February 2010 Archives

Does your Master Gardener group have a public or community garden site that is planted, managed and used by your group to educate the gardening public? We are looking for 8-10 Master Gardener groups around Minnesota to help spread the word about the Arboretum's 2010 "Powerhouse Plants Exhibition: Veggies By the Yard" by duplicating the exhibition in their communities.

The goals of this collaborative exhibit focus on:

• encouraging Minnesotans to give gardening a try and include some edibles in their backyard gardens
• demonstrating various designs and techniques including succession cropping, vertical growing, and soil improvement
• tallying the weekly harvest and posting it on a statewide blog hosted by the MN Landscape Arboretum

Requirements:

The garden(s) must be planted in a location easily accessible to the general public (a demonstration garden, fairgrounds, arboretum, public garden site, community garden, etc.). Each dedicated planting area per design must be approximately 50 sq ft.

For each site, the Arboretum / Extension will provide the specific plants / seeds for the selected garden designs (see descriptions below), signage, and instructions for posting to the statewide blog.

Responsibilities of participating Master Gardener volunteer groups:

• planting the garden design(s)
• blogging about what they see / don't see, pest issues, weather conditions, etc. on the statewide blog
• tallying the produce harvested (weight, quantity) and record it on the blog as well as the produce matures.

Master Gardeners will receive volunteer hours for this activity and active MGs and interns alike may participate. You are welcome to incorporate these gardens into your educational sessions throughout the summer. This would be a good project for JMG groups!

If your Master Gardener group would like to participate, please email or call Julie Weisenhorn by March 15: 612-625-1925 or weise019@umn.edu. Participating groups will be selected based on the visibility of the planting site and the commitment of the MG volunteers involved to fulfilling the requirements (Tip: good planning goes a long way!)

The five garden designs:

Your MG group may choose to plant one or more of these designs provided you have enough space and volunteers.

1. FIRST TIMER'S GARDEN
Try a baker's dozen of the best crops for beginning gardeners, that are easy to start from seed and garden-store transplants. Plant it once, in late May.

2. TWO-IN-ONE
Grow and harvest two seasons of fast-maturing vegetable crops from the same planting bed. Plant it full in early spring with cool-loving crops to pick in June; replant in mid-summer for a second fall harvest.

3. DIG IT!
Plant a garden bed of "buried treasure", filled with root and tuber crops that must all be unearthed at harvest-time.

4. SALAD LOVERS SPECIAL
Grow greens, tomatoes, cukes and more to fill your salad bowl all summer, with herbs and edible flowers for flavor and fun.

5. FOR ADVENTUROUS COOKS
It's a selection of the best of the rest, including some unusual and less familiar crops. There's a whole world of intriguing plants used in other cultures and cuisines. Growing them and enjoying their unique flavors offers adventures for both gardeners and cooks.