Page 6
The INDEPENDENT, August 17, 2011
Can You Dig It?
By Schann Nelson
Columbia County Master Gardener
water. This bed is mostly empty where we have taken with weak or no shells until they get some oyster shell.
out broccoli, which I think has helped insure the im- I read that some chickens get most of the calcium they
peccable drainage the onions require. We’ve trans- need from consuming snail shells. What a great gar-
Dragging myself inside to planted a few cucumbers into this bed and are trellis- den benefit and no wonder I hardly ever see a snail.
write on one of the long await- ing them up the center now.
Speaking of livestock getting rid of the unwanted
ed nice days that finally ar-
Two varieties of pole bean have finally figured out guest, I sure miss having a cow. Though I know since
rived. Muugghhhh! Any day what the pole is for and survived attacks of slugs, flea reading Chip Bubl’s article last month about plant tox-
that you can simply bask in the beetles (not too bad because they are mostly in the icity, we never had a problem, most likely because we
glory of true Oregon summer potatoes), weeds and vermin. Even in my shady gar- are so small and she had a comparatively large area
can only be good. Hard to den, it’s incredible not to have beans by this time of to graze, wasn’t overly tempted by the occasional
bask however when there’s so year. It certainly seems that we’ve had at least one toxic weed thrown over the fence, and loved many of
much to do. But I’ve managed meal of green beans by this time of year.
them. Now we have big collections of old broccoli,
quite well (at basking) recently,
At the same time, it is impossible to even begin to clover, foxglove and buttercups that we can only put in
in spite of the weather, work responsibility and car keep up with pulling out enough weeds, before they the compost area and let the remaining chickens turn,
breakdowns. In spite of me, Penrhynn has thrown her- go to seed, to even see the garden or the perennial turn, turn.
self into the garden and we’ve got quite a garden yard. beds. As my sister so kindly put it “lovely, overgrown
I have successfully shaded an area of lawn that
We got a nice crop of early peas. The other end of cottage garden”, referring to what is supposed to be a used to be impossibly hot in August and September. I
the bed devoted to peas was planted twice. First, a perennial border behind the blue berries, but has didn’t prune the Artic Kiwi last winter and it complete-
pole variety which I attempted to trellis up a piece of again become a monster overgrowth of one or two ly shades the bed underneath it and the lawn in the
fence. Much of this initial planting didn’t come up, in- very tall plants. This year it’s phlox, but in the past it’s late afternoon. Creating these microclimate spaces
cluding none of the parsley in this same bed. I reseed- been aggressive store-bought flowers or an especial- that we, and the plants we love, can enjoy, is what it’s
ed with another bush pea. Too many varieties to man- ly aggressive decorative heliocrysum [dark red all about. A cool drink, a shady seat, a gentle fragrant
age! Now we have shading of the pod peas under- stems]. This is not helping the poor blueberries. They breeze – heaven in one small pocket of earth.
neath them, and I’m not sure how we’ll harvest!
edge one side of this plot, the sunny side and are,(of
The bush pea end of the bed has been replanted course) the most desired species in this bed. Not a
along with our latest discovery…Cat Control Device. berry to be seen yet. Must have bloomed
An ample 6-8 inch cut off the end of a roll of green at the wrong time.
‘fencing’ wire, formed into an arch, will keep the cat
I’m afraid to go out and look at the
out of a row of freshly planted basil. I’m sure many of tomatoes. Drastic pruning is coming up
you have been wondering how long it would take me soon but there sure don’t even seem to be
to figure this out. I plan on making several more of many blooms. We have managed a hand-
The Marine Board is facing also contains hyperlinks to spe-
these simple wire structures, a couple of years worth ful of Sun Gold’s but nothing else even the fiscal realities impacting all cific program information and
anyway.
looks promising. I’m hoping that when I ac- of state government and is drafts of the Marine Board’s
The single pack of onion seedlings continues to tually get in there I’ll be more encouraged. striving to improve services by Strategic Plan, Boating Facili-
produce delicious onions over a period of time. Once Oddly enough, both the tomatoes and the finding efficiencies without in- ties Six-Year Plan.
they have dried out even a little bit you can pour water chickens could use a good dose of calci- creasing registration fees for
The Marine Board is also
on them and watch them get bigger. Since they are um. Weird coincidence of the day. We Oregon’s boaters. The silver transitioning over the next two
planted all around the edge of the bed, some are a lot don’t have any yet but the black rotten lining in this economy is the years away from print publica-
more securely planted than others. But it appears that spots on the bottoms of tomatoes are from ever-evolving use of the inter- tions for boating safety, posting
as long as they can hang in there, once they develop a lack of calcium. In the long run the calci- net, which is opening more much of the same content on-
a root system and can consume large quantities of um problem in the soil can be corrected by doors to rapidly communicate line. “Boaters can download
water they will swell visibly with the application of correcting the pH. The chickens lay eggs information, for little cost. As the specific information they
part of the Marine Board’s ef- need, and not waste paper and
fort to return more boating dol- ink,” Brewen adds.
lars back to boaters in the form
Looking toward the future,
of services, the agency is ex- the Marine Board is also build-
perimenting with moving away ing a more robust, interactive
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
F IRST B APTIST C HURCH
P IONEER B APTIST F ELLOWSHIP
from traditional printing, begin- database where boaters will be
Pastor John D. Murray
John Cahill, Pastor
Carl Pense, Pastor
ning with the annual Underway able to find boat launches,
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia
850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
Newsletter, and offering the learn about boating hazards,
503 860-3860
503-429-1161
503 429-1103
publication digitally.
where to find clear gasoline,
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
www.pbfalive.com
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
“Underway”
is
generally
pro-
the closest pumpout/dump sta-
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Children’s Sunday School
duced once a year and mailed tion, and other important infor-
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
Thursday Prayer 7:00 p.m.
directly to currently registered mation. “The end goal is to de-
V
ERNONIA
C
OMMUNITY
C
HURCH
motorboat owners. The Marine velop this interactive online
Larry Gibson, Pastor
N
EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH
Board produces this publica- system into a mobile app so
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
Ralph Young, Pastor
Gary
Taylor,
Pastor
503 429-8301
tion in partnership with the U.S. boaters will have all the infor-
957 State Avenue, Vernonia
Grant & North Streets, Vernonia
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
503 429-6790
Coast Guard, sharing costs. mation they need to stay safe
503 429-5378
Sabbath School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Bible Classes 9:00 a.m.
The Marine Board creates the out on the water, at their finger-
Sunday School 10:00 a.m.
Family Praise & Worship 10:30 a.m.
layout and pays for printing, tips,” says Brewen. Brewen
A SSEMBLY OF G OD
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m.
and the Coast Guard pays for hopes the new system will be
Nursery available
Thursday Ladies Study 7:00 p.m.
Wayne and Maureene Marr
mailing. “The cost of paper, ink, online within the next year.
Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m.
Nursery 10:15 a.m.
662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia,
print services and mailing con-
Marine Board brochures and
Vernonia Community Preschool
503 429-0373
tinue
to
rise,
so
the
decision
to
larger
boating guides can be
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
go
digital
makes
fiscal
sense,”
viewed
and downloaded from
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m
V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH
says
Scott
Brewen,
Director
of
http://www.boatoregon.com/O
Marc Farmer, Branch President
Sam Hough, Minister
the Marine Board. “This is a SMB/library/library.shtml
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia
410 North Street, Vernonia
chance to save money while
To download a copy of the
503 429-7151
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
503 429-6522
trying
something
new.
We
will
annual
“Underway” newsletter,
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
see
what
kind
of
feedback
we
go
to
http://www.boatoregon.
Sunday
School
&
Primary
11:20
a.m.
503 429-8841
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
receive from the boaters.” The com/OSMB/library/docs/Un-
Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon
(meets in Youth & Family Center)
Young
Women,
Sunday
12:10
p.m.
digital Underway Newsletter derway2011Web.pdf.
Religious Educ. Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Various Home Group Meetings
Marine Board plans to use new
technology to reduce costs
Church Directory