- Place pheromone traps in apple trees to detect presence of codling moth. Plan a control program of sprays, baits, or predators when moths are found.
- Plant dahlias, gladioli, and tuberous begonias in mid-May.
- Monitor aphids on strawberries and ornamentals. If present, control options include washing off with water, hand removal, or using registered insecticides
A Rainbow Of Potatoes
In the old days, folks primarily grew one of three types of potatoes in their home gardens – bakers, boilers or reds. Today, many more new and heirloom varieties are available through catalogs and specialty producers.
With all the new choices, how do you decide which ones to grow?
Oregon State University vegetable breeder Jim Myers recommends several from variety trials at the OSU Vegetable Research Farm. He points out that colored potatoes have phytonutrients, natural compounds in fruits and vegetables that promote good health. The yellow color is produced by carotenoids (pro vitamin A) and the red and purple potatoes produce anthocyanins, sometimes only in the skin, sometimes in both skin and flesh.
"Yellow-fleshed potatoes not only have a rich, buttery color, they are flavorful, creamy and moist without having to add butter or sauces," Myers said. He recommends Yellow Finn, Yukon Gold, Bintje, Carola, Desiree and Red Gold (yellow flesh).
Fingerling potatoes, small in size but big in flavor, are popular in other countries and gaining favor here. Most are smooth textured, moist and tasty. A favored variety is French Fingerling. Spuds with purple flesh also are appearing in garden catalogs and garden stores and on restaurant plates. OSU recommends All Blue as performing well in Oregon.
OSU-recommended red potatoes include Red Pontiac, Norland and Red La Soda, Cranberry Red and Red Gold; recommended white potatoes are Russet Burbank, Superior, Gold Rush, Butte and Kennebec.
"Home gardeners should plant potatoes after the last frost date in your area," Myers said. "To avoid diseases like verticillium wilt, plant seed potatoes in a bed where potatoes, tomatoes or other members of the potato family have not been grown for a few years. In the major potato growing regions, a four-year rotation is used."
Potatoes do best in well-prepared, deep, sandy or sandy loam soils, or soils amended with organic material. Cut tubers into "seed pieces," with at least an eye or two, or plant seed potatoes grown especially for planting. Either should be planted four to six inches deep, about 12 inches apart, in rows about three feet apart. Fifty to 100 feet of row should feed a family of four with some for winter storage.
While not yet common, some seed companies have begun offering "true seed" potatoes, Myers said. "All potato varieties flower, and some produce small green berries with seeds just like a tomato plant produces. These can be planted instead of planting a tuber “seed” piece as is traditionally done with potatoes."
"If you want to grow true seed potatoes, treat them like tomato or eggplant and start transplants indoors about six weeks before transplanting outdoors,” Myers said. “Protect the plants from early-season frosts and use the same cultural practices you normally would for potatoes."
Potatoes should be watered regularly through the summer, from one to three inches of water per week, as needed. When plants are about eight inches tall, mound loose soil around the base of the potato plants to form a ridge about six to eight inches high and a foot or so wide along each row.
This hilling protects the tubers from sunlight and greening of the skin. The greening is chlorophyll, which is not harmful in itself but may be accompanied by a high concentration of a toxic compound called solanine. Mounding soil around growing potato vines also makes harvest easier and may prevent water loss.
Check plants periodically for tuber development. Young or new potatoes can be hand harvested as soon as they develop.
Weather Forecast
May at the Hopyard
Average High: 68 degrees
Average Low: 44 degrees
Average Rainfall: 2.56 inches
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 80. North wind between 6 and 9 mph.
Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 49. North northwest wind between 5 and 11 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 86. North northwest wind between 7 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 48.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 79.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 73.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68.
Sun Calendar for May 12 - May 18, 2012:
| |
Rises |
Sets |
Daylight Length |
Distance (mil km) |
| Saturday |
5:46 AM |
8:32 PM |
14h 45m 29s |
151.15 |
| Sunday |
5:45 AM |
8:33 PM |
14h 47m 49s |
151.184 |
| Monday |
5:44 AM |
8:34 PM |
14h 50m 07s |
151.217 |
| Tuesday |
5:43 AM |
8:35 PM |
14h 52m 23s |
151.25 |
| Wednesday |
5:42 AM |
8:36 PM |
14h 54m 36s |
151.283 |
| Thursday |
5:40 AM |
8:37 PM |
14h 56m 46s |
151.314 |
| Friday |
5:39 AM |
8:38 PM |
14h 58m 54s |
151.346 |
Moon Calendar for May 12 - May 18, 2012:
|
Rises |
Sets |
Distance (km) |
Percent
Illuminated |
Phase |
| Saturday |
1:43 AM |
12:37 PM |
385,348 |
53.50% |
Third Quarter at 2:47 PM |
| Sunday |
2:11 AM |
1:43 PM |
391,062 |
42.80% |
|
| Monday |
2:36 AM |
2:46 PM |
395,994 |
32.80% |
|
| Tuesday |
3:00 AM |
3:48 PM |
399,992 |
23.70% |
|
| Wednesday |
3:24 AM |
4:49 PM |
403,001 |
15.80% |
|
| Thursday |
3:49 AM |
5:50 PM |
405,031 |
9.30% |
|
| Friday |
4:16 AM |
6:50 PM |
406,145 |
4.40% |
|
Mom’s Sozzled Pork Spare Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork spare ribs. These should be cut by the butcher into slices about 2cm thick; trim them if really fatty.
- 24 ounces Mom Hefeweizen
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into modest chunks
- 2 large green onions, cut into pieces the length of your last thumb joint
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into batons the length of the onion
- 6 - 7 cloves garlic, peeled and maybe roughly chopped
- Big handful sage leaves
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt and some freshly milled black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pull the pork out of its bag and check it over. If it looks gritty, give it a rinse.
Get the baking or roasting tray (or even a wide casserole dish) and lay the pork on the bottom in one layer.
Push the potatoes in-between the meat so it will be covered with the beer.
Scatter the onions, carrots, garlic and sage over.
Sprinkle evenly with the salt and add beer to the pan. You want the meat to be just about submerged, maybe fully submerged, but not by much.
If you need a little more liquid, use water.
Cover the tray with foil and pop it into the oven. Cook for one hour.
Take the foil off and cook for another 30 minutes, so the top of the pork starts to color and poke above the sauce.
Turn the meat and cook another 30 minutes. Lay the meat on top of the veggies for best effect.
You want the pork to look browned but not burnt, and the sauce to be moist but not overly runny. Add a touch of water if it dries out.
Remove from oven and serve immediately.
From CraftBeer.com and chef Matthew Evans
Got a recipe that uses one of our Ales, Stouts, Lagers or Porters? Email it to Joe.Rogue@rogue.com and we might post here.
How To Find The Hopyard: By Air, Land and Sea
By Air: The nearest general aviation airport is the Independence State Airport, a mile northwest of town. The airport has two runways, both 3100 feet long, handling about 87 trips per day and houses nearly 200 aircraft. Facilities include self-serve 100LL aviation fuel.
FAA Identifier: 7S5
Coordinates: 44-52.017500N / 123-11.894833W
By Land: Our address is 3590 Wigrich Road, Independence, Oregon, 97351 - about seven miles, via paved roads, southeast of Independence or five miles northeast of Buena Vista. We offer free valet parking for bicyclists and horse riders.
By Sea: Guests of the Chatoe Rogue are welcome to land their boats, kayaks and canoes at our private beach on the Willamette River. The beach is between mileposts 101 and 102, about four miles downriver from the Buena Vista Ferry. Camping is not permitted on the beach.
About the Rogue Farms Micro Hopyard:
Spring Hours:
Friday 4PM – 9PM
Saturday 11AM – 9PM
Sunday 11AM – 9PM
Tours every Saturday and Sunday at 3PM
Summer Hours:
(Start May 25th)
Monday – Friday: 4PM – 9PM
Saturday and Sunday 11AM – 9PM
To make arrangements for tours at other times, please call the Chatoe Rogue at 503-838-9813.
The Rogue Farms Micro Hopyard is located in the Wigrich Appellation on a bend of the Willamette River south of Independence, Oregon. Rogue is a proud member of Oregon Hops Growing Association and the Hop Growers of America.
Rogue grows seven varieties of aroma hops on 42-acres in the oldest hops growing region of the West Coast. The first commercial hop yard in Oregon was planted near here in 1867. Within a few years this area was the most important hops growing region in the world, a position it held for more than five decades. Today, it's the top producer of aroma hops.
The Wigrich Appellation is named for the Wigan Richardson and Co. hopyard that operated on this site for about 30 years in the early 20th century.
The climate is one of cool, cloudy and rainy winters, and warm, dry, sunny summers. The soil is mostly well-drained alluvial loams that were deposited here by ice age floods and annual flooding of the Willamette River.
The hopyard is along the 45th parallel, the "sweet spot" for hops growing in the Northern Hemisphere. During summer, the long periods of daylight and short periods of nighttime create ideal conditions for growing hops. This combination of long days and short nights are necessary to produce the hormones within the plant that stimulate growth of vines and flowers, leading to an abundance of cones for harvest in the fall.
Travel times/distances from surrounding cities to the Chatoe Rogue Micro Hopyard:
Portland (66.2 mi) = 1hr 36 min
Salem (19.1 mi) = 35 min
Corvallis (22.9 mi) = 40 min
Woodburn (36.3 mi) = 1 hr 1 min
Albany (16.2 mi) = 38 min
Newport (74.7 mi) = 1 hr 39 min
Astoria (140 mi) = 3 hr 11 min
The Chatoe is also just a hop, skip and a jump from 13 Oregon Vineyards/Wineries...
With their roots firmly planted in traditional American music, A Sudden Tradition performs everything from bluegrass, folk, old time, country, standards, and contemporary songs. Upbeat and family friendly – light-hearted and just plain fun – y ou can always count on A Sudden Tradition!
Workshop Series: GYO Beekeeping
Workshop Series: Paddling The Willamette
Native American Salmon Bake
Concert Series: Elidila