Precocious Pre-Schoolers put Classroom Concepts to the Test by Amy Bubar

Remember the first time youfelt the joy of digging in the dirt, making a home for a tiny plant andnurturing it into a full-grown leafy donor of juicy, delicious veggies?  A group of children at the Mount SaintVincent Home is doing just that. Though they range from only 3 to 5 years old, as pre-schoolers they’vealready been taught the basics. 

Every Wednesday afternoon asmall group of Colorado Master Gardeners gets the pleasure of spending an hour withthese children.  To make the mostof their perpetual physical and mental motion, the first half of the session isspent with hand-on activities in the garden.  The dozen or so children share activities such as planting,weeding, watering, and even tasting the end products… all the while indirectlysoaking in a bit of Gardening 101. Just as these little gardeners start wandering away from the duties athand, or giving in to the overwhelming temptation of spraying their classmates,we quickly transition back into the classroom.  After regrouping, we typically read a story or teach a shortlesson on topics such as plant parts, composting, and insects.  The lesson then wraps up with arelevant hands-on project favorite such as starting seeds in egg cartons,decorating wooden insects, and making insects out of actual fruits andvegetables.

The Mount Saint Vincent Homeis pleased with the work that Colorado Master Gardeners have done this season and looksto expand involvement next season. 

If you are interested inhelping to grow a new generation of Colorado gardeners, please stay tuned formore information on how you can help starting next spring!

2011 Master Gardener Garden Tour: Home Grown by Georgina Kokinda

Photo by Janet Shangraw

It was the last day of July, a perfect commonly sunny summer day with temperatures hovering close to the century mark, when the Jefferson County (Jeffco) Colorado Master Gardeners (CMG’s) held the HOMEGROWN TOUR. The event, which focused on home/community food production, was organized and orchestrated by a team of Jeffco CMG’s led by Janet Shangraw. Featured were six luscious gardens, including: a community garden in Golden; the home garden of CSU Extension Research Associate, Curtis Utley; three home gardens of Jeffco CMG’s; and the Horticulture Research and Demonstration Garden at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.


The CMG’s and CSU staff who offered to show their own gardens along with volunteers who helped them, worked tirelessly preparing, planting, weeding, watering, sweating and stressing, as crazy monsoon weather in the preceding weeks brought almost daily threats of hail and other severe weather. Their efforts paid off (and of course those daily monsoon rains didn’t hurt), as approximately 200 people toured the productive lush gardens. All monies raised for the event were donated to the Colorado Master Gardener Fund, which provides scholarships for horticulture students at CSU.

In the ‘workshop’ garden (pictured below) outside the CSU Extension office at the Fairgrounds, Extension staff and Jeffco CMG’s plant and evaluate vegetable varieties and growing methods, as well as teach children involved in 4-H and other after school programs. Among the fruits and vegetables being grown there are tomatoes, radishes, broccoli, beans, peppers, onions, garlic, herbs, corn, cabbage, kale, wheat,  apples, and peaches. Many tour participants were interested in the blueberry experiment, in which plants are being grown in bags of peat moss, since the soils along the Front Range are generally so alkaline. For more information on growing blueberries in Colorado, see the Winter2011 issue of the Front Range Sustainable Small Acreage News here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/nl/11-winter.pdf

(photo credit: G. Kokinda)
CMG’s Ellen Goodnight and Vicky Spelman-Lang assist the children in planting tomatoes after school.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
 Mary Small, Jefferson County CSU Extension Agent, stops briefly in the shade for a quick photo-op during a rare quiet period during the tour on the near-100degree Sunday.

photo credit: P. Luzetski)          
Raised beds with concrete reinforcing mesh ‘structure’ provide quick cover if needed for vegetables and herbs at the Horticulture Research and Demo Garden at the Jeffco Fairgrounds in Golden.

 Though not focused on food production, the Plant Select® Garden at the Fairgrounds was recently awarded a Showcase Garden Award for the region, was also on display during the tour. Plant Select® is a collaborative effort with Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens and regional and national horticultural professionals. “The purpose of Plant Select® is to seek out, identify and distribute the very best plants for landscapes and gardens from the intermountain region to the high plains”. Learn more about Plant Select® here: http://plantselect.org/about-us/

Trial plants Coral Canyon Twinspur http://www.botanicgardens.org/content/twinspur (left) and Sea Foam Artemisia http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2025f5a.html in the Plant Select® garden.

(photo credits: G. Kokinda)
VERMILION BLUFFS® Mexican Sage (Salvia darcyi 'Pscarl') was a 2007 Plant Select® choice.

For more on Herbaceous Perennials that are best adapted for Colorado’s lower elevations, see: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07405.html, and Flowers for Mountain Communities: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07406.html.

Several visitors asked questions about Paulownia tomentosa http://www.robsplants.com/plants/PauloTomen, which had been a trial plant for the program a few years ago (pictured below center with large leaves).

(http://www.robsplants.com/images/portrait/PaulowniaTomentosa070728.jpg)

According to Curtis Utley, the plant usually dies back to the ground each year, though some top growth managed to survive this past winter because it was a fairly mild one. It was pulled from consideration for the program, as it is not reliably hearty along the Front Range.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Visitors tour the garden of CMG Vicky Spelman-Lang, which, at the foot of a hillside, integrates beautifully into the other backyard landscaping, featuring a xeric south-facing slope, pictured below.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
For information on xeric plant choices, see Plantalk Colorado: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1907.html

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
The charming garden of CMG Carol Burks featured chickens, bees, herbs and vegetables, and fruit with perennial beds tucked in between and connected by well-tended paths.

photo credit: C. Burks)
Succulent raspberries in the Burks garden.

   To learn more, see ‘Raspberries for the Home Garden’ here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07001.html, and in the Spring2011 issue of Front Range Sustainable Small Acreage News: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/nl/11-spring.pdf.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
A tiny tour-goer enjoys a cool quiet spot in the Burks garden.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
A large healthy Elm tree highlights the Burks backyard.

(photo credit: E. Goodnight)
CMG Patti Douglas in her garden before the tour begins.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Overheard by CMG volunteers at the garden of CMG Patti Douglas were comments by guests such as “I love this garden. I want one just like this,” and “is she really going to eat all of that garlic and all those onions?”

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
Hostess Patti Douglas (center) chats with guests.

photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Other comments were “Everything is so beautifully labeled” & “Patti is so knowledgeable, helpful, and giving.”

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Curtis Utley poses behind a poster describing intensive and vertical gardening methods in his own lush garden in Wheat Ridge.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
A few of the 60-some chickens in Utley’s chicken coop.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)

photo credits: J. Shangraw)
Curtis stayed busy throughout the day explaining to many grateful tour-goers how he grows food for his own family, especially on Training and Pruning Fruit Trees

  Find more info on the subject here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07003.html,
on Fertilizing Fruit Trees: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07612.html,
Drip Irrigation for Home Gardens: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/04702.html,
and Operating and Maintaining a Home Irrigation System: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07239.html.     

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
The entrance to the Applewood Community Garden features a beautiful and prolific trumpet vine embellished gate, designed and hand crafted by community member Christina Forsythe.

The Applewood Community Garden in Golden was started with the help of Denver Urban Gardens http://dug.org/gardens/, in 2007 by 100 volunteers on Earth Day with land donated by a local church. Each plot owner pays $25 per year for fees. Gardeners meet for winter sign-up and a planning dinner.

photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Butterfly bush and Aquilegia chrysantha, DENVER GOLD® Columbine http://plantselect.org/plant-lists/ embellish a bench in the Applewood Community Garden.  

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Common areas include raspberries (recently nibbled by deer), cutting flowers, herb garden, squash, and a pumpkin patch.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)        
Many people at garden asked questions about the Leonotis leonurus, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonotis_leonurus, aka Lions’ Tail or Wild Dagga, which, according to CMG volunteer EJ Bennet, “looks just like a Dr. Seuss creation”.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
Tour highlights from the Applewood garden included a tasting of raw okra by CMG volunteers, offered by Zachariah, a local community gardener.   

 Overall, the feeling by CMG’s is that the tour was a huge success, as we accomplished our mission of sharing research-based knowledge and our enthusiasm for the natural environment. “The Colorado State University, Colorado Master Gardeners Program volunteer network strives to enhance Coloradans’ quality of life by: ●Extending knowledge-based education throughout Colorado communities to foster successful gardeners, and ●Helping individuals make informed decisions about plants to protect neighborhood environments. We are committed to using horticulture to empower gardeners, develop partnerships, and build stronger communities”. Check out this link http://cmg.colostate.edu/ if you are interested in learning more about the Colorado State University Extension Colorado Master Gardener Program.

For more research-based information on growing your own food, we’ve listed a few select links listed below, or search the CSU Extension general web site here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/index.html.

Apple and Pear Insects: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05519.html
Backyard orchard: Apples and Pears: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02800.html
Backyard orchard: Stone Fruits: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02804.html
Composting Yard Waste: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07212.html
Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Squash, and Melons: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07609.html
Edible Flowers: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07237.html
Growing Plants From Seed: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07409.html
Recognizing Tomato Problems: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02949.html
Saving Seeds: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07602.html
Storage of Home-Grown Vegetables: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07601.html ,
Preventing E. coli From Garden to Plate: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09369.html

The CSU Extension Small Acreage Management website also has information on managing your land, controlling animal and other pests, composting and vermicomposting, creating an heirloom vegetable garden, noxious weeds, and more! Visit http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/.

Kim Bone, 2011 Plant Select Photo Winner!

Our very own Jefferson County CSU Colorado Master Gardener, Kim Bone, has won the 2011 Plant Select Photo Contest in the Great Groupings Category!

See all the winners here.

Congratulations Kim.  It is a great photo!

Patti Douglas – Gardening and Giving by Ellen Goodnight

Patti Douglas "Raised Bed Queen"

Patti Douglas, a Jefferson County CSU Colorado Master Gardener for seven years, could easily hold the moniker of 'Raised Bed Queen' as she tends 20 raised beds in her Wheat Ridge garden. Yet there is much more to this inquisitive and giving gardener.
   
Born and bred in Michigan, Patti was raised on fresh fruits and vegetables from her mother's cooking to produce from an aunt and uncle's farm within biking distance. The seeds of her appreciation for good food and how to grow it were obviously sown in her childhood years.

In 1973, Patti moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to ski and lived the mountain life which always included gardening. She moved to the Denver metro area in 1983, attended massage school, got married and had a “darling daughter”, gardening all the while.  Today, Patti still maintains an active Lymphatic Massage practice and teaches Yoga and Tai Chi.   If that's not enough, she is also an artist and a rug braider.

 For the past 22 years, Patti has tested and explored various gardening methods.  Now, rather than planting in our native clay soil, she has perfected the technique of gardening in raised beds.  After trying various box  sizes, Patti has found  2'x3'  wide boxes easiest to garden in.   “I am a short person with short arms.  So I either step into a 4' wide bed or fall into it!”

There are many benefits to raised bed gardening.    Soil problems such as clay soils, or soil with poor  drainage can be avoided by incorporating top soil and five percent organic matter to the native soil of a raised bed.   Soil compaction in the planting area is eliminated with walkways between beds.  By using soaker hoses or drip irrigation in a raised bed reduces  water consumption is lowered  and contained within the growing area.  Mulching raised beds with grass clippings and walkways with wood chips conserves moisture yet reduces weed growth   Raised beds heat up faster in spring, thereby  allowing earlier  planting than in an open garden.   The retained heat and protection raised beds provide allows gardening into late fall and early winter by  covering with glass, plastic or shade cloth .   These benefits  along with higher yields, raised bed gardening is also an  ideal  gardening method for small yards and is handicapped accessible.

 Many of Patti 's raised beds become test plot boxes for new varieties. Her property also supports several different fruit trees, one of which she has experimentally grafted. Patti has continued her explorations by planting cover crops in the winter used as green mulch.  Succession planting and storage varieties of fruit and veggies provide an extended harvest.

Patti's raised bed gardens and a 20'x20' community garden plot produce an abundance of  food. Not only does she raise food for her family, she  generously gives food to neighbors, a local food bank and all  visitors. “No one leaves my home without something from the garden.” Family and friends can hardly wait for Christmas time when they receive  Patti's  gift baskets of onions, garlic, sweet carrots, homemade jams, honey, and in a really good year a melon.   “You know you are special if you make it onto the melon list”.
   

 Gardening is obviously a life long passion for Patti Douglas, but giving is definitely a core value of this warm and generous Master Gardener.

Patti’s garden is one of the featured gardens on the Jefferson County Master Gardeners’ Home Grown Garden Tour  July 31, from 10:00 am. to 3:00 p.m.  For more information about the annual garden tour, call 303-271-6620 or check http://jeffcogardener.blogspot.com for a brochure and map of the tour.

More information about raised bed gardening can be found at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1812.html .

Evergreen Earth Day Festival By Grace Olson

Apprentice Master Gardener Judy Huckeby and Master Gardener Laura McReynolds (right)

    Saturday, April 23, rung in the Evergreen Earth Day Festival with a dusting of snow across the shores of the town’s lake. Volunteers from the Colorado Master Gardener program braved the weather with other non-profit organizations in order to represent the Jefferson County Extension at this popular annual event.

    “It’s important to let the community know we’re here,” said Master Gardener Laura McReynolds, who has been volunteering at the event for the past three years. “It gives us exposure, and lets people know we are always here to answer their questions.”

    And the slushy, April snowstorm outside made it clear that there are plenty of questions for the gardeners of Evergreen.



    “I’m a farm girl from Iowa,” explained Janiece Gallup, from the Shaklee booth, who had stopped to chat with the Master Gardeners. “There, you put a seed in the ground and the sucker grows. Here, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

McReynolds points out informational fact sheets to Cheryl Manning, director of the Evergreen High School Environmental Club. Manning dressed as Mother Earth in honor of the Festival.

    Indeed, volunteers spent the day fielding questions on fencing, the two-month growing season, elk, aphids and hail. Some visitors wanted to vent their frustrations. Others indulged in devising unique, four-letter-words for their resident voles and deer. Some even passed by the Master Gardener booth, professing that the unreliable weather and “critters” had beaten them into submission.

    According to six-year Master Gardener Chris Gray of Evergreen, there’s no excuse for admitting defeat.   “It’s a matter of wanting to, and wanting to learn how to do it,” she said.

    Gray, who has volunteered at the Evergreen Earth Day Festival for the past five years, has seen patterns in the questions put to herself and fellow Master Gardeners. Most recently, she said, the questions have been about native plants and how to grow your own food.

McReynolds discusses the Colorado Master Gardener Program with Rachel Vezina of Westminster.

    The Colorado Master Gardener Program is designed to help people learn how. Through a series of fact sheets posted on its website, a call center and outreach programs like the booth at the Evergreen Earth Day Festival, the program seeks to educate the public. According to www.cmg.colostate.edu, the program is “committed to using horticulture to empower gardeners, develop partnerships, and build stronger communities.”    And that, say volunteers, is a pretty great way to celebrate Mother Earth.

    For more information on the Colorado Master Gardener Program, or to obtain tips on gardening in Jefferson County, visit www.ext.colostate.edu or call a volunteer at the Plant Care Center at (303) 271-6620.
 

Jefferson County Master Gardeners Seed Swap by Duane Davidson

Patti Explains Seed Saving

Picnic Lunch

About 20 Jeffco Master Gardeners and family members braved a chilly wind last Saturday, October 9, to learn about saving seeds from their gardens and then swap some seeds already collected.

The gathering was at Kendrick Lake Park, near Kipling and Jewell, in Lakewood. (This park is known for its innovative xeric garden and has been featured in previous blog postings.) The program began with Patti O'Neal of Jeffco Extension's horticulture staff talking about seeds, including the importance of efforts around the world to collect and preserve seeds. She offered tips to help home gardeners collect and store their favorite varieties of vegetables and flowers.

Seed Selection

Following a potluck picnic lunch, eaten rather hurriedly because of the blustery weather, seeds were exchanged. Those attending had been asked to bring any spare seeds they had already collected. There were annual and perennial flowers, several vegetables and vine fruits, and a couple of herbs. Most everyone found something new to plant next year, and everyone agreed that this seed swap was an enjoyable and worthwhile event to hold again next year – hopefully in kinder weather.

Home and Garden Show Provides a Wealth of Information by Heirloom Fan

If you have never attended one of the Home and Garden shows, you must give yourself a treat next year and plan to attend. The garden displays are well planned and give inspiration to those who want suggestions or help in choosing the right plant for their location.
This year, I volunteered as a Master Gardener at the CSU Extension Service booth. There were four of us as volunteers, and we were all kept busy for the entire 4 hour shift, answering questions and providing Garden Notes and Fact sheets for the many people who came to our table. It was fun to meet so many enthusiastic gardeners who want to improve the beauty of their home and yard with Colorado tested plants, trees, shrubs and lawns.

Colorado gardeners are well aware that what works for Front Range gardens may not work well in the mountains or other areas. The Fact Sheets that are available through the CSU Extension website are research based information which provides more sound advice to help you make the right choices. For example, when you visit your local garden center, look for plants that are marked with the PlantSelect logo. This means that the plants with this designation have been tested by both CSU and the Denver Botanic Gardens for proven performance and hardiness for gardening here in Colorado.

There is also a wide variety of fact sheets available including those for lawns, trees, vegetable and flower gardening, pest management and soil amendments. These are all available at no cost to you – all you have to do is access one of these sites, and browse at your leisure. If you find a fact sheet that you need, all you have to do it click on print and it prints right to your home computer printer. Here are the links you can access:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/pubs.html#water
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/reviewed.html
If you still need assistance after reading the material, you can call Jefferson County CSU Extension Office at 303-271-6620 and ask to speak to one of the experts on hand who can give you more help with your problem or question.  And remember that Master Gardeners will be on hand at other events such as some of the local Farmer’s Markets, so look for us, come up and say hi and feel free to pick up any materials we have on hand for you!

Master Gardener Calendar Sale

Want a unique and one of a kind gift? Need a calendar for 2010 (which is right around the corner)? Jefferson County CSU Extension Master Gardeners are conducting a fund raiser with their Master Gardener Calendar sale. The calendars are available at the Extension Office for $12 each or by mail for $14.50 . The calendar consists of beautiful pictures taken by Jeffco Master Gardeners and features some of their beautiful gardens. Included with the picture of the month is a monthly "to do list", a pest watch, Plant Talk tips and fact sheets that pertain to that month's information.

The money raised will go into the Jeffco Master Gardener Fund which helps fund a scholarship for a CSU Horticulture student and helps purchase books and other items for the Master Gardener Call Center.

For more information and a copy of this beautiful calendar, please call The Jefferson County Extension Office at 303-271-6620.

25th Anniversary Harvest Show by Dusty M

Hail survivors played a key role in last weekend’s 25th anniversary Jeffco Master Gardener Harvest Show. Top winners in several show divisions were among gardeners “wiped out” by the devastating July 20 hail and other hail storms before and after that big one. Some entries were from plants that had recovered from the damage. For others, the judges were lenient in grading blemishes caused by the hail. A few came from plants in sheltered spots where they escaped damage.

In all, there were 277 entries in the show, held Friday, August 21, through Sunday, August 23, at Echter’s Garden Center in Arvada. The annual competition, staged by Jeffco Master Gardeners, was open to all gardeners near and far. It included vegetables, herbs, fruit, annual and perennial flowers, floral arrangements, container plants, cuttings from trees and shrubs, educational displays, garden photos, and scarecrows.


Diane, Rebecca and Michelle Sullivan of Arvada stand beside their garden scarecrow entered in the Jeffco Master Gardeners Harvest Show. The scarecrow was awarded a champion ribbon, as was Diane’s arrangement of dried plant materials.


Norma Faes, a Master Gardener from Golden, holds her champion thyme entry in the herbs division of the Jeffco Master Gardener Harvest Show held last weekend in Arvada.



Karl Tomaschow of Arvada won the championship of the vegetable division with the eggplant shown here. Karl grows a number of different vegetables in containers. All were wiped out by hail this year, but Karl coaxed most of them back into production, and was able to exhibit a variety of vegetables in the Master Gardener show.



Paul Luzetski, a Master Gardener apprentice from Evergreen, won champion in garden photography and reserve champion in everlasting flowers. His everlasting entry, three sprays of globe thistle (echinops), is shown here.



Show winners-web – Jack Shea (right) of Lakewood and Duane Davidson, Arvada, were overall champion and reserve champion among Master Gardeners who exhibited at the Harvest Show. They scored the most points in a tabulation of ribbon-winning entries by Master Gardeners in all divisions of the show. The gardens of both men suffered severe damage in the July hail storm.


A pair of single dahlia flowers entered by Linelle Zimmer, an apprentice Master Gardener from Golden, was awarded reserve champion in the bulbs, corms, and tubers division of the show. Other Golden award winners were Mary Kirby, champion rose, and Jim Faes, reserve champion vegetable (carrots). Other awards won by Lakewood residents were Cheryl Mulhauser, champion container plant (orchid), Jack Shea, reserve champion rose, and Jane Thorell, reserve champion, garden photography. Top award winners from Littleton were Mike Boyle, champion perennial flower (hibiscus) and Peter K. Szilagyi, reserve champion annual flower (cleome). Division award winners from Arvada were Duane Davidson, champion annual flowers (asters) and Charlotte Gottlieb, reserve champion floral arrangement. Tom Taggart of Wheat Ridge received the reserve champion award in the educational exhibits division for his display of mushrooms and bonsai.

More Pictures by Heirloom Fan