Saturday, October 2, 2010

Majestic Abernethy Maple Comes Down

On August 31, the Abernethy Maple made it's last stand as it was being prepared to be removed from the site. The majestic tree, positioned just to the East of the Pioneer Garden, was estimated to be over 100 years old, and had been on the decline for a couple years due to poor drainage problems. The City arborist gave it a hazard rating of 10 (out of 12) and the decision was made for removal to avoid any harm to the public.

A few of the larger branches were saved for future benches and pieces of the trunk will be made into tables for the garden area.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Oregon Trail Heritage Garden Information

Introduction:
The Pioneer Garden at Abernathy Green is located on site at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Walk back in time and experience the simple delights the first settlers in Oregon experienced as they saw their gardens begin to bear fruit, vegetables, and flowers. The varieties of plants you'll see at this Demonstration Garden are representative of varieties grown in the 1860s (or as close to those as research could identify).


History of the Gardens:
In 1992 and 1993 the heirloom rose garden was researched and developed by Erica Calkins who authored a book based on her research about heirloom gardens, "Hatchet, Hands, and Hoe". Erica sought information on heirloom roses from other historic rose gardens and the ancestors of early settlers in the area. She also obtained specimen roses from the gardens at Ft. Vancouver and other places including old Clackamas County homesteads. Her archieval information is available at the Oregon City Historical Society.

Fellow gardener James Dalton interested in preserving heirloom vegetables assisted with the research and establishment of the vegetable garden. After the development of the gardens, funds for maintenance fell short and the project was not supported. The extensive vegetable gardens were eventually plowed up and grass was planted. The roses lost their identification tags and weeds took over.

In 2004 the organization of Master Gardeners was asked to assist with the rose garden. Master Gardeners are a group of volunteers trained by OSU Extension Service to provide information to the public on home horticulture. Since Master Gardeners are trained in “sustainable” gardening practices (growing gardens with a minimal amount of chemical fertilizers and herbicides), our philosophy fits very well with the practices of the early pioneers; they had to rely on mechanical means for pest control, herbs as insecticides, etc.

 The Kitchen/Herb Garden:
The beds of vegetables and herbs that characterize a “kitchen garden” were developed right on top of the lawn. We used a technique popularized by Oregon Tilth called “sheet mulching” to develop these beds. This is a frugal method that requires no digging or tilling. There are many benefits to using this method of garden bed development including the ability to work with ground that is very wet (that was an advantage in this location because in spring the area is very soggy). It also helps maintain the integrity of the soil with no soil compaction.

Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany donated many of our early seeds. We ordered heirloom potatoes from Seed Savers Exchange and various other plants and seeds were traded (just as our pioneer ancestors did).

As the pioneers planned their gardens, they usually had a few seeds they had managed to carry across the Oregon Trail to their new homes. There are many stories of pioneer women carrying a start of their favorite rose or plant carefully wrapped inside a potato. The potato nourished the cutting on the long trip west. These favorite plants were often placed right beside the kitchen door where they were tended and watered regularly by wash water.

While the pioneers craved fresh greens after spending so much time on the Trail with so little, their kitchen gardens often focused on growing vegetables they could store in root cellars in the winter. They often had potatoes, beets, onions, squash, carrots etc.

Our plantings here are intended to be representative of some of the varieties they would have grown. It is by no means a complete collection. We are adding to it as we go along and are also saving seed as we can. Some of the seed harvested is available for purchase at the Visitor Center. This "seed money" goes to help maintain our garden.


Heirloom Apples:
We will be adding to our 3 heirloom apple trees soon thanks to help from the Home Orchard Society. Tom Winterrod of Pitkin-Winterrood Nursery donated our first trees. The first fruit tree nursery was established here in Milwaukie, Oregon by Henderson Luelling in 1847. He brought over 700 one year old grafted fruit trees by ox cart from Iowa along with his wife and 8 children! His nursery became the source of most fruit trees in Oregon. Currently we have Spitzenberg, Summer Rambo, Baldwin, Hudson’s Golden Gem and Rhode Island Greening apple trees.


Heirloom Roses:
Many of the roses we have here were obtained from “mother plants” at homesteads or other heritage gardens. The majority of these roses are once blooming with the greatest display in May and June. The fragrance of these plants is just wonderful. You can imagine the delight of the pioneers as they return to their doorstep after working all day in the fields to be greeted by a burst of rose perfume!
In addition to the roses, perennial flowers, bulbs, and re-seeding annuals have been planted among the roses.


Hops Arbor:
Please observe our hops arbor that we added in 2005. The variety of hops Kent Golding, is an heirloom variety. Hops were used in the development of yeast for baking in addition to use as a medicinal and for preparing fermented beverages. Hops flowers were considered an aid to sleeping and pillows were made out of the blooms.


We hope to see you soon!