Outdoors: Page 27

Planting by the Numbers

Not all blueberries are created equal

Gardening

Mmm-mmm, blueberries. Who doesn’t love them? When we can keep the birds from eating the fruit, this is surely one of the most rewarding edibles in the garden. They don’t take up a huge amount of space, and they are easy to grow in our area, given sun, acid soil and plenty of water. And the plants are beautiful, more or less year-round. To top it off, raw blueberries are among the most nutrient-rich plant foods available — low in calories and loaded with plant nutrients such as soluble fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Continue reading →

Going Up

Annual vines provide color in late summer

Gardening

This time of year, an abundance of annual vines suddenly appears in garden stores. Annual vines are inexpensive to grow and fun to play with, and have the added virtue that they are at their best in August and September, when flower gardens can be in need of a lift. Plant them in the ground or in containers, and try something different every year. Vines are wonderful for softening blank house walls, concealing unsightly fences and adding instant height in young or temporary gardens. Continue reading →

It’s About Time – June 2013

About Time

June is a big gardening month. Early winter greens have been used up and cleared away while the sugar snap peas should reach maximum production. The solstice, June 21 this year, marks when the bush beans should have been planted. I like both peas and beans because they are so easy to grow from seed. The critical issue is protecting the seedlings from sneaky herbivores like pill bugs and sow bugs. These nonnative pests hide in mulch or between rocks of the raised beds. They creep out at night to devour the tender plumule just as it starts to emerge from between the cotyledons. Continue reading →

Hashing for Hops

I drank beer and ran several miles with a bunch of hooligans

Outdoors

Convening in the parking lot of an unspecified hardware store, passing around “vessels” filled with delicious beer and cracking sexually explicit jokes at any given moment, the Eugene Hash House Harriers will really throw you for a loop if you’re unfamiliar with the tradition (or if you can’t take a joke). The “hounds” do their best to follow the madcap path laid by the “hare,” and once they reach the end, it’s time for more fraternizing.  Continue reading →

Kickin’ Balls

Adult league sports

Outdoors

Akickball outfielder hits the turf at Tugman Park in South Eugene. Play is halted while she’s carried to the sideline. Is it a twisted ankle — or worse? “Need some ice?” teammates ask. “Get her a beer — STAT!” responds a teammate helping her from the field. She ices down the calf cramp with a cold one, cracks it open and is soon sitting with her friends, laughing in the shade. Continue reading →

A Win for the Bees?

Europe takes action while U.S. bees take a hit

Gardening

On April 28, the European Commission (the governing body of the European Union) voted to impose a two-year moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on food crops attractive to bees and other pollinators. Neonicotinoids, now the most widely used pesticide class in the world, are suspected of contributing to colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees, and their use is already restricted in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Continue reading →