Are you interested in improving your landscape to "bee-friendly"?

Here are some fantastic new educational modules for Extension Master Gardeners, MN Master Naturalists, the International Society of Arboriculture, and Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association members - or anyone else interested in improving landscapes for all-important pollinators.

Created by Extension entomologist, Vera Krishik and staff, in collaboration with the Xerces Society, has produced a fabulous new educational website and presentations called "Pollinator Conservation"! Included are many great resources AND five online presentations as part of "Bee-Friending Pollinators" workshops (four of the five are recorded).

Watching these can studying this website overall can be counted toward Extension Master Gardener CE hours.

Here's the link: Pollinator Conservation

Let's all do our part to make our landscapes and gardens havens for pollinators. Our lives literally depend on these creatures thriving.

Here is a MG continuing education opportunity: the 2013 Midwest Extension Compost School, June 3-5, 2013.
If you have questions, please contact:
Tom Halbach
Professor and Extension Educator, Waste Management and Water Quality
Phone: 612-625-3135     
email:   thalbach@umn.edu
web:  http://www.soils.umn.edu/

It won't be long now and we will be out in the garden .. for good! I was out in my garden this past weekend and planted cabbage and kale, a little chard and some lettuce. I have to admit, I was focused more on fixing rabbit fencing than I was about the possibility of snow. Who'd have thunk???

If you have been adventuresome and already planted some more tender plants, you might want to protect them by covering them with empty milk jugs or buckets. This is more to protect them from the weight of the snow than the cold of the snow.

Evergreens like arborvitae can be damaged by heavy wet snow, so be sure to shake it off as it accumulates. If you do have any breakage, use a clean, sharp saw / lopper to remove the branch. No need to apply wound dressing or paint the wound. Research has shown trees and shrubs recover better and faster when the wound is left open.

The only exception is if you have damage to an oak. Because we are in the time of year when oak wilt is potentially spread, wounds should should immediately be painted with water-based paint or shellac. Read more..

It is important for gardeners to be diligent about scouting for disease, insects (good and bad), weeds and to observe plant development throughout the year. Properly identify plants (a map of your yard with a plant list s a good idea) and understand the conditions in which they need to grow in order to reach their full potential. Plants that are healthy can also fend off pests more readily. Stress a plant and the plant may have difficulty warding off damaging insects and diseases, and may be out-competed for nutrients and water by weeds.

Regardless of the long winter, Extension Master Gardener volunteers and staff are out there, bringing Extension horticulture best practices to Minnesotans! (From Extension In The News - April 24, 2013)

Master gardener plant sale is May 11
Farmington Independent, April 23, 2013

Growing Green: Healthy soil, healthy plants
Alexandria Echo Press, April 24, 2013

How to deal with storm damaged trees
Worthington Daily Globe, April 23, 2013

Rinta Community Gardens project moving forward
Woodbury Bulletin, April 19, 2013

Gardening classes to be held at Brainerd Public Library
Brainerd Displatch, April 22, 2013

Gardeners honored by U of M Extension
Aitkin Age, April 18, 2013

Get ailing plants diagnosed at Extension clinic
Farmington Independent, April 21, 2013

'Renegade Gardener' offers his list of common blunders
Star News, April 18, 2013

Saturdays 8-9 am - Tune in and call in to WCCO Radio 830 AM for Smart Gardens with host Denny Long, and U of MN Extension educators Julie Weisenhorn and Sam Bauer.

Sam Bauer, U of MN turf extension educator, will be joining me to tackle Minnesotan's lawn and garden questions on the new WCCO Radio show "Smart Gardens", Saturday 8-9am. Tune into 830 AM. Should be fun! (I think Sam will get all the questions).

University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners are educated in home horticulture topics and volunteer in their communities. They provide Extension outreach to Minnesotans in application of research-based information and best practices in home gardening and environmental stewardship. We are proud of our Extension volunteers and appreciate everything they do for the people across the great state of Minnesota!

Here are just some ways they are have been volunteering these days:

Register now for Cambridge Community Garden plots
Isanti County News

Anoka County to host landscaping fair
Forest Lake Times, April 3

Kanabec County Master Gardeners recognized at Award, Recognition Night
Kanabec County Times, March 30, 2013

Ask a Master Gardener
Brainerd Dispatch, April 3

Prospect Park gardens prepare to blossom
Minnesota Daily, April 3, 2013

Crosslake Area Garden Club
Lake Country Echo/Pine River Journal, March 12, 2013

Home landscaping, garden fair is at activities center | ABC NewspapersABC Newspapers
ABC Newspapers (north metro), March 11, 2013

Cathy Peck: Master Gardener volunteers offer numerous learning opportunities in 2013
Bemidji Pioneer, March 6, 2013

Master Gardeners certified, retired
Aitken Age

(Excerpt from Extension In the News)