4-H Great Green Gardeners

We installed our garden beds and made rain barrels at the CWC fairgrounds on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Thanks Trident Seafoods for the barrels, Simonson Lumber for the extra lumber and Dan's Sod and Moonlight Nursery for donating the delivery fee for our fresh black dirt supply.

A huge "Thank You!" goes out to the parents who pitched in to guide and assist our members as they put together the first phase of the 2011 gardens.

Members received Great Green Gardener caps - although we were short a few and will need to order more.

Our next meeting will be on May 21st at the Arb to install our gourd garden!

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Our pilot project has concluded. For our last meeting we harvested the pumpkins we grew and painted them with funny faces. We delivered them with some Halloween treats to a Brainerd area senior center. We had a great time!

Plans are in the making to keep our 4-H Great Green Gardeners club going for 2010. Share your ideas with us on what you would like in a gardening project club. Thoughts on the table are:

Container gardening for fruits and vegetables
Native plants garden
Growing plants from saved seeds
Making our own compost
Learning new ways to extend the growing season in our cold, cold climate

Please let us know your ideas!

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Submitted by Cindy Terwilliger

Kirsten volunteered to lead the cheer then Sarah Fairbanks and Katrina Adkins from the Black Bear 4-H club taught us the 4-H pledge.

Home activity was to share information found online about a plant. Members told about tiger lilies, hostas, roses, and others.

Four members made deposits on Junior Master Gardener Handbooks and were encouraged to check out the first few chapters. The $15.00 for each handbook will be returned to the family after the handbooks are turned in at the end of our program.

Sarah and Katrina set up exhibits from a variety of projects and explained what is needed to make a good educational display. Their reason for attending our meeting was to encourage new members to take exhibits to the fair and to help make the fair experience better understood.

Sarah went into detail about Flower Gardening and Vegetable Gardening project exhibits. Katrina and Sarah told the difference between a fine art and craft exhibit and what the different colors of ribbons mean. Sarah acted as a judge while Katrina played the part of a 4-H member in a mock judging session to demonstrate conference judging.

Cindy explained fair registration and the premium book. Some of our new families are apprehensive about it all...but said they were doing it anyway!! That's the attitude we like! Debbie, Nancy and Cindy will be at the fair on entry day..... August 3rd from 1:00 to 7:00.... and are excited to see what our kids bring to the fair!

One of our requirements in this project is to let the public know about what we are doing. We decided to decorate a booth at the 4-H building during the fair so all can see the fun things we've done in this pilot project. At the next meeting, we'll make plans and set up a date to work on it.

After snacks we went to the garden. The water schedule was set up with Sydney's family doing the week of July 5th - 11th, Kirsten's family July 12th - 18th, and the Hinrich family July 19th - 25th. Debbie explained that a pumpkin plant has both male and female flowers and that the female flower is the only one to make a pumpkin.

Snacks for next time will be provided by the Nibbe family and drinks by the Stock family.

NEXT MEETING JULY 6TH 6:00 AT NORTHLAND ARBORETUM

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Submitted by Cindy Terwilliger

We started with our cheer and Jared recited the 4-H pledge. Nancy asked each to share what they've done in the garden, what they've added to their journal, and to tell about a plant they researched online.

Maggie encouraged us to use ning.com and the Crow Wing county Extension website to keep us informed about club happenings and share what you've done in your gardens at home. You might see photos of yourself, too! Other Minnesota JMG clubs use ning.com and it's fun to see what they're doing. Having each of our Great Green Gardeners as a member of ning.com is one of our pilot project goals.

Home activity for July 6th is the same as last week. Using the internet, research a plant and bring information found to the next meeting to share with the group.

The JMGs were interested in seeing results of the soil that was left in jars of water at our last meeting. The layers of sand, silt, clay and organic matter were visible and Debbie explained each.

Next, Debbie lead a game that taught how we are interwoven with our environment and plants and animals.

Thanks to Nancy for providing our snack that we enjoyed while Debbie read an excerpt from the book "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky." She'll read more from this book another time.

Cindy showed the JMG Handbook that is available to our members for a $15.00 deposit. Handbooks will be available at the July 6th meeting.

Off to the garden! Donated annuals, ornamental vegetables, and flowers the members brought were planted. Thanks to Pauline, Maggie and others who guided the kids in planting. We were amazed at how well the pumpkins transplanted only two weeks ago are doing and he gourd seeds are up!

Debbie explained the newspaper and leaf mulch put down around the pumpkins to help conserve moisture and prevent weeds.

Sydney and her family will provide care (watering and weeding) from July 5 - 11. Water schedule is "as needed" ....not just once a week. We NEED a family to water the week of June 29 - July 4. Please contact Cindy.

On July 6th 6:00 at the arboretum, members from the Black Bear 4-H Club will be showing exhibit ideas, holding a judging practice, and helping with fair registration process.

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Next meeting is June 15th at the Northland Arboretum, 6 p.m.

Submitted by Cindy Terwilliger

A great night for the Great Green Gardeners….we started planting!! Our meeting began with Nancy leading us in our cheer "Great Green Gardeners, Great Green Gardeners ….GO GREEN!!”"

Guest speaker Mike Borochoff, from Landsburg Landscape and Nursery, explained his job.

Nancy reminded all to check out the websites and do online activities Debbie suggests. Many of our group have joined the ning.com site. All were reminded to continue journaling and blogging about their garden experiences. Online activity on jmgkids.us is the Compost Activity. Share results in your journal.

4-H Leader Pauline Tischman was introduced. She loves to garden.

Before going to the garden we divided into four groups. While we had a snack (watermelon!!! YUM), parents assisted groups in selecting names for each and types of seeds each group would like to plant.

How exciting to finally get in the garden! Our plot originally had another purpose and sand had been spread on top of the soil. Great Green Gardeners used buckets to move sand and haul in black dirt. Mike Borochoff volunteered to bring donated compost to keep on hand to amend our soil.

Debbie talked about garden safety. Cindy showed hollyhock seeds collected last fall. Debbie explained planting depth then club members planted hollyhock and sunflower seeds along the garden wall. Marigold seeds saved from Debbie’s garden were planted along the side. A chive plant was donated and put in place.

A Weekly Weed and Water Schedule was set up.
Kaytlin and Kirsten have June 2nd-6th.
Jillian has the week of June 7th - 13.

Anyone may send Cindy a garden quote to be added on the next schedule form.

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Great Green Gardeners 4-H JMG Club Updates
May 18th, 2009

Fifteen excited young gardeners attended the May 18th meeting. Master Gardener Nancy explained the Master Gardener program and 4-H Leader Cindy gave out the ning.com and our county’s JMG web addresses and told how using them fits into the 4-H SET goals.

Activities started with Master Gardener Nancy leading the group in a Great Green Gardeners Cheer! Then she asked youth to draw a Hamburger Plant. This request received puzzled looks as no one had heard of that type of plant! After they drew their versions of a Hamburger Plant, club members told about ingredients found in a hamburger and how each item comes directly, or indirectly, from plants.

Parents assisted Master Gardener Debbie in helping small groups discuss parts of a plant and types of food we get from each part. Example: plant part-leaf, food that is a leaf - lettuce.

After a snack break, 4-H Leader Cindy explained the word ‘dissection’. Each young person got a flower and, starting with the petals, learned about the insides of flowers and function of each part. The magnifying glasses provided gave all a close-up look! Parents assisted.

We ended our meeting with a walk to the garden. Debbie explained the challenges of creating a garden that, at present, looks like a sandbox!! Club members took turns reading backs of seed packets and told what each piece of information meant. We posed for our first club photo!

It was a beautiful, spring evening that left us feeling ready to start gardening!

HOME ACTIVITY
At http://www.jmgkids.us Type ‘Chapter 1’ in the search box. Go to Level 1. Activities and Chapter 1. Plant Growth and Development. Pick one of the three choices to complete. Do more if you’d like. Share which activities you completed and what you learned in your journal.

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Hi Great Green Gardeners!!

How exciting to have a club for young people who want to learn about gardening!! At the end of our next meeting on May 18th at 6:30 we will check out the garden spot chosen for us by the Northland Arboretum.

At our last meeting you each got a folder and paper. Using that paper, please write down plans or goals you have as a member of the Great Green Gardeners. Also, tell about the kind of garden you want, what you want to learn, and if you have any garden experience. Please share what your expectations are in this project. A couple sentences for each are fine and, parents, it's O.K. to give guidance if needed.

Here are the fun things planned for the next meeting:

Remember to bring your:
NAME TAGS
FOLDER/JOURNAL and pen or pencil
4-H ENROLLMENT FORMS (Bethany, Michael, Kirsten, and Elizabeth S.)

If anyone has questions, or can't attend, please call or email Cindy. I look forward to seeing you next Monday!!

Cindy

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May 4th Meeting
We had a good time at our first JMG meeting! We named our club - Great Green Gardeners!

The Great Green Gardeners, Crow Wing County's first 4-H Junior Master Gardeners Club, had their first meeting at the Northland Arboretum on May 4th. After a brief overview of the project, fifteen excited, young gardeners played a Bingo-type mixer game to learn about various gardening terms. Next, they learned how plants and people depend on each other through the Gas Gobblers activity.

Each GGG received a folder with paper for journaling and were asked to bring to the next meeting their plans for this project, what type of garden they'd like and what they expect from this project. Our next meeting is May 18th.

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Register now to be a Junior Master Gardener! Limited to 20 participants. Complete the registration form below and return it to Crow Wing County Extension by April 27. Download Registration Form

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