Want to Grow your own Vegetables?

Here’s Some Local Online Resources to Help You

During this time of Staying Home, Staying Healthy, the posting last week from the Master Gardeners had a lot of good advice on how to get started gardening at home. This week’s posting from the Food Action Team provides local online resources to help you garden while staying home.

First is the booklet from our Team that has loads of information about local sources for your garden. If you don’t already have a copy of it, you can access it online. The link is
https://sustainablecorvallis.org/action- teams/food/garden-resource-guide/It will help you gather knowledge about growing your own food, getting what you need for your garden, even where you can find a place to grow fruits and vegetables, what to do with your bounty once you’ve harvested it, raising ducks and chickens in your backyard and even how to keep bees.
Second are three nurseries around Corvallis: Garland Nursery 5460 NE Hwy. 20 – 541-753-6601
www.garlandnursery.com
Shonnard’s Nursery 6600 SW Philomath Blvd. 541-929-3524 www.shonnards.com
Home Grown Gardens 4845 SE 3rd Street 541-758-2137 www.homegrowngardens77.vpweb.com

Third are the resources of a world-class university and its online resources for gardeners such as the following book for beginning gardeners:
Growing Your Own
https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/em9027
as well as other publications in the OSU Extension Catalog.
Food Action Team – Edible Garden Group

Beauty Grows Here Award

Have you ever seen a garden that you thought should win an award? Thanks to CBUF, the Civic Beautification and Urban Forestry Committee of the Corvallis Parks & Recreation Department, there’s a way to do that. 

For 16 years, CBUF has been recognizing private front yard gardens in Corvallis with the Beauty Grows Here award. This program is designed to recognize landscapes and plantings that enhance the livability of the neighborhood and reflect the qualities of aesthetics, functionality, and environmental responsibility.

Here’s how it works:

1.    Any residential or commercial garden or landscaped area is eligible, as long as it is visible from the street.

2.    Anyone can nominate any qualified property, including one’s own.

3.    There is no cost to nominate a property.

4.    Nominations for multiple properties are welcome.

5.    Nominations are accepted and awards are presented year-round. There is no due date or deadline.

6.    Winning properties receive a certificate and a “Beauty Grows Here” yard sign (see the above logo). 

7.    Application forms are available online at www.corvallisoregon.gov/bc-cbufdac, and can also be picked up at Corvallis Parks & Recreation Headquarters, 1310 SW Avery Park Drive.

For more information please contact: 

Jude Geist

Corvallis Parks & Recreation Department

541-766-6967

jude.geist@corvallisoregon.gov

Get your new Garden Resource Guide

The latest edition of the guide is available at the 12 noon Tuesday Gearing up for Gardening Master Gardener events at the Corvallis-Benton County Library on February 11, 18, and 25;  as well as Town & Country Realty; Garland Nursery; Shonnard’s Nursery and the Benton County Extension Office, Master Gardener desk.  Stop in and get one today.       

                                                                                                                         

Make a Fresh Start

It’s a great time to start planning your spring garden, gathering your seeds, and getting ready to start growing seedlings to put in your early spring garden. 

Using toilet paper roll centers that you’ve collected (quickly!), prepare little individual pots that will go straight into the garden when it’s time to plant and decompose after being planted there.  This is an easy and economical way to get a jump on the season.

         

Remember to start your early greens, chard, kale, and broccoil in a sterile seed-starting soil mix.  Put some kind of light over the tray to give your plants a good warm start in life. 

The Eco Film Festival Still has Two More Films to See

See this link for more details  https://corvallisecofilmfestival.com

Appropriate Tree Selection

Finding an appropriate tree depends on two factors: why and where

Why?

It is important to consider why we are planting a tree before we select what tree we want.  We plant trees for many different reasons, and usually a combination of different reasons! Some reasons are:

●     To provide more shade

●     To give structure to a planting design

●     To act as a windbreak

●     For spring and/or fall color

 There are many good sources that can help with tree selection!

●      OSU Ask an Expert: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/ask-expert

●      Selecting, Planting, and Caring for a New Tree: free at https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ec1438

 

Where?

Where do you want to plant the tree?

●     Close to sidewalk/drive?

●     Close to house?

●     Under power lines?

●     Close to other trees/plants?

●     Far away from any other trees/plants?

For example, if you want a tree that’s under a power line that gives seasonal color...you’ll want either a dwarf flowering tree or a very short maple like many Japanese maples.  Or, if you want a tree that provides a windbreak and is far away from other plants, you may want to consider an evergreen shrub like an Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) or a tree like Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata).  If it will be near hard surfaces, think about fruit or other debris it might drop throughout the year.  

 See this link for help selecting, planting, and caring for a new tree. Note: We no longer recommend Raywood Ash or any other ash tree as the emerald ash borer is likely to be a big problem.

Gearing Up for Gardening Series 2020

Garden Resource Guide and Resiliency Planning

January means Garden Planning

If you’ve ordered seeds by mail, then you probably have many seed catalogs.  Before you dive into them, take some time to walk in your garden now that much of it has died or been cut back.  Make decisions about what vegetables you’ve raised before and what new vegetables or varieties you want to try this year as well as how you will rotate them in your beds this year.

To help you with your garden dreaming, get the latest copy of the Garden Resource Guide “hot off the press” either online or at Gearing up for Gardening lectures Tuesdays at noon in January and February at the library.  Updated for 2020, this guide will provide you with information on where to learn about food gardening, gathering what you need to get going, places where you can garden with others, and what to do with all your garden bounty.

and Resiliency

Food Sustainability is about more than growing your own food.  It’s also about building a neighborhood that can take care of its members in an emergency.

Individuals, families, and neighborhoods will need to prepare and store supplies of food and other necessities of life for themselves and others.

Please check these sites for more information:

Unprepared: An Oregon Field Guide Special, OPB

Food Storage for Emergencies, OSU Ext.

Storing Food for Safety and Quality, OSU Ext.

Essentials of Home Production and Storage,

LDS