Let s Talk Dirt... Linn County Master Gardener Assn. Linn County Fair & Expo Center 3700 Knox Butte Road Albany, Oregon Jan/Feb 2015

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1 Linn County Master Gardener Assn. Let s Talk Dirt... Linn County Fair & Expo Center 3700 Knox Butte Road Albany, Oregon Jan/Feb 2015 A Blank Slate By Ranee Webb, 2013 Master Gardener We moved to Albany in July of Our front yard was pretty and landscaped. The back yard had nice decks looking out on a sad looking lawn with one large Chinese Empress Tree. Something had to be done to make the view out of the kitchen window and from our lovely decks more interesting and colorful! Flower beds were needed. In the February 2013 I started working on a plan. My first step was to lay out a design with some curves to soften the straight fence line. Putting in concrete pavers for an edging would make mowing next to the new beds easier. One area was mostly shaded and fairly wet most of the time. This area was filled with pebbles and rocks. A friend donated a nice piece of driftwood and adding a bird bath made this area interesting (we may add a water feature someday). Our yard has a sprinkler system and my husband did not want to move the sprinkler heads. Adding pebbles and rock in the areas where the sprinkler heads were located made effective breaks in the flower beds. Now we had a basic plan for seven beds. The gates to the Demo Garden are now locked until Spring No Master Gardener will visit the garden on a regular basis during the Fall/Winter period. Please return in the Spring of Spring 2013 and Fall 2014 From March April of 2013 the process of killing the grass started by putting down cardboard and several layers of newspaper followed by inches of good garden soil behind the concrete paver edging. And yes, I used a little bit of Roundup during the final prep (mostly to kill the last stubborn grass). 15 yards of great garden soil was delivered by U & D. Adding fresh loose soil helped my plants get a great start and having the plants in raised beds meant I didn t have to worry about them getting too wet. I did make one mistake with one of the seven beds. Even though I knew I should be able to reach the center of each bed, I made the middle one about seven feet deep. A six foot depth would have worked much better. Because we didn t want dirt up against the fence, we left an eighteen inch wide lower path between the beds next to the fence. This does give me access to the beds from the back. This path was not noticeable once the mulch was down. Now it was time for plants. I needed some shrubs and plants that would hold their leaves during the winter and give the beds structure. The plants I chose were a rhododendron, two viburnums, three hydrangeas, and two abelias. I also knew I wanted a crepe myrtle, because I love the summer flowers and the bark.

2 Linn County Fair & Expo 3700 Knox Butte Road Albany, Oregon Jan/Feb 2015 The OSU Linn County Master Gardeners gratefully thank the following businesses for donating products and support Linn County Fair & Expo Part of the planning was studying my Sunset Western Garden Book to find plant ideas. I was looking at heights, spacing, sun/shade needs, spring/summer/fall/winter blooming and mostly perennials that would attract bees and birds. I wanted to be sure that I had flowers for each season and I also wanted to mix the leaf color and leaf textures. Off I went to nurseries with my lists. About half the time I didn t find all the plants I wanted. I often ended up looking at the tags of plants available and getting plants that fit my requirements for size, bloom time, sun/shade, leaf color/texture and heights. Before I planted, I drew out a plan to be sure that I spread out the plants according to blooming seasons. I purchased quite a few plants I had never grown before and often just one of them. Most border plants were groups of 3 or 5 to add structure, while the plants in the bed were less formally placed. I used quite a few plants with white and silvery tones for the border. Buying plants that would attract bees and hummingbirds was another criterion. I tend to like whites, blues/purples, reds and some yellow/oranges. I did get some pinks. A few plants were given to me. Rhubarb was one of those plants.. Since the leaves are pretty and it is a perennial, I decided it would be split and put in one of the beds. Later I decided that I would add some Swiss chard (a biennial) to one bed too. The red stems really show well and I had more room in my vegetable garden. Mulching the beds was a final project. Summer of 2013 The demonstration garden and related activities are open to the general public. 2

3 Summer of 2013 Fall of 2013 Mistakes still happen even with a lot of planning. I did not always accurately judge how much sun was available which meant moving a small amount of plants into more sunny areas after they didn t thrive with too much shade. I lost only a few plants during the extreme cold we had last winter. With careful planning, choosing the right soil and plants and paying attention to the eventual size and bloom time I now have a lovely view. I am very pleased every day when I look out my kitchen window and see so many beautiful flowers that are visited by lots of bees and our hummingbirds. The grass still needs work our next project. These pictures show you the amazing changes from that Blank Slate pictures Spring through Fall 3

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5 Our lone tree Fall

6 Loving our yard as it continues to change The Demonstration Garden and I Donate to Fish of Albany By Larry Steele This is a short report to show the impact of a few plots which were devoted to vegetables at the Linn County OSU Extension Demonstration Garden added to the abundance of my home garden to add to the fresh produce given to needy families by Fish of Albany. I started in early June by taking seven heads of lettuce that would not fit in the salad bowl at home on June 6 as the first of many trips. We got started in earnest in July with drop offs on July 8, 9, 15, and 29. Onions, squash, spinach, green beans were followed in August with more of the same plus tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and kale. Most of the 23 trips to Fish through the summer were made when I was on my way to exercise classes a couple blocks away but others from the DG made a few trips as well. Other items were added in August and Sept for about 12 different food items as a part of the mix. I sure hope the folks on the receiving end didn t get too tired of zucchini and other squash but these were the most abundant items with about 148 pounds total, followed by tomatoes at 141 pounds, 59 pounds of green beans, 21 pounds of peppers, 16 pounds of eggplant, 14 pounds each of cucumbers and apples, and miscellaneous other items like grapes, cabbage, kale, lettuce and onions adding about 21 pounds. The total came to about (with some rounding ) 434 pounds. It probably could have been a bit more except that on one of the walks by a group called the Silver Striders (of which I am a member) started a walk at the DG and instead of taking that day s produce to Fish, most of it was eagerly taken home by walkers. We did add 24 contacts that day so I guess it balances out. We also get a few contacts at Fish as I always mention to the volunteers where the produce comes from. While it is true that more of the produce in this list came from my home garden, it is easy to see the impact that 4 or 5 small garden plots at the DG and 9 more small plots at my home can make. In addition to the amounts taken from the DG to Fish, DG team members also take as much or more home to their own tables. It really does add up and of course we are happy to share. I believe Dave Krieger made a few drop offs to the St Mary s kitchen as well but those amounts are not included here. 6

7 Warning: The $64 Tomato By Stephanie Low The Master Gardeners at the Demo Garden are to be commended for donating so much excess produce to Fish of Albany and to other charities to help feed the less fortunate. Despite Larry s article saying that a few small raised beds will yield more food than a family can eat, I want to remind people of William Alexander s book titled, The $64 Tomato. A packet of seeds may cost only a few cents to produce ample amounts of produce; however, new to gardening enthusiasts need to bear in mind, the costs of building raised beds, bringing in good soil for successful crop production, fertilizers, hand tools, water and time. Vegetable gardening is water intensive and someone will need to water your plants when you go on vacation. An alternative is to put in a drip irrigation system, which will cost time and money, too. Don t forget that insects, birds and deer will love your vegetables as much as you will, so you have to deal with sharing what you grow with them. Don t let me discourage you from starting a vegetable garden. I just want to warn you that the delicious homegrown tomato that you taste in August may cost $64 when you factor in everything that was required to produce that fruit of labor. Ahh, nothing beats a fresh tomato from the garden, right? Photo of Larry Steele, Stan Nice, and Jim Smalley taken in March 2011 when the PP Plot was first installed in the Demo Garden along with the initial raised beds built for the purpose of growing vegetables. New Shed Extension Have you visited the Demo Garden in recent years and noticed how we have accumulated more stuff? (Does that sound familiar to what happens at your house?) Since the Master Gardeners are not always present at the garden to keep track of our tools and supplies and we do want to present a semi organized appearance at the garden, the Demo Garden Team wanted/needed more storage. Dave Krieger and Larry Steele tackle this problem by building an extension to our existing shed. While the garden was closed this November and December, somehow between holidays and nasty weather, they found time to start on the project. The following photos were taken on January 2, Come back to the Demo Garden this Spring to see the final results. Northside of the shed The Southside 7

8 Is It Spring? A recent trip to the Demo Garden resulted in this surprise: forsythia in bloom! Can Spring be far behind? 8

9 Linn County Master Gardener Assn. Demonstration Garden Linn County Fair & Expo Center 3700 Knox Butte Road Hwy 99 Century Drive N Map not to scale Knox Butte Road Access demo garden via north walkway by foot. Hotel Restaurant Hotel Armory Expo Parkway I - 5 Aviation way Albany Municipal Access Demo garden by vehicle behind the Expo center barns. Barns Price Road Linn County Fair & Expo Center Timber Linn Park Parking lot Dogwood Avenue Timber Street Hwy 20 (Santiam Hwy) The demonstration garden and related activities are open to the general public. 9