Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 2, 2016 3A
Grant to outfit
FC’s athletes
DEADLINES
NEWS DEADLINES
For inclusion in the
Wednesday edition of the
Itemizer-Observer:
Social news (weddings,
engagements, anniver-
saries, births, milestones) —
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Community events —
Noon on Friday for both the
Community Notebook and
Community Calendar.
Letters to the editor —
10 a.m. on Monday.
Obituaries — 4 p.m. on
Monday.
ADVERTISING DEADLINES
Retail display ads — 3
p.m. Friday.
Classified display ads
— 11 a.m. on Monday.
Classified line ads —
Noon on Monday. Classified
ads are updated daily on
www.polkio.com.
Public notices — Noon
on Friday.
CORRECTIONS
David Ritchey, on the
Monmouth-Independence
Networks board of directors,
did not work for the Mon-
mouth Police Department.
He was a reserve officer,
which is a volunteer position.
As of Tuesday, Ritchey is fill-
ing in as a part-time, tempo-
rary officer. The I-O regrets
the confusion.
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer is committed to
publishing accurate news,
feature and sports reports. If
you see anything that re-
quires a correction or clarifi-
cation, call the newsroom at
503-623-2373 or send an e-
mail to ionews@polkio.com.
WEBSITE
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer website,
www.polkio.com, is updat-
ed each week by Wednes-
day afternoon. There, you
will find nearly every story
that appears in the print
version of the newspaper,
as well as some items, in-
cluding additional photos,
that do not appear in print
due to space limitations.
The Itemizer-Observer is
also on Facebook and Twit-
ter. Watch for breaking
news, links to stories, sports
scores updates and more.
WEATHER
RECORDED
HIGH LOW
Feb. 23.............. 60
Feb. 24.............. 63
Feb. 25.............. 64
Feb. 26.............. 57
Feb. 27.............. 60
Feb. 28.............. 55
Feb. 29.............. 55
31
37
37
40
45
41
39
RAIN
.00
.T
.00
.28
.05
.16
.11
Rainfall during Feb. — 2.91 in.
Rain through Feb. 29 — 10.73 in.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Independence City Council President Nancy Lodge readies a fuji apple tree, one of
three that will be planted in a hole she dug, with Rick Schack in Inspiration Garden.
Casa
orientation
to
No space too small to garden
begin this Friday
Gardeners demonstrate ‘small space, easy harvest’ orchard
By Jolene Guzman
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — In
the fruit orchard at the In-
spiration Garden at Mount
Fir Park, three fruit trees
share one hole. They were
placed in their new home on
Friday.
It isn’t a mistake, but a
new way to make more out
of small spaces, said Darrell
Ward, Polk County Master
Gardener.
“There is a new technique
that has come out for the
urban gardener that requires
absolutely no space,” he
said.
By planting three trees,
each a different variety and
blooming cycle, urban gar-
deners can enjoy fruit for a
longer season, Ward said.
“There will be one that
blooms early, one mid-
bloom and one late bloom,”
he said. “So an urban gar-
dener that just had room for
one box could essentially
have three varieties of ap-
ples, and they would be har-
vestable from early August
to September-October.”
Each cluster was planted
in a 4-by-4 foot box to help
control growth, weeds and
to raise the plants up in a
particularly wet part of the
garden, Ward said.
The trees will be kept
small through pruning.
Because they are starting
out in one hole, they will
have to compete for nutri-
ents, which will also slow
growth, Ward said.
“We will keep those down
to a max of 8 feet high and 8
feet across,” he said. “We’ll
treat the whole thing as one
tree.”
Now is the time to be
planting any new trees, fruit-
ing or otherwise, Ward said.
“You could have gone a
little earlier, but with the
weather we’ve had, this is al-
most ideal,” he said. “You at
least have enough good
weather that it’s halfway
dry.”
The trees were bought
The Itemizer-Observer
Plant fruit
Darrell Ward, Polk County Master Gardener, recom-
mends using raised boxes to plant wherever possible to
help control growth and weeds. It also helps if the ground
doesn’t drain well.
• Use three fruit trees of varying blooming times to ex-
tend harvesting.
• Find trees of similar age. If one tree is older, it may be
more successful in getting nutrients and outgrow the oth-
ers.
• The irst cut is the hardest, Ward said. On Friday, he
struggled to cut the 2- and 3-year-old trees down to just
18 inches from the ground. It seems counterintuitive to
slash that much of the tree of so early, but Ward said it is
necessary to control the growth and keep them small.
• Plant the three trees in one hole about 18 inches wide
and trim them together as one tree.
• For more information about gardening: http://exten-
sion.oregonstate.edu/polk/mg.
through a $500 grant from
Tree City USA to help pay for
the “small space, easy har-
vest” fruit tree demonstra-
tion.
About a dozen people
from the city of Independ-
ence joined Master Garden-
ers Friday morning to learn
how to plant the fruit trees.
City Council President
Nancy Lodge picked up a
shovel and started digging.
The fruit orchard features
apple, peach, persimmon,
quince, plum and crabapple
trees.
A total of 46 fruit trees will
be planted in 2016 and 2017.
The orchard includes a
more traditional layout, with
single fruit trees, as well as
the small space, easy harvest
demonstration.
The Inspiration Garden
has a variety of display gar-
dens, from winter, children’s,
a memorial rose garden,
ANNUAL
MEMBERSHIP
MEETING
LUCKIAMUTE
DOMESTIC WATER
COOPERATIVE
Thursday • 7:00 p.m.
MARCH 17
Location: Business Office
8585 Suver Rd. Monmouth
503-838-2075
vegetable, medicinal and a
Japanese garden.
It is on F Street in Inde-
pendence.
Furniture Upholstery
Bob Timmerman
Kelly K. Denney
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
503-606-3048
503-623-5584
503-623-2146
193 E. Main Street
Monmouth, OR 97361
159 SW Court Street
Dallas, OR 97338
244 E. Ellendale, Suite 2
Dallas, OR 97338
Monday 7:00 p.m.
March 14th
Location: Business Office
8585 Suver Rd. • Monmouth
Join the team
What: Casa volunteer
training orientation.
When: Friday at 5
p.m.
Where: Polk County
Courthouse conference
room, 850 Main St., Dal-
las.
For more informa-
tion: 503-623-8473.
place at Salem’s Waterfront
Park and feature 5K, 10K and
1 mile races. To sign up, go to
https://runsignup.com/Race/
OR/Salem/CASARUN.
Also, Polk County Casa has
teamed up with the
Willamette Valley Chapter of
Bikers Against Child Abuse, or
Baca. Similar to Casa, the
group advocates for foster
children, using their motorcy-
cles and “tough guy” per-
sonas to make foster children
feel secure and supported.
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All types: for homes, offices, equip-
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BOARD MEETING
503-838-2075
POLK COUNTY — Casa
(Court-Appointed Special Ad-
vocates) is holding its volun-
teer orientation on Friday at
the Polk County Courthouse
conference room, 850 Main
St., Dallas, from 5 to 6 p.m.
Orientation introduces po-
tential volunteers to what the
program does before the re-
quired 10-week training class
begins March 18. Casa oi-
cials are hoping to graduate a
class of 12 from its spring
training.
Polk County’s program
needs help to reach its goal of
“a casa for every child” by
2018.
To foster that growth, Casa
will host new fundraisers this
year: the Casa Superhero
Race, in partnership with Casa
of Marion County, on April 9,
and a golf tournament later in
the year. The run will take
Ben Meyer, AAMS ®
Rick 503-437-5398
LUCKIAMUTE
DOMESTIC WATER
COOPERATIVE
FALLS CITY — High
school and middle school
sports teams in Falls City
will soon be donning new
uniforms thanks to a grant
through the Portland Trail
Blazers.
Falls City will receive
$2,000 to buy new uni-
forms through the grant.
The district is working to
determine which teams
will benefit.
“A needs assessment will
be completed in order to
see where the funds will
go,” said Falls City High
School physical education
teacher Emily Kenagy, who
applied for the grant.
On Monday, Kenagy and
a group of five students will
be heading to the Moda
Center, the Blazers home
court, to accept the grant.
The grant is through Trail
Blazers Foundation’s Take it
to the Court for Education
program, sponsored by
Wells Fargo.
This year $100,000 in
grants went to 20 schools
in Oregon.
For more information
about the grant, go to
http://www.nba.com/blaz-
ers/community/foundation.
Winters Sewing
503-838-4999 or 503-375-9266
Emmy
Joseph
440 E. St • Independence, OR 97351
www.winterssewing.com
Serving Polk County 16yrs
Solution on Page 14A
We are a locally family owned metal
roofing & siding manufacturer.
We still believe in value with quality.
“Thanks to all that stopped by our booth last
week at the Polk Home & Garden Show!”
Have a shed
or barn that
needs to be
covered
immediately?