TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012 • THE BULLETIN
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Next week: Considering garden improvements
ARDEN Storage Continued from F1 Bubl added that Central Or-
egon air is perfect for drawing in cool air to a garage or basement as needed. "Put in some kind of method that can draw air — a fan that can push air from the cellar out or cold air in artificially. So on a 20-degree cool Bend night you may want to bring the cool air in," said Bubl.
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Why it works Temperature, humi d i ty, darkness and ventilation are the key elements to control when storing fruits and vegetables. If vegetables are properly stored and temperature and humidity are controlled, e verything sh o u l d kee p through to spring. In order to prevent rot, adequate air movement is imperative. "Ventilation and being able to retain a little moisture but staying dry are the keys," said Bubl. "Basically the concept is keeping them cool, but not cold. They can be somewhat moist. But you want to keep them dark with an air flow around them," said Bubl. Lawrence, who stores much of her produce in plastic milk crates, suggests only filling the crates about a quarter full. That way, in the event that something rots, it won't ruin the whole batch. If produce is stored in boxes, they need to have holes in the side for breathability. Bubl suggested storingpotatoes
in burlap bags. When Lawrence prepares w intersquash for storage, she separates each squash from the next with cardboard to prevent the spread of any rot. Bubl explained that, as with all living things, there are still living organisms on the skin of the produce. "If they're all jumbled together you get a diseaseprogression that goes from squash to squash." Bubl recommended storing the squash inside for a week in order to create a protective rind on the skin. "Let them
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Adrian Higgins/The Washington Post
High school seniors Anthony Brown, left, and Lindsey Joinerjoin other volunteers for an October bulb planting in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Many city beautification efforts began with Lady Bird Johnson.
Marielle Gallagher /The Buttet>n
Sarahlee Lawrence divides potatoesinto milk crates where they will be stored through the winter.
By Adrian Higgins cure for a little bit and then put them in a 45- to 55-degree location," said Bubl. Before storing squash, Bubl advised clipping the stem to prevent it from breaking off, which creates a point of entry for organisms.
bles." It can cause sprouting in potatoes and onions, and it will turn carrots bitter, according to Bubl. Conversely, potatoes can make apples taste musty. Even odors can be transferred to other vegetables. According to a W a shington State Separation University Extension report, of veggie and fruit "Storing Vegetables and Fruits Bubl s u ggested s t o ring At Home": "Cabbage and turfruits and vegetables in sepa- nips can give their odors to rateplaces.One of the reasons celery, pears, and apples. Cabfor this is because of ethylene bage, kale, rutabagas, turnips, gas put off by apples. This is and winter radishes give off another reason why proper strong odors that could spread ventilation is helpful for stor- through a house, and, thereing fruits. "(The ethylene gas) fore, should be stored in outwill start building up in the door storage areas only." room and cause physiological — Reporter: 541-383-0361, responsesin the other vegetamgallagherC<bendbulletin.com
Fallen leaves a backyard gold mine By Adrian Higgins •a
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Washington Post gardening columnist Adrian Higgins answered questions recently in an online chat. Here is an edited excerpt:
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• I have been reading a • lot l a tely a b out l e aving rather than raking leaves from garden areas as a way to enrich the soil and not use so muchmulch. Doyouthinkthis rr'] » works equally well in shade and sun, and is it necessary to shred the leaves'? The leaves are a mixture of oak, maple and sweet gum mostly. I like t o s h red them; • they break down much quicker and don't mat. I use a lawn mower set at its highest setting. This sometimes means r a kin g t h e l e a ves Thinkstock onto th e l a w n , s h r edding Once shredded, backyard leaves provide a valuable resource.
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them and raking (or blowing) them back. It's a chore, but it's worth it. Bagging leaves is such a waste of a valuable resource.
astersand abelias.However, I am concerned about their survival after this winter. Is there anything that I can do now to • Last winter I planted tu- help them endure the upcom• lip bulbs in clay soil, wa- ing weather? tered once a month, covered • Now is the best time to with newspaper and placed on • plant shrubs and perena shelf in the garage. The foli- nials. The soil warmth will enage was wonderful, but there courage root growth, and the were no flowers! What did I do transplant shock is minimized wrong? by the cooling temperatures. I think your garage was Just make sure they are well • too warm. Tulips need ll watered (but not flooded), and weeks oftemperatures below mulch them after the ground 45 degrees for the flower to freezes. This will m i n imize develop. the risk of freeze-thaw exposing the roots. • What's the best way to • enrich garden soil over • I bought (I think on your the winter? • advice) a sharp, thin hoe You can grow a green for weeding (mine is a collin• manure such as vetch, ear hoe from Lee Valley). I was clover or rye. Or you can lay a out using it last weekend, gettwo-inch layer of leafmold or ting after all the cool-weather rotted compost. Incorporate weeds thatseem to spread a it into the soil in February or foot a day this time of year. March. If you do this every Anyway, after slicing under year, your soil will turn from the weeds, I'm left to wonder heavy clay to beautiful loam in whether I need to gather up about three to five years. all the bits and pieces. Or is simply cutting them off at the I had some impromptu roots good enough? • l andscaping done l a s t So glad you are using a week. I live in Maryland and • hoe and not chemicals. we planted yuccas, nandinas, Thank you. Keep a file handy
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organized by the Rock Creek The conservancy organizes Conservancy, a group estab- many volunteer events, and Lady Bird Johnson has lished (under a different name) much of the focus since it was to be considered a rare fig- in 2005. formed has been on removing ure in the political realm of Park Service crews culti- trash. "We have worked the Washington, a l o ng-term vated and amended the soil, entire 33 miles of Rock Creek at thinker who understood the and MichaelMcMahon, a Park 50 locations," said Beth Mullin, enduring value of beauty. Service landscape architect, the conservancy'sexecutive diThe former first lady, who devised the planting plan. For rector. "The park is measurably died in2007, is remembered anyone wanting to plant a large and noticeably cleaner. We feel as the driving force behind area for beauty, low mainte- now we can move out to other the 1965 Highway Beauti- nance and long season of inter- areas." fication Act and by Wash- est, it's a model scheme, relying This means a more concerted ingtonians of a certain age on the device of mass-planting effort to remove invasive weeds as the founder of the Society just a few varieties. that have smothered much of for a More Beautiful NaIt uses two varieties of daf- the natural flora. The top three tional Capital. Its members fodil. St. Keverne is an all-yel- culprits are English ivy, oriental transformed many pockets low, large-cupped narcissus bittersweet and porcelainberry. of the city, conspicuously that blooms early and peren- The conservancy is going to be along Pennsylvania Avenue nializes better than others of its working "more systematically" and in Rock Creek Park, type in the heat of Washington. against them, Mullin said, with where they planted 200,000 Bravoure is a white and yellow an initial mission to attack Engspring bulbs. trumpet daffodil that blooms lish ivy, the easiest weed for volWay back then, she told later. They were planted amid unteers to identify. audiences that "I am quite blocks of two native perennials, The bulb a n d p e rennial sure that ugliness ... has the wild blue indigo (Baptisia plantings were just the first contributed to riots, to men- australis) and a variety of the beautification project. tal ill-health, to crime." The purpleconeflower called Ruby You can't watch young folks need for beauty might have Star, valued for its intense, pur- like Brown and Joiner on their been more dire then — it was ple-magenta blooms. knees in the dirt without thinka period of trashed rivers, Together, the four plants will ing that Lady Bird Johnson rank pollution and urban provide months of bloom: As knew that she was planting a decay and restlessness — but the first daffodil fades, the sec- seed that she might never live we still have the ugliness of ond will flower. A month later, to see germinate. The principle decay and, worse, a return the Baptisia will begin its long at play is a simple one: Beauty to the indifference to it. All season of bloom. Upright and begets beauty; ugliness begets too often, our public build- shrublike, the perennial has ugliness. ings and green spaces are attractive, deep blue, pea-like After she left Washington, not fixed until they are on flowers. As the blooms recede, Johnson and the actress Helen the verge of collapse. Think the coneflowers will start their Hayes founded an organization of the Smithsonian's Arts long season. "We'll have sec- in Austin to promote the plantand Industries Building, or tions of color from April to ear- ing of native flora there and the Lincoln Memorial Re- ly fall," said McMahon, and the everywhere else. It's now called flecting Pool, or the U.S. Bo- perennial foliage will hide the the Lady Bird Johnson Wildtanic Garden. declining leaves of the daffo- flower Center. "I'm such an admirer of her," Almost half a century on, dils. The perennials are closely even Johnson's plantings planted and should shade out Mullin said. "Of both her beauhave run their course. The the weeds once established, tification efforts and what she National Park Service has though volunteers will weed went on to do after she left the been doing some planting and mulch twice a year until White House." of daffodils in recent years then. next to Rock Creek ParkWhether t h ese h o r ticulway. The effort got a big tural nuances were discerned boost, literally and symboli- by all of the volunteers who cally, on a recent Saturday planted them is unlikely, and I I when dozens of volunteers beside the point. Many of them showed up to plant a grassy were young, which is hugely PROMPT DELIVERY slope in one of the most encouraging. 541-389-9663 heavily traveled sections of the parkway: the cloverleaf embankment where southAre you passionate about gardening bound trafflc exits to Pennsylvania Avenue NW, below in Central OregOn? Willing to Share the Four Seasons Hotel. your time 6, knowledge locallyP In a kidney-shaped bed about 120 feet by 30 feet, the workers installed 1,500 The 05U Master Cardener Volunteer perennials and 4,500 daffodil bulbs. The effort was program targets individuals interested in The Washington Post
GARDENING Q&A
The Washington Post
nt eca ita, a II s eauti ication e orts en ure
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to keep it sharp. If the weeds are not flowering and seeding, you can let them lie on the ground; they will enrich the soil as they decay. Loads of weeds are now germinating for the winter. Don't wait until April to attack them.
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