Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
GROW
Local knowledge
U M AT I L L A
To Pendleton
Long
Creek
Fox
19
GRANT
Dayville
To Bend
26
John
395
26
John Day
Canyon City
Izee
MALHEUR
Seneca
R.
2,007 ft.
To Baker City
395
2,549 ft.
2,000
7
.
CROOK
10 miles
HARNEY
4,666 ft.
4,386 ft.
4,062 ft.
4,429 ft.
4,695 ft.
4,101 ft.
3,539 ft.
3,754 ft.
3,083 ft.
2,871 ft.
3,000
Day
R
River
Day
Mount
Vernon
Grant Co. towns
by elevation
4,000
Sumpter
hn
Bates
Prairie
City
To Burns
5,000 feet
BAKER
Granite
M.
F
402
WHEELER
a y R.
o
Kimberly
Joh
n
395
Monument
19
UNION
F
N. k.
Dale
Ritter
S. F k . Jo hn D ay
3,194 ft.
2,917 ft.
2,348 ft.
1,828 ft.
1,000
.)
Co
x
ak
er
Fo
Ize
e
s
k
te
Ba
ee
ty
G OURMET
& GADGET S
The Biggest Little Kitchen
Store in Eastern Oregon
340 N Broadway Ave., Burns
541-573-1725
Open Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm
Su
m
pt
er
Lo
(B
ng
Cr
Ci
ty
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y
Da
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Pr
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The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler
Where’s the onion patch? Local legend says when
there’s no snow on the onion patch on Strawberry
Mountain, it’s safe to start planting outdoors.
Forget about the calen-
dar or Farmer’s Almanac.
Some folks in Grant
County have their own
methods, handed down
through the years, for
gauging when it’s safe to
start planting outdoors.
Staff at the Grant Coun-
W\ RI¿FH RI 2UHJRQ 6WDWH
University
Extension
shared adages they’ve re-
ceived from a few loca-
tions in the area:
Long Creek
• When you can stand
out in the middle of town
and not see any snow on
the mountains surrounding
the Long Creek Valley.
• When the big tree
behind the motel in town
starts sprouting leaves.
Prairie City
• When there’s no snow
on the onion patch – rough-
ly an M-shaped area – on
Strawberry Mountain.
MORROW
207
OREGON
J
k.
Blue Mountain Eagle
heck out the
elevations
of Grant County
communities for
a gauge of
garden potential
— from melon
and corn coun-
try in Kimberly
to frost cloth-
required territory
in Seneca and
Granite.
be
%\&KHU\O+RHÀHU
Elevation matters
C
D
No snow on
onion patch?
It’s safe to plant
Area in
detail
Se
ne
ca
Gr
an
ite
A10
Source: Blue Mountain Eagle research
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BRING on the (mason) BEES!
Species fills
needed role
as pollinators
By Kym Pokorny
OSU Extension Service
acebook
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
CORVALLIS – Even as the
gardening season is young, ma-
son bees come out for their short
but productive foray into the
blooms of your backyard.
These solitary native bees
– most commonly the blue
orchard mason bee (Osmia
lignaria) – get busy before
honeybees and set to work on
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sythia, pieris and especially
fruit trees.
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the season when other pollina-
tors are not out,” said Brooke
Edmunds, a horticulturist with
Oregon State University’s Ex-
tension Service. “They’re re-
ally important for fruit trees,
especially in cool, wet areas.”
As honeybees continue to
struggle for survival, mason
bees take on a bigger role in the
backyard garden, according to
Edmunds. Both serious and ca-
sual gardeners welcome these
earnest pollinators to get better
yields of fruits, vegetables and
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Mason bees are smaller than
honeybees, have a bluish hue
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Rarely do you have to worry
Make sure your car is ready for any Spring or
Summer road trips! Bring it in for a tune up by
our formal auto specialists!
about being stung because these
unaggressive bees live alone and
have no hive to protect.
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food, mason bees don’t go much
farther than 300 feet. They move
in a zigzag pattern, which makes
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nators for small spaces, accord-
ing to Edmunds.
The single-minded bees live
to bring nectar and pollen back
to the nest for their larvae that
hatch from eggs laid between
walls made of mud – another
material the female bees must
haul back to the nest. Leaving
patches of mud close to nesting
areas in trees or other wood will
help attract them, Edmunds
said.
You can also encourage
mason bees by creating a gar-
den that includes plants that
bloom during their excursions
in spring. Consider plants such
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currant, elderberry, huckleberry,
Oregon grape and lupine. Even
the often-dreaded dandelion is a
great source of food.
If you want to introduce the
bees rather than wait for them
to arrive in the garden, she rec-
ommends purchasing a nesting
house, which contains straws
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spring. They’re available online
or at garden centers.
Alternately, you can drill
holes into a solid piece of un-
treated wood. Make the holes
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diameter, six inches deep and
three-fourths of an inch apart.
Insert paper straws with cocoons
inside the holes.
Whatever you end up using,
hang houses or containers under
eaves or other protected areas
where they’ll be protected from
wind, rain and sun.
May is National
Electrical Safety Month.
Safety Tips:
• Maintain at least 10 feet of clearance around power lines when using pruners, ladders,
harvesters, dump trucks, and other tools and equipment.
• Assume all overhead lines are energized and potentially dangerous, including service drops
that run from utility poles to buildings.
• Clearly mark boundaries to keep workers and equipment a safe distance from overhead
power lines.
• Call 811 before you dig, disc, till, or move dirt in anyway. Any underground utilities will be
marked so you can work safely.
• Beware that contact with overhead power lines can kill. Don’t Risk it!
Contact your local OTEC district office for basic safety tips and to set up electrical
safety training that we offer.
• Baker County
541-523-3626
• Grant County
541-575-0161
• Harney County
541-573-2666
• Union County
541-963-3155