August 2007 Unit Reports

 

 

AMHERST, CAMPBELL and city of  LYNCHBURG

(Hill City MGs)

Deborah Straw

 

 

Our School Programs in five of Lynchburg’s City’s Schools have settled down to us just watering and weeding through the summer.  They will pick back up in September.  The Master Gardeners are keeping busy this summer at several community centers throughout the city.

 

We continue to staff the phone in the office to assist our Extension Agent Don Davis with horticulture questions.  We also staff a booth at the Community Center every Saturday morning.   Website – www.hcmga.com

 

ARLINGTON, ALEXANDRIA

(MGs of Northern Virginia)

Vivian Ballard

 

Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia (MGNV) has had three programs for its members this summer.  In June we toured the Smithsonian Institution greenhouses, as well as their tufa and gravel gardens.  July featured a trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, and August brought back Monica Lear for a presentation on fungal diseases in the landscape.

 

Our plant clinics and demonstration gardens have been busy. Many of our members volunteered at the Arlington County Fair. Our next general meeting will be in September at the home of our president, Teddye Clayton, and feature a tour of her own garden.

 

Elaine Woods, a long time Master Gardener who was very active in the 1980's and early 1990's died on Sunday August 12.  She was a Charter Member of MGNV, did much of the typing and formatting of the first state MG manual, and helped organize the first ever international Master Gardener conference in Washington, DC in 1987.

website:  www.mgnv.org

 

BEDFORD

Patty Gamache

 

Bedford MG's in conjunction with the VCE, Kiwanis Club, and the D-Day memorial administrators have put together a vegetable garden for low income families.  Children were brought to the site every Friday as BMG's taught classes on seed germination, plant buying, preparing the soil, planting, beneficial insects and not so beneficial insects, birds and their habits, making Blue Bird Houses and placing them around the garden,  container gardening and making stepping stones to place permanently in the area.  All produce from the garden has gone to the children and their families.  It has been a most rewarding program for BMG's and we hope to expand on the program next year.

 

 

CARROLL, GRAYSON and city of GALAX

(MGs of the Blue Ridge)

Charlie Whittle

 

 

Heirloom vegetable garden at Matthews Historic Farm hosted a successful open house July10. Memorial garden at Southwest Virginia Training Center designed by unit dedicated. Blue Ridge Music Center trails completed. Beaver Dam Trail, America’s Anniversary Gardens in Hillsville & Galax.

 

CHESAPEAKE

 Pinky Derieux

 

We held our annual plant sale in May and netted alittle over $5,000.  Once again Chesapeake MGs participated in our annual Jubilee in May.  In June we were afforded a special treat by having our picnic at the home of Janet Hong, a local daylily grower.

Also in June we attended a picnic with Portsmouth' MGs.  Virginia Beach's Community Gardening Festival will be held on September 15 and we will man a booth there with a horticultural display.
Fall activities include participation in the State Fair and the Heritage Arts Festival.
Plans are in the works to present a bulb program in the fall at the local schools and the Tidewater Detention Center.
Our VCE trailer this spring has undergone a transformation in plantings. Hundreds of bulbs were planted thanks to donations and after the plant sale many plants were added.  A storage bin was added to house soil and another bin was built to hold pots.  Our agent now intends to use this area as a teaching garden. 

To date our plant a row for the hungry program has collected 3842 pounds of food which supplies food to 552 individuals. This year for the first time a help desk has been set up at our plant a row drop-off site to aid homeowners who have
inquiries regarding growing concerns.

 

 

CHESTERFIELD

  Lynn Foote

 

 

The Chesterfield County Master Gardeners continue to answer busy phones on a daily basis. The pilot program Gardening for New Residents accepted 49 applications and is in the process of completing all the assessments.  The feedback from the clients has been very positive so far. The Grass Roots program for 2008 has 30 applications already and will continue to put people on a waiting list.

The MG will be busy with seminars this fall; the Shepherd Center will host 8 week programs at 2 locations, Swift Creek Presbyterian will host a 6 week program, and the Richmond Shepherd Center will host a one time seminar.   The MGs will also be offering clinics at the Chesterfield County Fair and the State Fair. WWW.Chesterfield.gov/extension

 

 

 

 

FAIRFAX

George Graine

 

 

Two continuing education programs were made available to all Fairfax MGs this summer.  The first was a walk in the garden of a full service garden center.  Our Extension Agent and “Training Officer” (a former Fairfax Extension Agent) led the group in a hands-on review process designed to identify plants and discuss any problems associated with these plants.  This effort was designed to provide support to plant clinicians and those who work the “help line.”

 

A second program dubbed “Under the Microscope” was designed to check out problems that ordinarily could not be seen with the naked eye.  We also had an opportunity to test a new scope that has the ability to project the field of view on a large movie screen.  www.fairfaxmastergardeners.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAIRFAX - Green Spring Unit

Joan Richards

 

Green Spring Master Gardeners will gather August 16 for their semi-annual social

and awards event at Green Spring Gardens.  The new class of candidates will be welcomed as they begin their series of instruction.

This site will also be the location for the fall Basic Gardening Series workshops taught by Green Spring master gardeners September 14 through October 26.  Several of the classes will be taught in Spanish.

An ongoing project of Green Spring master gardeners is caring for the Wildlife Garden at Green Spring Gardens.  This demonstration garden provides homeowners with ideas for providing a wildlife friendly environment in their own backyards.

 

 

 

 

 

FLUVANNA

Jo Anne Henry

 

The major work of the summer has been planting and managing the Heritage Garden and the Community Garden on the grounds of Pleasant Grove. These have been planted and ideas are being reviewed for increasing community involvement for next year. The Heritage Garden includes vegetable plantings and a no till garden and the Community Garden is a partnership with Fluvanna families and the Master Gardeners. The staff of the Extension Office is very enthusiastic about this projects potential for growth in the future.

 

Every Wednesday morning, Master Gardeners staff the Horticultural Help Desk and an information booth has been established at the Tuesday afternoon Farmer’s Market. Many of the Master Gardeners work on keeping the public and garden areas of Lake Monticello weeded and trimmed. Plans are underway to participate in the Heritage Harvest Festival at Tufton Farm in September and Old Farm Day at Pleasant Grove in October.   www.fluvannamg.org

 

 

 

 

HALIFAX

(Southside MGs)

Meredith Bowman

 

The Beautiful Gardens plot is manicured, thirsty at times but thriving. We
have two teams that each meet once a month at the site.  That is good for us
since we only have around 16 who have signed up to help with this project.
We have three new species of multiple cultivars that we planted in July. We
continue to research and evaluate these plants.
Agnes Gregory and Bill McCaleb have again been counselors and "professors"
at the 4 H Camp.
Did YOU KNOW that the name, gladiola, comes from the Latin word gladiolus,
which means "sword?'

 

 

 

HANOVER

Christy Brennan

 

Hanover is offering a set of In House Diagnostic Clinics during the summer for Master Gardeners to sharpen their diagnostic skills and to obtain those valuable continuing education hours. 

Hanover Master Gardeners were well represented at the Ashland Strawberry Faire in June and the Hanover Tomato Festival in July, two large festivals in Hanover County.  An advanced Hypertufu Class has been planned for late July.

 

 

 

JAMES CITY  COUNTY/

WILLIAMSBURG

Anne Odle

 

JCC/Williamsburg MGs held their 6th Annual Super Turf Saturday at Lafayette H.S. August 18th and featured VATech turf team.

Williamsburg Farmers' Market M.G. booth featured Therapeutic Gardening at Morningside, Patriots Colony, Methodist Respite, and Eastern State Hospital
displaying scrapbooks, garden hats created by residents, and propagating. 

 We are Sustained Excellence for Children and Youth Education Award winners for the Brag competition at the 20th annual M.G. College.  website - www.jccwmg.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOUDOUN

Dave Hellums

 

The Loudoun County Master Gardeners have had an extremely busy two months Our most challenging adventure for the summer is certainly our Demonstration Garden.  We have almost 2 acres of landscaping and  vegetable beds to maintain.  You can take a virtual tour of our Demo  Garden at http://www.loudouncountymastergardeners.org/demogarden.htm

 

So far this year, we have harvested OVER 500 LBS of produce, which is  donated to "Loudoun Interfaith Relief".  We participated in the Loudoun County Fair with our Master Gardener Booth giving advice and contact information. 

 

To fund our large Demonstration Garden we are having a Fall Bulb Sale.  If you are interested in our process, check out our bulb sale flyer at www.loudouncountymastergardeners.org/Bulb%20Order%20Form%20Fall%

Website – www.loudouncountymastergardeners.org.

 

 

 

MONTGOMERY, FLOYD, PULASKI, and GILES

(New River Valley MGs)

Gwen Ewing

 

We held a Silent Auction for our own Association members during the May potluck and graduation exercise for our interns and raised $1240.00.  This money will support our School Grant Program. Plant clinics are on going, looking forward to the county fair educational activities in Dublin, Va

Master Gardeners  have been donating paperback books to ship overseas to the soldiers, the  site is www.operationpaperback.org

 Our website is http://www.civic.bev.net/nrvmga/

 

 

 

NORFOLK  

Don Snipes  

 

 

Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake Master Gardeners sponsor a lecture series for homeowners each spring,  This year the Norfolk Botanical Garden became a partner in this endeavor and the lecture series was the most successful to date.  We will continue this project in 2008 with planning starting this September.

website - www.nmgv.org

 

 

 

NORTHUMBERLAND, LANCASTER, RICHMOND, WESTMORELAND and ESSEX (Northern Neck)  Ted Munnsl

 

The Northern Neck Master Gardeners finished up their SUMS program in June by having the school children give their parents a tour of their garden and make snacks from the garden products.  The SUMS human nutrition project received a First Place Honor at MG College thus sweeping all five categories over the years.

 

On August 11, over 90 people attended a NNMG-sponsored program of "Beautiful Lawn--Healthy Bay".  This was the second in a series of lectures promoting good lawn practices that do not cause harm to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  Effective in August, Julie Denny and Edward (Ted) Munns were named the new Northern Neck representatives to the VMGA.  website -  www.nnmg.org

 

 

 

ROANOKE, BOTETOURT, CRAIG and city of  ROANOKE

Kathryn Debnar

 

As everyone knows, we have had record breaking hot days across the Commonwealth.  Although we tend to check our gardens first, please do not forget the trees.  A slow steady drink, about two feet from the trunk will do wonders for the tree, and help it retain its leaves.

Looking for a great education piece for your unit meeting?  Let us share a great website with you: Check out the Speakers Bureau at this website
 http://www.rvccc.org They have some great programs to share.

 

 

 

 

ROCKBRIDGE, BATH

(Rockbridge Area MGs)

Ted Jenks

 

On May 12 our annual plant sale and clinic took place and, once again, was very successful with 2000 plants sold, and earning over $4500 for our organization.

 

Once again RAMGA and the Rockbridge Regional Fair sponsored the ever-popular Horticulture Show.  RAMGA’s own JoEllen Bunton won both the Award of Merit for best perennial in the show and the Sweepstakes Award. Our Maureen Becker won the Arboreal Award and our Debbie Lugar tied with JoEllen for the Sweepstakes Award.

 

 

 

 

VIRGINIA BEACH

Paul Campbell

 

VBMGs sponsored two  week long Junior Master Gardener Summer Day Camps for children at the Adam Thoroughgood House in July.

 

VBMGs participated in a Regional Water Steward class at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center (HRAREC) and graduated 9 new Water Stewards. Additionally, we installed a Rain Garden to be used as a demonstration project at the installation. Also we assisted Virginia Dare Soil and Water District Office in cleaning and preparing 66 barrels to be sold to the public in a Rain Barrel  Workshop.

 

 Planning continues for the 8th Annual Community Gardening Festival which will be conducted at the HRAREC on Saturday 15 September.  website - www.vbmg.org