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The INDEPENDENT, January 18, 2007
Can You Dig It?
By Schann Nelson
OSU Master Gardener
already about a half inch long. You don’t want valuable tree strength going into
wood you are going to cut off.
Also a near must for the home orchardist: It is important to get out and spray to
control insects such as spider mites, aphids and scale with dormant oil. The Exten-
sion Service says dormant oil is widely available but, as of this writing, everything
you can buy in town is more toxic. Dormant oil is a light oil which smothers or des-
iccates eggs and larvae. Unless you know you have a severe infestation of an in-
sect that won’t or hasn’t responded (i.e. been reduced to an acceptable level) to
dormant oil, it seems hard to justify a more toxic response. Dormant oil should be
applied when the temperature is expected to rise during the day to prevent the oil
from being forced into the bark and causing damage.
Another widely used and effective spray is lime-sulfur which is applied later, just
before buds open in spring. A second application of wettable sulfur can be applied
just after petals fall for additional control of fungal and bacterial diseases.
After getting your soil sample packed and mailed off to the lab (when the soil
thaws enough to dig it), getting all the pruning done (and cleaned up) and the dor-
mant oil sprayed, you can relax with the load of plant catalogues burdening your
mail. I consider both Territorial Seed and Raintree Nursery essential. Both are filled
with disease resistant varieties and a wealth of locally appropriate cultural informa-
tion. I also like Wildflower Farms (the only place I’ve seen the very tempting Or-
namec170 Grass Herbicide) and Seeds of Change. They are located however, in
Texas and New Mexico respectively, a climate so unlike our own I have yet to or-
der from them. Both have lots of good cultural info, beautiful and inspir-
ing photos and a good selection of books and tools. Johnny’s Selected
Seeds had lots of nifty tools for the semi-commercial market gardener
and large quantities of single varieties of veggies, flowers and herbs
for large scale plantings.
For your information: Mold Control in Your Home, a workshop at
PCC Rock Creek Campus, January 24 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. This is
the homeowner version of the class for professionals held earlier in the
day. Cost for the homeowner version is $10. For additional information
and registration go to http:extension/oregonstate.edu/fcd/mold
For the novice eager to start a garden: Clackamas Community Col-
lege has a Vegetable Gardening Symposium this coming Saturday, January 20, just
in case you didn’t have anything planned.
Spring IS coming. You can try to get peas in whenever your soil is workable and
well drained. You can plant coleus, impatiens and geranium seeds indoors NOW
for big summer displays. It’s a good time of year to get your soil tested and to clean,
sharpen and oil your tools. AND, you can dream your way to a beautiful garden all
the way through the winter. Enjoy!
I hope you all stayed warm and dry over the cold spell,
which I sincerely hope is over by the time you read this. What
does a gardener do when it’s frozen outside? The answer is
that there is, as usual, more stuff that you could be doing
than you can possibly get done.
When I was out taking photos of the garden in winter I was
wondering about sending in a pictorial article and only having
to write the captions. Since, however, I’m writing two days af-
ter deadline, and I can’t download from the camera since it
isn’t here, you’ll just have to be content to read another ram-
ble. Maybe I’ll pull out the pictures in late July when the snow-covered Hawthorne
berries, or nearly horizontal icicles might be refreshing.
Mark your calendars now! The annual Columbia County Master Gardeners sale
will be Saturday, April 21. NOTE to City: PLEASE, don’t schedule clean-up day on
this date. I checked the Chamber Community Calendar and it’s not on there yet so,
let folks get over the hill to buy their tomatoes. This sale is the MG’s biggest
fundraiser (and opportunity for fledgling MG’s to work off their hours) and THE best
place to get a wide variety of tomatoes for a very reasonable price ($1 each in past
years). The sale is held at St. Helens High School and there are other plant and
garden vendors, door prizes, and an official MG clinic for your garden questions.
It’s best to arrive early, the sale opens at 9:00 a.m., for best selection. You will have
to provide some protection for your tomato babies when you get them home, but
I’ve been very successful getting them in the ground within a week of purchase and
under cloches. Last year, they were bursting out of their little plastic homes before
I knew it!
I stumbled into the OSU Extension website (http://extension. oregonstate.edu)
last week and was blown away by the amount of information suddenly at my
fingertips. I knew that the Extension Service publishes a pamphlet on just
about every topic you can conceive that might even be remotely related to
agriculture, forestry, or family life. What I didn’t realize was
that almost all of these publications are available on the
web for downloading, for free.
First, I found an article beginning:
“Testing your soil now will help let you know
what nutrients your soil needs, so you will be able to plan
your fertilizer program before the planting season begins later in the spring,” said John
Hart, an Oregon State University Extension soil science specialist.
“A soil test is like taking an inventory of the nutrients available to
plants,” Hart explained. “Garden soil nutrients may be too high, too
low or just right. But gardeners won’t know until they test their soil.”
A soil test also may solve garden mysteries, revealing causes
of scabby potatoes, yellowing plants and slow or poor growth – all
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
potentially caused by soil nutrient problems.
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
Then I went to a publication, “Soil Sampling for Home Gardens
Jeff Cheney, Branch President
and Small Acreages (EC 628)” which gives very detailed instruc-
1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia
tions for how to make up your soil sample(s). Finally, I also down-
503 429-7151
loaded another publication (EM8677), which has a list of labora-
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
tories in Oregon that conduct the studies. Both of these publica-
Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
tions now have a supplementary home on my hard drive. I would
Young
Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m.
encourage you to use this resource for your gardening questions.
These folks have answers based on good solid science, unlike my
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
stories, based mostly on experience and time.
Soil testing is a good idea and can save you $$$ by analyzing
John Aitken II, Pastor, 396-1856
what nutrients are present and available in your sample. In addi-
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
503 429-8301
tion, the test results should give you a recommendation for fertil-
Morning
Worship, 9:15 a.m.
izer and liming requirements so you won’t have to guess which
Bible
Study
10:30 a.m.
amendments to put in your soil for maximum production. It’s rec-
ommended that vegetable gardens be tested every year, but this
V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH
is probably cost prohibitive for the non-commercial home garden-
Grant Williams, Pastor
er. I’ve tried the home kits before, thinking that all those college
957
State Avenue, Vernonia
chem classes I endured would finally have some use. Though I
503 429-6790
could perform the tests according to the directions, the informa-
Sunday Breakfast 9:00 a.m.
tion wasn’t really very meaningful. It sounds good to me to get a
Morning Worship 9:45 a.m.
real test every once in a while. Like, maybe even the first time. It
*B.L.A.S.T. w/Nursery 10:00 a.m.
would be nice to know how 20-plus years of (mostly organic) gar-
*Bible Learning and Scripture Training
dening have changed the soil.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
As soon as the snow melts it will be time to prune fruit trees.
One of my photos has snow on the honeysuckle leaves that are
Church Directory
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
A SSEMBLY OF G OD
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-8841
Mass Schedule
Sunday 12:00 Noon
Religious Education
Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Wayne and Maureene Marr
662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia,
503 429-0373
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
Carl Pense, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-1103
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
Children’s Sunday School
F IRST B APTIST C HURCH
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
503 429-5190
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
S T . A UGUSTINE (C ANTERBURY )
E PISCOPAL C HURCH
375 North St. (Vernonia Grange Hall)
Vernonia, 503 705-2173
Please call for service schedule.
N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH
Gary Taylor, Pastor
Grant & North Streets, Vernonia
503 429-5378
Sunday School 10:00 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Nursery available
Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m.
V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH
Sam Hough, Evangelist
410 North Street, Vernonia
503 429-6522
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Every Wednesday:
Ladies' Bible Study 9:30 a.m.
Ladies’ Worship 10:00 a.m.
Children’s Choir 3:00 p.m.
Family Bible Study 7:00 p.m.