Garden Hints - Lane County Extension

11/26/2023

Last night got cold and the next 4 nights also look cold down to 26-27 degress F. Be sure if you have any water sources, protected, AND let a faucet drip to keep the pipe water moving. Tree leaves make a good insulator.

10/17/2023

Gardening season is slowing down, kind off. Apples and grapes are still in their prime. I just harvest a 12 inch cauliflower and have a 6 inch one still growing. Strange - my winter peas I plant 3 months ago just came up. Kind of late for growing but will see.
I have a nice crop of basil in the cold frame due to warmer conditions. Tomatoes - slowing down with salad, roma and cherry tomatoes.
I have a noxious w**d called leafy spurge which is around Lane County and other places. It is perennial, growing May thru October. However, the leafy spurge just started to grow less than a month ago, so it suppose to be dying, not being in full swing and growing strong. A strange year this year.

10/01/2023

The rain was a welcome event. The ground is still wet. Question is how long will the moisture last. My sprinklers are on hold for another 4 days to see if the soil dries out, especially in the orchard.
My late pumpkins are actually doing well, one is 12 inches. The watermelon made it to 3 inches then just quit, booo.
The wild blackberies continue to produce nice berries. I do a lot of pruning on the bush.
The prune tree had a huge crop, and we are just finishing up picking.
Red delicous apples are still a bit green before picking. The 2nd fig crop fell off, I think it was the wind we had a few weeks ago.
Onions - a medicore crop. In our covered cold frame - our basil plant just kicked in and is 15 inches tall with lots of eavs. Strange year. Lots of cherry tomatoes, lots of romas and salad tomatoes, but the cool wet weather is making the tomatoes crack.
Grapes still not quit ripe but time is running out for them.
My second crop of cauliflower came back very nice, where I cut the head, and regrow another head. There is a nice second head.

September - October - time to plant garlic again for next year.
Watch out for winter w**ds in the garden. The rain is causing tons of w**ds to grow.

09/02/2023

The rain last night in Springfield, Oregon was at 0.7 inches, not bad for the first rain storm. In kicking in the soil, it looks like the rain filled 6-7 inches of the soil. So, outside irrigation can be suspended for a few days. Just go out and dig in the soil. When the moiture drop to 6 inches, start irrigating again.

The rain was hard enough to drop half my pear crop, and strangely it knocked of 1/4 of my second fig crop, hummmmm.
Pumpkins and watermelons doing well. Hope they make it to mid Ocotber.
The cool evenings are ripening the fall apples. My Johnagold was really tasty.
White and red chards doing well now.
Table grapes look like 1-2 weeks beore they are ripe.
Corn has been fantastic.
Wild blackberrie comng on very strong with a continuing crop, ie - irrigation does help but they then need to be pruned a lot.
Onion crop - mediocre. New table beet crop is coming up very nicely. Spent two hours dugging up a nasty noxious w**d with a bright light green root. It has sped horribly. Thought it was a reseeded tomateo but nope, just a nasty w**d. Wonder thru your garden and remove unwanted vegetation - w**ds.
Time to plant a new crop of garlic in the next 2-3 weeks. Pick nice sized bulbs to replant.

08/27/2023

One of the OSU Lane County Master Gardeners mentioned a newish yellowjacket trap. So today I went and got one called Rescue - Yellowjacket trap. It is a clear bag with pheromone that activates with water. I walked outside, found a place 10 feet from the nest, tied it to a metal t-post and by the time I was done tying, there were 3 yellowjackets buzzing the trap. An hour later there was some 80+ inside the trap and another 15 buzzing the trap. I was impressed.

Prunes - oh they are slow to ripen this year but coloring up. Gravenstein apples - nearly done. Bartlett pears - ripe and falling.
Grapes - ripening and turning color, I expect 1-2 weeks and they are ready for picking.
Peppers - three kinds and all are ripening nicely. Planted a new crop of table beets and they are up and growing. Figs - about 3/4 inch long so a while to go for the second crop. The figs will need more irrigating. Tomaotes - salad, roma and cherry ripening nicely. Onions- did not do very well this year. As the old time farmers say, there is next year :).

08/18/2023

Prunes are slowly ripening but really slowly. Peppers are starting to show signs of growing and new bloom. Corn - actually almost ripe. With a good 2nd fig crop, be sure to water the crop well. Tomatoes look good with most varieties ripenng all at the same time. I have a small wild blackberry patch. With the heat I placed water nearby, and I now have blackberries with good size and at least a months worth of new berries ripening. It is hard to say but it is time to think about the fall/winter garden planting time. Think about cole crops, similar to the April plants, I found a small bag of potatoes, so I planted them 2 weeks ago, time will tell, wrong timing but gardening is one big experient. My pumpkin and watermelon seeds finally germinated two weeks ago. The pumpkin plant is alread 3 foot tall. Maybe pumpkins in early November.

08/15/2023

I keep blocking the bad adds, and they magically keep showing up. I will keep blocking them.
Walk around the yard and check on your plants. I had two sets of plants and they are watered every two days were drying out. Add mulch and then irrigate. I am checking my plants each day as the weather can stress them very quickly.
Great fig crop and more coming. Gravenstein apple crops huge. Bartlett pears - pick soon as they are dropping from the tree. The fruit should have a yellowish color. Some of my new trees have small apples, not enough water and too hot.
Asparagus - loving the warm weather as is the corn.
Tomatoes - cherry, roma and salad ripening nicely.
My peas are actually doing well but they are in the shade. Wild blackberry patch has been watered 3x each week and still getting nice sized berries.
Cauliflower has been so slow but starting to show heads this week, after 7 weeks.
Roses seem to like the heat, a lot of nice blooms this summer so far.
Garlic split due to the amount of water applied, each watering removes one of the scales around the garlic clove.
I was up in Washngtron and they were harvesting Walla Walla onions, so my Patterson onions should be close to harvest.

07/08/2023

Gravenstein apples - full crop. Pears - medium crop. Prunes/plums - several branches with lots of prunes. Figs - loaded with nice figs. Asparagus - a nice second crop coming on now that I have irrigated the plants. Most of the asparagus has gone to seed. Corn - finally growing nice with the warm weather. Tomatoes - doing nicely, cherry and roma doing good. I have a wild blackberry area, started watering too late, berries going to be small this year. Kholrabi and artichoke liking the warm weather.

06/05/2023

Be sure to have irrigation set up, the last three weeks have been very stressful on lawns, trees, garlic and gardens.
Gravenstein apples - full crop. Prunes - medium crop; pears - light crop. Quince - I got one bloom to pollenate.
Apples, pears- thin or remove extra fruit. The tree only needs one fruit per cluster of 4-5 apples. Thin so apples are about 4 inches apart. Yes, I know it looks like a lot of apples on the ground. When I thin, I am removing 4 out of 5 apples. If you want big apples or pears, remove a lot of fruit. Also, removing fruit, provides a place for the netx year for the tree to get "pregnant. If the fruit is not thinned, the tree goes into biennial bearing where the tree only produes fruit every other year. Thinning helps to have fruit EVERY year.
Tomatoes - 20 volunteers.
Onions - Patterson, doing very well.
Garlic - up 1 1/2 feet, irrigate. Remove the flowering tops, which can also be eaten or stir fried.

04/02/2023

Peony bushes are 8 inches tall so spring is on its way, even though it seems to be wetter and colder this spring. Get the garden area cleaned. Lawn and yard grass is growing too well. The orchard grass varieties is already 7 inches tall and will need cutting soon. The 20 degree weather last month seemed to eliminate most garden veggies, so time to start over. Gravenstein buds have broken and looks like bloom coming in 2-4 weeks. Rain is keeping the soil profile full, which is good. Although that makes tilling the ground difficult, which means try to do a not till in the garden. Make small trenches in the ground, when the soil dries, and then add a lot of mulch or wood chips to keep w**ds under control. Time to quickly finish tree fruit pruning. Also finish pruning berry bushes especially blueberries.

10/27/2022

Learn about gardening: 2023 Master Gardener Volunteer Training! Please help spread the word. Online application and information https://beav.es/Uq6 Applications accepted through November 15, 2022.

Become a Master Gardener Volunteer Share Print 2023 Master Gardener™ Volunteer Program Applications open October 1 - November 15, 2022 Apply NowProgram details: Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener volunteers are neighbors, friends and family who you can go to for garden advice that i...

10/22/2022

The rain has begun. Weather reports how rain 8 out of the next 10 days. Good for the soil, good for putting out forest fires, good for lawns, shrubs, and trees. Not so good for uncovered gardens. In most cases, the summer gardens are nearing their end. (Our tomatoes, and bell peppers are still blooming. I walked out by my crocked neck summer squash and they looked like May, blooming and had 4 fruit on them. Such a year.

Pumpkin patch nearly done, just a few Delecata squash to finish ripening. I have been slowly cleaning up and composting dead plants. The Patterson onions, wow, they grew so good and nice size.

Harvested Granny Smith apples, a few Northern Spy apples to enjoy. Figs - well I HAD a fall crop but the hungry squirrels and blue jays decided to eat them all. Booo.

My irrigated wild blackberry patch is still providing a handful of nice, sweet berries each week but that looks like that will be the end soon.
Garlic is up but squirrels were digging up the garlic bulbs. Had to put metal pieces over the ground to keep the squirrels out.

NOTE: Potential Master Gardeners. Go to the OSU Extension - Lane County web site and sign up for the Master Gardener program, do it soon.

With the evening temps, so far the lows have been down to 38-41 Degrees F. At the end of this rainy period I will decide if it is time to turn off the outside irrigation. My covered garden will need water for another month but may need to protect the water lines.
Lawns - this should green up the lawns nicely, if not watered for the last month and a half.
Winter crops of peas - growing nicely, winter cabbages growing very nicely. Broccoli - only small heads but a lot.