THE YEAR IN FOCUS

The new year presents opportunities for Master Gardeners to gather and share their gardening expertise. Mark your calendars for these MG events.

January 23..... .Annual First Meeting

February 3 ..... Suffolk Alliance for Pollinators

March 9.......... Spring Gardening School

April 27........... MG Plant Sale

May............ .... Field Trips

June ............ ...Master Gardener graduation

June- August... SAP Garden tours

Sept. 11.......... Annual Awards & Reunion

December 4.... Holiday Pot Luck

A number of you will be assisting with the 16 week Master Gardener Training February through June, the 10 week Joy of Gardening course in its fourth offering this fall, and at least 40 plus gardening programs at libraries and garden clubs scheduled throughout the year. And, of course, you'll be busy with Master Gardeners matters at different volunteer locations whether providing education at Spring Gardening School or tours for the Suffolk Alliance for Pollinators and maintaining demonstration gardens all season long.

To bring the many initiatives into focus, we’re gathering in our annual zoom, the first meeting of the year on Tuesday, January 23 at 6:30 PM. Here’s the Zoom meeting link.  

For those connecting via One tap mobile: +16465189805,,94105643330# US (New York) Or dial by your location. +1 646 518 9805 US (New York) Join us!

Three features are different in 2024 for Spring Gardening School (SGS). First, we will be dry this year INSIDE a new school in Calverton, the Riverhead CHARTER School. Second, Spring Gardening School will be EARLY on March 9. Finally, the Master Gardener Plant Sale will have its own day to shine at the end of April. Plant Sale details will be available in next month's newsletter.

We have 40 terrific programs at Spring Gardening School this year, including new offerings such as "the New Perennial Garden," "Grafting Rootstock," "ReWilding," and "Green Roofs," led by our talented Master Gardeners. Register by FEBRUARY 1 to take advantage of the Early Bird discount.

Our class size is limited to 30. If you want the best selection of courses, register as soon as you can, starting today. (Last year MG Eileen Anders was the first to register soon after she received this newsletter. Will anyone beat Eileen this year?)

Take a look at the Spring Gardening School offerings in the SGS flipbook linked here. (Please ignore or close the "x" on the ads on the bottom of this flipbook saying download or continue.)

Most importantly, here’s a pdf file of the SGS Registration page for you to copy.

You can email the Registration page to Sarah Osborn at so348@cornell.edu OR send via US mail to Sarah Osborn, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 423 Griffing Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901. Attention Spring Gardening School.

Remember Spring Gardening School also counts as CONTINUING EDUCATION hours. Start off the new year with these 5 MG volunteer hours in continuing education. Again. Register asap for your choice of sessions as programs fill on a first come, first served basis.

KUDOS to SUFFOLK MASTER GARDENERS, 2023

MGs contributed 12,525 volunteer hours in Suffolk County. That's a value of near $400,000!

The 2023 year was impressive in terms of the QUALITY of your many different gardening achievements throughout Suffolk County. Those excellent efforts translated into an outstanding number of volunteer hours as well. 

The QUANTITY of your volunteer hours is reflected in the pie and bar charts. MG volunteers reported 12,525 hours. Bravo! Gardening is the activity that engaged many of you much of the time. Adult Education and Continuing Education are equally significant as MG activities with Continuing Education and Youth Education added in the overall mix.

According to this year's figures, voluntary hours are valued at a considerable sum of $31.80 an hour. That means your collective contribution to Suffolk County was an impressive $398,295 value. Almost $400,000! Well done all.

Thanks to each of you for all that we have accomplished in 2023. Thanks also to the many of you submitting MG hours via the Qualtrics survey form that provides a confirmation of monthly and seasonal hours.

If you keep these emails, you have a way to track your legacy hours. Here's the link to the MG volunteer survey.

One friendly suggestion. A few of you report 1.5 or 2 hours on each submission. Although we're delighted that you volunteered for one hour or so per week for each of 10 weeks, we have to sort and record 10 different document files to record those hours. The back end of the process is still manual and time consuming. If you could report more hours with each entry, we would be very grateful.

A couple of you have not submitted any hours since we migrated to this electronic survey. Although you remain active volunteers, reporting via a laptop or phone is a bit of a reach.

If you'd like tech assistance with the Qualtrics MG survey form, MG Chris DeSantis can guide you if you're willing to submit hours this way. She can be reached at mrtwo1@optonline.net.

Congratulations to MGs Cindy Ackerman and Bruce Brownawell for completing their initial 125 MG volunteer hours. Thanks to both for donating their deposit back to the MG Program.

A special thanks to Sarah Osborn for helping me keeping track of the many files that added up to over 12,000 hours. I owe you a lunch!

HOLIDAY POT LUCK

The December Holiday Pot Luck at Suffolk County Farm was a treat for us all, with delicious appetizers, main dishes and desserts provided by those attending.

Master Gardeners meeting other Master Gardeners from the more recent classes is one of the highlights of this gathering for me. It's a time to socialize as we are an organization of many busy members across different Suffolk sites year-round. The potluck is an opportunity for conversations and catching up with each other. A special thanks to MG Donna Cange who helped us leave Ag Hall as clean as we found it. Thanks, Donna!

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Cornell's IPM 'What's Bugging You'

January 5: Winter Tree & Shrub Pruning

Register for one or more WBY Events

Tackling Local Nitrogen Pollution: Reducing Fertilizer in Communities 

January 11, 2024 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. | Zoom

Address a critical source of nitrogen pollution in our waterways: fertilizer. Join local leaders in discussing scientific, policy, and practical approaches to reducing fertilizer use. Register Now

For those interested, I did receive a grant to develop a course on best practices for LI gardeners given our proximity to the Long Island Sound and nearby waterways. This year I will be identifying the course content, field trips and volunteer experiences to be shared with CCE Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester Counties. Master Gardeners are welcome to enroll in the course that will be open to the public. More details will be provided later in 2024.



Have a listen to a podcast with NY Times garden writer Margaret Roach and gardener/writer Mark Hamer about how gardens take on significance in our lives.

https://awaytogarden.com/reflecting-on-a-garden-year-and-life-with-marc-hamer/

Bayard Cutting Arboretum’s 6th Annual Horticultural Symposium

Evolution of the American Landscape: Evergreen with Envy

Monday, February 26, 2024

Bayard Cutting Arboretum

Upper Carriage House

In-person and live streamed. Recorded

This year's full-day symposium will explore the importance of conifers and broadleaf evergreens in our landscape. 

·      Adding Diversity with Evergreens

·      Evergreens and Pathogens

·      Alternatives to Common Broadleaved Evergreens

·      Conifer Selections for Long Island

·      Entomological (R)Evolution of Evergreens: Plant Pests New and Old

Registration and details can be found at www.bayardcuttingarboretum.com/symposium

Any questions? Contact MG Doreen Monteleone doreenmn88@gmail.com

Tell a Master Gardener not receiving this newsletter that it's posted on our MG webpage:

Click here:

http://ccesuffolk.org/gardening/master-gardener-volunteers

If you have photos, events and news to share in the newsletter, please email me at rz378@cornell.edu

Happy Gardening!

Roxanne Zimmer