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Feature Article:
What Master Gardeners Do
2019 Year in Review
In this issue, I want to highlight the accomplishments and impact that the Johnston County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers (JCEMGV), had on Johnston County over the last year. One of the ways educational information and upcoming events is passed along to the public is through the Gardener's Dirt Newsletter which currently has over 1410 subscribers. Mrs. Barb Barakat, newsletter Chairperson says: "The Gardeners Dirt is increasingly a 'go-to-read' in Johnston County. Our committee has been outstanding on selecting high-interest themes and our writers work diligently to provide research-based information and tips in a variety of engaging styles and formats. Thank you for your continued support."
The Extension Master Gardener Volunteer (EMGV) program was created to expand NC Cooperative Extension Service's capacity to meet the needs of the gardening public by providing unbiased, research-based, environmentally sound information about establishing and maintaining gardens, lawns, landscapes, houseplants, fruits and vegetables in ways that protect health and natural resources. Enriched with training by NC State faculty and staff, EMGV's love and passion for horticulture along with their variety of lifelong experiences culminates to create highly effective community educators. Because of the efforts of these volunteers, Cooperative Extension is able to have a greater impact benefiting the citizens of Johnston County and beyond.
In 2019, a total of 60 Master Gardener volunteers donated 7596 volunteer hours, devoted 946 hours to continued education, and traveled over 1617 hours to participate in meeting the needs of Johnston County residents. That's a total of 10,159 volunteer hours and 883 more hours than the previous year. A volunteer's time is valued at $25.43, so their combined time value benefit to the residents of Johnston County is $258,343.00! This doesn't include the dollar value in horticultural savings to professionals and consumers because of their education instruction, consultation and advice in landscaping and gardening. Through our Customer Help Line, a total of 1276 calls and people that walked into the Johnston County Center seeking advice, had their horticultural questions answered.
A new demonstration 4-H Pollinator Garden was installed with the help of our Master Gardener Volunteers at the front parking lot area of the Johnston County Center. This garden will be used to teach kids and adults how to install this type of garden, the benefits of attracting birds, butterflies and pollinators in the landscape. The placement of this demonstration garden will be viewed by the majority of people coming to the Extension office and it created a more attractive front entrance to the Johnston County Center.
Mrs. Joanne King, Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens Chairperson said, "There are five Demonstration gardens at the Agricultural Center and 3 landscaped areas that the Master Gardeners have maintained during the year. Our newest addition is the 4-H Pollinator Garden at the front of the building. Our volunteers keep the beds weeded, refreshed with new plants as needed, and watered to ensure a well-groomed display of plant material year-round."
The Master Gardener Annual Plant sale is one way they raise money to help fund their educational programs and outreach projects. We had another successful plant sale with record profits. If you want to add some new shrubs, perennials annuals or vegetable plantings, be sure to put on your calendar Saturday, April 18th, 2020 as the date for the next plant sale which will be located the Clayton /community Center off Amelia Church Rd.
In September, the JCEMGV's
hosted their first symposium on Birds, Bees, Butterflies and Creating Pollinator Gardens. It brought interested parties from close to 30 counties to hear the four expert speakers. This educational event helped Master Gardeners and the public to learn new techniques and further their education. Future educational events are in the planning stages and committees are being formed to handle the multitude of details involved in this type of event.
One of the ways that Master Gardeners reach the public is through our Mobile Plant Clinics as described by
Sam Coburn, Johnston County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer
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"Throughout this past year (2019), 12 Master Gardener Mobile Plant Clinics have been available to the general public at various locations in Johnston County (Hardware Stores, Clayton Farmers' Market, and the Clayton Harvest Festival). The JCEMGV Mobile Plant Clinics promote outreach to the public. Master Gardeners answer questions and provide good gardening options based on NCSU research. Both home gardeners and Master Gardener Volunteers benefit from conversations of mutual garden interests."
368 people received landscape and gardening advice at a value of $75 for each consultation, for a total value of $27,600.00.
Mrs. MarJean Telke and her committee created story boards
as an easy visual tool. These story boards provide information on a variety of subjects of interest to the public. They also indicate web sites for further information. They are used to assist Master Gardener Volunteers to answer questions at Mobile Plant Clinics, classes, and meetings.
Educational programs about vegetable gardening, have been used to teach Master Gardener volunteers and kids in the Jr. Master Gardener class. 17 kids attended the Jr. Master Gardener class and were able to harvest the crop from the Demo Vegetable Garden, get hands on experience in preparation, enjoyed tasting the results, and learned about attracting pollinators.
The FCS and EFNEP agents also harvested the vegetables from the demo vegetable gardens and utilized them in their healthy eating cooking demonstrations. Numerous tours have been given to Master Gardeners from other counties, garden clubs and individuals, and the field crop agents have used the garden as a crop evaluation tool and demonstration to area farmers.
The Craft Committee chair, Mrs. Silvia Caracciolo, says "Making crafts provides an opportunity for us to learn from each other and have a fun time. We produced beautiful objects to sell at different venues this year. Those items included decorated pots, glass, gourds, birdhouses, rocks, and cards. We generated about $500.00 to go back to our EMGV program funds. This is the committee that makes everyone happy!"
Tiffany Whichard, a Master Gardener volunteer, and head of the Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) community garden located at the Johnston Community College, says;
"Thanks to the hard work and tireless dedication of our 23 core volunteers serving a record number of volunteer hours, along with various civic groups, three youth organizations, farm and two office participants, Plant a Row for the Hungry, Johnston County was able to contribute over 5660 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to seven different local food agencies (soup kitchens, food pantries and community outreaches), all in Johnston County. We grew 29 different kinds of vegetables, plus herbs and fruit. (There were multiple cultivars of nearly every vegetable). The garden continues to be 100% organic. 45 educational segments were done this year, plus 2 talks. We're looking forward to 2020 and the continued impact we'll have on ending hunger in our community!"
The Clayton Community Garden was again very successful in 2019! Roy Lewis, lead Master Gardener at the community garden says, "Each growing season has its particular challenges, but using proven agricultural practices, we always overcome." Along with the Johnston County Master Gardener Volunteers, the garden received help from many area organizations. Both the Girl and Boy Scouts provided community service time and two Eagle Scout projects were completed that will enhance the garden for years. We had several local area residents that donated their time each week to help make this garden successful. The Johnston Correctional Institute Horticultural Program through JCC provided cool-season transplants for the early spring and fall gardens. These were distributed to our school garden programs as well.
The garden produced over 3500 pounds of fresh produce that were donated to Clayton Area Ministries (CAM) to help supplement a fresh food source to the areas less fortunate populations. There was a wide array of cool-season and summer vegetables donated. In 2020 we hope to also offer simple recipes for the recipients.
Yearly, the town of Clayton offers a 36-week A-Z Gardening educational course each Wednesday evening beginning in February through October that is taught by certified JoCo Master Gardeners at the Clayton Community & Demonstration Garden. In 2019 we taught 42 residents the art of gardening in the Johnston County area. We've had several students and volunteers to become JoCo Master Gardeners after being a part of the garden group!
Yearly the garden and the course evolve. In 2020, we will add landscaping, food preservation, and nutrition to our regular classes. If you've taken the class in the past or just moved to the area, we look forward to you becoming a part of the 2020 class! Happy Gardening!!!!
Our School Garden Chair, Ester Garner states "
Along with the gardening and advising and learning, Master Gardeners also enjoy good food. We have some fabulous cooks among our ranks and love to share at meetings, conferences and dinners. Good food comes from good gardening and fresh is always best. Our gardens produce healthy and tasty "fruits". Visitors and members alike welcome the bounty at our meetings and our MG members have never disappointed when they are asked to contribute from their stores.
School gardens are also a most rewarding way we share our knowledge and appreciation of gardening. My particular gardening group is at South Johnston High School in the Life Skills Program. These high school aged students are willing workers and like to work in our raised beds as we plant veggies and herbs. We tend these during the season and harvest when they are ready. Then we cook and eat. This part is very important for the students to learn so they can actually see where their food comes from. We have even made pesto from our basil and garlic. Collards, cabbage, carrots, radishes, onions, tomatoes, peas, potatoes, lettuces, and lots of herbs. Making time for this teaching reaps interest in gardening, making it all worthwhile.
We also have a terrific garden at East Clayton Elementary headed up by a hard-working team of Sam, Lori, and several other Master Gardeners. They team up with the Science group at the school and have some energetic workers to help."
Volunteers
Lori and
Sam Coburn
had a successful 2019 garden year with the 'Green Kids' at East Clayton Elementary school in Clayton, NC. Sam says; "We had 22 kids in the Green Kids club (twice as many kids as last year). Grades 3, 4, and 5 participated in the club and we were able to have both a spring and a fall garden. Many gardening tips were provided to the Green Kids and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun!"
Johnston County has a great group of Master Gardener Volunteers that love to share their knowledge and love of horticulture. When comparing their 2019 volunteer service hours to the Master Gardener Volunteers in other counties, Johnston County is ranked number one in the state with total volunteer hours per volunteer! Without the help of these volunteers the Horticulture Extension Agent alone cannot adequately meet the growing needs of the residents of Johnston County.
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Grow Native:
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
By: Margy Pearl, EMGV
Do you have this tough, trouble-free, gorgeous deciduous shrub? Exfoliating bark develops on mature branches which peel to reveal layers of reddish-brown inner bark. Hence the name and why it's on many lists of best winter interest plants! It also makes an amazing hedge, providing food for both bees and birds.
Below are details that that may convince you to add one, or several, to your yard!
Size: 5'- 8' by 4'-6'
Blooms: White or Pink from May to June
Site: Best in part sun with afternoon shade
Water: Dry to medium
Tolerates Harsh Conditions: Drought, Erosion, Clay, Dry, or Rocky Soils, even Black Walnut!
Maintenance: If needed, prune immediately after bloom, no later than mid-August.
To rejuvenate, cut close to the ground in winter.
Disease or Insect Problems: None
Cultivars:
Dwarf:
'Dart's Gold'- Dwarf yellow foliage form.
'Lemon Candy'- Chartreuse leaves 2-2 1/2' tall, 2-3' wide.
'Snowfall'- Green-leaved form, dense habit, 7'
Full Size:
A great, smaller alternative to Smoke Tree and to the fungal disease prone Purple Plum:
'Monlo' - 'Diablo' - 'Purple Ninebark', leaves emerge deep purple
'Summer Wine'- Purple leafed type
'Luteus'- 8-10' tall, leaves initially yellow. In full sun, leaves gradually change to yellowish or light green.
'Nugget'- More dense than 'Dart's Gold', 6' tall and wide.
It's a perfect plant for those not plagued by deer. If you are, though, get out the repellant spray; they love Ninebark, too!
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Veggie Tale:
Reflections on Landscape & Gardening Resources
By: Roy Lewis, EMGV
The festivities of the holiday season are behind us. The traditions of family gatherings, the opening of gifts, pictures, cards, greeting a New Year and all the memories of years past, both successes and failures, are tightly packed into our hearts and minds as we now delve into the beginnings of a new winter season. With a new year ahead, I take time to reflect, pause, be introspective and just take a deep breath - "Don't We All."
The time for reflection is very limited as my most intensive gardening days begin. By January 10th, essential plans are underway for vegetable and flower gardens, growing bedding plants for many of our state government landscapes as well as our Master Gardener plant sale. During this same time frame, normal landscaping chores and preparations to teach multiple horticultural classes (not to mention my personal landscape projects) begin almost immediately. Fortunately, the vegetable gardens were cleaned, mulched and readied last November and soil tests revealed that minimal adjustments were needed. With the aid of our yearly garden journaling, proper crop rotation can be implemented, choice crop cultivars can be selected, past production data is analyzed, good agricultural practices (GAP) are utilized and with God's grace, another successful growing season is anticipated!
Each autumn, we choose to reclaim approximately ten percent of our (perennial and annual) flower beds. This allows our preferred pollinator insects and wildlife to refuse to overwinter with a food resource. Annual flowering and bedding plants should be rotated yearly just as vegetable crops thus reducing disease and damaging insect species. Native plants/beds may not be cut back until late winter but light mulching is recommended. Journals and pictures of past color palates, textures, and annual cultivars offer insight into our plans for the upcoming season.
Digging in the eastern North Carolina "Dirt" can be quite exciting and frustrating at the same time. Our state's soils and climate zones are extremely diverse. Even in Johnston County, something as simple as choosing a turfgrass can cause a seasoned horticulturist a migraine! Where do we find the answers to cultivate a beautiful landscape or a personal vegetable garden? There are several steps that can facilitate the journey towards a successful "Urban Farming" or "Yardening" adventure.
First, decide upon your personal short term plan and goals. Planning and research speed the process tremendously. Put together a list of needs, wants and expectations for your landscape or garden. Keep the initial projects small and expand as your confidence builds. Large projects tend to overwhelm your time, energy and resources. This happens to many seasoned gardeners and I'm no exception as many of my Master Gardener friends might attest. I do occasionally enjoy a serendipitous occurrence, but slow and steady will win the race!
Answers to your success may be but a phone call away. Your local county Cooperative Extension Service (CES) and Extension Master Gardeners can quickly point you in the right direction. There are a plethora of horticultural publications available online through
www.ces.ncsu.edu and the new Master Gardener Handbook is also available to the public online. These resources seem to be the best-kept secrets in our state.
Locally the Town of Clayton offers a weekly A-Z gardening class beginning on February 5th. This class is always evolving and is taught by certified, experienced Johnston County Master Gardeners, offering hands-on experiences plus researched tips that may make you an immediate success!
The agricultural/horticultural internet websites can be wonderful tools, offering great ideas and information but you must cautiously evaluate these resources due to geographic differences. University websites will always offer educational/research-based information. Obviously the NCSU horticultural website and PDFs are readily available but the University of Georgia, Clemson University, Virginia Tech, and Aggie Hort.com have frequently visited websites. The Southern Living websites, Pinterest websites and YouTube videos offer landscaping ideas/images and abundant urban farming information. A Google search of southern landscapes featuring native plants or Urban Farmer Curtis Stone may provide helpful suggestions.
Stalwarts of PBS gardening programming are Growing a Greener World with Joe Lamp'l, Garden Home with P. Allen Smith, and Garden Smart with Eric Johnson. These programs offer superb educational and visual aspects of landscaping/gardening! Additionally, past programs of In the Garden with Bryce Lane and Almanac Gardener with Mike Gray may be viewed via UNC television or easily Googled on the web. Full programs or snippets of these videos are great learning tools and feature many local horticulturists and authors such as Tony Avent, Brie Arthur, and Craig LeHoullier.
Finally, gardeners may tune in to the Weekend Gardener on WPTF 680 AM on Saturday mornings from 8-11 AM and catch up on the local gardening scene. The hosts are a diverse group of gardeners, local specialty horticulturists, authors, extension agents, retail garden center owners, and Master Gardeners. This radio program offers all gardeners vital tips each week but more importantly, exposure to local gardening businesses and products. Listeners are welcome and encouraged to call and ask about any gardening questions. This group of professionals is always willing and ready to help! As a bonus, the Weekend Gardener Magazine is published twice a year and is overflowing with gardening insights. By the way, it's FREE!
Our landscapes and gardens are reflections of our backgrounds, beliefs, and spirit. The absolute worst garden I've ever seen was beautiful! Gandhi once said, "To forget how to dig in the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." Working in our landscapes and gardens offers all of us a place to connect with nature and neighbors, to reflect, and to bloom in our growth.
Happy Gardening!
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Quick Tip:
Journal or Calendar?
By: Silvia Caracciolo, EMGV
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A good practice is to keep up with information about your garden to become more successful. Journaling is a good way to keep specific information about your garden, lawn, trees, and flowers. This information could include growth rates, cultivar names, seasonal changes and much more. Consider using a calendar to quickly view yearly tasks for your lawn, trees, garden, and flowers. Record time to germinate and frost dates for planting, lawn maintenance for pre or post-emergence, schedule for trimming flowers/shrubs/trees, and fertilization for our growing landscape to name a few. Looking at the monthly calendar is a quick and easy way to keep those tasks right on schedule.
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Ask an Expert:
What is 4-H?
By: Courtney Stanley, Johnston County 4-H Agent
My name is Courtney Stanley and I am the new Johnston County 4-H Agent.
The 4-H is a hands-on, learn by doing, educational program for youth, ages 5-18, that helps build and promote important life skills. The overall goal of the 4-H is to help youth develop, leadership, citizenship, responsibility, and life skills through experiential learning programs. Though typically thought of as an agriculturally focused organization as a result of history and background, the 4-H today also focuses on healthy living, science, engineering, and technology programs. The 4-H consists of a wide range of subject matters that each allow for both personal growth and career success.
One of the most popular and well-known programs that the 4-H offers is the Jr. Master Gardener program which is a Cooperative Extension youth gardening program. This program engages children in "hands-on" group and individual learning experiences to help develop an appreciation for the environment and promote a love for gardening. I am excited to work alongside each of
the Johnston County Master Gardener Volunteers to build upon the Jr. Master Gardener program that is already established and continues to lead our youth and educate them on the importance of agriculture. The next Jr. Master Gardener class will be held the week of June 15-19th, 9 am-12 pm.
The best way to get plugged into the 4-H is by joining a 4-H club, as they meet the most throughout the year. The Johnston County 4-H currently has 21 active 4-H clubs, each focusing on a different subject matter, that meet on either a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
If you are interested in joining the Johnston County 4-H program or are interested in
becoming a 4-H volunteer, please contact me at
cnsmit23@ncsu.edu
. I look forward to working with you as we continue to make the best better!
Courtney Stanley
Johnston County 4-H Agent
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WILDLIFE
- Clean bird feeders monthly with hot sudsy water and diluted bleach to prevent the spread of wild bird diseases. Keep seed hulls from accumulating underneath the feeder to discourage rodents.
LAWN CARE
- Promptly remove fallen tree leaves from the lawn to prevent smothering that cause dead areas.
- Check out theLawn Maintenance Calendar for your grass and learn how best to care for it.
Click on each type of grass for link to maintenance schedule:
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For cool season grasses, mow to 3 inches and remove leaves and other debris.
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Helpful Links from Johnston County Cooperative Extension
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E
xtension Master Gardener Training
Class
Registration is now OPEN!
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Blueberry & Grape Production & Pruning Workshop
February 8th, 2020 from 1:30 - 5:00 PM
Join Johnston County Cooperative Extension and NCSU Extension Specialist Dr. Bill Cline for an introductory workshop on blueberry and grape production and pruning on Saturday, February 8th, 2020 from 1:30 - 5:00 PM at the Johnston County Agricultural Center (2736 NC 210 Hwy., Smithfield 27577). Topics include cultivar selection, budgeting, site establishment (soil conditions and planting), fertilization, irrigation, pruning, harvesting, and resources for pest control. Workshop includes a lecture followed by a pruning demonstration at a local farm. The program is aimed at farmers considering establishing "pick-your-own" operations as well as home gardeners.
There is no cost to attend the workshop.
Dress for probable cold weather for the outdoor pruning demonstration.
For accommodations for persons with disabilities,
contact Marshall Warren at 919-989-5380.
For more information on growing and pruning blueberries, visit
NC State Blueberry Portal at:
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Muscadine Grape Production:
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Fruit & Nut Tree Workshop
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Saturday, February 22, 2019 from 10 am to 12 pm.
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Class workshop on fruit and nut trees by Dr. Mike Parker.
This event will be located at Central Crops Research Station, 13223 US 70 West, Clayton, NC 27520-2128. If you have any questions about this event, please contact our office at (919) 989-5380. Thank you.
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For more information visit:
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