Metro Master Gardeners

A long time ago I was planning on attending Oregon State University (for my out of state readers, you may know OSU for the Beavers, one of two Oregon Pac-12 teams) for a botany degree. Though that plan was put on hold, I still think of myself as a part of the school, if only by tenuous association. The reason I mention this is it might partially explain my love of the Metro Master Gardeners, and really, the OSU Master Gardeners in general. The other reason being because they are completely awesome.

For those who have no idea who I'm talking about, the OSU Master Gardeners are a group of people who have gone through OSU's Master Gardener program (obviously, right?). It is a one term credit-less class, that (if it were credited) would be somewhere on the order of 12 credits for that one term. It is a certification that requires both a 6 hour class and 6 hours of volunteer work per week. It usually is held in many locations in the Willamette Valley during Winter term (again, for out of staters, Oregon uses a term system, as opposed to the more traditional semester system, our Winter term usually begins the week after New Year's and continues for 10 weeks (+1 week for finals)). Graduates preform community services through providing information though call-lines as well as setting up tables in certain places that generally cater to gardening and sustainability practices. For example, they tend to make weekend appearances at the Oregon Zoo during summer.

I have been wanting to join their ranks for some time now, but due to time and money, it's been difficult for me. I think in many ways it would be beneficial to both myself and the Gardeners. I am very much a novice, and for myself, I think it would help me prove to myself and others that I do have some formal training. I feel I would also be good for the Gardeners. I am not 100% certain of their age range, however it seems to attract those of an older generation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, however, I think it's important to show not only the program, but older generations, that people of my age are certainly interested in gardening and horticulture. I think that this is very obvious to the casual observer in the Northwest, perhaps especially in the Portland area; but it can be good for more official organizations to see interest from all age groups. I have made it a person goal to have a Master Gardener feather in my cap before I turn 30.

I most recently had the pleasure of talking with a Master Gardener this last weekend at our local New Seasons.  I was inquiring about good organic slug deterrent/pesticide, she suggested Sluggo, and against the very traditional beer trap. Apparently, the beer-battered slugs are a raccoon delicacy. I will also be trying crushed egg shells. She also provided me with a large amount of material, including how-tos, coupons, and lettuce seeds.

The Metro Master Gardeners are also holding a gardening fair Saturday, May 4^th. I will most likely be attending, it's in the Woodstock neighborhood of Portland. If you're interested, it looks like it's going to be fun.

If you haven't yet. Get your seedlings started!! You're running out of time for many plants. If you still haven't planted peas (and you were planning on it) you should put them in the soil right now. I will be doing that this weekend, as well as direct sowing my free lettuce (which was a mix of many types).

Sarracenia Northwest have a workshop coming up on June 8th, as well as an open house on July 14th and 15th. They will also be at the Canby Spring Garden Fair (May 4^th–5^th).

Also, Oregon native plant sale is happening at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park this Saturday (April 27^th)

Links!

MMG Event:
http://www.metromastergardeners.org/multnomah/

Sarracenia Northwest open house and workshops:

http://www.cobraplant.com/openhouse

http://www.cobraplant.com/workshops

Tualatin Hills Nature Park native plant sale:
http://www.thprd.org/nature/programs/nativeplantsales.cfm

Journal for April 9th, 2013

What's up with me:

I love Territorial Seed. I look forward to their spring catalogue every year. It's become a bit of a tradition for me, even if I haven't always grown a garden every year. There is something wonderful about flipping through it, looking for new items, seeing vegetables or fruits that I've never heard of before. They frequently offer many rare or unique cultivars, like everyone's darling last year, the indigo rose tomato, developed in Oregon at OSU.

I remember while I was growing up, how I would thumb through it, always telling my dad and mom that I want to grow one of everything. My dad, learning from his mom, became a gardener. He would always get tons of seed and plant catalogues every year, each new one was a treasure, looking for plants that I had never heard of or ever seen before. Territorial always stuck out to me, there was always something about their style, their wonderful information, and their selection that made me enjoy it every single time.

Never one to disappoint, Territorial had another beautiful catalogue filled with tons of new cultivars and a new book that I am absolutely intrigued with, The Drunken Botanist. Written by Amy Stewart, the book chronicles many unique drink mixes, with Territorial offering many of the plants and herbs required for the drinks. They're even hosting videos of her on their youtube account, alongside their awesome planting and harvesting help videos.

I absolutely recommend Territorial Seed for their great variety and absolutely great quality, plus, for you Northwesterners, it's a local company.

I've already gotten my seeds from them this year, and started most of them. I just use Jiffy starters (which are just tiny tiny greenhouses with many seeding “pots”, they are cheap, but generally last a couple years (plus they're recyclable if they do fall apart). I did my planting about a week ago and already have about 1/2 of my plants coming up. No tomatoes or peppers yet, but they generally take longer than the rest (tomatoes can be a couple weeks, peppers can be up to 3).

Sadly, I lost two of my wasabi starts, and I think I'm starting to see a trend with the variety Mazuma, it is very susceptible to fungal attacks, which is probably a big part of why Daruma is more widely grown. As it stands, I have one of each left (the other Daruma start was just too small, and didn't really take off), and I've decided that I've had enough of fungal infections (seeing as I recently lost my poinsettia to one as well. I purchased an organic sulfur-based fungicide, and, not wanting any repeats, have already used in on my remaining wasabi. I'm not going to take any chances, even with the stronger Daruma.

What's up with the season:

This Winter in the Northwest has been pretty mild and very dry. It's raining a bit as I write this, however, I have a sinking feeling that we're going to have a dry summer. Our snow pack in the Willamette Valley isn't as good as it should be. I'm hoping we won't have a drought, but I'm nervous that we'll have a minor one at the very least.

Otherwise, now is a great time to get your seedlings started indoors if you haven't yet. Tulips are blooming right now, as are daffodils, and many others. My favorite Oregon-native flowers, Trilliums, are blooming too.

What's up in the world:

If you live in the Portland Metro Area, the Tualatin Hills Nature Park is having small Saturday plant sales for the next couple weeks, leading up to a very large one on the 27th of April from 10a-2p. I'll be elsewhere that weekend, but I would love to go otherwise. They're having a native plant sale, selling somewhere in the range of 70+ native Northwest plants.

Next month there is the Spring Garden Fair in Canby, OR. I'll definitely be going, and my wonderful colleagues from Sarracenia Northwest will be there too. I've never been, but I'm excited to go. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

I just caught an awesome episode of Nature on OPB (our local PBS station) this morning, What Plants Talk About. It just aired last week and looked into the chemical signaling that plants use to talk to eachother as well as the signals they use to fight against predation as well as other plants. It was great, if you have an hour, check it out, the full episode is online.

Alright everyone! Good growing!

Links:

Spring Garden Fair:

http://www.clackamascountymastergardeners.org/SpringGardenFair.htm

Metro Master Gardeners April planting guide:

http://www.metromastergardeners.org/calendar/apr.php

Territorial Seed Company:

http://www.territorialseed.com/

Nature (PBS/OPB), What Plants Talk About:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/what-plants-talk-about/video-full-episode/8243/