Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association

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1 Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association AUGUST 2014 NEWSLETTER Membership Meetings The Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association meetings for the remainder of 2014 are at 9 am on the following dates: September 17th WEDNESDAY November 18th TUESDAY at the LSU AgCenter office located at Lamar-Dixon. If you have an item for the agenda, please contact Jamie Trisler. Please wear your name tag. AscensionMasterGardeners Executive Board Meetings The Executive Board Meetings for the Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association for the remainder of 2014 are at 9 am on the following dates: September 10th WEDNESDAY November 11th TUESDAY at the LSU AgCenter office at Lamar-Dixon. The board looks forward to serving the association and welcomes suggestions and comments. PLEASE NOTE THE SEPTEMBER MEETINGS HAVE CHANGED FROM TUESDAY to WEDNES- DAY DUE TO THE 2014 AMG TRAINING CLASSES.

2 The AMG Association membership voted for officers to serve the term at the July 15th meeting. The Member at Large positions were appointed by the President per our AMG By laws. We are looking forward to more great and growing years with their guidance! President Jamie Trisler Vice President Glenda Grice Recording Secretary Don Lewis Membership Secretary Julie Elzer Treasurer Cindy Kausek Parliamentarian Emily Young Sub Parliamentarian Lynda Williams Member at Large Lynn Ebeyer Member at Large Becky Floyd Our Ascension Parish Library has been named the Louisiana Library of the Year for The Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association appreciates and enjoys its partnership with the library in presenting the spring and fall garden series for the community each year. When you step through the doors of the library branches it does not take long to recognize why this distinguished award has been given to the library friendly staff, pleasant atmosphere, and of course terrific books and resources. To commemorate this honor, the Ascension Parish Master Gardener Association donated two books to the Ascension Parish Library- What s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) and Perennial Garden Color. President Trisler congratulated all of the library staff who make the Ascension Parish Library a fantastic place. Library Director Angelle Deshautelles thanked the Master Gardeners for continuing the annual garden series and helping the library with the program that contributed to winning the award.

3 TIPS FOR GROWING GREAT FALL TOMATOS from the LSUAgCenter website-homegardening Choose a heat tolerant variety: Sun Master, Solar Set, Heat Wave II, Sun Chaser, Sun Leaper, Solar Fire, Phoenix, BHN216 and Florida 91. Other varieties usually don t set fruit in the high temperatures that we continue to have throughout August and September. Plant deeper than usual. This accesses deeper, cooler soil and the best soil moisture. Set plants in 6-inch deep holes, up to the first true leaf Water in the mornings. This keeps roots cooler and causes less stress than hot afternoon waterings. It also allows the leaves to dry before nightfall which reduces diseases. Mulch well. Mulch keeps the roots cooler and helps retain moisture and slows down weed growth. With fall planted tomatoes, the strategy is to harvest a good crop before a killing frost takes your plants... so get those tomatoes in the ground! It is too late to plant tomato seeds for a fall harvest but hang on...before we know it January then February will have arrived and it will be time to plant those seeds for our spring gardens!!! Plant a couple of your fall tomatoes in large pots or 5 gallon buckets that can be moved into a greenhouse or protected area and you can continue harvesting after our first frost arrives!!

4 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT DENNIS DUSZYNSKI AMG CLASS OF 2009 Dennis was born in Buffalo, NY and moved to Baton Rouge in His mother was originally from Louisiana and met his father when he was sent to LSU by the army. A graduate of Baton Rouge High in 1965 and LSU in 1971, Dennis also endured a 19 month tour in the army in He married Lynn in 1976 and has two children. Son Derek lives with his wife in Denham Springs and daughter Denise lives with her husband in Baton Rouge. So far we they have three grand children (all boys) ages 2, 6, and 20. Dennis also has two brothers, one who lives in Galvez and another in Baton Rouge. Anyone who runs into Dennis quickly learns of his passion for gardening, golf and LSU football (not sure of the order!). After 7 years of retirement from the LADEQ he has no idea how he did everything when he was working! The pictures are of our backyard flower beds and our two dogs. The white one is Deuce and the black one Yonah. We have heard through the grapevine Dennis has a most prolific Meyers Lemon tree...maybe we can get him to share his secret!

5 YOU VE DONE ALL THE WORK, NOW DON T FORGET TO LOG ALL THOSE HOURS! Logging hours is the easy part...you don t have to get your hands dirty or even break a sweat! Simply go the LSUAgCenter website, click the Master Gardener link under Features and scroll down until you see the Reporting Volunteer Hours link. Not only are tracking hours part of the AMG membership requirements (40 hours year one and 20 hours thereafter) but the hours are also used by the LSUAgCenter to obtain grants that help support the Master Gardener program. In 2013, the 50 active, trained Ascension Parish Master Gardeners logged over a total of 2,355 volunteer hours (1.22 FTEs). Our volunteer hours provided a value to the parish of close to $50,000, ($21.00 per volunteer hour) resulting in approximately 133,900 volunteer public contacts with residents in Ascension Parish. In addition, YOU, our members, traveled around 11,500 miles and spent $7,900 in unreimbursed expenses bringing the total value of the program to over $68,500!!! IT S IMPORTANT TO LOG ON BECAUSE YOUR HOURS COUNT! The AMG COMMUNITY GARDEN TEAM is coordinated by Lynn Ebeyer and they are doing wonderful work. Team members include Joan Cox, Dennis Duszynski, Rhonda Gaughan, Amy Grayson, Glenda Grice, Naomi Hill, Gayle Knox, Barbara McCormick, CJ Melancon, Marilyn Oubre, Clint Ourso, and Mary Jo Pohlig. Please visit! It s located in Prairieville near I 10 at Hwy 73, just off Hwy 621 on Eads Road just before Dutchtown Animal Hospital.

6 UPCOMING EVENTS THE REFLECTIONS IN THE GARDEN GARDEN SERIES Burden Conference Center, 4560 Essen Lane, Noon 1pm (bring a lunch, drinks provided) $10 for non members, free for Burden Horticulture Society (education hours) Aug 4 Fall Planting Season Favorites, Dan Gill Sep 8 History of the Rural Life Museum, David Floyd Oct 6 Shade Gardening, Orchids and Ferns, Terry Rehn Nov 3 Decorating for the Holiday, Erin Debosier, Red Door Interiors Dec 1 Birds Unlimited, Gina Periou Aug 5 AMG Summer Tour of Hammond Research Center AMG will visit the Hammond Research Station this beginning at 8:30 am. Carpool leaves Tanger Mall at 7:30 am SHARP. Lunch following the tour at Brady's. Please contact Jamie Trisler for additional info. Aug 18 Ascension Parish Master Gardener Classes 2014 Begin!! See the class syllabus on page 7. (volunteer and education hours) Oct Awesome Art on the Bayou Festival Presented by the River Region Art Association at Jambalaya Park in Gonzales. Master Gardeners will have an information booth. (volunteers hours) Oct Master Gardener Regional Symposium The Master Gardener Regional Symposium will be held in Baton Rouge October Sign up by July 15, 2014 to take advantage of reduced registration fees. Visit Southernregionalmgconf2014.com for more information. (education hours and possible volunteer hours) Nov 4 AMG Harvest Social Gonzales Public Safety Training Center, 724 W. Orice Roth Rd, Gonzales at 6:30 pm. Details to follow from co chairs Kat Hightower, Mary Jo Pohlig and Barbara McCormick. FALL LIBRARY SERIES Sep 23 Galvez Library PLANT SURVIVAL IN A WINTER WONDERLAND ***see below Panel of Master Gardeners discussing ways to care for tender plants during a cold winter. This will also include a slide presentation of pictures from our gardens showing this winter care. Oct 7 Dutchtown Library SHADY CHARACTERS FOR OUR GARDEN Dr. Allen Owings speaking on successful shade gardening. Oct 28 Gonzales Library PATHWAYS to CREATIVE LANDSCAPES Patricia Brussack, Master Gardener from Georgia, speaking on creating garden pathways in our own gardens. Patricia is Janis Poche's sister who has transformed her own garden into many "garden rooms" by using a series of different pathways. Her garden was on the Piedmont Garden Tour of Athens Gardens this past month. ***The September 23rd program on protecting our plants from freezing temperatures and precipitation needs your help! The Library Team would appreciate your feedback on methods and/or pictures of what has and has not worked for you. Please send your methods/pictures of protecting your tender plants to Becky Floyd at rhfloyd@eatel.net. Becky is putting together a power point presentation that will go along with the program.

7 2014 Ascension Parish Master Gardener Training Class Syllabus The City of Gonzales Public Safety Training Center 724 W. Orice Roth Road, Gonzales, Louisiana (Next to Fire Station Drive on side of Fire Station; Park in back of Training Center) Dates Sessions Instructor Monday August 18, :00 9:30 Registration & Introduction Mr. Craig Roussel Introduction to the Master Gardener 9:30 11:30 Program 12:00 2:30 Soils & Plant Nutrition Mr. Rene Schmit August 19, :00 11:30 Botany 12:00 2:30 Annuals & Perennials Mr. Dan Gill Monday 9:00 11:30 Herbs Ms. Janis Poche August 25, :00 2:30 Home Vegetable Gardening Mr. Craig Roussel August 26, :00 11:30 Home Fruit & Nut Production Dr. Charles Johnson 12:00 2:30 Roses Ms. Peggy Martin September 2, :00 11:30 Gardening Tips & Tools/Composting Ascension Master Gardeners 12:00 2:30 Weed Science Dr. Ron Strahan Monday 9:00 11:30 Basic Entomology Dr. Alan Morgan September 8, :00 2:30 Lawn Care Dr. Ron Strahan September 9, :00 2:30 Burden Tour Monday 9:00 11:30 Urban Trees Mr. Barton Joffrion September 15, :00 2:30 Pesticides & The Environment Ms. Kim Pope September 16, :00 2:30 Ornamentals/Landscape Design Hammond Research Station Tour Dr. Allen Owings Monday September 22, :00 2:30 Basic Plant Pathology Plant Diagnostics Dr. Raj Singh **Classes are subject to change without prior notification**