January 2012 Archives

For Master Gardeners: here's the St. Paul schedule:2012 ST. PAUL COURSE.pdf

Master Gardeners have a choice with MASTGAR, our Q&A forum:

Subscribe to the MASTGAR listserv - a private, subscribers-only listserve where emails are posted and responded between UMN Extension Master Gardeners;

or ....

Subscribe to MASTGAR on Facebook - a public Q&A gardening FB page for Master Gardeners.

Master Gardeners - you choose how you want to get MASTGAR info.

Enjoy!

Re-posted by J. Weisenhorn; source - MASTGAR / MJ Smetanka, contributor

After years of huffing and puffing, the new hardiness zones have been released. Some parts of Minnesota are in new zones.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

Minnesota Only - Hardiness Map 2012.doc

 They say the new map represents our changing climate, but I still have reservations about this. Yes, our climate is certainly changing, but is it really easier to grow less hardy plants in Minnesota? This winter is an example. I will be very curious to see if my less hardy plants make it through winter without reliable snow cover.

I have been growing some zone 5 plants successfully for a long time -- notably Japanese blood grass (Imperata). They're come back for more than 20 years because I mulch them and because I live in the heart of the city. But I've tried to grow buddleia, which also supposedly zone 5, several times without success and now I treat it as an annual.

I'm just not sure this makes much of a difference for us, practically speaking.

 
Here's the story off the national announcement:  http://www.startribune.com/nation/138043053.html

 MJ Smetanka, UMN Extension Master Gardener - Hennepin County, MN

Seed Savers Exchange are offering free monthly webinars that Master Gardeners can use for continuing education.

UMN Extension Master Gardeners: SSE webinar topics that can be claimed for continuing education hours are:

March - Planning Your Garden for Seed Saving
April - Apple Grafting

May - Heirlooms, OP's & F1's
June - Basic Seed Saving for Beginners
July - Corn Hand-Pollination
August - Squash Hand-Pollination
September - Tomato Seed Saving
December - Seed Storage

Enjoy!

Master Gardeners are required to volunteer a minimum of 25 hours per year to maintain their active status. After reading the EMG post "What Keeps Master Gardeners Volunteering?" I started wondering if the minimum hours goal is much of an incentive - or even a disincentive.

Maybe minimum continuing education hours are more important and CE should be specified to meet Extension and program initiatives of environment, youth, food access, water, climate.

Master Gardeners: what do you think? What if the minimum hours went away and any number of hours kept you certified? Would you continue to volunteer as much as you do now?

Comment by clicking on the Comments link by the date of this post.

Thanks!

I was fortunate to be on MPR Midmorning today, talking and answering questions about cold, drought, snow, and mulch (one of my favorite topics!). If you missed it, here's the link: MPR MIdmorning

Posted by J. Weisenhorn for the MN State Horticulture Society

Book Release and Reception - Decoding Gardening Advice: The Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations

Thursday February 2, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Location:  Bachman's Garden Center, 6010 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis

$5 members, $7 nonmembers - Please register in advance by calling the Minnesota State Horticultural Society at 651-643-3601.  Visa, Master Card and Discover accepted.

Join us for a meet the authors reception with beverages and a presentation based on this just released book.  Covering more than 100 universal gardening "dos and don'ts," Decoding Gardening Advice is the first book to provide gardeners with the real answers. Jeff Gillman, the bestselling author of The Truth About Garden Remedies, and co-author Meleah Maynard back up every good recommendation with sound horticultural and botanical science. Decoding Gardening Advice is the first and only hard-hitting, evidence-based book that every gardener needs for definitive advice on everything from bulbs, annuals, and perennials to edibles, trees, and soil care.  Book signing to follow presentation.  Beverages will be served.

 Decoding Gardening Advice will be available for purchase by cash, charge or check for $16.95 plus tax. Horticultural Society members will receive their 15% discount with their membership card.

Jeff Gillman loathes advice that is given without concern for the consequences. He wrote a tell-all book after hearing self-proclaimed experts spouting things such as feeding syrup to plants, and he lectures on a variety of topics including homebrewed remedies and organic pesticides.

Meleah Maynard is a journalist, editor, and master gardener. Her work appears regularly in magazines, including Northern Gardener, The History Channel Magazine, Gardening How-To and Midwest Home.

 

Remembering the Summer of 2011 - ugh! P1150193.MOV

Posted on behalf of UMN Ext Master Gardeners in Crow Wing Cty:

Here is an early notice to let you know that registration is now open for the 11th annual Garden Expo in Crow Wing County.

This event is open to the public. Master Gardeners attending may count this event toward continuing ed hours.

The event will be held at Central Lakes College in Brainerd from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm on Saturday, April 14.  Register early to make sure that you get a spot in your first choice break-
out classes.   Our last Garden Expo was a sold out event in early March and many of the break-out classes were full by the end of February!!

To download the registration form please visit our website:
www.extension.umn.edu/county/crowwing/mg.  

Contact:
Jackie Froemming, County Coordinator
Master Gardener Program - Crow Wing County
(218) 824-1068
froem022@umn.edu