Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Gardening projects you could do Protect your tomatoes from tomato late blight with copper fungicides (considered "organic"). Watch forecasts for a rainy weather pattern developing. Apply spray before it starts to rain. It won't save all varieties but will save many. Good air flow to dry off the plants helps. Be ready to treat for slugs. The summer heat has pushed them into hiding, but that can't last. You know that they will have reproduction on their minds, so be prepared. Keep watering...
Cover crops, compost, or both are good for winter garden beds Soils that are high in clay tend to resist root, water, and air penetration. This can seriously hinder plant growth for both vegetables and perennial plants. These soils compact easily if worked when too wet. That lessens, even further, soil pore spaces needed to move air and water. Fine roots can't move in compacted clay soils easily. Nutrient uptake by plants (which bind to clay) and water release may both be compromised. Larger...
We had a warm and somewhat dry April this spring. Honeybees loved that month, and most fruit trees are loaded (or overloaded) with fruit. Bumble bee colonies, which start anew each year, are abundant. They are all over our open-faced dahlias and other summer flowering plants. Mason bees also seemed to fare quite well; however, there is a developing story of yellowjackets, hornets, and wasps. My experience has been that a dry spring leads to lots of yellowjackets and wasps. While April was dry, May was wet and cool. The result? I think we are...
Planting over septic fields A review of articles about planting on a septic drain field offer a range of opinions about what, if anything, is suitable. The concerns seem to be focused on three areas: that compaction of the soil over the drain fields by gardening activities may lead to a reduced life for the septic drain field; that root encroachment into drain lines can lead to drain field failure; and the risk that septic effluent might contaminate fruits or vegetables grown over a septic field with human pathogens. A septic drain line is...
July is garlic month. It should be ready to harvest. The ideal time to “pull” garlic is when there are two to three "skins" around the outermost cloves. If garlic is left in the ground and there is enough soil moisture, it will continue to grow and push through the skins. The bulbs will not look attractive and, without the skin cover, will not store as well. You should not water garlic now. It needs to dry. Harvest garlic early rather than late. Don’t wait until the foliage has all turned brown. Dig what you think is a representative bulb...
Very high fruit load Last year was a very low fruit year. This year, the fruit load on apples, pears, plums, and cherries is very high. It is high enough on many apple trees I have seen to break limbs as the fruit matures. You can still thin. Remove the largest undamaged fruit in each cluster and space each fruit saved about a hand width apart. This will produce nice quality fruit and reduce the fruit load. Alternatively, plan to have some supports in place for some tree limbs to keep them from breaking. Watering vegetables Most vegetables are...
I have participated in disaster planning events and the role of gardens in an emergency. Clatskanie and Wahkiakum County have had a lot of practice between the 1996 and 2007 floods, the 2008 Christmas eve snowstorm, and various serious wind events. The earthquake is yet to come but could be very damaging. An active gardening community can’t be expected to provide food for all but can be a significant resource for the kinds of foods such as vegetables and fruit that won’t be shipped into an area in the initial recovery process. The fol...
Herbs should have a place in your garden Herbs are, for the most part, easy to grow. Their needs are simple: plentiful sun, well drained soil, and periodic watering. Many of our herbs come from Mediterranean gardens and can handle heat and some lack of moisture. The aromatic oils in many of them were the plants’ way of storing energy when they shut down photosynthesis to conserve water on very hot days. Thyme, lavender, bay leaves, sage, and rosemary are woody plants that go semi-dormant in the winter, but don’t lose their foliage. They do ver...
Sunlight spacing for vegetables Row direction and row spacing are common topics of conversation among vegetable gardeners. If slopes aren’t a consideration, vegetable rows that run north and south will give more even light exposure and thus more even leaf growth with greens and better fruit ripening with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Pepper plants need at least 12 inches “in row” spacing with rows about two feet apart. Tomatoes need three feet in row spacing if trellised and more if they will spread out on the ground. Tomato rows shoul...
Corn and tomatoes are favorite garden crops in this area. We all get anxious and want to get those plants in the ground, often before the weather really has cooperated. This year might be a year to gamble on early planting. Many garden soils are ready to be tilled. Before planting, add 4 pounds of actual nitrogen (organic or synthetic) per 1000 square feet of garden (that is the equivalent of 40 pounds of a fertilizer where the first number is “10”, like 10-20-20). The new supersweet corn varieties need very warm soil at planting. They are mor...
Many gardeners use transplants to get earlier vegetable harvests. Transplants allow the gardener to space the plants perfectly, so you don’t have to “thin” like you would if you direct sowed vegetable seed. Germinating weed seeds are at a disadvantage when they face the more competitive transplant. However, home grown transplants receive quite a shock when they are moved into the garden. First, they have been living in a greenhouse or cold frame. Greenhouse soil and air temperatures are far warmer than the garden soil they will be going into, e...
If you have never had a vegetable garden, or your experience vegetable gardening was a long time ago, you may be unsure about how to start and which vegetables to try. Here are a few ideas that may help your garden flourish: Vegetable gardens need at least six hours of sun. The more sun the garden gets, the more vegetable choices you have and the faster the vegetables will grow. If you are near or below six hours of sun, concentrate on leafy greens (lettuce, kale, chard, etc.), beets, and carrots. If possible, create your garden where it is...
