a whole cut short. This
helps cats, hawks and owls eat more
mice, which does make mice nervous. It
can also be helpful to put a small collar
of aluminum foil or some kind of mesh
protection around the trunks of small
trees. Place mouse traps baited with
peanut butter in shallow ditches (deep
enough to allow the trap to spring) and
then cover the ditch with a piece of
plywood or something else to keep out
pets and children. It’s amazing how
many voles you can catch. Finally, a
conversation with your cats may help.
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
programs and materials equally to all
people.
Free newsletter
The Oregon State University
Extension offi ce 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 notifi cation
of when to fi nd the latest edition on the
web at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/
columbia/.
Contact info for the Extension offi ce
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
FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES
IN AND AROUND THE
VERNONIA AREA
Police and County personnel are required
to use a rotation of available providers,
UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK
for a service by name.
Open
REQUEST TOWING SERVICE FROM
Mon, Wed & Saturday
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Call for Appointments
(503) 429-1612
Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470
700 Weed Ave. Vernonia, OR
Shop Hours: Mon - Fri 9:00 - 6:00