Try Something Different

Transcription

1 Try Something Different by Virginia Lee In my search for foolproof gardening with no work, I am trying a new thing. Not being creative myself, I copied a design espoused by Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening fame. Since I have been doing raised beds long enough that the boards rotted last year, this sounded good to me. Mr. Bartholomew came to Monroe several years ago and did a presentation. I don t remember where or when, but that was where I met Steve Hotard for the first time. I was impressed that Mr. Bartholomew travels to third world countries to help people there learn simple techniques that help them feed themselves. This is a design he uses. It consists of a circle of stones or whatever is available, with a center section that is higher and contains compostable materials. In his model, as more mulch is added to the main circle, the outside perimeter can be raised by piling on more stones. The theory is that the compost travels to the outer circle and feeds the plants. How labor saving is that? February 2015 Not having rocks, I used tall heavy-duty edging sitting on top of the soil. My inner compost-holder is green mesh fencing held up with metal fence rods. (I didn t have any straight sticks or bamboo to use, either.) I filled the outer circle with bought garden soil and mulched with crushed leaves. So far, it seems to be doing fine after five months or so. It is growing weeds in the compost but that doesn t bother me too much. You might want to try this. So, have you tried something different? Would you like to share? Since one of our purposes is to educate, let s help each other develop new approaches. Inside the Gardener s Scoop Try Something Different...1 Meeting Minutes Gardening Seminar From the President... 6 What Works and Doesn t... 7 Schedule... 8 Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 1

2 NELA Master Gardener Association Meeting Minutes for January 13, 2014 Call to Order Christy Francis, the incoming President, called the meeting to order at 6:34. Minutes were approved as recorded in the newsletter. Steve Thomas reported on the balance of funds as of December 31, Presentation Segment In lieu of an educational segment for this meeting, Kerry Heafner provided information about upcoming events. Kerry is the regional Master Gardener coordinator. Seminar and Ag Expo Volunteers were needed at both the seminar and Master Gardener booth at Ag Expo. Plans were in place to welcome the speakers and get them settled. Media coverage has been very good. Jill and Robin will both be at Ag Expo, so they will not be available to make copies of handouts. Master Gardeners may claim volunteer hours for the time necessary to make copies. We were reminded that we represent the LSU Ag Center, and cannot discriminate. There was a reminder that centerpieces should be delivered to the seminar by 4:30 on Friday. Proposed Master Gardener Class A new Master Gardener class is proposed to begin late February/early March and last for 12 weeks. It will be limited to 30 people and cost $150 per person. Several people have indicated interest. The question was raised as to whether current Master Gardeners may sit in on the class for new Master Gardeners. The answer was yes. Advanced Master Gardener Class An online program leading to a designation of Advanced Master Gardener will be available. It will consist of three sections, each lasting two months. Phase one is obtaining a private pesticide applicator license. There will be a class at LA Tech to help in obtaining this. After attending the class, the student may submit an application to participate. Phase two is to complete five core classes. Phase three is to complete two additional classes. Reports Changes Christy announced that changes will be made in several operational procedures. First, the Members at Large are responsible to see that food happens for each meeting. In addition, in order to streamline operations, members will be sorted into committees, which will be responsible for various operations. Springfest Assignments will be made before the plant sale, putting someone in charge of each section. Myra Lawrence will be the volunteer coordinator. Please contact her to volunteer for your preferred assignment. Dates for the event are: preview on April 10 and actual plant sale on April 11. Meeting Minutes continue on page 3 Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 2

3 Meeting Minutes continued from page 2 AgCenter Landscape It was requested that we buy a leaf blower. There was some discussion. Aviation Museum No changes will be made to the landscaping now since they will be getting a new building to house aircraft. At that point we will need to help landscape for ease of care. Butterfly Garden and Market on 7th Street The Director wants each parish to have a demonstration garden of local crops. The irrigation instillation will begin soon, and beds will be rearranged. We will use some space to propagate plants for the plant sale. Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo It is too cold to do anything there right now. Other Projects There is no current report on the St. Fredericks High School project. Dawn read a thank-you note from the recipient of our scholarship. It is time for potential recipients to send applications to their 4-H agents for next year s scholarship. February 28 is the deadline. The award will be made in May. The scholarship is named the Steve Hotard scholarship. Other Business Laura Hardin requested that she be relieved of her responsibilities in connection with the media and requested that someone else volunteer. A door prize was awarded. Members were reminded to sign up on sheets to work at the seminar and Ag Expo and to take lots of pictures. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55. NELA MG Board Members Board Officers President Christy Francis Vice President Steve Hotard Secretary Virginia Lee Treasurer Steve Thomas Recorder Helen Hotard Historian Lilly Mathews Board Members-at-Large Elaine Johnson Laura Hardin Warren Daniel Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 3

4 Gardening Seminar Big Success by Kerry Heafner A big THANK YOU to all who came out on Saturday, January 17 for Gardening Through the Ages. Whether you were a volunteer, attendee, or both, your help and presence was invaluable, and we had a great fifth annual seminar. I think, unofficially, we had between 220 and 240 attendees. While we missed our goal of 400 attendees, I think we had a good crowd and we CERTAINLY had good presentations! It was a pleasure to welcome Chris Wiesinger, Bill Welch, and Peter Hatch to West Monroe, and they all enjoyed their visits. I would like to personally thank the team who helps put the seminar on every year. Laura Hardin, Glenda Guice, Dawn Jordan handled media, door prizes/ sponsorships, and registration, respectively. Midge Willis oversaw the seed table. Christy Francis oversaw the bulb and plant sales, Linda Tubbs oversaw the exhibit tables, and Steve Thomas and Warren Daniel were hosts. Elaine Boudreaux provided the stage decorations, and they really helped give the seminar an antique feel, keeping it true to its theme. David Torrez and staff at Lowe s in Monroe went above and beyond again this year with the wonderful propane grill that was the grand door prize. A couple, whose name I unfortunately didn t get, from the Luna area, won the grill, and they were tickled as could be. Thanks also to the volunteers who helped the speakers with book sales and who helped Dawn at the registration desk. Andrea Griggs oversaw, and Gayle Brooks judged another successful centerpiece contest. And weren t there some gorgeous entries this year! And if I ve left anyone out, be assured it s by mistake. People have asked me how we do this every year. When good people are in charge of the various components that make the seminar up, it s really not as difficult as one might think. Now, we turn attention to the new Master Gardener class, which will be starting on Thursday, March 26. Folks are already registering and it looks like we re going to have a good group! The class is going to meet every Thursday for twelve weeks at 6:00 p.m. in the Ag Center Auditorium on Cypress Street. Come by and welcome the new recruits if you can! Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 4

5 Seminar Photos Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 5

6 From the President by Christy Francis So much is happening this month! Winter is a time to plan for future gardens and activities and that is just what our group is doing! January has been a great month and February promises to be just as productive. Unfortunately, I will be gone for a good bit of February but have left projects in the hands of our very capable volunteers. Please contact Myra Lawrence, Judy Grant, or Jan Web to see what you can do to help. They have already started planting seeds for the Springfest Plant Sale and for plants to go in the Butterfly Garden. We only have a little more than ten weeks to have everything ready for the sale. It is a great opportunity for us to reach the public and share our knowledge with those who also love gardening. We reach many new home owners and we are able to fellowship with those who already love gardening. These are the people who need us the most. The irrigation project will be started at the Butterfly Garden soon the flags are already in the ground marking the placement of the irrigation heads. When the irrigation is completed, we will begin to reorganize the whole garden into a more informal demonstration area that we can use for tours. Kerry has told us at the last meeting of his plans to grow a demonstration vegetable garden at the back of the Butterfly Garden, and we plan a compost area as well. I am proud of the committee and the volunteers who worked so hard and helped to make the January Seminar a success. I was very proud of the demonstrations and displays. These were done with the William intent of education Welch and harkened back to the goals formulated when Elaine Smith and I first organized the seminar a dream of the now-retired LSU AgCenter Extension agent, Steve Hotard. The greenhouse committee has been very busy. The fill dirt is being delivered for the base of the greenhouse as I write this. Steve Thomas has planned a work day so I now thank the volunteers who will be here this Saturday to help. Kerry will be starting seeds as soon as the greenhouse has been erected. The new agent, Kerry Heafner, has posted the new Master Gardener Class. I will be helping with two presentations this year propagation and herbs and I look forward to meeting our future members. Anyone who wants to help me prepare for these talks will also learn a good bit about propagation and herbs. I love to share about both of these. I also am planning a hypertufa demonstration and class between March and May. We will meet to make examples and then hold a class to share with the public. I already have two volunteers and welcome more. Please let me know if you would like to be involved. We will set the first meeting/craft day by March 1, so let me know as soon as possible. For now please begin collecting ideas and photos of projects you would like to do yourself. I will post photo links on our Facebook page as soon as dates have been set. I really look forward to a great year! Don t hesitate to contact me if you would like to organize your own favorite activity or demonstration, and stay tuned for updates. Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 6

7 Personal Story: What Works and What Doesn t by Midge Willis At this time of the year we (as gardeners) get tired of cold weather and start preparing for our spring garden. Part of this process is to look back and reflect on what worked, and why some things failed, or were just a bad idea all together. The cypress vine did great too, with seed pods galore. Seeds popped all over the garden, causing cypress vines to come up everywhere. The original vine began to look ugly soon after the weather got hot. As Andrea said, I was sorry I ever planted that vine anywhere, much less on the fence. Last February I planted potatoes along the fence on the west side of the garden. They made a crop, but nothing spectacular. I thought maybe a plant in the legume family might be just what that area needs. So after the potatoes were harvested, most of the fence row was planted with a beautiful hyacinth bean vine. I had never planted cypress vine before, so I decided to see what it would look like at the end of that row. I could just see it and the Hyacinth Bean vine twining along the fence with their beautiful flowers mingling together. As the season got a little farther along it worked: I had a beautiful fence of purple and red flowers all along the west side of the garden. They give a beautiful shade from the hot evening sun for the vegetables growing there. Andrea Griggs took one look at the cypress vine and said, "You're going to be sorry you planted that there." The hyacinth beans did great with the beautiful Never plant purple bean pods hanging like grapes, so many I am wondering what I will ever do with all of them. Anybody need seed? cypress vines close to anything you want to keep weed free. They act like weeds and want the entire yard for their very own. The moral of this story? The hyacinth bean vine, besides looking beautiful, made lots of nitrogen nodules underground so in the fall I planted collard plants between each vine, hoping they could benefit from all of that excess nitrogen. That was a perfect combination, but those cypress vines were invading everything, and there were still millions of them on the vine. Tearing them down only caused more seed to fall in the garden so I had to pull those up. Not to mention the ones that are lying dormant until next spring ready to pounce on whatever is planted there. Hyacinth beans are a member of the legume family, and they help the soil wherever you plant them. Feel free to plant them in the garden to help your soil. Never plant cypress vines close to anything you want to keep weed free. They act like weeds and want the entire yard for their very own. Plant them in a location that can be kept free of too many seedlings with a mower or just don't plant it. Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 7

8 February 2015 Activities Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Upcoming Garden Events February 22, 1:00-4:00 Tangipahoa Parish Annual Camellia Garden Show LSU Hammond Research Station 500+ Camellia japonicas & sasanquas + plant sale February Arkansas Garden Show Little Rock, Arkansas argardenshow.org February 21, 8:00-12:00 Home Gardening Workshop Lomax Hall on LA Tech campus. Free for all. March Louisiana Nursery Festival Forest Hill March Jackson Garden Show Jackson, Mississippi msnla.org/events/garden-patio-shows April 11 (preview April 10) NELAMG Spring Plant Show West Monroe Farmer s Market April 18, 9:00-3:00 Piney Hills Master Gardener Spring Plant Show Webster Parish Extension Office To Be Announced NWLAMG Tour of Homes and Plant Show LSU Shreveport Campus, Shreveport Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 8

9 Volunteer Service Hours As of November January 15, 15, Volunteer Service Hours Continuing Education Hours This time last year: 1309 This Volunteer time last Service year: Hours Volunteer Continuing Service Education Hours Hours 0 Continuing Education Hours Do not forget to record your hours! Do not forget to record your hours! The next MG meeting is Tuesday, The next December MG meeting 9, 2014 is at the Tuesday, LSU AgCenter. February 10, 2015 at the LSU AgCenter. The Louisiana Master Gardener Program is a service and educational activity offered by the LSU AgCenter. The program is designed to recruit and train volunteers to help meet educational needs of home gardeners while providing an enjoyable and worthwhile service experience for volunteers. Contact: LSU AgCenter 704 Cypress Street West Monroe, LA (318) Gardener s Scoop - February 2015 Page 9