Growing Food Crops: Hints & "Secrets" Others Might Not Know

About 1/2 way between Portland and the coast, a little rural town, Vernonia.

 

Nice.. I'm Happy for you!
your climate will be much like ours..
mild, wet winters but an awesome dry season with-out being to dang hot.

when are you moving?

 

Make sure to carry flood insurance depend on how close you are to the river. I swear the Nehelem River floods every other year.

 

I don't think we are going to start anything from seed this year as we have our basement torn apart during a remodel. We will probably just buy the seedlings in the spring from one of our local farms. Our vegetable garden is 20' x 22' with 6- 8'x4' raised beds in it. We also have a few fruit trees growing 6 varieties of apples, 5 varieties of pears and 1 cherry tree.

 

Wow! Your climate and scenery is going to change DRAMATICALLY! Invest in a good rain coat...

 

@nowayout
How and what mushrooms you’re able to grow, and what your success is, depends a lot on where you live and how much work you put into it.
If you live in Washington, Oregon or NorCal, and have thick wooded acres you can bring home some rotting stumps and start spores. There’s websites for mushroom nerds that all talk Latin and trade spores. You can also get a small scale start with a kit
https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...hUKEwjbi8afydXYAhVEx2MKHcWhC14Q0QwIlgE&adurl=

 

Mushrooms are among the few foods I don't appreciate. But I'm looking forward to any info @gosolo will post about how to grow them!

Wow! Big changes for you ahead, not just in gardening. For a while I had relatives in Seaside. It was beautiful but, as we'd all been raised in CA, whoever noticed the sun shining would call out loudly so the rest would 'run, don't walk', outside, so as not to miss it's sometimes once daily appearance.

You probably have already found better resources, but I checked out veggie gardening in your new town and found this, which makes it sound reassuringly possible:

https://garden.org/apps/calendar/?q=Vernonia+No,+OR

Keep us posted on your move!

 

Potatoes:
Thanks for this! Your info on when to fertilize is very helpful! Looking back, I think it explains some setbacks we've experienced over the years.

 

I'm pleased you have the space, and that you built raised beds. I'll get there sometime!

Please DO post up pics! I was able one year to dry and reuse some seeds from an heirloom tomato we really liked, but haven't gotten farther than than. I bought some airtight storage containers, sure I was going to commit to learning this, but I haven't followed through. If anyone knows good tips on saving seeds, I'll be right here learning!

 

Thank you!
This is a nice website with good information. We’ve been planning this move for about 10 years and have been collecting resources. Original plan was to live on the coast down by bandon or coos bay. My son and family live in vernonia so I’m going to be close. The place I’m looking at has a few acres and I’m thinking about planting maybe an acre in hazelnut and fruit trees.

 

That’s how you grow portobello mushrooms?

 

I’ve never grown ‘Bella’s.
The problem with answering the original question is each kind of fungi thrives in different environments. Some shady, some darker, some around pine, some around aspen, etc.
I’m no expert on shrooms. I’m interested and have studied some. It’s an interest I have had for a long time and plan to make another hobby of when I get to Oregon.

 

Yep, that’s a problem there for sure. The internet has lots of pictures of several really bad floods in Vernonia. Where I’m planning to build is not only out of the flood plain, but I’m planning to get the floor 2’ higher.