Take Your Temperature

Planting vegetables before May

Until this year, a month-by-month portion of Eugene Weekly’s annual vegetable planting guide began in May. In a way, that’s logical — May is about when our heavier valley soils become workable. These days, however, with many people building raised beds and all-season gardening becoming ever more popular, lots of gardeners know that the planting year can start a lot earlier.  Continue reading 

EW’s Planting Guide 2013

Asparagus Cultivation: Plant 1- or 2-year-old crowns during March, spacing them 12 inches apart in trenches 8 inches deep. Hold off on harvesting spears during the first year for stronger plants the following year. Soil/Sun: Loose, rich, well-drained soil with a high pH. Full sun to partial shade. Suggested Varieties: Mary Washington, Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight Purple Passion.   Arugula Cultivation: Sow March through June, and in fall.  Suggested Varieties: Sylvetta; Roquette   Continue reading 

Birds of a Feather

On the hunt for Eugene’s (not so) wild turkeys

No less an enlightened American than Benjamin Franklin was royally pissed that the U.S. Congress, after six long years of deliberation, declared our national bird to be the bald eagle. Franklin, inventor of bifocals and the lightning rod, suggested a bird of a different feather altogether. In place of the dishonest, lazy raptor of “bad moral character” that is the bald eagle, this Founding Father suggested a fowl he deemed far less foul — the wild turkey. Continue reading