By Georgette Recker, Somervell County Master Gardener Intern

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” -Marcel Proust

We are grateful for many things in our lives. Home, family, nourishment, friends – all are among the blessings most of us would list if asked. Fortunately, as we move through the years, we continue to fill our baskets, and those baskets become bountiful beyond our greatest hopes. I decided to become a Master Gardener, and for that I am grateful.

Having come to understand that becoming a Master Gardener follows a similar path as a tiny seed, I planted my tiny seed of hope and began to set down roots in the Somervell County chapter of Master Gardeners. Smiles, hugs, laughter, new knowledge, and inclusion have allowed me to feel grounded in the group as my roots have securely anchored.

Even the most inexperienced gardener knows that stems and leaves follow the development of roots. Eight out of ten classes have passed now with only two left before the training period is over. During this time, blessing after blessing have appeared just as the leaves of a plant unfold and reach for the sun. A compliment is given to me, and there is a new leaf. An opinion is asked of me, and there is a new leaf. A joke is shared, and there is another. I learn something about a new friend, and a whole new branch of leaves sprout. I have met so many wonderful, accomplished, and amazing people – Master Gardeners, interns, and teachers. They make me happy. I’m basking in the sunshine of my Master Gardener community, and just like the leaves use sunshine to create nourishment for a plant and send it down the stem to the roots, I am soaking up new people and experiences, and my soul is being nourished.

I am grateful to the people who make me happy. They are the charming gardeners who are making my soul blossom. My basket is overflowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Try the following tips for less water usage and a healthier lawn this summer:

1. Mow at the upper end of the appropriate mowing height range for  your species of turfgrass.
Taller Grass = Deeper Roots. Deeper roots can improve overall water infiltration and access to water deeper in the soil.

2. Follow the 1/3 Rule. Mow frequently enough to avoid removing more than 1/3 of the total turfgrass mowing height at one time.
Scalped grass is stressed grass.
Stressed grass will be less tolerant to heat and drought, and more vulnerable to other pests or fungal pathogens.

3. Water deeply and infrequently. Try to water to a depth of approximately 6″ each time you water. Watering this way encourages deeper, denser root growth. Again, this can improve infiltration and access to water deeper in the soil.
Turfgrass can typically be maintained by irrigating 1-2x per week to provide between 1″ and 1.5″ of total water during summer months. Be sure to adjust based on natural precipitation.

4. Wait to water when visual wilt is occurring, and do so late at night or early in the morning. Watering late at night or early in the morning will reduce evaporative losses, improve water-use efficiency, and reduce length of overall leaf wetness, which reduces disease potential.

5. Use the Cycle Soak Method.
Because sprinkler precipitation rates usually exceed soil infiltration rates, cycle soaking improves soil water infiltration and reduces runoff by “pulsing” water onto the lawn in small amounts over several hours.

resources: aggieturf.tamu.edu

wateruniversity.tamu.edu

The Master Gardener plant sale on March 30th was definitely a success! We want to thank everyone in the community who braved the cold and windy weather that day to shop or browse. The sale will definitely be an annual event. It was great to visit and share the love of gardening with neighbors.

Limited garden space or poor soil? Want a quick easy way to grow your own fresh vegetables? If you think that planting vegetables is too much work then you might consider growing vegetables in hay bales. Hay bales provide a well aerated, disease-free growing medium that is perfect for growing vegetables. Plus, hay bales are elevated off the ground which makes them perfect for the disabled or gardeners who have trouble bending down.
Bale selection is important. Straw, mixed grass or alfalfa hay bales will work just fine for growing vegetables. However, older square bales that have begun to rot tend to work best for this type of gardening. Make sure the fields the bales came from were not treated with picloram (Tordon, Surmount, Grazon P+D) herbicides, since these may stay in the hay and influence plant growth. Place bales where the sunlight strikes the area for as much of the day as possible. Select the area carefully, since it is hard to move the bales once crop production starts. Place bales so the wire runs parallel to the surface of the soil. Do not cut the wire or twine; the bale needs to hold its shape as much as possible. In order for hay bales to be productive they will need special treatment beginning about ten days before planting time. First, keep the bales very wet for 3 days. Then apply 5 ounces (10 tablespoons) of urea fertilizer followed by two more days of intense watering. On the seventh day, apply 2 1⁄2 ounces (5 tablespoons) of urea, followed by watering for another 2 days.
On the tenth day, apply 12 ounces of 13-13-13 fertilizer and lightly water the fertilizer into the bale. On the eleventh day, apply a two to three inch layer of topsoil or potting mix to serve as a bed for the plants or seeds. Then, simply plant your vegetables, keep them watered and watch them grow. Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and melons will all grow well using this technique.

Source: David Cantrell
OSU Extension

By Georgette Recker – Intern,  Somervell County Master Gardeners

We grow many things in our lives. We grow careers, relationships, children, pets, vegetables, and flowers. We grow in experience, wisdom, and knowledge. We grow up, grow out, and grow older. But, have you ever wondered how a Master Gardener is grown? Although I was slightly familiar with the program and had even attended a few talks and demonstrations, I never really considered how one becomes a Master Gardener until the day I approached an acquaintance and asked how I would go about joining.
You see, I was looking for knowledge and information about growing flowers and vegetables in our new home, and I was looking to find a few friends who had similar interests. I never suspected the reaction I received. “You are ours!” my acquaintance replied, and the journey began.
Before I really had an opportunity to actually sit down and investigate the process I found myself sitting in a monthly meeting of the Somervell County chapter of Master Gardeners. I was greeted warmly and told I needed to apply soon as the training classes began in April. I filled out the application that week, wrote my check, and marched myself into the County Extension office. A quick interview on the spot (really just a getting to know you encounter) confirmed I was indeed qualified to be accepted into the training program.
After a second chapter meeting that centered around an open house and being introduced to a few of the other want-a-bees, as the new faces are dubbed, I was carpooling up the road to Granbury for our first Master Gardener Certification Course.
The training sessions began with the same promise held by an early Spring day. I chose my seat, pulled out my new school supplies and quickly began to feel overwhelmed by the gust of information I was attempting to take in. However, during the morning session I was quickly made aware that my reasons for joining the program were valid, but there is so much more. You see, Master Gardeners are all about outreach and education. So, I was going to grow beyond my own backyard, outward, to become a member of a community where I could learn, educate, and serve. Perfect!
My mood altered slightly as the afternoon session came to an end. I was unsure I really had comprehended a thing. I’d had a good time, grown to know my fellow trainees a bit better, been fed well, and entertained, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe I was too old to learn. Falling into bed that night the small seed of hope and expectation inside me needed more of what all new seeds require. I reminded myself of the warmth and wonderful feelings of fellowship with people who share my interests and passion. I let myself slip into sleep assured I would feel better in the morning.

And I did! As the week rapidly cruised toward the next meeting date, I found myself sharing information I had been given. My lucky, and very patient, husband got to be the recipient of many mini lectures concerning plant development. I had learned, and armed with new knowledge I became anxious to share.
In the days following that first training session, the small, tentative seed of hope and expectation inside me soon began to be nourished by information, smiles, encouragement, food, and yes even a few hugs. The members made me feel truly welcomed and were more than ready to include me in their meetings and projects, and I began to feel grounded in my decision.
I began to understand that just as a plant progresses from a tiny seed to a productive part of nature, a Master Gardener follows the same path. Seeds are planted in the soil where they receive protection, warmth, water, and nutrients. Seeds rely on the soil to provide stability, and they hold in themselves some whisper of hope and expectation. I felt the same.
Newly planted seeds eventually begin to crack open and out pushes the root. The meristem at the tip of the root makes new cells, and those cells divide and grow. I joined in an expedition to acquire plants for the SCMG plant sale. The zone of elongation follows the meristem as the root develops and is where the new cells continue to grow and increase in size moving the root through the soil. I arrived early in the morning of the plant sale and helped set up then worked throughout the morning selling, meeting new people, and spending time getting to know the other members. In the developing root, and behind the zone of elongation, comes the zone of maturation where the cells change and become the specific tissue that absorbs water and minerals from that water and start to move water and food throughout the plant. I joined in to help remove weeds and plant new shrubs and flowers at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. Root hairs are found on the outside of the root and take in water and nutrients. I took in smiles, confirmation, laughter, and yes, more food. And finally, there is a root cap at the very bottom of the root that protects the meristem and sloughs off cells as the root continues to move through the soil. My new friends are protecting me with kindness as I slough off all those doubts and insecurities that plagued me early on in my journey.
How do you grow a Master Gardener? I am beginning to understand and will keep you updated as I continue to grow and develop.

The Somervell County Master Gardeners will hold a Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, March 30th starting at 9am. The location will be the same as last year, the parking lot of First United Methodist Church Family Center on Barnard Street. There will be a varied assortment of perennials, annuals, hanging baskets, and vegetables. Plan to arrive early for the best selection!

 

By Tessa Chenoa Ownbey, Somervell County Master Gardener

March 12th

This is the week of the year that I wander around my garden, seemingly purposelessly.  I know it looks purposeless because my husband always asks me what I’m doing.

My wanderings are not completely without purpose, though.  My garden plans are made and committed to graph paper.  Seeds are accumulated, and I’m on the fence about the weather.  It’s my week for inventory.  I see the onions and the daylilies are up, and everything I trimmed back last month is springing forth new life…except that thing.  I wonder what that was.

I note that my natural rock borders are a little out of whack, and that it’s time to start on the next section, so I will need to go talk to my neighbor, who wants me to take away some of his limestone that I crave for my borders.  I have run out of the right size pieces on my own property.  Unless I use dynamite.

I contemplate which raised bed I am going to add into the drip system next. Probably bed #2. This implies that it is only the second one I have done, but actually Beds #1 and #3 are done, as well as old beat-up cattle trough #1.  I am about to drag old beat-up cattle trough #4 to the garden to be planted this year.  The donkeys were complaining that it no longer holds water.  Which makes it ideal for my purposes.

I note that my husband did mow down the blind prickly pear in the yard that I asked him to avoid.  And the donkeys have eaten the native honeysuckle that grew through the fence into their pasture, but the rest is doing great! The passionflower in the front yard is climbing well, but that in the garden has completely disappeared and I wonder if it will recover this year from the gulf fritillary caterpillars that overgrazed it last year. I see a rosemary bush that I want to move soon – perhaps near the yard gate; somewhere sunny.

A phoebe insists on being heard.  They are not my favorite bird.  To me, they don’t seem to be saying, “phoebe, phoebe.”  They sound like a squeaky toy being squeezed over and over again.  But I do notice that the bluebird house in the garden already has inhabitants and the start of a nest.The hummingbirds are not here yet, but I can see from the maps that they are getting close.

I think maybe I will move my “lazy-man’s” compost pile outside of the garden gate where the neighbor’s chickens, that prefer my land to his, can help me turn and aerate it. Although I am a Master Composter, this is still my favorite method of composting.  I turn it whenever I am in the mood, maybe a few times a year…but it seems to me most natural – a slow breaking down of the materials through the seasons.

I contemplate where to build my own chicken coop, since I can’t depend forever on the generosity of the neighbor’s chickens to turn my compost and be my entertainment.  And where to build the rabbit run, since I covet those little round bullets of nitrogen for my garden, as well.

My mind wanders back to the planting, and I decide to wander down the hill to see if the mesquite tree is budding.  Lord knows I’m not depending on the weather man.  No, the mesquite tree hasn’t budded yet, but that’s okay.  I have junipers to fell this afternoon, and the porch containers to fill with lemon grass and other herbs if I can find some down in Clifton.  The mesquite tree urges caution, and I listen, but in my heart spring has already sprung.

[Read more…] about Master Gardener Classes are Beginning Soon!

Get ready for the springtime!

The Somervell County Master Gardeners will hold a Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, March 30th starting at 9am. The location will be the same as last year, the parking lot of First United Methodist Church Family Center on Barnard Street. There will be a varied assortment of perennials, annuals, hanging baskets, and vegetables.

 

By Tessa Chenoa Ownbey, Somervell County Master Gardener

At a recent workday, Donna Hagar and I were cutting back Autumn Sage.  “Some people like this smell,” she said.  It was a simple statement, but it surprised me.  It had not occurred to me NOT to like the smell of sage.  I know it’s a matter of personal nostrils, but to me, nearly everything in a garden smells good.  My favorite is the smell of tomato vines as I brush up against them.  But I also love the smell of fresh, damp earth, the smell of rain about to come, the smell of the “weeds” crushed and cast aside.

Last year, an intern at work planted a “sensory garden.”  It will be a great teaching tool, I am sure.  Truly, though, isn’t every garden a sensory garden?  Along with the smell of damp earth, there is also the cool feel of that soil on my bare hands because I can’t bear to weed or plant with my gloves on.  (There is also the shock of pain of a fire ant sting because I can’t bear to wear those gloves, but sacrifices must be made!)  I always embrace the rosemary as I pass it by, letting the fragrant oil cover my arms and shirt with lingering scent. The peppermint and lemon grass I grow on my porch always get a little “fluff” as I walk by and inhale their scent.

And so many things to delight our sense of sight in a garden!  The bees and butterflies hovering, creating all the future life; an orb spider web glistening in the morning sun; the sun glowing through the petals of the marshmallows or the Mexican petunias; the brightness of a newly revealed carrot; and oh!  The intricacy of the passion flowers; and look here!  The shiny marble in the path that I know I put in the bee waterer – only a raccoon could have moved it in the night – and so my sense of humor is also delighted.

So many textures to satisfy our sense of touch:  the roughness of mulch, the spongy, cool dampness of healthy soil, the fuzziness of mullein, the bumpiness of ornamental gourds, the smoothness of tomatoes and cucumbers; the warmth of the sun; and the refreshing coolness of a micro-climate.

Of course so much to taste!  Warm, sun-soaked tomatoes straight off the vine;  or the zing of the cherry tomatoes I pop in my mouth as I walk by; a cold drink of water with lemon – and cucumbers and mint straight from the garden; blackberries full of warm purple juice that runs down my chin; the tangy lemon flavor of wood sorrel.  And the mosquito I accidentally swallowed. (It really didn’t have much taste.)

The sounds of a garden have to be thought about…birds chattering away around us; the buzz and hum of insects and hummingbirds; the sound of a spade breaking soil or roots; the bell-like clank of the shovel hitting limestone; my own breath, reminding me that I, too, am a part of the garden.

So often we focus on the productivity of our gardens, and of course that is a sign of success.  But there is this, more spiritual success…our connection with the land itself, our sensory knowledge and enjoyment of it, and this, more than bounty, fulfills us.