Veggie Bytes. The Giant Pumpkin Contest of Richland Parish. Richland Parish has been the home the The Giant Pumpkin Contest for 25

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1 2012 August-September-October Volume 3, Issue 3 The Giant Pumpkin Contest of Richland Parish Richland Parish has been the home the The Giant Pumpkin Contest for 25 plus years. Each summer, the 4 H office distributes 20 Big Max seeds and an instruction/record book to all youth who wish to participate. INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Giant Pumpkin Contest What s Happening 1 2 Gardening Tips 3 Connecting the 4 Classroom to the Garden Ready to Grow 5 Support for Gardens Book Review 6 Recipe Participants must keep a progress report, take pictures and write a pumpkin story. On a Friday in October, the youth bring their biggest pumpkin to Richland State Bank where it is weighed. Local businesses then bid at an auction to buy the pumpkins. The actual prize money and who buys the pumpkins is worked out ahead of time. It varies from year to year, but generally the first place pumpkin gets $300; second place, $250; Participants in the Giant Pumpkin Contest third place, $200 and so on with every 4 H er receiving around $100. The businesses usually donate the pumpkins to establishments such as nursing homes or schools. The record books are also judged. First place receives $25; second place $15 and third place $10. In productive years, there are usually pumpkins that range in weight from 50 to 115 pounds. The past two years have been very dry so there have been fewer and smaller pumpkins. The largest pumpkin grown in the parish was a whopping 159 pounds. Three kids could sit on it at one time! Thanks to Joanna Strong, Associate Extension Agent working with 4 H Youth Development in Richland Parish for organizing this pumpkin contest and promoting agriculture with the young Richland Parish residents. Jason Stokes with his contest pumpkin. Morgan Smith has this nice selection for the contest.

2 What s happening? BURDEN CENTER CHILDREN S GARDEN The LSU AgCenter is pleased to announce a Model School/ Children s Garden is being constructed at Burden Center. Pennington Family Foundation awarded The LSU AgCenter $15, in funding for construction of the garden and supplies for a teacher workshop. We are hoping to complete the garden by late fall, Educators from across Louisiana will be invited to attend workshops focusing on growing vegetables and herbs, integrating the garden into your curriculum, maintaining a school garden, art in the garden, literature in the garden and the list will go on and on. The general public will also be encouraged to enjoy a nice day in this garden. As this is a children s garden we encourage touching, looking and picking not too often are young people invited to do so in public garden spaces! This alligator, carved from a fallen tree, will be featured in the Children s Garden. Teachers and students can visit Burden Center and partake in self guided and docent guided tours of the children s garden. Students will participate in handson activities aligned with GLE standards to learn more about science, history, language, math, social students etc. The Burden Center also welcomes students to partake in their Trees and Trails program there s a world of field trip possibilities awaiting your class at Burden. To learn more about Burden s Trees and Trails, visit the website at trails.com/. Keep reading for more information! A GUIDE TO GROWING A SCHOOL BUTTERFLY GARDEN Attracting Butterflies to Your School Garden! Not all insects/bugs are bad. Some, such as butterflies are really pretty and don t hurt your vegetables well at least in their adult form. Check out the latest publication from the LSU AgCenter on growing a butterfly garden at your school. Visit master_gardener/school_gardens/resources/steps to Growing a Successful School Garden.htm to print your own color copy! Inside are all the tips you ll need to attract butterflies to your garden classroom! Remember that at one point in a butterflies life cycle it will become a caterpillar. While most butterflies lay their eggs on host specific plants, a few butterfly caterpillars may end up on your Cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower). Use an insect identification field guide to properly identify caterpillars. Carefully remove butterfly caterpillars from your vegetable crops and onto host plants such as dill, parsley, and milkweed to allow the caterpillars additional time to morph into a beautiful butterfly! Also Never Never Never spray any insecticides in a butterfly garden. The purpose of a butterfly garden is to attract these insects! Read the publication for more details. We are trying to collect a list of all Louisiana schools with gardens Send your info to Dr. Kiki Fontenot at kkfontenot@agcenter.lsu.edu and you will receive some seeds for your fall garden! Your School s Name and address The gardening teachers name and The grade level(s) gardening A list of what you grow in the garden Page 2

3 Gardening Tips Vegetables to plant.in August Direct seed: snap, lima, and butter beans, beets, collard greens, cucumbers, lettuce, mustard greens, okra, shallots, and turnips. Start seeds of: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and Chinese cabbage Transplant: cauliflower and tomatoes...in September Direct seed: beets, broccoli and cauliflower (early in the month), carrots, collards, English and snow peas, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, onion, radish, snap beans, Swiss chard, and turnips. Start seeds of: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and Chinese cabbage. Transplant: broccoli, cauliflower, shallots (bulbs)...in October Direct Seed: beets, carrots, celery, collards, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, radishes, Swiss Chard Start seeds of: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage Transplant: broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, garlic (toes), shallots (bulbs) JUVENILE leaf footed bug ADULT leaf footed bug Watch Out for Leaf footed Bugs! As the spring gives way to summer heat, you ll start to lose your early planted tomatoes and cucumbers because of numerous things like disease, insects and natural senescence. As you slowly remove older, less productive plants from the garden, carefully watch the remaining plants as well as newly planted seedlings for insect infestations! Insects are very active this time of year. Check out this picture of a leaf footed bug. Like people insects have nicknames or common names Leaf footed bug is this insect s common name. It s formal or scientific name is Leptoglossus phyllopus. The leaf footed bug is part of the Coreidae family and can be easily identified in the garden. Most leaf footed bugs are about 3/4 inch in length, and dark brown/grey in color. Some will have a white to yellow colored stripe across their back. The hind legs have flattened leaf like structures. The nymph stage looks similar to adults; however they do not have fully developed wings and are very orange in color. In these photos you will see the juvenile and adult stages of the life cycle. Some insects undergo complete metamorphosis meaning that throughout their lifecycle, they look completely different in different stages of life, unlike a small puppy which grows up always looking the same, just a little older. Leaf footed bugs are particularly fond of vegetable crops. They have piercing sucking mouthparts that they insert into plants and suck the juices out which damages the fruit of the plant. If you find these insects, you ll want to remove them as soon as possible. Because of their hard exoskeletons and size, it is very easy to hand pick these insects and step on them. Some people even use a hand held vacuum to remove these insects from their plants. If you have spoken with your schools IPM (Integrated Pest Coordinator) and you are allowed to use insecticides in your garden, the pyrethroids are labeled to control leaf footed bugs on vegetables. Sample insecticide trade names include, Bonide Eight, Vegetable, Fruit & Flower Spray and Hi Yield Garden! Remember to READ the Label before applying any chemicals to your garden. Both the insect and specific vegetable need to be listed. You ll also want to look for the REI (re entry period) this tells you how long you need to remain out of the garden immediately after spraying the insecticide. Also look for the days before harvest column. This indicates how many days after spraying you need to wait until your harvest any edible fruit. Good Luck with insect control this school year! Page 3

4 Connecting the Classroom to the Garden Have you ever heard of seed rolls? Seed rolls help younger students and older people with poor eyesight properly space their seeds in the garden. As a class try this seed roll experiment in your garden. Materials Needed! 5 toilet paper rolls (with at least 4 feet of toilet paper remaining on each roll) Scissors Glue Turnip seeds all the same variety Markers Ruler/ tape measure/ or yard stick A garden that receives plenty of sunlight and water! All plants need several key components to survive including water, sunlight, and nutrients. When plants are properly spaced and cared for, they thrive and provide us with good yields. When plants are planted too closely they compete with one another for water, nutrients and light! Discuss competition with your students. Ask them to identify key things (biotic and abiotic) a plant needs to grow. Ask students to hypothesize what might happen if plants were planted too close or too far apart? Can they verbally imagine what will happen? Can they draw or depict what might occur? Next have them work in teams to create seed rolls. When turnips are properly spaced and cared for, they have full dark foliage and a nice round root structure. The LSU AgCenter recommends planting turnips on 3 inch centers. Place wax paper beneath this experiment to keep the glue from adhering to the work area. Take the toilet paper rolls Page 4 with toilet paper attached. Unroll the toilet paper rolls so that exactly 4 feet of paper from each roll is laying across the workspace. Using a dark colored marker and a measuring tape, mark spots in the center of the roll every 3 inches. Next place a very small drop of glue for each seed. Then gently press a turnip seed into the glue. Allow to dry and gently re roll the paper seed strip onto the tube. Repeat this process with the other 4 rolls marking seeds at (0.5inches, 1.5inches, 6 inches and 9inches) apart (only one measurement per roll). Gently unroll the seed rolls and place on top of the garden soil. Use a clod of soil or a small rock to prevent the paper from flying away. Scatter top soil on top of the seed rolls only covering the seeds 1/8 of an inch deep. Remember seeds should only be planted 2 3 times as deep as they are wide. Remove the cardboard roll and water in. Keep well watered until the seedlings emerge from the soil. After emergence, make sure the garden receives at least 1 inch of rainwater or irrigation water per week. Most turnip varieties are harvested days after seeding. You will know when to harvest the roots because they will push up from the soil exposing the top portion of the root. Harvest all strips on the same day. Record differences in the root shape, length, width and number of roots harvested. Discuss differences as a class. You might even have students graph the differences. Besides effecting the root shape and number produced did anything else occur because of the different spacing s? Incorporate a little math. Have students measure in cm, inches and mm. Can they convert their measurements between scientific and English standards?

5 Ready to Grow this School Year? How is your school garden looking after the long summer break? Our Garden is Weed Free? Great! Since you did a good job at weed suppression throughout the summer, all you ll need to do is lightly till the soil. Then add some pre plant fertilizer for most fall crops 5 6lbs/ 100ft row (that is 4ft wide) of is all you need. Is your garden bed that long? No, it s ok let s just do a little math. If 5lbs of fertilizer is needed for a 100ft by 4ft wide row, how many lbs are needed for a typical 10ft by 4ft row? 5/100= X/10 or 0.5lbs. Insert your bed or row dimensions to determine the correct amount of pre plant fertilizer you ll need to add! Did you know 2 cups of weigh approximately 1lb. How many cups would you need for 0.5lbs? 1 cup that s right! Broadcast the fertilizer into the garden and water in or wait for a rain. You ll need to wait 1 2 weeks prior to planting after fertilizing. Choose fall plants and space appropriately! See the What s Growing Section for plants to grow in the next few months. Oh No, our garden is full of weeds! Well, you ll have a little work to do before you can plant. First, pull as many weeds as you possibly can. If there s still more left and you re spent, try tilling the rows/ beds. Pull all plant parts out of the garden as you till this includes both shoots and roots! Get the class involved Lots of hands makes weeding go fast! After all weeds and their roots are removed, follow the directions in the Weed Free Section above! You may only apply herbicides to your garden if you ve checked with your schools IPM coordinator (Integrated Pest Management) and have approval. And remember ONLY apply herbicides that are LABELED FOR USE in VEGETABLE gardens! Support for School and Youth Garden Programs Need additional supplies to help support your garden? Apply for the Subaru Healthy Sprouts Awards (Sponsored by the National Gardening Association). The sponsor offers awards to support school and youth garden programs that teach about the environment, nutrition and hunger issues in the United States. This year the sponsor will present awards to 50 schools or organizations. Each program will receive: $400 gift certificate to the Gardening with Kids catalog and online store for youth gardening, supplies and supporting educational materials; NGA's Eat a Rainbow Kit, full of engaging taste education and nutrition lessons; set of hand tools and three pairs of child sized gloves; Curriculum package from NGA; Plantcam to document the growth and changes of gardens. To be eligible for the 2012 Healthy Sprouts Awards, schools or organizations must plan to garden in 2012 with at least 15 children between the ages of 3 and 18. The selection of winners is based on the demonstrated relationship between the garden program and education related to environmental, nutrition and hunger issues in the United States. The Deadline for application is OCTOBER 31, 2012! If you are a winner you will be notified in August 2013 and the award will be given in December Visit these links for more information and to apply Web Site: and awards. Program URL: grants.kidsgardening.org/2012 subaru healthysprouts award Good luck to all who apply! This is how your seed roll will look once it is completed. Place in the soil following instructions in the article on page 4. Page 5

6 What s Cooking Green Pizza recipe from Eating Well.com In October you ll be harvesting broccoli and potentially some spinach if temperatures are cooler. Try making this version of Eatingwell.com s Green Pizza with your class! It s a healthy snack that your students are sure to enjoy! This recipe makes about 10 servings Preparation Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes Ingredients 1 pound prepared pizza dough 2 cups chopped broccoli florets 1/4 cup water 5 ounces of spinach, stems removed, and chopped (about 6 cups) Pinch of salt Freshly ground pepper to taste 1/2 cup prepared pesto 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Use cooking spray to coat a baking sheet. 2. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray and use your fingers or a roller to spread dough around the surface of the baking sheet. Carefully transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly crisp on the bottom. 3. While the dough is baking, cook the broccoli in ¼ cup of water in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes or until the broccoli just becomes tender. Next place the spinach into the skillet with the broccoli. Re cover the skillet and cook for an additional 2 3 minutes or until the spinach wilts. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Spread pesto evenly over the baked crust. Top with the broccoli and spinach mixture. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the pizza. Bake an additional 8 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly golden. Book Review What a Great Book! School gardens are all too often regarded as projects restricted to science and physical education classrooms. And as many gardening teachers understand, the help of other colleagues would be greatly appreciated! So ask your schools literature/ reading teacher to enjoy your garden space with you. Gardens are pleasant place (on fair weather days) to enjoy reading a book. 2 3 rd grade reading teachers should consider Christina Robertson s, Curse of the Broccoli Florets ISBN This book is a fictional work describing what happens when a little boy proclaims he does not like broccoli. The irritated broccoli puts a curse on the little boy with side effects sure to entertain young readers. The characters may even inspire young readers into trying vegetables before boldly proclaiming they don t like them! After reading this book and growing your own broccoli try making the green pizza recipe in this Veggie Bytes issue! Are your literature students older? Not a problem, have them read this story to younger students! Kathryn KiKi Fontenot, Ph.D. Visit our website: Louisiana State University Agricultural Center William B. Richardson, Chancellor Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station John S. Russin, Vice Chancellor and Director Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service Paul D. Coreil, Vice Chancellor and Director The LSU AgCenter is a statewide campus of the LSU System and provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. Page 6