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William McClenathan

 Episode 7 - May 20, 2006

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Judy Alleruzzo

Wow, can it get any hotter?!?!  Actually it can.  And, when it does, you need to keep an eye on your landscape plants and tender young vegetables.  Most of your plants enjoy the heat, but they can also dry out very quickly or even get a bad case of sunburn!  Check your plants daily and water them when necessary. Then, you both can enjoy the sunshine!

This week we featured... 

Schreiner’s Iris Gardens and the Keizer Iris Festival

The irises are blooming and that means it is time for the Keizer Iris festival.  One of the reasons that Keizer has this wonderful festival is because of Schreiner’s Iris Gardens (1-800-525-2367).  This family-owned business has been a leader in growing and propagating new varieties of iris for over 80 years.  If you don’t know the name, you do know the fields.  They are the fields full of color as you approach Brooks, Oregon. We met up with Steve Schreiner to wander in their beautiful display gardens!  What sets the display gardens at Schreiner’s apart is the companion planting that they do.  These beds are not just full of irises they have a fantastic combination of other plants including lupines, poppies and pansies.  It is a great place to get ideas for your own garden.  Steve also told us about all the fun activities that are happening over the next two weekends,  So, if you miss it this weekend, be sure to catch it next weekend!

This weekend is also the big weekend for the Keizer Iris Festival.  There is a fun center, parade, a breakfast, a car show and even a karaoke showcase!  Take the family and enjoy a fun weekend touring the fields and enjoying the festival.

Strawberry Choices

Plant your strawberries now for a bountiful harvest this coming summer.  Laura Altvater from Portland Nursery on Stark (503-231- 5050) explained the different varieties to Judy.  There are three types of berries you can plant.  ‘June-bearing’ gives you one crop.  ‘Ever-bearing’ gives you two crops, one in the spring and one in the fall.  ‘Day Neutral’ gives you berries through-out the summer if you treat them well.  There are a couple of other things that growers do to get a good crop: Plant new berries every three-to-four years.  Tip back the plant, which means you should cut off the runners.  This makes the plant put its energy into the fruit.  One of the hardest things to do: Remove the blooms from your first year plants.  We think that may be going too far!  Check out your local garden centers for a full range of varieties.

Jan’s May tips

Our tips for the month from the OSU extension service had a surprise for us!  Jan McNeilan ripped out a plant!  Jan had a rose that had three different things happening to it.  It was getting suckers from the base around the graft.  These suckers are from the root stock and will not produce the same types of flower (if any) as the plant you bought.  The second problem was a virus that was showing up in the leaves and the third problem was a huge infestation of aphids.  When a plant has that many strikes against it, it is time to remove it!   Don’t be afraid!  We also traveled to another part of her garden to see some of the things she is doing in her vegetable garden.  As your plants are growing, start thinking about structures for them to climb on.  Jan is in the process of building a bamboo structure for her tomatoes.   A little work now and she will have an easier time harvesting in the fall.

Zoo Butterflies

The Oregon Zoo is celebrating the grand re-opening of the Winged Wonders exhibit this weekend, and we paid a visit to see the first butterflies emerging for the show!  Mary Jo Andersen is the zoo keeper in charge and she brought a couple of ‘friends’ to meet William.  We also heard from Linda Coady Richardson about some of the plants you can add to your garden to attract these flying beauties.  When attracting butterflies you have to add plants for three stages of their growth.  Visitors learn that planting herbs such as fennel and dill attract the caterpillars of species such as black swallowtail and anise swallowtail.  Visitors also learn about the importance of butterfly-attracting nectar plants like asters, zinnia and yarrow -- and the need for sunlight, water, shelter and avoiding pesticides. The exhibit will remain open until Labor Day.

PVC Trellis

This little structure is one way to bring height to your garden.  William showed us how to build three different structures for your climbing plants.  The first one was easy.  He used a tomato cage to help his climbing peas.  The second trellis was a teepee of bamboo sticks.  He tied them at the top and they make a quick and simple structure.  The third structure was a folding trellis made from PVC pipe.  We cut the pipe into various lengths to fit our garden size.  This one had 3 ¾-inch pipes that were three feet long.  These are for the two base pieces and the top.  Then we cut four longer pieces (6-foot) for the sides.  Six elbows create the square and then we also had two tees.  The top of the tee was a bigger size than the rest of the pipe.  This will allow the folding of the trellis when the season is done.  The finishing touch was the string.  Last year we used hemp for the plants to climb on.  This quickly broke down and that meant it didn’t work as well as we had hoped.  This year we are using a cotton fiber string, which will give the trellis for our beans and other climbing plants a good strong base to grow on.
 

 
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