Can Dahlias grow in Central Oregon?

Growing any tender tuber in the high desert is always a bit of a challenge. The temperature can plummet at any time of the year causing frost damage, or a sudden hailstorm in spring can mar the leaves and buds causing unsightly brown spots.   In spite of weather restrictions, dahlias can be delightful and fun to grow if you take a few precautions to ensure success.
Plant quality tubers in mid April to May depending on what area you live.  Redmond, Madras and Prineville are at lower elevations so planting can happen earlier than Bend or Sisters. Mulch the ground after planting until you are sure all hard frosts are past.
Planting in full sun with no tree overhang is also necessary.  I made the mistake of planting what I thought were shorter varieties behind a small apricot tree and the dahlias grew up through the branches and vanished in the thick foliage.
Planting:
When planting, make sure to put a sturdy 3-4’ stake in the ground and then place the tuber with the eye pointing upward about 6” from the stake.  There are two reasons to put a stake in the ground before planting the tuber.  The tuber will double or triple in size over the growing season and if you attempt to stake it later, you can damage the fleshy roots. Believe me, the second reason is that once they take off in the summer, you will need the stake to tie the dahlia to so the heavy flower heads don’t cause the entire plant to flop over.
Due to the shorter growing season, choose smaller to medium size varieties rather than the gigantic dinner plate size that grow up to 6’.  These will never make it to the bloom stage on the high desert.
My favorite company is Swan Island Dahlias out of Canby Oregon. Their annual catalog and website lists the size and bloom time so you can choose the best dahlia for your garden space.
Lifting and storage:
You don’t want to leave your dahlias in the ground over the winter.  Once your dahlias receive that first killing frost in the fall that turns the foliage black, cut the stems to the ground and dig them up.
That tiny single tuber that you planted in the spring will now be quite a bit bigger.  Cut them apart making sure you have at least one eye per tuber.  Swan Island Dahlias has a great tutorial on their website and if you buy from them, they include details in your packaging.
Proper storage is critical to the survival of your dahlias.  Do not store dahlias in an unheated shed or barn for the winter.  They will freeze and turn to mush.  If you have a garage attached to the house or a cool basement or even a mud room with a cool dark closet, this is a better choice.  The next thing is to make sure they don’t dry out.  It is very dry in Central Oregon and if you toss your tubers in a box and forget about them all winter they will end up shriveled up and worthless.
After digging them up, set them out in a protected place out of the sun for a few days to dry.  After the attached soil is dry, brush it off.  Some people wash them with a spray of water and then let them dry but it isn’t absolutely necessary.  You want to remove as much of the garden soil as you can.  Layer the dry tubers in a cardboard box with peat moss or semi moist potting soil, completely covering them with at least 6” of soil.  Garden dirt is too heavy for this and also contains microbes and mold spores.  Check the tubers every month to make sure they are not drying out.  Some people dip the entire tuber in paraffin to keep them firm and hydrated.  Plastic bags are not good for storage because it will trap in too much moisture and the tubers will rot. Keep them in the dark so they don’t sprout too early.  I have a spot in my garage under a desk that stays cool from the garage floor and dark most of the time.  Next spring, check your tubers for any bad spots or mold and trim them up.  If you didn’t cut them apart in the fall, now is a great time to separate the tubers with tiny pink eyes or sprouts from any parts that look mushy or dried out.  Your dahlias are now ready to plant.  If there are little thin sprouts with leaves visible growing from the tuber please be careful when planting.  These break off easily and then you have a useless tuber that may not sprout again.  With a little care and attention to detail, in a few years you will have plenty of dahlias to share with friends and neighbors!

Hello again

Well fellow gardeners and others, I have been distracted for a few years.  There are times when life just seems to take over and before you know it, three years have flown by.  2018 was a fantastic garden year.  The deep snow of 2017-2018 caused the ground to absorb a great deal of water so when spring came finally, everything took off. We have inherited two dwarf fruit trees from the previous renter.  They were planted in 2014 or 2015 so 2018, after the snow, we had a mild spring.  The apricot tree was loaded and even though we thinned and thinned we still lost branches to the weight of the fruit.  The other tree is a white nectarine that was also loaded and lost about a third of its branched to the weight of nectarines.  It was so sad thinning out all the green little fruit!
The apricots made fantastic jam! The nectarines were delicious right off the tree.
The nectarine took a beating and lost a bunch of branches from too much fruit.
On the fence between the raised bed vegetable garden and the back yard there is a thornless blackberry vine and WOW did it produce a great deal of berries that are now made into blackberry jelly.  It was a fantastic bumper crop year.

Stewards of the Land

Since my last story, we have been through a unique transition.  The house we were renting since mid 2013 sold in January.  We lived in the front portion of the house that was about 1,100 sq feet.  We moved in March to the smaller apartment on the back side of the property.  Since this was a neglected rental due to many factors beyond the original owners control, we, by default, become stewards of the land.  
The definition of Steward:

1.a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.

As I walked around the garden showing the new owners what was what, I realized that we had been given a unique blessing. The new owners are not yet "gardeners" but have a desire to learn.  As stewards we will be able to do what we love until one day when we have the opportunity to build our own space once again.

Perennial Vegetables, Arugula!

I had no idea that I would have so much fun with arugula!  
WHAT?
Yes, this leafy green is already up and ready to harvest in Central Oregon.  
Wild?  Well, this one is an heirloom variety but yes, I planted it when we moved in late summer, 2013 and now it is well established right next to the patio door.  We pop out in the evening and pick a mess before dinner and voila, fresh salad greens!

Here is what I found on the Internet about this perennial vegetable:

Sylvetta Arugula

Known as wild arugula, or wild rocket, this perennial heirloom (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) was originally cultivated in Italy, but has found its way to gardens around the world. Sylvetta has a sharper, more fiery bite than regular arugula, and its pointed green leaves are welcome additions to salads and egg dishes, and it can also be used to make a peppery pesto sauce.

I have been known to walk around the yard and simply graze on this stuff.  We hand it out to neighbors walking by and they think we are crazy until they taste it.  Peppery, aromatic, spicy, delicious!  I love it on my gluten free rice bread BLT's instead of the L! 

Warning, they do have a tendency to reseed so cut off the flower heads through the summer and you will have fresh arugula all season long well into fall. 

A quick link to the article:

http://inhabitat.com/re-discovering-perennial-vegetables/sylvetta-arugula/?extend=1

Renting in Central Oregon

Who says that renters cant act like homeowners? 

When we moved to our new little abode in Bend at the end of May, 2013, the yard had been seriously neglected. The property had been bank owned for a number of years and we all know that banks have no motivation to maintain a yard. As a homeowner for the past 30 years, we just dug in and acted like it was ours.  (See previous blog)
We live there, after all, right? 
This year, the fruits of our labors are starting to show.  The forsythia is in full bloom, daffodils and hyacinths are popping up all over the flower beds and the perennials are starting to get some size to them. 
The newest addition to the mix are several large planter box's that we inherited from a friend that moved to the Bay Area.  We are putting them to good use in a former weed lot at the west end of the driveway. 
Last fall our next door neighbor to the south, also a renter, decided that the weed patch between our properties was an eye sore.  He was right!  He cleared the strip and then we planted daffodils, daylilies, iris and moved in some perennials and grasses that needed to be divided.  
I am excited to be gardening again even though I do not own the house.  As a good steward, I have been asked to "keep it up"!  In so doing, I am also getting some garden therapy that is much needed right now. 
Pictures will be posted in the next few days. 

Gardening In Transition

After a two year hiatus, I felt that it was important to continue the Central Oregon gardening journey in spite of the state of the economy, the union and the world. Gardening has always been my passion and will continue to be wherever I live!  We sold our home (and my garden) in June of 2012.  Since that time we have moved twice.  We have been in our current rental for over a year and I have to say that I have experienced some small satisfaction in knowing that we have been able to update the curb appeal significantly.  We were told that the house had been empty (bank owned) for about 18 months.   According to the homeowners nearby, it had been vacant since they bought their homes in 2009. The grass and most of the shrubs were dead.  The property management company had hired a landscaper to "spiff" things up a bit before putting the house up for rent. By spiffing we mean that they mowed, feed and watered the grass and chopped back the shrubs. The tough and hardy managed to survive.  In taking inventory, there are two lovely large lavender plants in the front, a red current bush, a small Stella de Oro daylily, a white creeping shrub rose that my research suggests is a variety called "Green Snake", Shasta Daisies, landscape grasses and a pink blooming ice plant.
I dug out the dead shrubs, chopped the overgrown Shasta Daisies into five clumps, moved the daylily out from under the lavender and filled in with plants that I had stashed in four large wine barrels that moved with us in 2012.  I was gratified to find that I had enough raw material to fill in the front and side flower beds with perennials and herbs with just a few (necessary) purchases to round things out.   I added a forsythia shrub, two varieties of agastache, purple cone flower, Gaillardia, creeping phlox, Moonbeam coreopsis, Russian sage, garden sage, thyme and a few new lavenders purchased at the Oregon Lavender Festival in July 2013.
In going through my many bags of seeds I ran across some hollyhock seeds that I had saved for several years and got a wild idea to plant them in several different places in the yard.  I have a myriad of colors planted here and there but the medium pink single seems to be the hardiest of the bunch so they are happily blooming in the corner by the garage.
There was a blank spot in the yard under the kitchen window that cried out to become a mini vegetable garden.  Salad greens, tomatoes and squash are loving the long warm days.  This is the first time in many years that we have attempted tomato plants without a greenhouse. So far the harvest has been good.  We are still dreaming of a garden of our own but as long as I have dirt, water and sun, I will be outside!

Lessons in a Bed of Black Eyed Susan!

We listed our house for sale in early October 2011 and after a slow winter, we received three offers in March and April, 2012.  We accepted one offer, the bank approved it and we closed on June 29, 2012.  So ends a 12 year relationship with a rural property and the garden we worked in.  I am happy to say that the family that purchased the home we built has teenaged children and a great vision for the property!
We are now in a small, 1,600 sq foot rental house in a planned subdivision for the next few years until we find our next project.  Every house has a similar design with a small front yard and a postage stamp fenced in back yard.  I find it surprising that each of the homes in the subdivision has plants, flowers and trees in every spot they can cram them in.  Today as I drove down the street and around the corner I came across a bed of Rudbeckia hirta, (Black Eyed Susan) glowing in the sun.  The rich yellow gold flowers seemed to call to me, and they made me very happy.  I have a friend and a sister that say they do not like yellow flowers and will not grow anything yellow.  I find this hard to understand when there are so many gorgeous plants that bloom in various shades of yellow.  Rudbeckia hurta has a depth and richness that no other plant seems to have.  Looking at the flowers in front of a house very similar to the one we are in gave me a feeling of hope that I can garden just about anywhere and also enjoy borrowed landscape of all the neighbors in this tight little neighborhood.  The plus to being here is the lack of deer!  With a fenced in back yard and an abundance of wine barrels I went a little nuts for petunias!  I have avoided planting summer petunias for many years because it was just too hard to fight with the browsing deer and other critters.  There is a lack of sage rats and burrowing vermin here also, perhaps due to the cat population.  It will take some time to entice the local bird population into the back yard with feeders but we are hopeful that by winter they will learn that we have food for them!  Packing and moving is just plain hard work!  Now that it is over for a few years, I can rest, relax and enjoy a new place and discover surprises like that bed of Rudbeckia!