Hagen

Anyone out and about in our communities recently will have noticed that spring gardening tools, seeds, gloves and mini or full-size greenhouses are popping up everywhere. Most of our local chain stores have no control over what they are selling. That direction comes from a corporate office. Corporate has no idea how we live.

Last year I mentioned that one of our stores was offering spring goods for sale far earlier than we were usually ready for them. While visiting with the store manager, he laughed somewhat while saying closer to the end of February, he received a call from corporate headquarters. They wanted to know why this particular store hadn’t sold many seeds yet. The manager simply stated that our ground was still frozen, and folks just weren’t ready to plant anything yet. The gentleman from corporate evidently has never had an opportunity to visit our tri-county area and see for himself that the beauty of the four seasons also came with predictable winters of, at times, bone-chilling winds, rain, and snow. That’s what makes it so special here, I hope that never changes. I believe the man from corporate gave him another month to sell more seeds. It worked.

Thinking of cold, our land and many types of fruit trees also need cold to develop fruiting buds for the next spring. And since our tri-county area can grow wonderful gardens and orchards, something I learned while taking the Master Gardener course can help us to better understand just how important cold is to fruiting trees and shrubs.

Apples are a perfect example of the need for cold weather. Now to us hardy Northeast Oregonians, the required number of chill hours seems relatively warm. Most popular cultivars of apple trees are affected by the shorter days and cooler nights. In general, the most popular tree varieties need 500 to 1,000 chill hours of temperatures that stay 32 to 45 degrees. It’s good to know that there are some “low chill” varieties, we can give them all the cold they want!

This information regarding apples and their specific cultivar number of chill hours was taken from “Gardening Know How.” To learn more, visit www.gardeningknowhow.com. There are plenty of illustrations, photos, and videos to watch. So until next time, keep on chillin’!