Near spring

New Lane Co Extension orchard
classes, get two apple trees.
We are nearing spring.
Spring plants are pushing buds.
Bulbs and daffodils pushing.
Continue pruning, continue fungicide sprays.
Do weed control during the dry periods.
Cold weather is needed, yes NEEDED
for the next two months.

What next

More rain soon.
30 and 52 inches of snow in the
mountains. Yeah for the snow.
Sunny today - plants keep growing
and buds keep expanding.
Garlic growing well.
Many co,e crops still growing well.
OCCUPY GARDENS AND FARMS.
OSU Extension has lot of great
educational classes, see their web site.
Great Oregon Hazelnut meeting in Portland.
Commercial hazelnut pruning calls -
Shedd on Feb. 2 starting at 9 am.
For more info 541 344-1709.

Weather

Lane County Monthly Review - January

Flooding last week. Mainly in low areas.

Mohawk - fences knocked over due to

fences in the wrong areas.

McKenzie River - Hazelnuts - about 20 acres

under a foot of water, low areas.

Peaches - January 15 - had started to grow

Blueberries - top apical buds had broken

Peonies - 1 inch tall, cover with leaves to

slow their growth.

Bushes in warm areas - 1/4 bud growth.

Some areas, last week over 6 inches of rain.

Sump pumps barely running , which means

the soil profile is still filling with water.

Near perfect weather

Full reservoirs.
Full rivers and lakes.
Snow in the mountains and hopefully
3 months more winter to get snow
in the mountains.
Order seeds.
Peonies broke the ground. Cover with
LOTS of leaves to cool the soil.
Too many plant buds are breaking. :(

Now what

Mark where the water is standing
so later in the spring, before the soil gets
tooooo dry. 1 - we can add more organic
matter to the area; 2- figure a way to
move the water; 3- put in drain tile;
4- add soil.

Double wet

Lots of flooding.
No hazelnut pruning class tomorrow.
Will reschedule.

Wet

Watch for flooding in the low areas
or near waterways.
Almost two inches in Springfield.

Cold again

Our little pond is frozen slid.
I didn't think it was that cold but it was.
Continue pruning.
Copper or lime sulfur on fruit
trees and bushes.

Lots of pruning classes -

see http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/gardens

Colder weather again

Another cold nights, let the indoor water drip.
Protect outdoor and animal faucets.

Tonight

Faucets are freezing! Cover them up.

More great weather

I was off to Florence and did a
pruning class. Great weather. We
had 23 people in Florence, one of the
biggest classes ever. We were able
to cover apples, plums, peaches and pears.
Saturday at Thistledown we will be
covering apples, peaches, blueberries
starting at 10 am.

Great weather - but need rain

This is great weather but we really
need cool weather and a lot more
rain and snow.
So far the cole crops continue to grow.
March 1, plant date for cole crops.
Lime lawns, garden area; non
acid berries and tree fruits.

Nice weather

Another four days of good weather,
even though it is raining right now,
so much for weather forecasting.
Cold weather 43-32 this weekend.
Continue pruning tree fruits and berries.
During these dry periods, do a little
tilling and/or controlling weeds.

Peaches

With 61 degrees, get out ASAP and
put on the January peach leaf curl (PLC)
spray. 60 degrees will cause the peach
tree leaf buds to break and infect the
buds with peach leaf curl. We need to
keep the buds clean of PLC.

Good planting and planning weather

Another good day to keep the garden going.
Prune back the over grown cabbage, Brussells
sprouts, chard and they will keep growing.
Lawn is getting long is some areas of the yard.
The leaf mulch is dong well.
Lawn mower mulched leaves are decomposing well.
Order seeds.
Select a few new selections.
Go "wild" this year - plant something different.

New record

New record. A new record has been set for
people viewing my Blog. As of 1-1-2012
there has been 5804 visits. Wow. Hopefully
the blog has been useful to people that read it.
If not, please make a comment on what kind
of information may be wanted or needed.
Time to start ordering from the catalogs.
Be aware that the prediction is that 2012
will be similar to the last two springs
( I know a big boooo.) To work with this
information, plan on planting transplants
rather than seeds. Seeds have a harder time
germinating if the soil is cool. Plan on
planting cole crops, lettuce, chard and other
cool season crops. Transplants give an added
benefit of surviving cool weather.