SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 366 • July 25, 2015

VIDEO ARCHIVE

Half way there! We are approaching the mid-point of summer. For a lot of people, the end of summer is when the kids go back to school. This year that means the last week of August since Labor Day is so late. That is tough since the calendar says the end of summer is in September. We still have lots of time to enjoy our gardens. We have heard from a lot of our viewers that they are harvesting veggies like crazy and it is just getting better with this cooler weather. So get out there and enjoy it!

We would also like to thank everyone who came on our Garden Time Bus Tour. We had a blast and it sounds like everyone enjoyed it. We would like to thank all the businesses that we were able to see when we were out and about. Thanks to Heirloom Roses, Little Prince of Oregon, Garden Gallery Iron Works, Bauman’s Farm and Garden, Sebright Gardens and French Prairie Gardens. It was a trip to remember.

We are now getting ready for our next trip, to Ireland! We will be over there from June 16th to the 27th of 2016. We will tour 9 private gardens in the Dublin area and then travel the country visiting other gardens and cultural areas like Waterford and the Blarney Castle, and let’s not forget the Guinness tour. The tour price covers all your accommodations, some of your meals and your airfare! More information can be found at the Garden Time Tours page on our website, www.gardentime.tv/tours. We hope that you will join us!

This week we featured...

Bamboo Types

Bamboo Types

People love bamboo! But for a lot of people they think that it will take over a garden. To learn more about this wonderful plant we stopped by Bamboo Garden (503-647-2700) in North Plains and talked to Noah. Noah told us that most bamboo can be classified into 2 categories, clumpers and runners. The clumpers are varieties that have rhizomes that will only grow a short distance each season and then send up a new stalk. The runners, on the other hand, can send out rhizomes that can cover several feet of growth every year. Noah had some roots to demonstrate the growth, then we saw a couple of clumping varieties that were looking great. The bamboos Fargesia ‘Robusta’ and ‘Rufa’ were staying in one place and were easily maintained in that space. Noah was able to keep them from flopping by trimming off the tops of the stalks and this drew the plant back into an up-right clump. Then we moved over to a forest of bamboo. This variety, bamboo Phylostachys ‘Moso’ was magnificent! This was a larger variety that was taking over an entire area. Even though it was sending out long runners, they were able to root-prune the plants and keep them under control. This variety was a great example of how you can grow a ’timber’ type of bamboo in a small area. If you are interested in bamboo and adding it to your garden, you should stop by the Bamboo Garden. They grow, sell and ship a bunch of different varieties and can tell you how to grow and control them in your garden.

This weekend is extra special. Today, Saturday the 25th, they are having their annual Summer Campout, Oyster Feed and Birthday Bash. They have tons of classes and other treats in store for visitors to the shop. The proceeds of this event benefit the Ned Jaquith Foundation, the former owner of Bamboo Garden. It promises to be a great day!

Cascade Nursery Trail Crawl

Cascade Nursery Trail Crawl

Visiting small nurseries in the Willamette Valley can be a blast, and some of the best small nurseries can be found on the Cascade Nursery Trail. This is a group of nine smaller growers and retailers, with a couple of them just opening their doors a few times a year for tours. This weekend they are having their summer ‘Nursery Crawl’. During this crawl they will all be open from 10-5 through the end of July. During this event you can pick up a ‘quiz card’, answer a question at all 9 nurseries and become eligible to win a one of nine $20 gift certificates or the grand prize of a $250 gift certificate that you can spend at any of the participating nurseries.

To get a preview we stopped at 4 of the nurseries to see what they were offering. We first stopped at Nowlens Bridge Nursery. There Donna showed us a few of her perennials including Beesia deltophylla, Potentilla tridentate, and romneya. Then we made the short drive to Garden Thyme Nursery and saw Pati. She had greenhouses full of deer resistant plants including Agastache ‘Arizona Sandstone’, Santolina, and 30-40 different types of dahlias. Finally we went to Fresh Start Nursery and Miller’s Manor Gardens (503-277-3327). These nurseries are right next door to each other and loaded with cool plants. Nathan from Fresh Start showed William some of his cool conifers. He specializes in miniature and dwarf conifers and he had Pinus zumba goyo, Mugo Pine ‘Daves Choice’ and Pinus storbus ‘Sea Urchin’. Then Linda from Miller’s Manor shared a couple of her plants too including fuchsias (which they grow over 100 varieites), Brunnera ‘Alexanders Great’ and a bunch of different echinaceas including ‘Chiquita’.

This weekend you can also enjoy the 4th annual Wine and Cheese event at Out in the Garden Nursery (503-829-4141). This is a big party under the White Oaks from 12-5 on Sunday the 26th. 10 vendors will be on the grounds as well, featuring fresh produce, art, food and music. Stop by and check it out while you do your own little nursery crawl!

Sauvie Island Center

Sauvie Island Center

Some of our best stories are when we get to cover kids and gardening. Unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t get out in the garden very often. Some kids don’t even know about farming or about the food that they eat. One organization that helps to educate kids about food, farming and the land is the Sauvie Island Center. We stopped by to visit them during their Summer Farm Camp and talked to Shawna Hartung, the education program manager. This week long camp allows kids to explore the 18 acre Sauvie Island Organics farm and Howell Territorial Park. While they are there they have classes in healthy soils, plant parts, wildlife, pollination and the food web. While we were there we saw the kids on a scavenger hunt for plants and animals which took them all over the farm. This camp is just one of the programs that teach kids and adults about food farming and healthy eating.

If you would like to get involved you can contact the Center about volunteering or donating, or you can go to a barn dance!! On August 1st they will be having a barn dance fundraiser. This is a great event for the whole family. It kicks off with a scavenger hunt, followed by a wonderful dinner and finishing with a square dance, a silent auction and other fun. This event has some great sponsors like Whole Foods, Beneficial State Bank and Portland Nursery, among others. To get tickets you can go to their website.

Doka Coffee Plantation

Doka Coffee Plantation

Garden Time is now doing tours. We have had a couple of good ones so far, and the best one was this past January to Costa Rica. While we were there with 40 of our viewers we were able to visit the Doka Coffee Estate. There we were led on a tour by Adreanna to show us how coffee is grown harvested and processed to make it to your table. The coffee beans start as red berries (also called cherries) that are grown on trees or small bushes that are 3-25 years old. The coffee tree will live up to 100 years, but the best coffee comes from the younger plants. The berries are picked by hand and then taken to the processing facility and placed in a large tank of water. The ripe berries sink to the bottom and the bad ones float to the top. The ripe berries then have their outer layer and pulp removed and then the beans are set out to dry, either in the sun or by mechanical dryers. Next the beans have a small layer removed called the parchment. Then they are stored or shipped as green beans. Then comes the roasting. The roasting is what brings the flavor to the beans. It is both an art and a science. When roasted the beans lose some of their weight and the beans turn to a brown color. That is what becomes the final product and ends up in your coffee maker at home. You can find the Doka Estate coffee at Peets Coffee or you can go to their website and order it on-line.

This is just one of the cool places we visit on a Garden Time tour. If you would like to join us on a tour, the next one is coming up next spring when we travel to Ireland. For more information on our tours check out our tour link, www.gardentime.tv/tours.
 

 
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