The Master Gardener Association of Cameron County is a non-profit educational and charitable association CCMG Logo

working with the AgriLIFE Extension to improve gardening skills throughout our community.  Program objectives are implemented through the training of local volunteers known as Master Gardeners. We collaborate with AgriLIFE Extension to conduct community & youth education; establish and maintain demonstration gardens; and provide a speakers bureau.

Our demonstration garden, The Arboretum is located at the corner of Williams Road and Expressway 77 in San Benito at the County Annex. It contains Butterfly Gardens, a Self-guided Compost Demonstration, vegetable gardens, and labeled trees that grow well in deep South Texas.

 

 

Upcoming Important Master Gardener Dates!

April

  • 3  Master Gardener Class
  • 4   Master Gardener Executive Committee Meeting
  • 11  Master Gardener Association Meeting
  • 20 Water Conservation In and Around the Home
  • 31

May

  • 1   Master Gardener Class
  • 2    Master Gardener Executive Committee Meeting
  • 11   Master Gardener Association Meeting (Recipe Swap Social)
 

Upcoming Events

Click Here for an online forem

Rainwater harvesting

MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Held on the second Thursday of each month September – May.

NEW TIME!!

  • 6:00 p.m. – Social
  • 6:15 p.m. – Program
  • 7:00 p.m. – Business Meeting

We meet in the Extension Meeting Room, Cameron County San Benito Annex, located at the corner of Expressway 77 and Williams Road

 

Citrus Greening
Citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing (HLB), is considered to be the most destructive disease of citrus. It is endemic in large parts of Asia and Africa, and has recently invaded the Americas. It is caused by a bacterium which is transmitted by insects called psyllids. There is no cure for greening, and the lengthy latent period after infection makes eradication almost impossible. This disease has now been discovered in San Juan, Texas.
For More information please visit  http://cameron.agrilife.org/citrus-greening/
ARBORETUM COMMITTEE

List of Activities

Let’s have all of the compost bins full by the end of August!!

  • Bring raw materials for the compost demonstration
  • Turn the compost piles and water
  • Chip / shred the brush pile behind the tool shed
  • Water the planted trees. If you think they may not be dry yet, check the soil 6-12″ deep
  • Weed the butterfly beds
  • If you are interested in helping, contact Jennifer Herrera in the Extension office.

8:30 am – 11:30 am  - Key to the tool shed is kept in the Extension Office.

What to Bring

Gloves, Water, Sunscreen, High Energy!

Have a gardening question?

Send it to cameroncountymastergardeners@gmail.com Click here for all the questions we’ve received and our answers.

Who are Texas Master Gardeners?

Texas Master Gardeners is a volunteer program designed to grow horticultural information throughout the state, town by town. To become a Texas Master Gardener, a participant attends 50 hours of instruction, conducted by the local Extension county agent, then shares this knowledge by donating 50 hours of volunteer service back to the community.

The touch of Texas Master Gardeners’ green thumbs can be found across the state -- in school garden projects, horticultural therapy projects, community gardens and demonstration gardens; by volunteers who also conduct gardening programs and answer gardening questions. Anything anyone wants to know about gardening, a Master Gardener can help. That includes young wannabe gardeners too – Master Gardeners help set up 4-H gardening clubs and Junior Master Gardener groups.

In fact, when it comes to green and growing things, Master Gardeners dig into their service in all kinds of ways: teaching, giving presentations, writing newsletters and articles, providing clerical help, and designing and maintaining Web pages.

Want to Know More?

Volunteers contributed 454,036 hours to horticulture-based educational projects in 2008, a benefit to the state that was worth $9 million.

That year Texas Master Gardeners gave 2,200 presentations for a combined audience of 68,087 of their neighbors, and provided research-based horticulture information to 18,000 others.

In 2008, more than 6,400 volunteers were Texas Master Gardeners, according to the organization’s annual report.