Some Like It Hot!

Watch Out for these New Pests

What to do in the Garden in October

 

Maintenance and Clean Up

✦ Dig and store potatoes; keep in darkness, moderate humidity, temperature about 40°F. Discard unused potatoes if they sprout. Don't use as seed potatoes for next year.

✦ Ripen green tomatoes indoors. Check often and discard rotting fruit.

✦ Harvest and store apples; keep at about 40°F, moderate humidity.

✦Place mulch over roots of roses, azaleas, rhododendrons and berries for winter protection.

✦Cover asparagus and rhubarb beds with a mulch of manure or compost.

✦Prune out dead fruiting canes in raspberries.

✦Harvest squash and pumpkins; keep in dry area at 55 degrees to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.Harvest squash and pumpkins; keep in dry area at 55 degrees to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Planting and Propagation

✦ Dig and divide rhubarb. (Should be done about every 4 years.)

✦ Plant garlic for harvesting next summer.

✦ Plant ground covers and shrubs.
✦ Dig and store geraniums, tuberous

begonias, dahlias, and gladiolas.

✦ Pot and store tulips and daffodils to force into early bloom, indoors, in December and January.

From Benton County Master Gardeners -
Membership meetings: 3rd Monday Oct. to May 7:00pm - currently on Zoom

Diversity and Gardening

Decades of research tell us that gardens are stronger with more diversity. This is true for gardening programs as well. The Benton County Master Gardener Association is committed to working towards greater racial justice and equity and in the coming weeks and months will be developing and discussing a plan of action for even greater diversity, equity, and inclusion within its program.


Diversity of garden cultures

Here are some resources that we are using to understand and celebrate the diversity of experiences and views that can shape and enhance our gardens:

Books:

• Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

• The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience, and Farming by Natasha Bowens.

• Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Dianne D. Glave.

• The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham

• My Garden by Jamaica Kincaid.

Web resources:

• TED TAlk by Ron Finley: A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA

  Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w&feature=youtu.be

• agrowingculture.org

Diversity of flora and fauna

Here are ways that you can welcome a diversity of life into your garden:

• Incorporate a water feature: Adding water to your garden makes it attractive to birds and wildlife and can provide habitat for a whole new palate of plants that attract a range of aquatic wildlife, such as frogs, dragonflies and fish.

• Add a log, rock pile, or snag: A pile of logs or rocks can provide a home for beneficial snakes and frogs. When not in danger of causing harm to buildings or humans, a dead tree (called a snag) can be retained as a home for woodpeckers and other creatures and provides a good perch for hawks and owls.

• Limit the use of pesticides: A biodiverse garden usually has fewer problems with pests as it is welcoming to beneficial birds and insects that keep pests under control. Don’t jeopardize their activity by using pesticides in ways that can harm these beneficial helpers.

From Benton County Master Gardeners -
Membership meetings: 3rd Monday Oct. to May 7:00pm - currently on Zoom

~ What to Do in the Garden in May ~

Planting

• May is the time to plant snap and lima beans, Brussels sprouts, slicing and pickling cucumbers, dill, kale, onions and potatoes.  Use a soil thermometer and plant tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers and eggplant when the soil is consistently above 70 degrees .
• Plant dahlias, gladioli, and tuberous begonias in mid-May.
• Plant chrysanthemums for fall color.

Gardening Resources

• The OSU extension service has number of publications on a variety of gardening topics:   https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening.
• ✦OSU Extension Master Gardeners are available to answer your gardening questions. In Benton County: call (541) 713-5000 or email: bentonmg@oregonstate.edu In Linn County: (541) 967-3871 or email: linn.mg@oregonstate.edu
• ✦The Master Gardener Programs of Linn and Benton County have a fabulous Facebook page.
• ✦Finally, don’t forget to check our blog for lots of helpful information and all of the links mentioned here:  npkpost.blogspot.com

Pests

• Monitor aphids on strawberries and ornamentals. If present, wash them off with water or pick them off with your hands.
• Spittle bugs may appear on the stems of ornamental plants.  They look like foam or spit. They are generally harmless and can be  washed off with water from a hose.

• Control slugs with iron phosphate bait or traps and by removing or mowing vegetation near garden plots.  In fairly recent study done at OSU, raw bread dough was found to attract slugs more than anything else.  Cucumber was #2.  Dough and cucumbers are only good bait, so you need something else to kill them.  

What to do in the Garden in November

Maintenance and Clean Up

·  Save your leaves – they can decompose in place if they aren’t where they will cause dead spots in your lawn.  You can rake them up and use them as mulch or make a pile and allow them to become leaf mold (compost) which makes a lovely dark mulch in the spring.

·  This is a great time of year to add mulch or compost to your flower beds, vegetable garden, or shrub borders.

·  Winter vegetables can be protected with heavy weight floating row cover (garden fleece in Britain) or cold frames. 

·  Cover favorite tender plants to protect from frosts with bags, overturned pots, or thick mulch. 

·  Don’t apply chemical fertilizers as they will be  leached away by rain and can pollute downstream areas.

Planting and Propagation

·  Great time to plant trees and shrubs! Consider ones that supply food and shelter for birds and other native wildlife. cascara, elderberry, red flowering currant, aronia, service berry, Oregon grape, vine maple

·  Plant spring-flowering bulbs.

·  Plant garlic.

Fava beans in Svetlana's garden

Last chance to plant cover crops for soil building. You can also use a 3 inch or thicker layer of leaves, spread over the garden plot, to eliminate winter weeds, suppress early spring weeds and prevent soil compaction by rain.

Take cuttings from shrubs; propagate begonias from leaf cuttings.

Click here for more information on taking cuttings.

Begonia leaf cutting

Master Gardener Applications Now OPEN

Applications open- October 1 to December 3 2019

Dates of classes – March 5 – June 25 2020

Click here to join -

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/linn-benton/how-join

or Contact Elizabeth Records - 541-713-5012 

Sustainable Gardening the Wild Way

-First consider cultural, then physical and biological controls for garden pests. Choose the least-toxic options and use judiciously because pesticides can kill helpful insects. 

Scelionid parasitoid wasp and stink bug eggs.

 David Cappaert, Michigan State University

Click here to learn more - https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/ENTO/ENTO-74/ENTO-74-pdf.pdf

-Conserve biological control agents such as predators and the parasitoids that feed on insect pests.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74140.html

- Create or maintain habitat for garter snakes.  Large pieces of wood or large rocks provide shelter.

Snakes are terrific garden helpers, controling slugs and insects.  Some help with rodent control also.

-Walk through your yard before mowing to scare any snakes away from deadly mower blades.

Learn more here.  https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/snakes-slither-through-garden-eating-slugs-grubs-other-pests

Many insects have been brought to the US as Biological Control Agents. Watch for these helpers on Tansy ragwort.

Cinnabar moth, adult and larvae OSU Ext.

Tansy ragwort flee beetle

Ragwort seed fly      

More about Tansy ragwort biocontrol here - https://extension.oregonstate.edu/pests-weeds-diseases/weeds/tansy-ragwort

Plant flowers that support native beneficial insects – 

Angelica

Asters

Yarrow

Coreopsis

Cosmos

Clover

Gillia

Phacelia 

Russian sage and many more.  Check the links below for more ideas.  https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/pnw550.pdf

https://portlandnursery.com/resources/attracting-beneficials/

Gillia

What to do in the Garden in July

Maintenance and Clean Up

-Stake tall plants such as delphinium, hollyhocks, lupine, and tomatoes, as necessary.


- Mound soil up around base of potatoes. Gather and eat a few "new" potatoes from each hill, when plants begin to flower.





-Mulch to conserve soil moisture.



-Early morning is the best time to water. Water the soil, rather than leaves to reduce disease. 

Planting

-Midsummer plantings of beets, bush beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, kale, and peas provide fall & winter crops.



-Be aware -potting soil dries out very quickly, so any new plantings will need frequent watering through summer.  It’s easier to plant in fall.

Pest monitoring

- Monitor for weevils and notched leaves. Try picking them off at night, sticky trap products on trunks, or beneficial nematodes. Check this link from Colorado State University for more information.  We do not recommend pesticide sprays, but the other information is very helpful.  https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/root-weevils-5-551/

-Check leafy vegetables for caterpillars. Pick them off as they appear. Use Bt-k, if necessary.





-Cover blueberry bushes with netting to deter birds. 

- Watch for spider mites during hot, dry weather. Signs: dusty-looking foliage, loss of color, and presence of tiny mites. Wash off with water. Check this link for control methods. 

https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/spider-mites-flowers-and-groundcovers

-Watch for early and late blight on tomatoes.  Prune for air circulation and pick off affected leaves.

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, so plant more shrubs and trees.

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

-Wood chips, leaf mulch, grass clippings (with no pesticides), and bark all prevent weeds, but rarely kill established weeds.

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

This patch of grass will be planted in drought tolerant, low maintenance shrubs in the fall when the grass has died.

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 hotlinefor help.

bentonmg@oregonstate.edu541-766-6750

What to do in the Garden in April

Primrose Primula vulgaris

 Planning                                         

 - Prepare raised beds for vegetables if drainage is a problem.  Soil can just be dug from paths into the beds to raise them, but a structure helps to keep it tidy.  Often, raised beds aren’t necessary.    
-Vegetables that can be planted outside now include broccoli, Brussel’s sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chives, endive, leeks, lettuce, peas, radishes, rhubarb, rutabaga, spinach, and turnips.  Click here for planting dates.

- Now is a great time to start pepper, eggplant, and tomato seeds indoors for planting out later.





Maintenance and Clean Up

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



-Apply compost to berries and perennial vegetables.  Mulch to prevent weeds and moisture loss.

 

-Continue dividing herbaceous perennials until soil dries out if you want to spread or share them.  

Fertilizing sustainably
-Avoid chemical fertilizers.

-Make your own compost from yard debris and kitchen waste.

-Mulch with leaves, clippings, wood chips, or straw.

-Don’t fertilize when heavy rain is likely. Fertilizer can wash into streams or ground water where it becomes pollution.

-Many gardens are over fertilized.  A soil test shows which nutrients and amendments would be most helpful.  https://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/cal/testing-your-soil

Red Flowering Currant Ribes Sanguineum

Slugs                 

Use traps or safer iron phosphate baits for slug control near susceptible plants.  https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/less-toxic-iron-phosphate-slug-bait-proves-effective

From Benton County Master Gardeners -

Membership meetings:  3rd Monday of October to May 7:00pm Benton County Extension office.

Plant sale:  May 4 9:00-3:00 at the Benton County Fairgrounds

What to do in the Garden in March

Planning and Planting

-       Plan your vegetable garden. 

-       Once soil is dry enough, plant cool season annual crops:  carrots, beets, broccoli, kale, leeks, parsley, peas, onion, lettuce, & radishes.

-       Plant insectary plants such as Alyssum, Phacelia, coriander, candytuft, yarrow, and dill.  Click this link for more ideas. https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/pnw550

-       Plant perennial crops- strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, and chives.

 

Lettuce and kale seedlings, 2 weeks old

Propagation

-       Divide hostas, daylilies, mums, anemones, asters, yarrow, garden phlox, and other summer flowering herbaceous perennials. Most could also be done in fall.

Pest Monitoring

-  Watch trees for  leaf rollers.  Click this link for advice.  https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/hort/landscape/common/landscape-leafroller-leaftier

Leaf roller, photo courtesy of WSU

-  Watch for slug damage and bait with iron phosphate or use a trap baited with bread dough or cucumber.

-  Prune shrubs to allow air circulation, preventing fungal disease.

Maintenance

-  Spread compost

-  Prune spring flowering shrubs after bloom to allow air circulation, preventing fungal disease.

-  Add grass clippings (no herbicides!), yard waste, and kitchen scraps to compost bin