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The INDEPENDENT, May 20, 2010
Can You Dig It?
By Schann Nelson
Columbia County Master Gardener
So many things to plant – so
little time! This year, the
cost/benefit of growing food has
definitely worked out on the side
vegetables. My daughter has
been raking out beds and throw-
ing seeds at them all year. I’d
managed to accumulate a pretty
amazing inventory of old seeds.
It’s incredible to see the results
of careful thinning and replanting start to cover the
beds with FOOD.
For some bizarre reason I was finally motivated to
get a tape measure out to the vegetable garden and
measure the actual area under cultivation. It turns out
to be MUCH less than I thought. A miniscule 225
square feet! This includes nine vegetable garden beds.
(One was converted to a sitting area amidst the flow-
ers from which to survey the coming bounty.) Each bed
rakes out to approximately 2.5 feet (32 inches) of
plantable space. The beds are about 10 feet long and
are oriented with the longer axis running north and
south. A wide center pathway on the north side sepa-
rates four beds, plus bench destination, from the re-
maining five beds. The whole area, including pathways
and borders against the fence, is about 25 by 25 feet.
All of the sudden I’m amazed at the quantity of food
I’ve pulled out of this patch of ground over the last 25+
years!
This year’s master gardener test cites part of the
program’s mission, which is to improve food security in
our communities, and asks what ARE the most basic
skills you need to grow your own food? My recommen-
dation is to start NOW, if you are at all inclined. A sim-
ple garden of greens, some kind of brasica, potatoes,
beans, squash and a yummy tomato or two can pro-
vide a significant amount of food. One fulltime able-
bodied and dedicated gardener could probably keep
up with and process the harvest from my vegetable
garden, providing a significant contribution to feeding
a family of four. A single cherry tomato in a pot can pro-
vide serious munching from a deck or patio.
If you can have a garden start NOW. If you don’t
have dirt that you can rake out, this is the time to get a
rototiller out to chew stuff up. My preference would be
to shovel the tilled area into beds and paths – I would
find a huge tilled landscape intimidating, but can see
some advantages if you have the manpower to man-
age it.
Potatoes are a GREAT crop for a first year garden.
All you have to do is plant seed potatoes like bulbs,
cover well with mulch and keep well-watered until the
plants begin to die back. One garden bed into food
production and you are ready to move on to more. Six-
packs of mixed greens, lettuces, or one of the brasi-
ca’s (broccoli or cauliflower are probably the easiest to
grow) can be spread out by soaking them well before
transplanting and gently teasing the plants apart. Bush
beans are easy to plant from seed, grow and harvest.
Don’t get carried away buying transplants, a single
zucchini plant may well be all you need (or want). I’ve
found I get better results with fewer varieties of toma-
to and few plants. Tomatoes can get out of hand, es-
pecially in a good sunny year!
The trickiest part of the garden season is after plant-
ing seeds. Seedlings are incredibly susceptible to dry-
ing out because they grow in the very top layer of soil,
which can dry very quickly. Keeping seed beds evenly
moist is critical and can be a challenge. As seedlings
grow they will require less frequent watering but, at this
early stage, even a few hours in the baking sun can ex-
terminate an entire emerging crop. Waiting for carrots
or parsnips to emerge can be frustrating. It seems to
take forever, is uneven and emerging seedlings are
hard to see. Planting an indicator, like radishes which
practically spring up overnight, can help remind you
where you planted the carrots. Persistence, careful
thinning, vigilant weeding and attentive irrigation with
mulching are key factors in the success of your garden
Fish passage grant to watershed council
Governor Ted Kulongoski
awarded $564,000, May 6, in
fourteen grants to aid farmers,
vintners, students, local gov-
ernments and landowners in
being stewards of our natural
resources. The grants are fund-
ed by the Governor’s Fund for
the Environment, which is sup-
ported by pollution penalties.
Since its inception in 2005, pol-
luters have been ordered to
pay more than $4.5 million to
the fund.
The Upper Nehalem Water-
shed Council received a grant
for $50,000, with a Match of
$405,260 for Elk Creek Phase
II–Fish Passage Restoration,
near Pittsburg, which will be
used to restore coho, cutthroat
and lamprey passage to 3.6
miles of refuge habitat on Elk
Creek, a tributary of the East
Fork Nehalem River. This is
part of watershed-wide restora-
tion efforts for the East Fork
Nehalem by the UNWC and its
partners (Weyerhauser Corp.,
Columbia County, Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife,
BLM, and USFWS). The proj-
ect will replace an existing con-
crete box culvert with an open-
bottom culvert that includes a
low flow channel to restore nat-
ural stream and substrate con-
ditions and reduce high flow
velocities.
“These grants will restore
streambeds throughout Ore-
gon, improve water quality for
people and wildlife, and pro-
vide a better home for several
threatened and endangered
species of fish, plants and
wildlife,” said Foundation Exec-
utive Director Jeff Trandahl.
“By gaining landowner cooper-
ation in improving fish and wild-
life habitat, we’re creating win-
win solutions that will have last-
ing benefits for people and the
natural resources we cherish.”
whatever the size.
In my quest for maximum food production this year,
our beds are (or will be) planted thusly:
Peas: first planted, reseeded and now interplanted
with a few broccoli where peas still didn’t come up.
The OCD Peas (see previous article) and ‘Wild Gar-
den Kales’
Carrots and Parsnips
Potatoes
The super interplanted bed – two 6-packs of lettuce,
one mixed, one romaine, two kinds of radishes, a short
row of turnips, two trellis supports for cucumbers and
four tomato plants (Manitoba, a 62 day heirloom; two
Health Kick, a high lycopene general purpose tomato;
and Jet Star).
The survivors of several mixed lettuce and greens
packets, some lettuce transplanted from other beds
while thinning and a few broccoli on the end.
Onions and garlic, with a few stray broccoli.
The sitting area, flowers and a short row of Violetto
artichokes.
Beds 8 and 10 are my sunniest and are going to
grow corn. Precocious, a dependable hybrid I’ve been
successful with before, and Early Pink popcorn! I’ve
never grown popcorn, but it sure sounds like fun!
Where are the beans you ask? I’m exploring the use
of bush beans (Jade and Carson) as an element of
perennial beds. Bingo, a “classic, Borlotto type, pole
bean [with] big creamy green pods streaked in bright,
pinkish red, grow 5 inches long.” Sounds perfect to
cover a tepee! As a shelling bean, we will only have to
pick the beans when we take the tepee apart in the fall.
Here’s hoping
everything works
out. The great thing
is, there are really
no mistakes. Only
good food, and op-
portunities for com-
post! Enjoy!
Church Directory
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
P IONEER B APTIST F ELLOWSHIP
Carl Pense, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-1103
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
Children’s Sunday School
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-8841
Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon
Religious Educ. Sunday 10:30 a.m.
John Cahill, Pastor
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia
503-429-1161
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 7:00 p.m.
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH
Larry Gibson, Pastor
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
503 429-8301
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
Sabbath School 9:30 a.m.
Grant Williams, Pastor
957 State Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-6790
Sunday Breakfast 9:00 a.m.
Morning Worship 9:45 a.m.
Children and Nursery 10:00 a.m.
Youth Group 6:00 p.m.
Preschool Mon. & Wed. 9:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 6:00 p.m.
Tues. & Fri. Adult Volleyball 7:00 p.m.
A SSEMBLY OF G OD
Wayne and Maureene Marr
662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia,
503 429-0373
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m
F IRST B APTIST C HURCH
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
503 429-4027
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH
Sam Hough, Minister
410 North Street, Vernonia
503 429-6522
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
(meets in Youth & Family Center)
Home Group Meeting throughout
the week at various locations
N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
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.
Marc Farmer, Branch President
1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia
503 429-7151
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
Young Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m.