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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2012)
Page 6 The INDEPENDENT, August 15, 2012 Can You Dig It? By Schann Nelson Columbia County Master Gardener Whew-eee! A HOT Jam- boree always makes for an in- tense experience. Certainly every time I drove through town from early Thursday to late Sunday the place was a hoppin’ an’ a jumpin’! The recent heat wave has to be one of the only occa- sions when I have been grate- ful that the sun takes so long to get to my yard. The bit of our garden that we managed to plant before the main worker broke her leg/ankle is actually producing mightily. Besides a HUGE cabbage and several nice cauliflower heads, the cucumbers have supplied din- ner components, at least enough to pay for the seed packet. Picked a huge bowl of lettuce, after dragging off an overhanging bunch of those prolific weeds with tiny yellow flowers that was thick enough to provide shade to the planting below. These weeds reach a mature height of 2-1/2 feet in my garden this year, I’m sorry to admit. Because the available sun is also very direc- tional this meant that they could fall over the planting from the path and the bed next to it, and on top of the lettuce. I’ve looked though my entire references and can’t figure out which of several plants it’s technical name is, though I’m pretty sure it’s one of the family Compositae. However, I did find another of my least favorite weeds, Petty Spurge Euphorbia peplus. See picture next column.“Seed is produced freely and apparently is capable of immediate germination; for in an irrigat- ed or sprinkled garden, these plants, like Chickweed, are in evidence throughout the growing season.” Gilkey, OSU, 1957 Like nearly all the landscape Euphorbia family they contain a milky juice and are considered poisonous to both humans and animals. One variety, commonly ex- I try to always wear my long sleeves and good gloves when I have to get out there and just lay these big swaths of mixed weeds down. Besides the spurge, I never know when I’ll hit a thistle, and everything seems to be covered with spines. We’ve a killer infes- tation of what I grew up calling Ladies Bedstraw. Per- sonally, I’d want an awfully thick mattress ticking if you were stuffing the thing with this stuff. changed between gardeners, the Mole Plant Euphor- bia lathyris, is known to cause a poison oak-like rash in those sensitive to it. According to Helen Gilkey (who has a building named in her honor at OSU) “the group also contains rubber (no surprise) but also castor oil and tapioca and which supplies the Poinsettia”. What exactly does “supplies” mean in this context? Even when Gilkey was writing, there was intense debate as to whether these plants actually kept the dreaded mole away. Many new varieties have been developed as landscape accent plants with exagger- ated white or red foliage. Church Directory V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH C OVENANT C HURCH V ERNONIA 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 Ladies 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 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 10:45 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. I’ve noticed a lot more of it moving around town in the last couple of years. Once the sticky barbed vines and seeds get attached to you or your pet they are dif- ficult to remove – thus doing an excellent job of dis- persing their seed as widely as possible. But I don’t have to worry about what it will be like next year in my garden ‘cause it won’t be my problem. There’s a cer- tain freedom in gardening without mulch. All the giant weeds just get laid out in the paths to provide mulch this year. Next year I won’t be here. There’s a definite limit to the number of things I can get moved, and a limit for places to put them. Some will go out to the farm (the old family homestead), some into pots, in addition to those already in pots, and some will be left behind. Trees I’ve grown from saplings. Sigh… Out in the nice soft summer air, there’s a light cloud cover but it’s warm. What needs water today? Are the potatoes ready? (Yes, some) Can I put stuff in pots for the market on Saturday? So much to do – so little en- ergy.