At the Garden Gate. Sept Oct 2013

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1 At the Garden Gate Sept Oct 2013 Plant Some Shade & Trees Forever Speakers Matt Brewer, DNR forester with the Plant Some Shade program will present "Plant Some Shade - Maximizing the Benefits of Yard Trees" on Tuesday, September 3 at 7 pm. The evening will also include the local Trees Forever organization describing their organization, its history and projects. This presentation is open to the public with no fee charged. See article on page 2 about Plant Some Shade distribution. Farmer s Market The Farmer s Market is held on Tuesday evenings 4 6 pm on the east side of the square and Saturday mornings 8-11 am at South D Street and 1st Avenue West (south of Hy-Vee parking lot). The 2013 season runs mid May to mid October. Mahaska County Master Gardeners will be at the Farmer s Market on Tuesday, September 3 and Saturday, September 7 to answer gardening questions. Final Summer Webinar Irrigation The Iowa Master Gardener program is once again offering a series of summer webinars. The series, in its fourth year, is offered by the Iowa Master Gardener program in response to requests for more Iowa gardening educational opportunities. The sessions are open to all interested gardeners; participants are not required to have completed Master Gardener training to attend, however the session will fulfill Master Gardener continuing education requirements. There is $5 per person charge. Yup, gardening and laughing are two of the best things in life you can do to promote good health and a sense of well being. -David Hobson, The Mad Gardener Inside this Issue: Kidtoberfest 2 Plant Some Shade Distribution 2 The 2013 series provides information about dealing with Moisture Extremes in the Landscape. The final summer gardening webinar will be with Mike Barron, the topic is Efficient Home Landscape Irrigation. Mahaska County will offer an archive viewing of the webinar on Tuesday, September 10 at 6:30 pm. Please contact the office if you plan to attend. Plant Swap Mahaska County Master Gardeners are hosting a plant swap for all interested gardeners. The swap will be held on Saturday, September 14, 2013; 9-11 am Rain or Shine at the South Parking Lot of Mahaska County Extension Office; 212 North I Street, Oskaloosa. Fall Planted Bulbs Presentation 3 Lil & Junior Gardeners 3 Culinary Herbs in the Garden 3 ISU Extension Publications 3 Gardening Guide 4 Make Plans to Enroll in Master Gardener Training 4 Participants are asked to set up at 8:45 am. They can swap out of the trunk of a car, back of a pickup or bring a table to set up. Swappable items include bulbs, perennial divisions, rooted clippings, (Continued on page 2) Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability. Iowa Wildflower Hunt Booklet 5 Bagworms 5 Upcoming Events 6

2 At the Garden Gate Page 2 KIDTOBERFEST is a free event organized by ISU Extension and Outreach of Mahaska County. In its seventh year, it is being held Saturday, October 12th 10 am-3 pm at Penn Central Mall. It is for any youth ages 0-12 and their parents. The goal is to connect youth and their parents to the various types of youth services available in the area. It will have free entertainment all day, including Iowa State University s mascot, Cy; magic show; dizzercise; face painting by Dizzy the Clown; Dan Wardell with IPTV, Tooth Fairy booth by Delta Dental, Oskaloosa Library s Children s Librarian Liz Anderson, Mahaska County Farm Bureau s Ag in the Classroom s Karen Adams, yoga, Zumba, Mahaska County Conservation, National Guard Sumo wrestling, inflatable games; etc.. (Continued from page 1) seeds, ornamental grasses, ground covers, rhubarb etc.. Plants can be potted or bagged. Gardening tools or other gardening related items welcome. Rules of swap: absolutely no money is to be exchanged for any plants or garden related items! Participants are asked to please label all plant material indicating: name, light requirements, (sun, shade, part sun, etc.) soil and water requirements and a short description (height, color etc.). No weeds or unknown transplants are allowed and every plant or seed must be identified. If you have questions about the Plant Swap please contact Sandi Plant Some Shade distribution September 28 MidAmerican Energy Company partners with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in the Plant Some Shade residential tree -planting program to provide affordable and desirable landscape trees (6-8') for residents to purchase and plant on their property for long-term community reforestation. The distribution in Oskaloosa also partners with Mahaska County Extension, Mahaska County Master Gardeners, City of Oskaloosa and Oskaloosa Trees Forever. Distribution for Plant Some Shade will be Saturday, September 28, 9 to 11 am at the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds, Oskaloosa. Trees are ordered in bulk numbers from local nurseries to keep costs low and then distributed at a centralized location to minimize transportation costs. Tree recipients are given instructions on how to plant and care for their trees and also receive safety information regarding the danger of planting trees near power lines. A $30 per tree investment is required by tree recipients. The remaining cost of the trees is covered by a grant from MidAmerican Energy. The trees are not guaranteed or covered by warranty. There is a limited number of the offered tree species. Some of the agencies that will have booths are 4-H, SIEDA, YMCA and Live Healthy Iowa. Volunteers for Kidtoberfest are still needed, contact Natalie Spray at or sprayn@iastate.edu if you would like to volunteer. Before You Plant Plan before you plant. Know how tall the tree you plant will be when it reaches maturity and plan appropriately. When planted too close to power lines, braches from tall trees can cause outages and pose serious electric hazards. Get the scoop before you dig. For no-cost assistance with locating underground utilities, Call Iowa One Call; Iowa s utility notification service at , or call 811. It s the law! The philosopher who said that work well done never needs doing over never weeded a garden. - Ray D Everson This opportunity is for MidAmerican Energy customers, but is not limited to Oskaloosa city limits. There is a maximum of two trees per customer; preordering and prepayment are required. Order forms are available at the Mahaska County Extension Office; (Continued on page 3)

3 At the Garden Gate Page 3 (Continued from page 2) 212 North I Street, Oskaloosa and website mahaska or Mid American Plant Some Shade website Fall Planted Bulbs Presentation Learn from Mahaska County Master Gardeners about planting bulbs this fall for a gorgeous spring garden. The presentation will be Tuesday, October 1 at 7 pm. It will cover planting basics for these easy to grow perennials. This presentation is open to the public with no fee charged. Lil Gardeners Clover Kids and Junior Gardeners 4-H Clubs will meet Tuesday, October 22. The theme is Pumpkins. Lil Gardeners Clover Kids (for grades K-3) meets 5:30-6:30 pm and Junior Gardeners 4-H (for grades 4-12) meets 7-8 pm. If you plan to attend, please contact the office prior to each meeting (preferably the day before) to insure there are enough supplies, and learn of additional items to bring to the meeting. Lil Gardeners and Junior Gardeners are special interest 4-H groups. If you are already a member of one 4-H club in Mahaska county, you do not pay an additional enrollment fee to join. If only joining this 4-H group, you will need to pay the enrollment fee ($20 for Lil Gardeners and $30 for Junior Gardeners). For more information, please contact Suzette Striegel at the Mahaska County Extension Office. ISU Extension Publications of Interest PM 230 Insect and Disease Management in the Vegetable Garden PM 534 Planting and Harvesting Times for Garden Vegetables PM 666 Weed Management in the Home Garden PM 731 Harvesting and Storing Vegetables PM 820 Garden Soil Management PM 1266 Tomato Disease and Disorders PM 1938 Growing and Drying Everlasting Flowers PM 1933 Common Rose Diseases PM 1966 The Garden Guide to Midwest Annuals & Perennials IAN 302 Iowa s Summer and Fall Wildflowers Culinary Herbs in the Garden Lately I ve been impressed with how frequently fresh and dried herbs are used in recipes and on television cooking shows. In the past, herbs often played a bit part in a meal, now some herbs are an essential ingredient in recipes like salsa, pesto and others. Fortunately herbs are relatively easy to grow, and even easier to harvest and preserve for future use in cooking. Growing and Harvesting Herbs With culinary herbs comprised of so many plant species, you might think it would be hard to give general statements about growing requirements for herbs. Not so most, if not all, culinary herbs thrive in sunny sites with well-drained, infertile soils. If you ve ever visited an herb garden you ve probably noticed that they are all in sunny locations and, without fail, have well-drained soil. The fastest way to kill an herb is to place it in a shady, wet spot in the landscape (especially this (Continued on page 4) RG 105 Garden Tips: Guidelines for Seasonal Chores RG 310 Caring for Roses in Iowa RG 311 Growing and Overwintering Tender Perennials RG 312 Suggested Daffodils Cultivars for Iowa RG 319 When to Divide Perennials These publications (as well as many others) are available to purchase at any county Extension office or at the ISUE online store store. Many of ISUE publications are available for download at the same site.

4 At the Garden Gate Page 4 Gardening Guide September Store leftover garden seeds in an airtight jar in the refrigerator Plant balled and burlap deciduous trees Harvest flowers for pressing Aerate or dethatch the lawn if necessary Continue to water recently planted trees, shrubs, and perennials Check houseplants for insects before bringing inside for the winter Take geraniums and coleus cuttings and root indoors Send in a soil sample of your vegetable garden for testing Stop fertilizing houseplants Harvest full sized tomatoes before frost and ripen indoors October Pot up a few spring flowering bulbs to force indoors Dig dahlias and cannas after a killing frost Visit an arboretum or state park to view the colorful tree foliage Remove pumps from water features to prevent freezing Plant spring-flowering bulbs Plant garlic in sunny, well-drained site Pot amaryllis bulbs for forcing Rake and compost fall leaves Continue to mow the lawn until the grass stops growing Leave asparagus growth standing over winter Save pumpkin seeds and roast them for a crunchy, healthy snack, These items were taken from the 2013 ISU Extension Garden Calendar. The 2014 calendar will be arriving soon. (Continued from page 3) year). Herbs rarely need fertilizer. In fact, fertilize them too much and they don t taste as good. Herbs are either perennials or annuals in the garden. Knowing which are annuals and which are perennials is essential when planning and planting an herb garden. Perennial herbs like sage, thyme, lavender, chives and mint do not need to be replanted each year. But annuals like basil and cilantro will not survive an Iowa winter so they must be replanted each spring. To make matters more confusing, dill, fennel, and a few other annual herbs reseed each year. Once planted, they often return year after year. Just don t expect them to be in the same place in the garden every year! The best time to harvest herbs is in the morning when the sprigs are fresh. Harvesting herbs is simple. Most herbs have the best flavor and fragrance before flowering. Harvest about one-third to one-half of the plant just as the flower buds appear. Annual herbs can be cut back more severely since they do not overwinter and they will regrow quickly. After harvest, be sure to wash the leaves and stems. Preserving Herbs Most herbs can be dried and stored for long periods in air-tight jars in the kitchen. There are several ways to dry herbs. The most popular and easiest method is air-drying. After harvesting and cleaning the herbs, simply hang small bunches in a warm, dark, well-ventilated location for a couple of weeks until the leaves are crispy. Once dry, the leaves can be separated from the stems, then crushed and placed into air-tight jars. Keep the jars in a dark location in the kitchen for easy access when cooking. Herbs also can be dried on cheesecloth or screens in well-ventilated locations. My grandmother would often dry herbs on a cheesecloth covered window screen outdoors. Drying herbs outdoors may take longer, is often dependent on weather and can invite some pests to the area but it always worked well for Della. The oven or microwave is a faster way to dry herbs. In the oven, place herb leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Set the oven to 180 F and place the cookie sheet in the oven for several hours. Open the oven frequently and stir the herbs to make sure they are drying evenly without burning. While drying herbs in the microwave is fast, it does require a bit of practice. A small amount of herb leaves are placed in a single layer on paper towels and heated in several short intervals (usually a minute or less). Through the process of trial and error you ll learn about how long it will take to dry different herbs without blackening the leaves. You ll also notice that some herbs dried in the microwave (Continued on page 5)

5 At the Garden Gate Page 5 (Continued from page 4) will retain more of their natural color. As long as they are dried completely, they will keep for long periods in air-tight containers. A few herbs, including basil, actually can be preserved better by freezing than drying. Frozen basil leaves also will keep the bright green foliage color that air-drying usually takes away. After basil leaves are harvested and cleaned, simply blend them with a little water (and/or oil, if wanted) in a blender or food processor. The resulting bright green goop can then be placed in small containers or even ice cube trays in the freezer and frozen until needed. Herb vinegars, oils, butters and even herb mustards can be made with fresh and dried herbs. While these mixtures generally don t last as long as dried or frozen herbs; they can be a tasty addition to almost any meal. For most herb enthusiasts, only a few of their favorite herb plants are needed to provide all the fresh and dried material throughout the year. So, pick a few of your favorite herbs and give them a try in the garden. You might be impressed as well. Following are some herbs often grown in Iowa, including whether they are annuals or perennials, and methods of preservation: Basil -- Annual; fresh, dried or frozen. Many cultivars offer different leaf sizes, flavors, and colors. Chives -- Perennial; fresh, dried or frozen. Some species will reseed. Cilantro -- Annual, fresh or dried. Cilantro seed (called coriander) can be harvested as well. Dill -- Annual, fresh or dried. Reseeds; seed also can be harvested. Fennel -- Annual, fresh or dried. Reseeds; seed also can be harvested. Marjoram -- Annual; fresh, dried or frozen. Mint -- Perennial, fresh or dried. Aggressive spreader in the garden. Oregano -- Perennial, fresh or dried. Parsley -- Biennial, treated like an annual, fresh or dried. Rosemary -- Perennial, fresh or dried. Tender perennial, bring indoors over the winter Sage -- Perennial, fresh or dried. Several variegated cultivars available. Thyme -- Perennial; fresh, dried or frozen. Flowers also can be used. For more information on specific herbs consult Growing and Drying Herbs (PM 1239) available at your local county Iowa State University Extension office or online at This article was prepared by Cindy Haynes, Iowa State University Extension Horticulturist. It originally appeared as a Yard & Garden column August 4, an archive of Yard & Garden columns can be found at Make plans to enroll Mahaska County Extension will be offering Master Gardener Training this winter. Adobe Connect classes will be held Thursday evenings 6:30 9:30 pm January 23 March 13. Other classes TBD. Enrollment will begin in December and is due January 10, For more information about Master Gardeners training please contact the Mahaska County Extension Office. Iowa Wildflower Hunt booklet available Keokuk County Master Gardeners have put together a 35 page 1/4 page size wildflower identification booklet. It has great photos and identification information. The cost is $5 and it is available here at the Mahaska County Extension Office and from the Keokuk County Master Gardeners. Bagworms This is the time of year that people begin to notice bag/pod structures made from silk and bits of foliage resembling pinecones from a distance on many conifer (and occasionally deciduous) trees and shrubs. The defoliation can be stressful to the tree and may result in the death of the tree if complete. Now is the time to inspect trees and shrubs for the bags or pods. More information about control methods for Bagworms is available at our office. If you want more information about any of the Mahaska County Extension horticulture events or have horticulture questions, please contact Suzette Striegel, Mahaska County Extension Horticulturist by calling or ing striegel@iastate.edu.

6 Upcoming Events* ~Mahaska County Office Staff~ Suzette Striegel, Horticulturist Bob Wells, Agricultural Economics Specialist Amy Brainard, County Youth Coordinator Natalie Spray, Program Coordinator Codi Workman, Educational Programs Assistant Lea DeCook, Office Assistant ~Office Hours~ Monday Friday 8:00 am 1 pm, 1:30-4:30 pm September 3 Master Gardener booth at Farmer s Market 4-6 pm Master Gardener Meeting 6 pm Plant Some Shade and Trees Forever Speakers 7 pm 7 Master Gardener booth at Farmer s Market 8-11 am 10 Irrigation Summer Webinar archive viewing 6:30 pm 14 Plant Swap 9-11 am 28 Plant Some Shade Distribution 9-11 am At Southern Iowa Fairgrounds October 1 Master Gardener Meeting 6 pm Fall Planted Bulbs Presentation 7 pm *Events are at Mahaska County Extension Office unless indicated 12 Penn Central Mall 10 am 3 pm 22 Lil Gardener Clover Kids 5:30 pm Junior Gardener 7 pm Mahaska County Extension 212 North I Street Oskaloosa IA Phone: Fax: