The INDEPENDENT, December 21, 2011
Page 5
Can You Dig It?
By Schann Nelson
Columbia County Master Gardener
I can’t believe I’m writing
another December column.
I’ve written about the advan-
tages of giving gift certificates
to gardeners (Pick a favorite
catalogue and let your garden-
er choose) and quoted various
stories (the writer’s cop-out),
but I’ve never written about the
care and feeding of that most
iconic of Christmas symbols, the Christmas tree.
It never really seems to be the season until the
greenery comes in. Like many people, the smell of
evergreens IN the house sends memories cascading
through me. Seemingly endless treks down the rail-
road grade to find the perfect tree. I thought for years
that all Christmas trees had the long limp leaders of
the “wild” untrimmed Douglas fir. I still find the closely
trimmed and shaped tree, not to mention the flocked
tree, very odd and unnatural looking.
The most important thing to remember when bring-
ing in your Christmas tree and greens is that they are
a HUGE fire hazard. Thankfully, smaller lights and led
lights provide plenty of illumination for your tree, but
are not nearly as hot as the large bulbs of yesteryear.
Be sure to turn your tree lights off at night and when
you are not home. Every year, at least one Christmas
tree fire makes the news. Let it be the fire department
demonstration, not your house.
That scary stuff said, because of where we live, we
have access to the finest freshest trees available. Lo-
cal tree farms can provide beautiful trees of every
kind, from stiff richly scented Noble fir to long-needled
pines, and well-trimmed nearly perfect cones of sever-
al different firs ready to display every ornament you
own. Local trees are so fresh that they need a lot of
water at first – the more water the trees retain, the less
of a fire hazard they represent. So be sure to stay on
top of watering.
When you get your carefully selected tree home,
the struggle to get it up and keep it watered begins. If
you cut your own tree ask that they put it in the shak-
ing machine, a treat to watch but noisy! (Small irritat-
ing “hover flies” can quickly fill your house from
colonies inside the tree and, since they never land,
they are impossible to swat. However, the electric ten-
nis racket-shaped swatters can provide a wealth of
family fun – just have your vacuum handy to clean up
the aftermath.) In any case, when you get your tree
out of the car, but before you bring it in, remove the
wooden X-shaped support, if present, and/or tree
wrapping. Give the tree a really good shaking to re-
move loose needles and bugs. Cut at least a thin slice
off the bottom of the tree to make sure it will take up
water when you get it inside. This is also a good time
to shorten trees that children picked out – Invariably a
gorgeous 10-foot tree that can’t be squeezed under
your eight-foot ceiling. Trim the bottom limbs off the
tree, in any case, so you have a good clean 6- 12 inch-
es to put in your tree holder. Any limbs you have to
trim can be used to fill in blank spots or to make gar-
lands.
Large (2-1/2 to 3 foot diameter minimum) galva-
nized tubs make great tree supports with just a bit of
handyman work. Re-use or make an x-shaped sup-
port of waste wood – something in the neighborhood
of 1/2 X 4 inches, by the bottom width of your contain-
er. Drill three or four small holes near the top of the
container. Set the tree, on its support, in the tub. Run
wires from each hole to the tree, about a foot above
the top of the tub, and wrap them around the trunk.
Tighten each of the wires until they hold the tree in
place. Fill the tub with water up to the height of the
holes. This is my Dad’s design and we had one that
worked for many years. Its best feature is that it holds
LOTS of water so keeping your tree hydrated is less of
a problem. One does have to be a bit careful that pres-
ents don’t fall into the watery deep.
When purchasing a tree holder, buy the deepest
and heaviest that you can afford. If you end up with a
very small reservoir just check and water several
Vernonia Christmas Eve services
Vernonia Community
Church
Pioneer Baptist
Fellowship
The Vernonia Community
Church will hold a Christmas
Eve Candlelight Celebration at
7:00 p.m. on December 24.
Included in the celebration
will be The Dickens Singers, fa-
vorite carols, and the Christ
Story in both word and song.
All are welcome to this col-
laborative celebration at the
Vernonia Community Church,
957 State Avenue.
The Pioneer Baptist Fellow-
ship will hold a Christmas Eve
Candlelight Service at 7:00
p.m. on December 24, at the
Vernonia Community Learning
Center, 939 Bridge Street.
times a day. Putting a tree up is generally a two-per-
son project. If you do it by yourself, the other will in-
variably come home and pronounce it crooked – this
is a good reason to take a break between getting the
tree IN and decorating. Time for a festive beverage!
Filling in blank spots: Trim one of the cut-off branch-
es to the desired length, plus an inch or so. Use an
electric drill to make a hole slightly smaller than your
branch, then trim the end of the branch and insert it in
the hole. This technique is used a lot to fill in giant
community trees (not OURS, of course).
Live Trees: The problems of hydration are multi-
plied many fold when trying to use a live tree. If you in-
tend to plant it in your yard remember that it will prob-
ably get VERY TALL. Nonetheless, this is a great ex-
perience to have with children. If you can keep it alive
and stay in the same place, they can decorate it for
the birds many times. However, live trees are hard to
keep alive. Try to make the tree’s transition from out-
side to inside as gradual as possible – doing one thing
to a plant at a time. For instance, you might move it
from the car to a sheltered spot in the yard, to the
garage, to the coolest room in the house, to its final
display place. Don’t set up your tree near any kind of
heat source (stove, furnace vent, baseboard or wall
heater). The galvanized tub is really nearly essential
for a live tree – you want to be able to keep the bot-
tom of the whole root ball damp, though you don’t
want it immersed in standing water the way you do a
cut tree. Bring a live tree in the house for a maximum
of two weeks of display, then gradually work it back
outside. Keep your tree watered and sheltered from
wind. Because our winters are so mild (or at least
when they are in a mild spell), you can plant the tree
in the ground anytime you can dig a big enough hole.
You will have to keep watering through next summer
in order to establish a good root system – Good Luck!
Time for another festive beverage! The sun begins
returning, entering Capricorn at 9:30 p.m. on the 21st.
Of course, we won’t notice any longer days for
months, ‘cause we’ll be socked in under the low cloud
cover of our rain forest.
Church Directory
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
F IRST B APTIST 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
Pastor John D. Murray
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
503 860-3860
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
John Cahill, Pastor
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia
503-429-1161
www.pbfalive.com
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Thursday Prayer 7:00 p.m.
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
Larry Gibson, Pastor
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
503 429-8301
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
Sabbath School 9:30 a.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
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-8841
Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon
Religious Educ. Sunday 10:30 a.m.
V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH
Ralph Young, Pastor
957 State Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-6790
Sunday Bible Classes 9:00 a.m.
Family Praise & Worship 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m.
Thursday Laadies Study 7:00 p.m.
Nursery 10:15 a.m.
Vernonia Community Preschool
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
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
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)
Various Home Group Meetings
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.