Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping (sounds like Zera-scape-ing) - beside being a really cool word, I think it's a great idea. It originated with the Denver Water Department in the 1980s when they were first becoming aware of the increasing need for water conservation. (Xeric means dry.)

Our lack of winter precipitation this year is making me think twice about my choice of summer plants - how can I justify using our precious water (we are in the high desert, after all) just to make the area around my house look pretty? But I don't want my home to look like a weedy, neglected parking lot, either.

What to do?

First, I will NOT pave over the garden beds as my husband jokingly suggests.  It's not good for the environment, since it doesn't allow the water to percolate back into the soil and because concrete surfaces (especially in cities) raise the temperature of the air around them. (Sorry, honey).

The next thought might be to plant cactus and succulents. But they're not native to our high desert and probably wouldn't thrive here. But there are waterwise native plants - look to the east of our Central Oregon cities and the hills are covered with plants all the way to Idaho. Look more closely and you'll see that many of them bloom after a good rain.

Sounds like a great answer, but how do I know what the plants are that will grow well in my yard?

I found a couple fantastic publications on the OSU Extension website:  (www.extension.oregonstate.edu/deschutes/garden-publications). "An Introduction to Xeriscaping in the High Desert" and EC 1623-E:  Selecting Native plants for home landscape in Central Oregon.

The photos show some wonderful flowering plants - Purple Iceplant, white Candytuft, pink Evening Primrose, yellow Basket of Gold, and the amazing Blanket Flower in orange, yellow and red.  I've got my summer shopping list ready, now I just need some money!

Living On A Few Acres

Central Oregon chapter of OSU Master Gardeners

We're looking forward to OSU Extension Service's Living on a Few Acres conference coming up on Sat. March 14. If you have acreage, it's a great opportunity to learn new techniques to improve yields and your stewardship.

Even if you live in town, there are talks on topics you can use in your own back yard, such as Wine Making at Home, Poultry for Backyard Producers, Top 5 Things to Know about the Native Trees on Your Property, Basics of Home Food Preservation, Trees and Shrubs to Know in Central Oregon and more.

Check it out and register now at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/…/living-few-acres-confere…

Mid-February - Now What?

Valentine's Day in the rear view mirror, St. Pat's ahead! Who said winter is boring?

With these warm (50-ish temp) days, the plants are beginning to get on board for Spring. I wish I could start putting new plants in where I'm pulling out the perennial weeds, but it really isn't time yet. Once I finish the cleanup I neglected last fall, I'm going seed (not plant) shopping. Spending the next few weeks ordering seeds online, mixing up some potting soil in my greenhouse and setting up my grow lights in the unused shower should keep me from jump starting the season and killing off baby plants in a March frost.

My favorite online seed sources: 

Johnny's Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) - they cater to the professional nurseryman

Territorial Seeds (www.territorialseed.com) - they have lots of great NW plants

Renee's Garden (www.reneesgarden.com) - they contribute part of every sale to the Master Gardeners

They all have such great information to make seed starting successful and their products differ so much that I often buy from all of them in one year.

My potting soil recipe came from a Penn State publication and is really easy.  I get my big plastic garden  trug (about 7 or 8 gallons) and mix in equal parts peat moss, perlite and packaged compost.  If I can get aged manure, I use that instead of the compost. The tough part is getting the mixture wet enough to incorporate the peat moss and keep it wet - mixing it up and adding water several days ahead of planting is usually the best method.  I've mixed up enough to fill one or two trugs and it lasts through the growing season.This year I'm going to water the seedlings with a diluted fish fertilizer. I've read recently that mixing some alfalfa meal into the mixture will boost the nitrogen available - I'll try that this year, too.

My grow lights are pvc pipes arranged to suspend one blue and one pink light on chains above my seedling trays. I had a photo of someone's homemade frame to start but it's really simple and can be built to fit the area you're using.  I put mine in the shower since the bathroom floor is heated and we all know that bottom heating is the best (sounds a little naughty, doesn't it?). Here's the basic design: http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/10376/diy-pvc-grow-light-stand 

I guess I should start looking for some seed potatoes, too - to celebrate my Irish heritage!

Dreary Winter "Gardening"

What a treat - the mail on a rainy February day brought my two gardening magazines! Fine Gardening and Garden Gate - page after page of sunny flowers and happy vegetables. It really makes me want to get out in the dirt.

Since the garden is uncovered (no snow since November!) it looks pretty nasty with the last of the dead flower stalks waving at me, judgmentally. The Fall came up so fast, I didn't get everything cleaned up before that November snowfall so now the spent seedheads and dead grasses seem to rebuke me as I sit inside, warm and  dry.

But the February gardening mags are tempting me to start the winter planning we gardeners love to do. This is the only time of the year that my garden is perfect: the flower combinations look great, the soil is moist and weed-free (in my winter mind, I've maintained the mulch I intend to put down in late Spring), and the new veggie seedlings are sturdy and just waiting for some warm nights to explode into juicy produce.

You can tell this is a fantasy since I'm imagining warm Central Oregon nights - if any arrive, it won't be until August! My Summer garden, in reality, is a field of Conestoga wagon/hoop houses, opening and closing every day, trying to capture the daytime heat to ward off the night time cold.
But hope springs eternal in the gardener's breast - and in her fingertips and back muscles!

If you need to kill a few hours, wallowing in gardening fantasies, here's the place:  http://www.finegardening.com/blogs

Winter Garden Fantasies

What does a gardener do on a rainy February day? Too early to start seeds, to wet to bundle up and move compost, too soon to shop the seed catalogs...
I've been staying happy with the Impressionists - they all loved painting their gardens and the soft, out-of-focus colors and textures give just the impression of the flowers and plants. It feels like the artists are suggesting what I should grow without any pressure.

Renoir

Cezanne

  But Van Gogh! Really - don't you feel like planting irises as soon as possible? Big blue bearded irises all over the yard?!

 On days like today, I can spend hours imagining myself walking in these gardens, smelling the warm air and the listening to the busy insects buzzing in the flowers.  

 Tomorrow - into the garden.  Well, if the rain stops...

Groundhog Day?

"They" say today's the first day of the rest of your life - well, to the devil with that - it's February 2 and the first day of this blog. For better or worse, these pages will be my observations on gardening here in Central Oregon from the perspective of a Master Gardener who is still learning how to garden.
If you'd like to join me in the learning process, welcome! Post any comments you may have and we'll take this journey together.

Our neighborhood deer who just finished dining on the last of the veggie garden.