Happy July, Gardeners!
Happy International Fruit Day (July 1)! Moth week is also this month, and wouldn't you know, moths take the night shift in pollinating the following fruits: apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, and plums!
Upcoming Events
Part of the Summer Workshop Series at Home Orchard Education Center in Oregon City. Proper summer pruning works to open the canopy and get more light to developing fruit, is important for an abundant yield and is a great time to work on size control.
Registration Required. Sliding Scale Price starting at $40.
When: Saturday, July 11, from 10am - 12pm
Where: Home Orchard Center located on the Clackamas County Community College Campus (19600 Molalla Ave, Oregon City, OR 97045)
Native Plants in an Alien World
This presentation examines both the present and future of gardening with native plants in a rapidly changing environment. OSU Extension Service Master Gardener™ Eric Butler will explore local ecosystems and the processes that create and change them. In addition, Eric will highlight how to set goals, choose plants, and manage adaptively for greater biodiversity and resilience in the garden and beyond.
When: Monday, July 13, from 6 - 7pm
Where: Hoyt Community Room, Sandy Public Library
Bee Amazed! - SANDY - (Summer Reading Children's Event)
Catch the buzz and be delighted as you zoom into the wonderful world of Oregon bees—we have over 500 different kinds! Discover mason bees, cuckoo bees, mining bees, longhorn bees, and, of course, honeybees. They are vital to our food supply and endlessly fascinating. Enjoy lots of hands-on science fun and buzz-worthy activities while exploring these mighty mini-beasts of nature.
This program is provided by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
When: Wednesday, July 15, 10am
Where: Hoyt Community Room, Sandy Public Library
Bee Amazed! - HOODLAND - (Summer Reading Children's Event)
Catch the buzz and be delighted as you zoom into the wonderful world of Oregon bees—we have over 500 different kinds! Discover mason bees, cuckoo bees, mining bees, longhorn bees, and, of course, honeybees. They are vital to our food supply and endlessly fascinating. Enjoy lots of hands-on science fun and buzz-worthy activities while exploring these mighty mini-beasts of nature.
This program is provided by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
When: Wednesday, July 15, 2pm
Where: Community Room, Hoodland Public Library (24525 E Welches Rd, Welches)
Part of the Summer Workshop Series at Home Orchard Education Center in Oregon City. Proper summer pruning works to open the canopy and get more light to developing fruit, is important for an abundant yield, and is a great time to work on size control.
Registration Required. Sliding Scale Price starting at $40.
When: Saturday, July 18 from 10am - 12pm
Where: Home Orchard Center located on the Clackamas County Community College Campus (19600 Molalla Ave, Oregon City, OR 97045)
Dragon Theater Puppets Presents: Johnny Appleseed
Follow the legendary Johnny Appleseed as he travels the American frontier, planting apple seeds and spreading kindness wherever he goes. With colorful characters, clever storytelling, and handcrafted puppets, Dragon Theater Puppets brings this classic folk tale to life in a way that’s fun for the whole family. Laugh, learn, and celebrate the joy of reading with this delightful performance!
When: Wednesday, July 22, 2pm
Where: Hoyt Community Room, Sandy Public Library
Discover the Art and Science of Pickles
Are you curious about transforming vegetables into crisp, tangy pickles you can enjoy year-round? Join the Clackamas County OSU Extension Master Food Preserver Program for a lively presentation! Whether you’re a kitchen newbie or a lifelong home canner, this event will equip and update you with the latest research and essential know-how to safely pickle and preserve your favorites.
When: Thursday, July 23, 6 -7pm
Where: Hoyt Community Room, Sandy Public Library
Summer Espalier Learn and Work Party
Part of the Summer Workshop Series at Home Orchard Education Center in Oregon City. This session will cover techniques for shaping and maintaining espaliered fruit trees, optimizing growth, and encouraging healthy fruit production. Regular pruning during the active growing season is required to help maintain the structure, health, and fruit quality of your espaliered trees.
Registration Required. Sliding Scale Pricing starting at $20.
When: Saturday, July 25, from 11am - 1pm
Where: Home Orchard Center located on the Clackamas County Community College Campus (19600 Molalla Ave, Oregon City, OR 97045)
At the time of writing the newsletter, the group was still finalizing their plans, so please check the our website to confirm: https://www.ci.sandy.or.us/
When: Monday, July 27, 6:30pm - 8pm
Where: TBD
It all started in Berlin in 2007 when a group of students were looking for a way to bring people and organizations together. This year, the fruit is the date, and the motto: plant, learn, and celebrate!
So let’s talk about growing fruit and bringing people together! The Portland Fruit Tree Project had sent out an email about the importance of thinning the new fruit on trees and offers a service to the Portland area to either thin the fruit for you, or teach you how! Of course, I then received an wonderful picture example of the process in the Peaceful Valley newsletter that I receive, so I thought I would share that with you here:
I saved the newsletter content in my notes, so if you would like to read more about crop load management, click here: Crop Load Management
Finally, there are times I am grateful for social media algorithms as not long after receiving the newsletter I was shown a reel by Jack Oostenbrink, on Instagram, demonstrating this very practice: FruitsAndShoots on Thinning Fruit
If you would like to see more of how the Portland Fruit Tree Project is bringing people together, check out this news article that recently featured them: Portland Nonprofits Turns Backyard Fruit Into Meals for Neighbors
I have shared their story a few times because I am very excited about the work that they do, but I often found myself wishing that we had something closer to home, and that is when I discovered Home Orchard Education Center in Oregon City. I included several of their classes under the "Upcoming Events" section.
And, when it comes to giving back to the community, did you know that the Sandy Action Center takes donations of homegrown produce? In fact, our city community gardens donate surplus to them regularly! Donate Food to SAC Link
Moth Week (July 18 - 26)
Moths are an underrated pollinator as we barely have anything in the library to read about them! Butterflies are definitely more popular. As many of you probably know, moths are nocturnal pollinators, and if you are interested in gardening for moths, I think you'll enjoy these tips that came from Sparrowhawk Native Plants:
To successfully attract Pacific Northwest moths like the White-lined Sphinx or the Ceanothus Silkmoth, start by following the design recommendations below and selecting plants that provide nectar sources for adults, host plants for their caterpillars.
- First, select a prime location that receives direct moonlight.
- Second, select your plant pallet. A vibrant moon garden contains prolific white and pale-colored blooms, at multiple canopy levels, that "glow" in low light. A few of these listed also double as host plants: ocean spray, thimbleberry, shiny leaf spiraea, and pearl everlasting.
- Third, support the full life cycle. Moths won't stick around if they can't lay eggs. In addition to the hosts mentioned above, caterpillars in our region rely heavily on these native workhorses: vine maple, kinnikinnick, pacific madrone, red flowering currant.
- Fourth, design for the senses.
- Fragrance: such as mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii), baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa) and hairy honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula)
- Small water feature
- add some whimsy - like iridescent or light-colored stones, or even white ceramic pots to bounce ambient light back into the garden.
- Fifth, Moth-Friendly Maintenance: leave the leaves, go lights-out near your moon garden, and go pesticide-free!
What I've Been Reading:
I love me a good memoir, a fascinating history, and a passionate manifesto, and when a book skillfully brings together elements from all three of these genres, that’s a big chef’s kiss of a combo for me.
And Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City by environmental historian Kate Brown is exactly that: a book that is simultaneously a comprehensive and engaging historical exploration of the role that tiny, usually urban gardens have played throughout history as sources of not only sustenance but also independence and resistance, especially for marginalized groups, as well as a panoramic overview of contemporary urban gardening and the networks of mutual aid and hope these tiny gardens engender, alongside an inspiring chronicle of the author’s personal experiences of the urban gardens she creates alongside neighbors in Washington, D.C. The book invites readers to reexamine the use of urban land and offers a radical vision of a new and more equitable food system.
Bonus Link: The author has an excellent Substack.
As always, thank you for being here,
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