Becoming a Master Gardener

This fall, I signed up for the Oregon State University Master Gardener @ Night Class. This is something I've been interested in for a few years ever since I found out one of my former co-workers was a Master Gardener.

It used to be that the classes were only offered during the day, which totally doesn't work for a lot of us who work during the day. I had this image in my head that the class was mostly made up of people who were retired. So I put it on my bucket list. Then last year, my friend Britni sign up for the night class. She loved it! Now it's my turn.

I signed up to be a Master Gardener Volunteer in Training. That means I'll go through two terms of classes now through April, and then I need to complete 66 hours of volunteer work. After that, I'll be a certified Master Gardener Volunteer!

My textbook -- This book is huge!

Master Gardener Volunteers serve the public by providing information on gardening, either through the phone line, workshops, and other events. They also have other activities such as fundraisers and festivals, like the Fall Festival (pictures below).

Local Master Gardeners' best produce contest

So much garlic!

I volunteered at the book sale.

So far, in my classes I've learned about native plants, botany, weeds and soils. Some of the other topics I'll learn about this term are home composting, fertilizers and pruning. Each 2 1/2 hour class is led by a guest speaker, who is usually a Master Gardener volunteer and an expert on that night's topic. It's fascinating to see people who know so much about something as trivial as weeds. It feels like I'm back in school again without all the pressure of taking tests and being expected to memorize everything all at once. The program urges you to do the chapter readings and assignments, but the purpose is to teach you how to find the information you're looking for.

Notes from my first class

It does feel like information overload sometimes, but I'm glad I'm finally taking this first step to becoming a better gardener.

Garden Notes: May 17, 2014

I'm sitting on the patio in my backyard listening to Mute Math songs that are new to me on my retro hot pink iPod shuffle, which matches my straw hat.

It's around 64 degrees out, but on my patio it feels warmer that that--warm enough to wear shorts, a tank top and flip flops and not be cold. I call that summer in Oregon after the Fourth of July.

Anyway, back to the garden. My peas are about eight inches tall now, dwarfing the radishes and the hidden lettuce and spinach seeds. I think I planted those seeds too deep or the soil wasn't moist enough. Oh well, I'll water and wait. That seems to be the theme sometimes.

My transplants, courtesy of my mother-in-law, Rachelle, are doing well. I even saw a really tiny bee-looking creature flying from blossom to blossom. It seems to like the ornamental strawberry blossoms. I wonder what this bug is.

My sage plant that I got for free from Bi-mart last year has gone to seed. It has light purple flowers. I haven't decided if I'm going to trim them off yet. I probably should. 

I need to go to the store this weekend to get some Sluggo to keep the snails at bay from the peas and daisies. I read that Sluggo is safe to apply around vegetable plants because its active ingredient, iron phosphate, is safer than other slug repellents that have a more harmful active ingredient. There are also other methods to deter snails, like copper tape, hair, gravel and coffee grounds. You spread it around along the border of your garden bed or container.

And there are the weeds. The unfortunate thing about some retals is some of their yards have a lot of weeds. I will venture to guess that my backyard does not have grass, only weeds and rocks. However, I do have a nice tree. I need to trim it.

Lastly, I need to figure out what to plant in these other pots I have. Looks like I have plenty to keep me busy.

Snowshoe Adventures: Blue Pool and Sahalie Falls, Oregon

     Wintertime in the Northwest is a great time to enjoy the outdoors. I recently went on a snowshoeing day trip with my fiance, Nathan, and his best friend Keith to celebrate Keith's birthday. It was the end of January, and in Eugene we had gone through series of what we consider really cold temperatures--highs in the low 20s. I know, it's worse in other parts of the country, but to me that's really cold. But snowshoeing is one of those activities that I did once at Gold Lake last year, and I enjoyed it so much, I knew it was worth it to get out in the cold and do it again.
     After stopping for coffee--the boys only, of course, because I don't like to drink it--we set out for Highway 126 East, also called McKenzie Highway. I like this drive, especially in the fall when the leaves turn vibrant colors. This is the highway I like to take if I go to Bend or farther, like when I went to Boise one time. But that Saturday we didn't go that far, only about an hour to get to our first stop, the beginning of Tamolitch Trail to go to Blue Pool, also called Tamolitch Pool. This turquoise pool is one of the clearest, most beautiful bodies of water I've ever seen. The trail to it isn't that far either. It's only a few miles, according to one website. We made plenty of photo op stops along the way to take pictures of the McKenzie River, snow and a bird that kept diving into the middle of the river. The three of us were the only ones on the trail for a while. We only saw about four other people and one or two dogs the entire time we were there. It's peaceful, almost like it's your own backyard, especially when you get to Blue Pool. The water is so clear, you can see almost all of the rocks covered in a shade of turquoise. The only experience I can compare it to is when I first saw Crater Lake. It's so picturesque, it almost doesn't even look real. The is definitely a place I'd like to see once each season to see how it changes throughout the year.



     After getting back to the car, we ate lunch and headed to our next destination not too far off: Sahalie Falls. I've been there in the summer, but not the winter, let alone with snowshoes. This was a little more tricky to do with snowshoes because the trail is a little more steep and winds back and forth a little bit. I'm glad I rented poles. This is a great place to take pictures of the falls and the river, especially with slow shutter speeds which make the water blur. Nathan and Keith, of course, always want to get a better angle for their pictures, so they carefully make their way off the trail to take some great shots. I also recommend this hike in the summer.





     Our last stop was Koosah Falls, but I kind of wimped out and stayed in the car. They guys were only gone for about 15 minutes, but I had been in a jazz performance at the Hult Center the night before so I was pretty tired, and I didn't know I was going on this trip until the day before we left. It's kind of fun planning last-minute trips though. I'll have to check out Koosah next time.
     I recommend showshoeing to anyone who hasn't tried it. It's basically walking on snow. You can take your time, and there are plenty of trails available for all skill levels. If there's a trail that you enjoy during the warmer seasons, check to see if it's a good place to snowshoe on because it will give you a different perspective that you might find more interesting.
     Let me know what your favorite place to snowshoe is! I'd like to check it out.

Radish Plants Get Surprise Neighbors

      When I was a kid, I didn't like radishes. I thought they were too spicy or hot. My grandpa liked them too, so I thought it was a grownup thing--that grownups liked radishes and other vegetables that kids never eat, like beets. But after trying a radish for the first time in a long time, and checking local planting calendars, I thought I'd try growing my own. I picked up a packet of cherry belle radish seeds, which are a cute, small kind of radish and decided to plant them in the same raised bed as where I planted my snap peas. However, I forgot the radishes would end up competing with some bulb flowers that I forgot can come up in late summer.

 

     The funny thing about planting bulb flowers is there's a chance that you forget where you put them. That was the case with my grape hyacinth after I started watering the radish seeds. Within a week or so, at the the beginning of September, they started coming up. I hadn't watered that area all summer because I thought those flowers were spring bloomers, not fall bloomers, so I figured I could just leave them alone. But they came up anyway, after I started watering that area, and since then they've become garden roommates more or less.
    A couple side notes--first, I've confirmed with a local master gardener that the holes in the leaves aren't worth worrying over this late in the season. Second, because I planted the seeds so late in the season, I've been told that it will take a lot longer for them to be ready to eat than what is specified on the packet. I can't wait!

Stock up on seeds

This might not be the best time of year to look for vegetable seeds, but if you look hard enough, you can find some for a great deal. This morning I stopped at a local drug store called Hiron's to browse. Outside the front of the store, I found a lot of vegetable and flower seeds on sale. Each package marked 59¢ regular price was on sale for 10¢! I didn't want to go too crazy, so I used some of my quarters to get just $1 worth of seeds. I bought carrot, parsley, tomato, bunching onion, marigold, lettuce, pepper, cucumber and radish seeds.

I will save most, if not all, of these seeds for next season. I'll have to do more planning for sure to make sure I don't get overwhelmed.

So as you're getting ready for fall, stock up on seeds, trade seeds with fellow gardeners, and plant what you can for your fall and winter crop.

Salad Ingredients Travel Short Distance

It's interesting to think that a lot of the we get at the grocery store sometimes has to travel across states to get to where we live--even produce that can just as easily be grown in your back yard.

Although not not all of the ingredients in my salad I ate with dinner last night came from my garden, some of it did. It was fun to be able walk two feet from my back door and pick fresh loose leaf lettuce, basil and chives to add to the mix. If I had grown carrots, I would have added them instead of the ones I got from the store. Maybe someday.

The lettuce and basil came from seed, and the chives were from a start I planted last year.

I encourage you to plant produce close you, either from starts or seeds. It's quite fun and satisfying when it comes time to cook, especially when you plant something that is cheap to grow but expensive to buy at the store, like herbs.

Gardening When You're Broke

If you want to bring newcomers to your garden, but you're short on cash, one thing you can do is check places where people are giving away plants for free.

A couple months ago, I looked under the "free" section of Craigslist and found an post for free grape hyacinth. This caught my eye because I planted some of these bulbs on my back porch at least a year before. I called the woman listed, and she set aside a grocery bag full of them that she thinned out in her front yard. My mom and I planted them along my fence and also at my front door. They will look much better next spring. It was a neat experience because I got to get free flowers for my garden and meet a fellow gardener. I hope to return the favor.

So before you go out to buy lots of plants, check online to see if someone is giving any away.

Blooming Chives

Sometimes I think gardens can oftwn resemble the illustrations of a Dr. Suess book. The chives in my garden are no exception. They are now blooming their puffy purple flowers and weighing down some of the long, thin green scapes (the part you dice and eat).

I ate one of the green the other week, and it tasted so fresh. I'll have to make some potatoes or another dish that I can add the chives to soon.

One thing I like about this plant is that I got it for free at a garden event. I'll write another post about how to get free plants later.

Flower Basket Resurrected

When Mother's Day roles around, that's when I start to see a lot of hanging baskets for sale. My mom usually gets one with fushias in it as a gift and has to keep my uncle from popping the blossoms open. He does this to my grandma's fushias as well.

I like to get my own hanging flower basket every year because it's so easy to take care of, adds nice color and hopefully attracts bees. There are a shortage of them partially due loss of habitat.

This past year I decided I would see if the flowers in my basket from last summer would come back. And they have! I think I might call them Frankenflowers. Other gardeners probably call them perrenials.

In the meantime, I've planted flower seeds I got for free at an Earth Day event in between the stems to add some variety.

I'd encourage you to buy or build your own flower basket. Bring those bees!

Apartment Gardening: Basil and Lettuce Plants Have a New Home

I took advantage of this morning's dry, cool weather by transplanting some of my plants. The basil, and especially the lettuce, outgrew their small spaces and needed room to expand. I moved lettuce from three small pots to one large blue pot and planted another round of seeds in the small pots again. Transplanting the lettuce was difficult because I planted too many seeds in each pot, so they were hard to separate and probably not very strong. I hope they survive.

The basil wasn't as difficult to transplant, but again, I should have planted fewer seeds in the small blue pot they were in. The transplants are now in a medium red pot and medium-sized leftover black plastic pot, and I planted some more basil seeds in the small pots.

Elsewhere on my windowsill, the forget me nots still have not come up. I think the seeds might be a bad batch or I should try something else. I need to do more research.

Apartment Gardening: The Peas are Growing!

It's been about a month since I planted snap peas in my garden. Now they have grown a few inches tall!

I installed a synthetic net along the fence this past weekend, so the peas will have somewhere to go in order to grow nice and tall. The first time I planted peas, they were starts instead of from seed. I made the mistake of not researching how to plant them. I didn't trellis them and the bugs ate the pods.

I wasn't about to make that same mistake. Hopefully, the net that I put up will do the trick.

If you have any tips about growing peas, feel free to post them below.