P2 The SpokeSman • WedneSday, January 5, 2022 Gardening corner Gardeners included a pinch of politics in their writings BY LIZ DOUVILLE For the Spokesman In 1994, I saved an article from Organic Gardening titled “Old-Time Garden Tips, Great ideas from the 19th and early 20th centuries”. The contribut- ing editor was Cat Yronwode, an avid collector of old garden- ing books. The magazine pages are get- ting a little yellow around the edges and a little tattered. Every few years, I pull them from my favorite garden file and especially enjoy re-read- ing the tips from Rev. E.P. Roe written in 1886. Edward Paton Roe was a Presbyterian minister, horti- culturist and historian. He died at age 50 in 1888. His horticul- tural writings came under the heading of Play and Profit in my Garden. Two tips were included in the article: “ Crow-Confus- ing Corn Rows” and “Cannon Fodder Seeds” Both include a little jab at politics. Crow-confusing corn rows “Where corn is grown some distance from the house, the crows are often troublesome. They are said to be a very sa- gacious bird, and having once found a row, will go up and down it, seemingly know- ing just where to look for the seeds. My father once knew an old gardener who made the rows so crooked that the crows could not follow them, for hav- ing never been to Congress they expected things to be on the square.” Cannon fodder seeds “It is well to sow seed thickly, as it must run a gauntlet of late frosts, drought, cold rains, and bugs innumerable, and it is much more profitable to thin out than to plant over. Bugs take all they can, and my plan is to have more than they can destroy; just as your cool gen- alexander raths Gardening tools and flowers on the terrace in the garden erals calculate they can carry a point, and still lose three- fourths of the men they start with. At the same time, like the generals, you must kill all the opposing bugs you can.” In 1875, Peter Henderson wrote his tips in Gardening for Pleasure. The one I have of- ten thought about is advice on strawberry starts. “When strawberry plants are divided, many will fail to grow, for the reason that each young plant is sustained impart by the old plant, and when detached, feels the shock more than a rooted cutting, that has been growing for weeks on its own account. For that reason we advise all that are intending to plant fresh strawberry beds to prepare their plants ahead by layering them in pots. These pots may be from two to three inches in diameter, all that is neces- sary to do is to fill these small pots with soil and plunge or plant the pot just to the surface level, placing the unrooted runner of the strawberry plant on the top of the soil in the flower pot, and laying a small clod or stone upon it to keep it in place. The runners so treated will form plants in two or three weeks and may be planted out any time from Au- gust to October.” Tried and true advice Adolph Krum wrote Home Vegetable Gardening from A-Z in 1918. Krum’s advice in Till All You Want But — offers advice that is still relevant 104 years later. “To maintain soil tilth and conserve moisture, “dig only as much ground each day as can be planted that day. Where the whole garden is plowed at once and its planting in one day proves both impracticable and impossible, as much ground should be worked over lightly with forks and spade as will be planted that day.” Decoding Gardening Advice — The Science behind the 100 Most Common Recommen- dations by Jeff Gillman and Meleah Maynard is a fun read. Eight chapters are divided into three sections: Good, Debat- able and Wrong. At the time of writing Gillman was an asso- ciate professor in the Depart- ment of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. What does the Oregon State University Extension Service have to say about garden myths and research? Somes of the age-old myths may not be valid and knowing which ones have the scientific stamp of approval may change some of your gardening prac- tices. Source: https://extension. oregonstate.edu/gardening/ techniques/some-garden- myths. LOCAL BRIEFING Redmond man dies in head-on crash A 24-year-old Redmond was killed in a head-on collision early Monday on Highway 126 in Redmond. Oregon State Police issued a news release stating that around 6:03 a.m. a Chevrolet pickup heading east crossed into the oncoming land and collided with a Freightliner pulling a box trailer. The driver of the pickup, John Sacco, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead. The driver of the tractor trailer, Harold Blan Jr., 59, of Prineville was treated at the scene for his injuries. Highway 126 was closed for six hours. Lyndon worked as a production assembler for Senneca CROSSWORD Holdings in Redmond and attended Ridgeview High School, according to his Facebook page. Three Redmond residents die in car crash on icy Highway 97 Three Redmond residents died af- ter their vehicle spun out of control on an icy U.S. Highway 97 and crashed into a truck Monday evening. The crash shut down Highway 97 north of Terrebonne for five hours, Oregon State Police reported. Police and emergency medical per- sonnel responded to the crash just before 10 p.m. Police reported Jared Lewis, 39, from Redmond, had been driving a Dodge Durango and lost control of the vehicle while passing SUDOKU northbound on the icy highway. The vehicle spun into the oncom- ing lane and crashed into an Inter- national 749 utility truck, driven by Colton Jennings, a 26-year-old from Bandon who was uninjured. Lewis and his two passengers, Kristopher Frisbee, 44, and Heather Good, 40, died in the crash. — Staff reports WEATHER Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats. FORECAST Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday monday Tuesday LAST WEEK HIGH LOW 38 46 44 45 42 44 45 34 40 30 am 26 27 32 35 rain/Snow am Shower Shower partly Cloudy Sunny partly Cloudy partly Cloudy HIGH LOW PRECIP monday, dec. 27 28 20 .12 Tuesday, dec. 28 31 19 .10 Wednesday, dec. 29 28 1 .01 Thursday, dec. 30 39 10 0 Friday, dec. 31 32 7 0 Saturday, Jan. 1 32 0 0 Sunday, Jan. 2 43 27 0 precipitation to date this year: 0 inches * = daily record national Weather Service broadcasts are on 162.50 mhz. Answers on Page 5 Mailing Address: p.o. 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