Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 5/14/15

Master Gardener Meeting Minutes 5/14/15

Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

1601 N San Francisco

6:30pm – 6:35pm        Welcome – Jim Mast, President

Announcements          Meeting Raffle

o   $1 each or 6 for $5 (book and toilet paper rolls)

o   Drawing held after refreshments

6:35 – 6:40pm             Introduction of Speaker – Ed Skiba

6:40pm – 7:45pm        Continuing Education – Jim Mast - Vegetable Gardening in a

                                    Small Space - Community Garden

Jim talked about growing vegetables in a 4 x 20 ft. community garden space. He and his family gardened at the Juniper St. Community Garden which is behind the church. Fees per year are $35 and there is one plot left for this season. He covered starting in April through finishing at the end of Oct. The work included testing and amending the soil, planting seeds and plants (some crops seeded 3 times), amendments and fertilizing, use of season extenders, and tips for getting a good harvest. Jim also added some tips on growing tomatoes at home in pots. If you were unable to attend or want more detail info on products check out Jim's web site (tomatojim.com).

 

Bed before amending soil

In August after planted and grown

7:45 – 8:00pm             Refreshments and Raffle Drawing

                                    Thanks to Andrea Guerrette and

8:00pm – 8:25pm        Business Meeting – Jim Mast, President

                                    MG Coordinator Happenings – Hattie Braun

Conference – September 19 - keynotes booked, Clara Coleman (Eliot's daughter) on gardening for 4 seasons and Judith Phillips on native plants and climate change. Breakouts still coming together. Need help with publicity and fundraising. Extern may do fundraising and a sign-up was circulated for people to ask for donations. If you want to help contact Hattie for the cover letter and form.

Master Gardener class completed today at the Arboretum

                                    Financial Report – Ed Skiba

Sue Madden not present. Ed reported approx. $5400. Jim Mast noted that some of our funds may be donated to the conference. This is still pending.
                           

                                    Committee Reports:

                       Volunteer Support – Crys Wells

43 reported      429.75 volunteer hours this month, 791.5 to date

                        84 continuing education this month, 175.75 to date

JoAnn Alarcon learning to do the reports.

                                         

                       Fund Raising – Debbie James

Calendars - Jim Kessenich - Deadline for photos June 1, 4 x 6 landscape sent to the PO box or extension. They will be different this year.

Summer Garden Tours - Colleen Tucker, July 25, 6 gardens, 10am-3pm. Colleen needs people to volunteer for helping host the gardens and for distributing flyers prior to the event. Cost will be $25. Maps will be available at Viola's on the day of the event.

Fall Garden Clean-up Raffle - Debi Stalvey  - meeting tomorrow at 12pm (Fri.) at the extension. 10 people needed for 2 sites to do the clean-up. Help needed by all to sell raffle tickets.

                      MG Projects/Grants – Jackee Alston

Jackee not present. Grants due 6/1  - grant funds are $2000 this year and have increased each year due to fundraising efforts. They will be reviewed at the  June Exec. Meeting. Sites can apply multiple years.
 

                     Continuing Education/Blog – Loni Shapiro

June meeting - Hattie Braun on her Favorite Perennial Flowers

July meeting - Jackee Alston and others on Saving Seeds and the Seed Library

August meeting - Susan Lamb Bean and Kirstin Olman-Phillips on Native Grasses

September - no meeting or picnic due to conference

October - Jan Busco/topic to be advised. We are working on combining the picnic and meeting for this month. Hattie to check with the Arboretum as a possible site.  Possible dates are: Oct.10 or 11 then Loni will contact Jan.

November - Linda Guarino, GMOs

                                    Flagstaff Community Market – Andrea Guerrette

We will begin downtown on May 24th for 4 weeks. She has volunteers for all but the last week (June 21). Wednesdays have not been scheduled as yet. They begin in June.

8:25 – 8:30                  Gardening Questions???

Do I need to do something about my Peonies with the weather.

Cover them until the snow/cold has passed. Cover early in the day while warmer.

Jeff Best uses straw to cover his seedling. Wind sometimes blows off, but burlap might do better to keep in place.

I had all male then all female flowers and didn't get any zucchini.

Last year was a strange year and many people had this problem (cold, dry early very wet late). You can hand pollinate or try to buy several varieties of squash so that you have male and female flowers at the same time. The best time to do hand pollination is just before the flower opens - once open you may lose the pollen. If you haven't done this before - Google "hand pollination of squash". Jim Mast mentioned in his talk that it is important to have flowers in your vegetable garden to attract bees and other pollinators (Borage works well but there are many others (yellow and red)).