October 2013 Newsletter (2).pub

HENDRICKS GARDENER
THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER
OF THE
Published By:
Hendricks County
Master Gardeners, Inc.
Hendricks County Extension Office
1900 E. Main Street
P.O. Box 7
Danville, IN 46122-0007
317.745.9260
www.HendricksGardeners.com
Jim Trocha, President
[email protected]
Jackie Rosales, Vice President
[email protected]
Linda Rogers, Treasurer
[email protected]
Deborah Ashby, Editor
Ed Freeman, Webmaster
[email protected]
Jon Cain, AG and Natural
Resources Educator
[email protected]
HENDRICKS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
WWW.HENDRICKSGARDENERS.COM
OCTOBER 2013
JOIN US ON THE 15TH
AS WE WELCOME
BOB EDDLEMAN,
Project Director of the
West Central Indiana
Cooperative Weed
Management Area,
who will be speaking
on
“Invasive in the Wild
and in the Garden,”
WE WILL MEET IN THE
CLASSROOM AT THE
FAIRGROUNDS COMPLEX
BE THERE AT 6:30 PM FOR
SOME SOCIAL TIME
THE MEETING BEGINS AT 7
"Even if
something is
left undone,
everyone must
take time to sit
still and watch
the leaves turn."
- Elizabeth Lawrence
Mission statement: The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to provide current,
research-based, home horticulture information and education to the citizens of Indiana
through Purdue University Extension programs and projects.
Becky Troutman
Page 2
THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR
I can smell it in the air...and see it in the golden leaves...Fall is here. Lots to
finish up before its end...like cleaning up the flower and vegetable garden beds,
cleaning up our garden tools and winterizing our lawn mowers. Before you know
it, frosty mornings will rule the day, the leaves will all be gone and we’ll rest our
weary bodies and veg out in front of the fire thinking and planning what we hope
to do next spring. We won’t let the weeds control us next year, we promise ourselves. We’ll see.
September brought us back to the Fairgrounds Complex for our monthly
meetings and September brought us our Annual Photo Contest. Great images this
year from many of our members! I enjoyed them all! Thank you all for entering
and I hope that next year we will see more of the same. You might think about
that with the beautiful fall colors and approaching Winter. This month also
brought us through ‘Adventures in Gardening’ and while I was away for the seminar, those I have spoken with enjoyed the day and the speakers.
What’s ahead for October besides cooler weather? Our next meeting we
will welcome Bob Eddleman, who will be talking to us about Invasive Plants in the
wild as well as our gardens, which should be a great presentation, so try to be
there! We will also be addressing nominations for Association Officers for 2014.
We hope that you will be open to consider one of those positions. Elections will
take place at the November meeting which will also be the night of our Annual
‘Auction for a Cause’, to benefit our new Scholarship Program. You might be
thinking about and setting aside some items to placed in the auction. This is truly
a fun evening of bidding and banter. See you on the 15th!
RECIPE SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 11!!!!
DEBBIE ASHBY
Editor;
Hendricks County
Master Gardeners
Association
If you have an
article or photos
that you would like
to share with other
Master Gardeners
and put in the
newsletter, please
contact me no later
than 4 days after
our monthly
meetings.
AND
THE
WINNERS
ARE....
Photo Contest winners were (L to R) Bruce Crum, Deborah Shepherd, Colletta Kosiba,
Barb Zupan, Linda Rogers, Pat Harmon, Jackie Rosales and Jill Clouser. Congratulations!
Page 3
SEPTEMBER 17TH HCMG MEETING MINUTES
President, Jim Trocha called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.
Beverly Russell gave an update on the upcoming ‘Adventures in Gardening’ seminar.
Master Gardeners were encouraged to come and to invite others. MG’s were asked to
bring seeds from their gardens, gardening catalogues as well as magazines, to be given
away at the event. More volunteers are needed to work at the event and sign-up sheets
were available all evening.
Chuck Dallas gave a season wrap-up about the Farmer’s Market program. MG’s staffed a booth at
Plainfield’s Wednesday evening markets and Danville’s Saturday morning markets. It was a good season and
many interested people signed up for the MG classes starting in January. Next year he would like to extend
our Farmer’s Market program into additional cities, such as Brownsburg. New this year is an HCMG banner
for the canopy tent being used at the Farmer’s Markets.
Debbie Ashby gave an update on the Cook Book project. 100 recipes have been submitted. 150 more
recipes are needed by the October 11th deadline or the project will have to be tabled. The format for submitting recipes is in the newsletter.
Jon Cain talked about the MG Leadership program “Growing through Leadership”. Hendricks County is a host site. The material has been developed by Janet Ayers, a renowned leadership specialist. As an
added incentive for HCMGs to participate, Jon has agreed to pay half of the registration fee for any HCMG
who would like to attend. Jon also reported that Emily Purdy will be leaving us September 27th.
Eloisa Garza reported on the Plainfield Correctional Center Project. The program is doing well. There
are 60 offenders in the work rotations for working the gardens. They were able to start seeds in the greenhouse this year and more than 4 tons of produce have been harvested this season. Next week they will be
learning to graft roses and the bulbs dug up at the Ashby’s will be planted in the teaching gardens. Eloisa
spoke of what an amazing challenge and learning experience this program has been.
Kerry Cates reported on the State Master Gardener Conference, “Cultivating Color”. Some of this
year’s attendees wore their very colorful shirts from the conference. She reported on the activities and presentations she attended and highly encouraged everyone to attend a state conference in the future.
Jim Trocha announced that the State Conference will be held in Marion County in 2014. The organizers of the conference requested that the HCMG pay for at least one speaker. Some discussion ensued as to the
cost of speakers. Martha Gooldy made a motion to approve a $1000.00 donation to Marion County MG for a
speaker for the State Conference. Rosie Lenihan seconded the motion and the motion was passed. Jim also
announced that an election committee is being formed. Nominations will be accepted at the Oct. HCMG
meeting, and elections will be held in November.
Janet Brown reported that preparations are beginning for the Christmas Dinner and program. The
theme for 2013 is “The Christmas Tree. She is in need of singers and crafters.
Suzy Freeman suggested that our scholarship program donation should be increased to $1500.00 for
next year. Robin-Elizabeth Parsley made a motion that the fund be increased. The motion was passed.
Debbie Ashby announced the winners of the annual photo contest.
Garden landscape: 1st Linda Rogers 2nd Linda Rogers, 3rd Jackie Rosales
Single Blooms:
1st Deb Shepherd, 2nd Colletta Kosiba, 3rd Barb Zupan
Winged Things: 1st Jackie Rosales, 2nd Barb Zupan, 3rd Linda Rogers
Unclassified: 1st Bruce Crum, 2nd Jackie Rosales, 3rd Jill Clouser
BEST OF SHOW: PAT HARMON
Respectfully submitted by Theresa Mathieson
Page 4
ADVENTURES IN GARDENING 2013
How do you feed a world of hungry people while maintaining a healthy natural environment? This year’s Hendricks County Master Gardeners one day seminar
focused on the complex issues of food production. This year’s
speakers each discussed a piece of this complex puzzle of food
production. The seminar featured Ken Meter from the Crossroads Resource Center, who gave statistics on crop production,
the number of farms and farming trends, stating that if you sell
$1000 a year, you are considered a “farmer” by the government.
Another speaker, Cris Hockwender, Ph.D, from the University of Evansville, enlightened the group concerning the restoration of Native seeds and plant diversity. He related that
Cris Hockwender, Ph.D
the University will restore 1000 acres of land located in a flood
plain along the Wabash River; land that is owned by Vectren. At this research site, the
biggest problem was the removal of the invasive alien, Johnson Grass. At this time,
Ken Meter
many native trees have been planted and a 20 acre plot holds numerous native forbs
and trees. Speaker, David Wyeth, who is a 4th generation Hendricks County Farmer,
explained how the modern farmer sows crops with the aid of the latest technology.
With the aid of a satellite, the proper amounts
of seed and fertilizer are determined and
planted. He is passionate about raising food
to feed the U.S. Population.
The day ended with a panel discussion
where our speakers discussed common issues
and concerns around food production, conflicts and controversies, and how various
methods of food production can be balanced
David Wyeth,
to feed the world while maintaining a healthy planet The panel discussion moderator
was Deb Trocha. Nine questions were fielded by the
panel.
Many thanks to all our MG volunteers who
worked tirelessly to set up, work through the AIG
event, then dismantle the facility. Also many thanks
to our event Chairman,
Beverly Russell who
planned and presented
78 Attendees listen intently.
another great workshop.
Lunch was provided by
“All About Thyme”
225 Garden Books were sold
at the seminar. The remaining
books will be available for
purchase at the next
MG Meeting
Images from our September Photo Contest graced this display to show others
some of the fun things we do.
PEST WATCH
Page 5
THE NEXT PLAGUE FOR THE MASTER GARDENER, EXOTIC FRUIT FLIES!
Debbie and Joe’s Berry Patch Enclosure, 40 x 80 Feet
Being a Master Gardener does not ensure successful gardening! However, it does
help tremendously, to give you the knowledge
to find and identify the cause of your latest
plague; like weeds that don’t grow in rows,
birds that think your crop was planted just for
them, those pesky bugs that make an attempt
to eat everything.... the list goes on and on.
In April of 2011, we purchased 125
Raspberry plants; blacks, yellows, and reds.
First deciding where, then preparing a place to
plant them and getting them into the ground,
though that was a daunting task in itself,
seems trivial compared to what the future
held.
Our first ‘plague’ was birds! What seemed like hundreds of Robins
came from all across Indiana to partake of the ‘berry bonanza’. Scarecrows and artificial Hawks were just a place for them to rest while digesting the latest batch of berries. Hanging all kinds of things that
were supposed to frighten them away almost seemed to attract them.
We had no idea that they could eat so much. Occasionally they would
be joined by other winged freeloaders to devastate the crop of berries.
Outraged at the loss, we spent a lot of time and money building a cage
around the Raspberry patch; 40 feet wide by 80 feet long. Fixed that
problem! Or did we? Before the day was done, the rabbits, loving the
hiding place it offered, found the heavy netting easy to rip down so
they could get into the ‘cage’. So the next purchase was...rabbit fencing. That settled that! Then the weather got into the act. Last year,
through late May, June and
July, we experienced the
drought that hit Indiana. Our
berries simply went dormant.
MG Debbie Ashby, discusses the problem
In August though, the rains
with Intern, Laura Baker, as she examines
came again and the Raspbera berry infested with maggots.
ries decided that it was
Spring, blooming and setting new berries.... just in time for frost!
During the Winter of 2012-2013, the heavy wet snows, that
we thought would easily just drop through the 1” mesh bird netting
covering the top of the cage, piled up on it and collapsed the top
breaking three 4 X 4 posts buried in concrete and pulling out the
MAGGOTS!
ground augers in the process. During our second ‘big’ snow, we
Page 6
donned our coats and brooms and proceeded to sweep off the snow
from underneath to save the remaining posts! So you see, Spring
brought more repair work than was ‘figured into’ this cage plan.
In the Spring of 2013 we encountered another ‘new’ trauma.
We had Dodder show up in the patch. This required us to rip out a
10 foot by 10 foot area of plants to destroy the evil dodder. This plant
is a parasitic plant and gets all of it’s nutrients from the host plant, in
this case, our Raspberries. Dodder spreads quickly and can destroy
large areas of plants unless kept in check. See Purdue’s website:
http://www.btny.purdue.edu/weedscience/2005/Dodder05.pdf
This brings us to the latest ‘plague’, the Exotic Fruit Fly, Spotted
Wing Drosophila (SWD). According to Purdue’s Plant and Pest
Raspberries rotting from the inside out,
Diagnostic Laboratory this is a very serious new invasive pest that
thanks to the SWD’s
attacks small fruit crops, including
some stone crops such as cherries, nectarines, and peaches. It can also attack tomatoes and wild hosts such as pokeweed, autumn olive, crabapple,
nightshade, Amur honeysuckle, and wild grapes. What makes SWD different from other fruit flies is that the female has a stout, toothed ovipositor
(egg layer) that enables her to lay eggs under the skin of fruit that has just
begun to ripen that are otherwise healthy and sound. Most of our native
Fruit Flies must wait until the fruit is very ripe or overripe in order for the
egg to be placed under the skin of the fruit, but not this little demon. The
SWD damaged fruit tends to collapse from the damage by the larvae and rot
before it is ready to harvest. The SWD is able to complete its life cycle,
Spotted Winged Drosophila,
from egg to egg laying adult, in just over one week! There may be 10 or
Black lines are 1/8” measures
more generations per year. Many of our native fruit flies only have one generation per year. Think of the numbers! One fly, a week later, 300 eggs, a week later 300 adults laying 300
eggs, and every week to 10 days thereafter for the rest of the season, 300 X 300 X 300 X 300 and on and on!
The first SWD’s were found in Indiana last October, just one year ago and this year they are widespread across
Indiana. They have been found at Purdue’s Vincennes and Lafayette research farms and reported by other
commercial growers around the State. They were first reported in California in 2008 and now they are being
reported from almost every State. For something smaller than 1/8” that is hard to wrap your head around!
On a good note, a Dr. in Vermont states that there is no known problems with eating berries with larvae of
these Fruit Flies in them. But, for me, I just can’t stand the thought of eating maggots! Freezing or cooking
kills them, but still...just the thought!
So, where does that leave us? Will these SWD Fruit Flies be here indefinitely? The outlook for the
small fruit grower does not look good. As Master Gardeners we should follow the research and recommendations by Purdue and other State Universities to try to eliminate the problems that we encounter in our everyday gardening practices. We must follow an aggressive pesticide practice to eliminate this pest. This is just
another hurdle to cross. Michigan State has been doing a lot of research on these pests and we suggest looking at their website: www.ipm.msu.edu/swd.htm AND Purdue’s website: http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/
ppdl/hot13/8-15.html
Submitted by Joe Ashby
Page 7
ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST
From Single Blooms to Garden Landscapes and
Winged Things to Unclassified, the Photos in this
years contest were an inspiration to everyone.
Page 8
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND UPCOMING EVENTS
Oct 16
What’s Sticking to my Socks? Colletta Kosiba, Master Nauralist, shares the
amazing story about how plants have figured out how to move from place to
place. Free Program Brownsburg Library 7 pm
Call 852-3167 to register
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE GIVING A PRESENTATION, OR KNOW OF ONE THAT WOULD BE OF
INTEREST TO THE MASTER GARDENERS, SO THAT IT CAN BE POSTED IN THE NEWSLETTER.
SEEDS, Seeds and More Seeds Please...
Cleaning those flower beds and gardens? Please save those seeds for our seed collection for
‘Gardening For All Ages’ and other seed projects.
Just gather the seeds and/or seed heads, stuff them into paper bags and mark the bag with the type of seed.
Close the bag and save for the new year, Or bring them to MG meetings and a
seed collection committee (not yet created) will take them.
There are many opportunities here!
You could chair the seed collection committee.
You could serve on the seed collection committee.
You are participating by putting up and saving seeds - A Plus for everyone!
This is a wonderful, and easy project for our 2014 Interns.
You might purchase a Saving Seeds book - as sold at Adventures in Gardening - if any are left.
Seed Possibilities - Celosia (cockscomb), Asters, Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia),
Zinnia, (mixed colors and sizes are ok together.... just to name a few.
Some seed heads need to be spread out on screens to dry before being packed. Another program perhaps!!!
- R. Lenihan
And the Last Words....Last months speaker, Judy Sexton, from
the Bread Basket Cafe and Bakery, shared information on cooking
with herbs and prepared a fresh Basil Pesto which was unbelievably
tasty! The fragrance of Basil and Garlic filled the room and everyone
who wanted to was invited to taste it. Judy answered many questions
about herbs and their use.
Eloisa digs in to taste the Pesto. Mmmm
Judy Sexton
Owner of the Bread Basket Cafe
and Bakery in Danville
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