CMGA General Info

Roadrunner: Although typically desert dwellers, roadrunners may also thrive in cold climates by fluffing feathers for insulation and by exposing their black back feathers to the sun.
Photo by Cindy Murray.

Welcome to the Coconino County Master Gardeners Association blog. The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to create a corps of well-informed volunteers, and to deliver quality horticultural education programs adapted to our regional high elevation environment. The purpose of the association is to provide support for those volunteers and Master Gardener graduates, continuing education, and opportunities to participate in community programs that increase the visibility and participation in the Master Gardener Program.
The Coconino Master Gardener Association (2009) began in 2009. This blog contains information on:
-How to become a member
-Volunteer and Education hours reporting
-Calendar of Events
-General gardening information articles
-Master Gardener Association Documents and forms
-References and Resources
-Interesting Websites and Blogs
-Old Gardening Etcetera columns
-Recipes
-Book Reviews
-How to contact Board or Committee Members
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Thursday from 600pm - 8;30pm. We meet at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco. This includes continuing education and a business meeting.

Reporting Master Gardener Hours

All master gardener trainees and certified master gardeners need to report their hours.
Beginning in 2010 certified master gardeners need to have 6 Education hours and 12 Volunteer hours in order to maintain certification.The on line reporting system allows you to report Education or Volunteer hours. You can sign in to record hours in the right hand column under Recording Volunteer and Education Hours. Just click on the U. of A.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reporting system, please contact Brenda Smith (A - M) or Sue Madden (N - Z). Their contacts are listed at the bottom of the blog under
Contacts.



Ideas for hours------
--Attend monthly meetings
--Work on an association committee
--Work at an informational booth for the Master Gardeners
--Be a speaker about gardening topics at a variety of venues

--Host a garden tour
--Work at a fundraising event (Plant Sale - Garden Tour).
--Work at a MG site (Olivia White Hospice, the Arboretum, Riordan Mansion, or school gardens (many others)). Check out the Assoc. Doc. & Forms under Volunteer Sites.
--Work in the Extension office
--Write an article for the newspaper column -Gardening Etcetera
-Volunteer with the Seed Library
Be creative! There are many ways to fulfill your hours. Just remember for volunteering it needs to be a non-profit endeavor or an approved for profit site.

Change in Contact Information

Have you moved or changed your e-mail address, but would still like to be contacted about high elevation gardening information from the Extension? The Coconino County Extension Master Gardener Program has a site that will let you change your information on-line.

Click here to change your contact information!

Event Calendar

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 4/12/2013


Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 4/12/2013
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church
1601 N. San Francisco
                                                     
Earth Day Volunteers

The Earth Day celebration at City Hall on Saturday, April 20, 11:30-4, could still use a couple of volunteers, especially later in the afternoon.  Volunteers staff the booth and/or assist Susan Thompson with her talk on Flagstaff soils and how to amend them.

The Master Gardener Association is going to do a calendar for 2014. Please submit 4x6 inch photographs to PO Box 3923, Flagstaff, AZ 86003-3923 or drop them off at the Coconino Extension Office, 2304 N. 3rd St., Flagstaff. Theme for calendar is Flagstaff- a horticultural perspective:  Wanting to encourage photographs of things that grow in and around Flagstaff. Pictures may also include places and things that represent Flagstaff such as the mountains in the background or the trains, etc.  The deadline for receiving photos is May 15. As an incentive, those who submit a photograph that is used in the calendar will receive a free calendar.

Dorothy Lamm announced two upcoming events that may be of particular interest to Master Gardeners.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Presentation: Susan Lamb Bean and Dan Stewart

Habitat Profiles - A Project Under Development for The Arboretum at Flagstaff”
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 1601 N. San Francisco St., 7 p.m.

Every site in Flagstaff offers its gardener unique opportunities and challenges. Each has its own combination of high and low temperatures, degree of slope, aspect toward the sun, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and soil. The Arboretum at Flagstaff and the National Weather Service at Bellemont are creating tools for a gardener to use in evaluating the potential of a site. Based on new climate maps illustrating microclimates in the greater Flagstaff area, Habitat Profiles will provide basic how-tos and worksheets for mapping and planning local gardens. The evening’s program will present preliminary versions of the maps and worksheets and invite suggestions to improve them.

Presenters: Susan Lamb has been gardening in the Flagstaff area for twenty years and would love to have had a resource like “Habitat Profiles” from the beginning. A local naturalist, she writes books on the natural and human history of the American West and keeps an almanac of close to 200 species of Flagstaff area wildflowers. Susan is a member of the Arizona Native Plant Society and serves on the Board of The Arboretum at Flagstaff.

Dan Stewart has held an interest in weather and climate since childhood in the wind-beaten plains of Oklahoma, making the chance to work on “Habitat Profiles” a fun (if sometimes challenging) project. He is currently interning at the National Weather Center in Bellemont and will be starting his graduate career at Northern Arizona University this fall.

Sunday, April 21, 2013 Field Trip: Susan Lamb Bean and Dan Stewart

Field trip to a recently-completed LEED gold certified home where we will test Habitat Profiles on-site. Meet in the Arizona State Credit Union parking lot, 321 South Beaver Street (corner of South Beaver and Butler) at 9:00 am to carpool to the site.  Plan on spending about two hours.  Directions to the home will be provided at that time.                   

Native Plant and Weed Workshops



Greetings, All, 
I have attached a document with information on two basic Native Plant/Invasive Weed workshops that are being presented by the AZNPS and Coconino County Extension.  The dates are June 8-10 and/or July 27-29.  One before monsoons and one after.
Please check out the details, and if you are interested, please register according to the instructions. 
If you're not a beginner, please pass this information along to anyone who might be interested. 
Susan Holiday
Hattie Braun
Dorothy Lamm

Weed Pull - Pioneer Museum


Greetings, All,  
Invasive weed eradication efforts by Coconino Cooperative Extension (Master Gardeners) and the Flagstaff Chapter of the AZ Native Plant Society began in 2010, when a member of the AZNPS posed an innocent question to the Pioneer Museum Director.  “Do you know you have a Diffuse knapweed problem?”, and his reply, “Yes. What are you going to do about it?” 
 
This was the beginning of a successful collaboration to rid the Pioneer Museum of invasive weeds. 
 
The next MG/AZNPS weed pull at the Pioneer Museum will be on Thursday, May 9, starting at 9:00 and ending at noon.  Please try to arrive at 9, but feel free to leave any time you have to.  There will be a short demonstration of wise weeding techniques before we start work. 
 
I checked the other day, and there is still a lot to do, particularly toward the back of the property.  The front looks wonderful, not weed-free, but close to it. Thank you, weeders!!!
 
Location:  Pioneer Museum, 2340 N. Fort Valley Road, just north of Sechrist School on Hwy. 180.  Please park in back near the Coconino Center for the Arts.  That's where we will start.  The County has provided the plastic bags. 
 
What to bring: 
  • Shovel or hand tool for digging, gloves, any other gardening implement you like to use to weed. 
  • Hat, sunscreen, WATER, long sleeve shirt 
  • Specimens of problem weeds you would like to identify    (Posters and books will be available.)  
  • Weed questions you may have.                                                
 
Let's get that Diffuse knapweed when it's young and easier to remove!!  
 
Dorothy Lamm

Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project Open House


Date: April 25, 2013 9:13:26 AM MST
Subject: Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE next week

Good morning,
This is a reminder that the Open House for the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project is next week. Please share widely. Flyer and news release are attached.
 
WHAT – FWPP Public Open House
WHO – All who are interested in providing comments and learning more about the FWPP are encouraged to attend
WHERE – Flagstaff Aquaplex, 1702 N 4th Street
WHEN – Wednesday May 1, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

 
Thank you,

Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project Staff
info@flagstaffwatershedprotection.org
http://www.flagstaffwatershedprotection.org/

Monday, April 22, 2013

Rainwater Harvesting Class


FREE RAINWATER HARVESTING CLASS
Saturday, April 27, 10am-12pm
Flagstaff Native Plant & Seed Nursery
400 E. Butler Ave.

Come learn how to harvest your rainwater! Barnabas Kane, a landscape architect who teaches permaculture design at Prescott College, will give an overview of the subject of rainwater harvesting, including the design principles and how to plan and set up a fully functioning system.  He will show how rainwater harvesting provides a viable alternate water source and is a vital strategy for sustainable water management to improve the resiliency and increase the available water of our watershed. He will talk about contouring land to control the flow of water in your yard and also rain tank installation for your home.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

New 4th Edition of Growing Foods in the SW Mountains


On this Earth Day I am proud to announce the forth-coming publication of
the 4th edition of my book of Growing Food in the Southwest Mountains.
Pre-orders are now being accepted. Publication date: June 1 2013.
Special pre-order price of $24.95 plus shipping. Order using link below.


Whether you are a weekend gardener who has never heard of permaculture or an avid gardener using the permaculture approach, this book will help you grow food under the most challenging of circumstances. Growing Food in the Southwest Mountains will teach you how to garden in dry weather, high winds, intense sunlight, cold nights, temperature fluctuations, summer heat, poor soil, insect pests, weeds and other challenges of the high-elevation Southwest.

Lisa Rayner

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Congratulations Jan Busco


Jan Busco Named 2013
Norman B. Herkenham
Award Recipient by KSB
Jan Busco, a Grand Canyon National Park horticulturist, was presented with the Norman B.
Herkenham award at Keep Sedona Beautiful’s 34th annual Native Plant Workshop last Saturday
(April 6).
The Herkenham award recognizes individuals, businesses, or organizations that further the
education and implementation of native plant landscaping, said Nancy Spinelli, Native Plant
Workshop Chairperson. While the Native Plant Workshop was originally created by one of the
founders of Keep Sedona Beautiful, the late Maleese Black, Norm Herkenham ran the workshops for
some 20 years, she added. He worked for the National Park Service and the Friends of the Forest
and is known as the “Father of the Sedona Trail System.”
The seventh Herkenham award winner, Jan Busco, has worked with western native plants for
30 years and is active in the local foods movement. At Grand Canyon National Park, she leads the
Vegetation Program for the recovery of the endangered plant, sentry milk-vetch, and for several large
native plant restoration and landscape projects.
After graduation from Cal Poly, Pomona, she worked for a variety of organizations including
the Arboretum at Flagstaff, nursery manager of Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and
Native Plants in Southern California and the U.S. Geological Survey. She holds a master’s degree in
forestry from Northern Arizona University and has written three books on western native plants. She
divides her time between a home near Grand Canyon National Park and her home in Flagstaff where
she grows native plants and edibles in a home nursery.
Some 120 attendees participated in the day-long workshop which each year reflects Keep
Sedona Beautiful’s mission to protect and sustain the unique scenic beauty and natural environment
of the greater Sedona area. Workshops ranged from gardening with native plants, co-existing with
nocturnal neighbors, attracting birds to your backyard, maintaining healthy native trees and
watershed health.
The premier conservation organization in the greater Sedona area since 1972, KSB has
developed programs and initiatives that focus on protecting the area’s natural beauty and
environment through the preservation of open space, water conservation, forest protection, native
plant and low-water landscaping workshops, and creating and maintaining a litter-free
environment. For more information about Keep Sedona Beautiful, please visit
www.keepsedonabeautiful.org or call 282-4938.

Beautification in Action Grants

The city of Flagstaff Beautification and Public Arts Commission is offering grants of $2500 to beautify areas of the city. Master Gardener Projects including schools,  may qualify for these grants. For details on applying  there is a printable form on this blog under Master Gardener Association Documents and Forms. If you have any questions Linda Gieseke, a long time master gardener, is on the commission.

Loni Shapiro

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

SSLUG Garden Earth Day Events


Earth Day Events in the SSLUG Garden
SATURDAY, APRIL 20
Students for Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening
Biointensive Gardening Workshop 
9 AM - 12 PM
Join us as we prepare a new garden bed using the 
“double digging” method, a hallmark of French Intensive 
gardening, which produces abundant vegetable crops in 
small spaces. Please bring a drink for yourself and wear 
closed-toe shoes.
Come prepared to burn off some of those winter pounds!
Garden Tour 4:30 - 5:50 PM
Students for Sustainable Living and Urban Gardening 
(SSLUG) will host a tour of the SSLUG Garden 
highlighting some of its unique features including a 
permaculture design, composting demonstration area, 
pollinator garden, herb spirals, raised beds, and 
rainwater harvesting system. 
Bring your happy self and your gardening questions! 
Location
SSLUG Garden, NAU Campus, south of Social and 
Behavioral Sciences, West. 
Free parking at the end of Huffer Lane off of Pine Knoll Dr.
Questions?
Contact Susan Nyoka, NAU Campus Organic Gardener
susan.nyoka@nau.edu


Weed Pull at St. Francis de Asis Church


Dan DeVere, Master Gardener Class of 2013, has organized a weed pull for Saturday, April 27th from 9 AM to noon at St. Francis de Asis Church.  Diffuse Knapweed is the main target.
He is looking for group leaders (your chance to educate others on knapweed) and volunteer weed pullers to help out. This is a great opportunity to celebrate Earth Week!!!  All you have to do is show up and pull invasive weeds for few hours. It will be fun. The Church will supply water, Coconino Cooperative Extension will supply some tools and gloves, and Morning Dew Landscaping will supply the bags for the weeds and the truck to haul them off. You will probably want to bring your own gardening gloves if you don’t want to use ‘used’ ones, and please bring your favorite weeding tool. 
 
Please contact Dan DeVere at deverealexnjake@yahoo.com with any questions and let him know at what capacity you would like to volunteer.   Pass this on to anyone you think of who may want to help.


Hattie Braun

Friday, April 12, 2013

Native Plant Society Monthly Lecture and Field Trip


Here are two excellent upcoming April events presented by the AZNPS (Flagstaff Chapter).     Hope to see you at the Tuesday presentation and/or at the Sundayfield trip. 
 
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Presentation: Susan Lamb Bean and Dan Stewart
Habitat Profiles - A Project Under Development for The Arboretum at Flagstaff”

Every site in Flagstaff offers its gardener unique opportunities and challenges. Each has its own combination of high and low temperatures, degree of slope, aspect toward the sun, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and soil. The Arboretum at Flagstaff and the National Weather Service at Bellemont are creating tools for a gardener to use in evaluating the potential of a site. Based on new climate maps illustrating microclimates in the greater Flagstaff area, Habitat Profiles will provide basic how-tos and worksheets for mapping and planning local gardens. The evening’s program will present preliminary versions of the maps and worksheets and invite suggestions to improve them.
 
Presenters: Susan Lamb has been gardening in the Flagstaff area for twenty years and would love to have had a resource like “Habitat Profiles” from the beginning. A local naturalist, she writes books on the natural and human history of the American West and keeps an almanac of close to 200 species of Flagstaff area wildflowers. Susan is a member of the Arizona Native Plant Society and serves on the Board of The Arboretum at Flagstaff.
 
Dan Stewart has held an interest in weather and climate since childhood in the wind-beaten plains of Oklahoma, making the chance to work on “Habitat Profiles” a fun (if sometimes challenging) project. He is currently interning at the National Weather Center in Bellemont and will be starting his graduate career at Northern Arizona University this fall.

Sunday, April 21, 2013 Field Trip: Susan Lamb Bean and Dan Stewart

Field trip to a recently-completed LEED gold certified home where we will test Habitat Profiles on-site. Meet in the Arizona State Credit Union parking lot, 321 South Beaver Street (corner of South Beaver and Butler) at9:00 am to carpool to the site.  Plan on spending about two hours.  Directions to the home will be provided at that time. 
 
Posted by
D. Lamm

Flagstaff Garden Club Visits


It’s time to mark your calendars for another year of garden visits.  Flagstaff Garden Visits will begin the 2013 season of garden visits with a seedling exchange at the garden of Jacki Hainsworth on Saturday June 1, followed by out of town trips to the Verde Growers in Cottonwood and the lavender fields in Concho.  Thanks to Jacki for arranging all.
The dates are:
Saturday June 1 from 10am to noon: Exchange of seedlings, seeds and anything garden related at the garden of Jacki Hainsworth
Saturday June 8 to arrive at 10am: We will car pool to Warner’s Verde River Growers
Friday, June 21: We visit the Lavender Festival at Red Rock Farms  www.RedRockFarms.com  in Concho.  We will car pool for this day trip.
Details will be emailed later. As always, garden visits are open to all interested gardeners. 
Thanks to Linda Guarino who has volunteered to coordinate the distribution of NoLo grasshopper bait.
Invite your friends and watch for updated information.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and hearing about YOUR garden.  If you have questions about these events, want to invite us to visit your garden, or have suggestions about gardens to visit, please email me atdjhockman@npgcable.com .

Jean Hockman                         


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Forest Service hosting public volunteer events to help replant Schultz burn area


The Flagstaff Ranger District is inviting volunteers to help replant approximately 2,500 ponderosa pine trees in the Schultz Fire burn area. Public volunteer events will be held on three Saturdays in April. Each event is limited to 50 volunteers; those interested should sign-up in advance by contacting Justin Loxley, Flagstaff District Volunteer Coordinator, at jdloxley@fs.fed.us or 928-527-8213.

Riordan Mansion Workdays

From Charlotte Dodgson
Hi everyone. Well it is that time of year again. Below find the work day dates for this year. I hope you will be able to join us during several of our work projects.  I will also send out a reminder before each work day. Please bring your tools. We will be doing a lot of digging the first month or so and while the Riordan has a few shovels if a lot of you come on any given day we may not have enough. I will bring cold jug of water to refill your water bottles from. If you can not come during the times we are there we have a need for a couple of people to water during the week on either a Monday/Tuesday or a onThursday/Friday.  We will also have a need for someone to weed and deadhead flowers starting in July. Let me know if you want to take on either project.  

WORK DAYS

Use the visitors center parking lot. Please don't use the first two rows of parking. If you get there and the gate is closed it is not locked even though it looks like it is. Just open the gate, drive in, shut the gate again and park in the visitors parking lot. The back parking area will not be available to use this year. Come for all of the time or only a part of the time. All help is welcome! If you get there and Dave and I am not there yet we will be there very shortly as we probably got tied up picking up supplies. 

APRIL:
Friday, April 12, 9:30 am - 1:00p.m. 
Friday, April 26,    "             "
Saturday, April 27, 9:30 - 1:00p.m.
No work mornings if it is snowing or raining.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Native Plant & Seed Veggie Lecture


Saturday, April 13 10am - 11:30ish
Flagstaff Native Plant & Seed Nursery 
400 E. Butler Ave.
(928) 773-9406

Learn all about gardening in Flagstaff! Todd Cislo will fill you in on all the secret tips to successful vegetable and herb gardening in Northern Arizona. He will go over which plants you can sow now and which plants you need to start indoors - and give instruction on how to do both. He will also talk about season extensions to maximize our short season and even grow through the winter! It's time to get your garden beds ready!

Desert Botanical Garden Butterfly Exhibit

If you are like me you are anxious to get to work in the garden and to see blooming flowers beside the usual crocus and daffodils. Head down to the Desert Botanical Garden for your spring garden fix.
Now through May 12, daily 930am-530pm
Garden entry is $18 unless you are a member of the Arboretum (free). The exhibit entry is $3.50.
Check out the AZ Daily Sun article on March 31, by Randy Wilson,  for a review of the exhibit.

Loni Shapiro