Welcome to Summer with Corvallis Evening Garden Club (EGC)

Crocosmia x crosmiifolia 'Emily Mckenzie', Emily Mckenzie Montbretia from Carol Prueitt's Garden

If you haven’t checked out the Corvallis EGC yet, 

please feel free to join in on our June and July club activities:

Floral Workshop Sunday, June 10 – 3-5 p.m.  

by Donna Westwood, EGC Flower Therapy Chair

Contact Donna at ndbalumna@yahoo.comby June 8 for more information and to RSVP  $10

Monday Open Gardens All gardens will be open 4:30-7:30 p.m.with the gardener and/or others on hand to answer questions about the garden and the Evening Garden Club.  Aside from all being in Corvallis, these gardens are very individual and will give you an idea of the wide range of home gardening interests among EGC members!  FREE

June 11– 3 smaller, varied gardens within easy walking distance of each other:

Kathleen Rochester’s– 1480 NW Meadowgreen Place(SE corner with Garryanna)

Catherine Watson’s– 1466 NW Forestgreen Avenue(just east of Garryanna)

Hong Wolfe’s– 605 NW Circle Boulevard(NE Corner of Circle and Garryanna)

June 25– Janet Magedanz’s established garden at 29740 SE Shady Oak Driveis a realtreat!  

July 2—Debbie Dahl’s lovely 3 yr. old designer garden at 605 NW 34^thSt. (corner of Polk)

July 9– ANNUAL POTLUCK BBQin another great home garden in Corvallis.  For details and to RSVP please call 541 231 5303

Primroses from Carol Prueitt's Garden

Composting Tip #1 Don’t be afraid to compost– it doesn’t have to be complicated!

Just pile stuff up! Cube and globe shaped piles break down the fastest.

Wet the pile in summer to keep it working.  

Cover in winter for the same reason.  You want it damp, not sodden or crispy.

The smaller you can get the pieces you put in, the faster your compost will make itself.  Try mowing over piles of leaves or simply cutting stuff up with your clippers.  (Listen to a good story on headphones!)

Cut off seed heads and put in your yard waste bin (or trash for noxious weeds) to avoid spreading weeds or extra plants.

Welcome worms!  Make sure your pile connects with enough bare ground for the worms to come up! Don’t do it on paving!

Sift compost using a homemade compost sifter so you can start using it before every last twig is broken down!  Find designs on the internet. Size the sifter to fit over the space you want to sift into, and use ½ steel mesh. This will make compost which is fine enough for everything except seed starting.

Balance green and brown components.

Iris chrysographes, Black Iris

Look forward to Edible Garden Tours beginning in June

Edible Garden Tours – 2018

from Food Action Team - Edible Garden Group

This year’s theme is Watch the Garden Grow: Learn from the Changes. 

Instead of visiting three separate gardens on three different tours, we will be visiting garden plots in the Dunawi Creek Community Garden adjacent to the SAGE garden at Starker Arts Park.  We will see the same set of plots three times throughout the growing season, getting a chance to learn from the gardeners how they enrich the soil, create structures for plant support, select plants, rotate them, and harvest during late spring, summer, and fall. 

Each tour will also feature a “unique” bonus stop.

All tours will take place on Thursdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and will begin at the Starker Arts Garden for Education (SAGE) on the following dates:

·               June 28

·               August 9

·               September 20

  

Beauty Grows Here Award Nominations Needed!

Civic Beautification Awards Program

Do you know of a personal yard or business landscape that is deserving of recognition within Corvallis City limits?

 Please help the Civic Beautification and Urban Forestry Advisory Committee (CBUF) with nominations for the annual Beauty Grows Here award.

This program is designed to recognize landscapes and plantings that enhance the livability of the neighborhood and reflect Aesthetics, Function, and Environmental Responsibility.

All you need to do to participate or view the complete criteria is download a nomination form from the https://www.corvallisoregon.gov/bc-cbufdac website or pick one up at the Parks and Recreation Administration Building, 1310 SW Avery Park Dr and fill out the addressyou would like to nominate.  

Please drop off completed nomination forms at the administration building or email them to jude.geist@corvallisoregon.gov

Nominations are due by May 30^thand awards will be given the following month so don’t delay, nominate today!

What to do in the Garden in May

Managing weeds, the easy way-

-Frequent attention to weeds cuts down on the overall time required to control them. 

-Use light cultivation while they are small and actively growing.

-Strong larger plants tend to outcompete weeds.

-3-5” of organic mulch prevents many weeds.

-Wood chips, leaf mulch, grass clippings (with no pesticides), and bark all prevent weeds. Less attractive mulches can be covered with wood chips or bark.

-Put down cardboard or several layers of overlapping newspaper where there is a large area of established weeds or grass.  Cover with attractive mulch. 

Did you know?

Strawberries were named thus because they are often mulched with straw.

Maintenance and Clean Up

-Allow foliage of spring-flowering bulbs to brown and die down before removing.





-Apply compost to vegetable and flower beds.  

- Flush drip irrigation systems


 

-When selecting new plants, look for drought and disease resistance.

-If an unfamiliar plant problem occurs, contact the Master Gardener hotline for help.

bentonmg@oregonstate.edu 541-766-6750

Two Great Events this Weekend

Two Great Events this Weekend That You Won’t Want to Miss!!

Saturday, May 5:

Sunday, May 6:

31^stAnnual Corvallis

Spring Garden Festival

Plant Nurseries

Live Music

Local Bakeries

Kids’ Activities

9 am – 4pm

Corner of 7^thand Madison

Corvallis, OR