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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2012)
Page 6 The INDEPENDENT, March 21, 2012 Can You Dig It? By Schann Nelson Columbia County Master Gardener sentations such as “The World of Insects, Spiders, and their Relatives” by local gardeners who call them- selves The Bug Chicks. This will be held in the exten- April 20, was shown on my sion classroom at 6:30 p.m.on March 22. Parent and calendar as the first day of budding young scientist special night out? One-to-one spring, but it sure felt like the time with a parent is incredibly valuable to a certain drag end of winter. At least I age group. Get them started early, parenting points hope it’s the end of winter. An- and exposure to adults in a learning environment. other long wet spring would be Great times! hard to deal with. Though I will The newsletter also includes one page of sugges- say that it makes the few warm tions from our local agent which are always complete- sunny days truly glorious. ly overwhelming. I feel great if I can get a few done. I talked about a rough home This month’ newsletters is particularly full of mainte- analysis of your soil a couple of months ago. If you get nance and cleanup tasks, planning, propagation/ ambitious and send your soil in for analysis, your re- planting, pest monitoring. Here are a few gems from sults will include specific recommendations for the that list and my own projects: amounts of basic nutrients to add to optimize crop Clean, sharpen and oil garden tools. growth. If you are just trying to figure out what to use Since the soil will not be dry enough, start cool-sea- to improve your soil, here is a way to translate fertiliz- son plants indoors (carrots, beets, broccoli, leeks, er labels into something useful. parsley, chives, radish) Example: You are following a fertilizer recommen- Plant onions as soon as possible, especially if you dation for adding two pounds of 4 – 4 – 4 per 1000 are planting seed. If you plant sets, you can plant square feet of garden. Fertilizer nutrients are always them in wet soil – known as mudding them in – and expressed with a three part number representing the they will probably grow. If you didn’t get garlic in the ratios of Nitrogen(N) - Phosphorus (P) – Potassium ground in the fall, plant NOW! (K) in numerical form. Begin mowing when dry enough – probably next Choose a fertilizer with an appropriate analysis. month. You could choose an 8-8-8 or a 10-10-10 but not a 21- Finish pruning if necessary. Then clean up. Yuck. 4-4 as that would have an incorrect ratio of fertilizer Get plants (tuberous begonias, dahlias, geraniums, Calculate, or read on the label, how much 8-8-8 is fuschias) out of winter storage and begin to grow them needed for 1,000 square feet. Divide the amount of ni- in potting soil, fertilize lightly. Another effective trogen recommended for 1,000 square feet by the method, especially with geraniums, is to take cuttings number of square feet in your garden. now and start a whole raft of new plants to brighten Find a way to spread this amount of fertilizer on your summer days. your garden evenly, i.e. not in your paths but on your Another hugely helpful thing you can start now, is to garden beds. If your go in for rototilling it’s a bit easier begin a few simple yoga stretches. I really hate getting to get everything even, but that carries its own prob- to that first gorgeous dry day, then working myself into lems. a Vicodin coma for the next three days because I sim- If you don’t get the free, local extension publication ple can’t remember to START with stretching. A very “Country Living” you are missing out on all kinds of lo- brief internet search got me a list of five easy exercis- cal (well usually St. Helens) events such as the prun- es to increase core strength. Core strength involves ing workshop (already happened) and monthly pre- the muscles that support your back. All of these stretch- es are most ef- fective V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH C OVENANT C HURCH V ERNONIA P IONEER B APTIST F ELLOWSHIP if you can pull John Cahill, Pastor Pastor John D. Murray Carl Pense, Pastor 939 Bridge Street, Vernonia 359 “A” Street, Vernonia 850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia in and 503-429-1161 503 860-3860 503 429-1103 flatten www.pbfalive.com Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m. y o u r Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m. Children’s Sunday School lower Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m. a b - S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST Thursday Prayer 7:00 p.m. domen V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH Larry Gibson, Pastor a n d N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH 2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia Ralph Young, Pastor contin- Gary Taylor, Pastor 503 429-8301 957 State Avenue, Vernonia ue to Grant & North Streets, Vernonia Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m. 503 429-6790 b r e a t h 503 429-5378 Sabbath School 9:30 a.m. Sunday Bible Classes 9:00 a.m. e v e n l y Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Family Praise & Worship 10:30 a.m. a n d A SSEMBLY OF G OD Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m. Nursery available slowly. Thursday Ladies Study 7:00 p.m. Wayne and Maureene Marr Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m. Nursery 10:15 a.m. After 662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia, Church Directory 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. Vernonia Community Preschool 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. years of unsuccessful attempts at yoga classes, which were great fun because I have VERY flexible joints, I finally discovered in physical therapy that I had very poor core strength. I had to start by finding my ab muscles. I did this lying on the floor and poking at my belly until I could see and feel my belly flatten and tighten. Then I had to learn to breathe at the same time. This is not easy after three children, one by ce- sarean. I’m getting better, but I really have to concen- trate to incorporate this into other exercises or daily activities – like going over bumps in the van. I will de- scribe my findings briefly but more complete descrip- tions are readily obtained from a variety of sources in- cluding local instructors, television programs and the library. The five positions are: Lateral Stretch: Standing with feet apart and shoul- ders relaxed, gather your core (abdomen) and slowly lift one arm up at your side and overhead. Stretch that side of your body to a point where you can still breath, hold your abs and not tip your stretch forward. This may mean that your stretch is going straight up to the ceiling but that is OK. Work with your body. Repeat on both sides until warmed up. Standing Forward Bend: Begin standing with feet shoulder width apart. Slowly lean forward, relaxing arms and head down, to a comfortable position. Relax your head between your arms. Gradually lift your arms behind you until you can clasp your fingers. Gather yourself, hold that core and BREATHE. After a few breaths slowly unwind and give yourself a good wiggle and shake. Cat: Begin evenly balanced on hands and knees, back in a neutral position. Pull in your abs and arch your back up into a curve while dropping your head. This should be a relaxing position (except for that core). Slowly return to a neutral position and proceed immediately to … Cow: From the neutral position slowly arch your back and lift your head to a position opposite the Cat. Don’t overextend your neck; your eyes should be di- rected at the horizon. Breathe. Return to neutral and back to Cat. This Cat/Cow cycle can be done in a con- tinuous motion and I find it very soothing after a day in the yard. Another variation from either position is adding a bit of tail wagging. Fun! Supine Twist: Lying on your back, bend your knees and, keeping them together, gently roll your knees from side to side. This is by far the most difficult of these stretches. Don’t be discouraged if you have to use some props to get the stretch without hurting your- self. Instead of trying to get all the way to the ground you can set up a pillow (or two) on each side so that you can successfully complete the stretch. These stretches will let you begin the day ready for anything the garden can throw at you. The same exer- cises are also a great way to work out the kinks after completing your day. Relax, and enjoy the work you have accomplished for yourself and your garden. Re- member, if you prepare now there will be fewer prob- lems later – so true for so many things, gardening and life in general.
