The Dirt for February 16

Opportunities to Help Direct Future of MGP

Continuing our efforts to improve our MG Program based upon your survey responses, there are opportunities coming soon to encourage Master Gardeners with innovative ideas and energy to become involved in shaping the future direction of our program! Sound interesting?  Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come…

A comprehensive survey was sent to all active URI Master Gardeners last fall.  More than 400 of us responded with thoughtful comments and suggestions.  After the survey results were collated, our URI program staff and ten volunteer leaders participated in a professionally facilitated retreat in December to evaluate and discuss the survey results. Then a post-retreat committee was formed to develop a list of simple and quickly implementable actions to address the identified issues. The committee decided form new volunteer-led committees of URI Master Gardeners who will develop and implement solutions to the issues we identified through the survey and retreat discussions.

What were the issues we identified?

  • Fostering better communication between volunteers and the University;
  • Increasing fellowship opportunities like field trips for volunteers;
  • Better support and training for MGP volunteer leaders;
  • Development of a transparent, easy to understand financial accounting and reporting structure; and
  • Evolving the organization into a more volunteer-driven, URI staff-guided model.

What committees will be formed?

  • Continuing Education;
  • Leadership Development;
  • Demonstration Project Review;
  • Purchasing;
  • Communications (The Dirt newsletter and social media);
  • Fellowship and Field Trips; and
  • Bookkeeping

Details about these committees and their goals will be included in a revision to the URIMGP Operating Guidelines that we’ll post on our documents page and in a future newsletter. Immediately after, we’ll ask you to help form the committees to work these issues we all feel are important to our program.  Stay tuned as this process develops, and let us know where you might fit if you are interested. Thank you!

Narragansett Elementary School Garden

Last year avid gardener Kayla Hetherington decided to enroll in the URI Master Gardener Program.  This year, she is working with fellow gardener Robin Plaziak to set up a school garden at Narragansett Elementary School.  After learning about the School Garden Initiative through the MG program, Kayla volunteered at The Compass School in South Kingstown to gain experience.  Now, the students at Narragansett Elementary School (NES) are going to create their own school garden in the spring! Check out this great article about the garden in the Narragansett Times!

This Week’s Deadline: Symposium Registration

This is a friendly reminder that this Tuesday, February 20 is the last day to register for the 2018 Garden Symposium.  Learn the truth about garden remedies, how to grow and use herbs, and how to design gardens that are beautiful and sustainable!  Walk in registrations will be accepted the day of the Symposium, however if you want to choose a lunch option, register before 2/20!

Continuing Education Opportunities (FEB + MAR)

New! Classes at Blithewold

Along with beautiful gardens and grounds to inspire every garden, Blithewold has classes to help your visions become a reality. All classes are have a fee and require registration. Upcoming classes include:

Planning and Planting a Sustainable Landscape
Sunday, February 18 | 1:00 pm

Gardener’s Round Table: Water Tub Gardening
Sunday, February 25 | 1:00 pm

Gardener’s Round Table: Houseplant Triage
Friday, March 2 | 10:00 – 11:00 am

Kettle Pond RI Native Plant Garden From Design to the Present: Challenges and Successes of a RI Native Plant Garden at a US Fish and Wildlife Refuge  (Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Rd, Charlestown RI)
Tuesday, February 27 | 7:00 pm

This presentation will chronicle the development of the Kettle Pond RI Native Plant Garden from design to implementation, including many of the challenges and successes along the way from March of 2017 to February of 2018. Could you replicate this methodology in your own landscape and bring RI Natives and their benefits to your garden? Presenters include: David Vissoe, URI Master Gardener & Project Leader; Janis Nepshinsky, USFWS, Visitor Services Manager; and URI Master Gardener volunteers.  Please register in Volgistics.

Managing Wildlife in the Garden (URI East Farm, Building 75)
Friday, March 2 | 10-12pm (URIMGP Hotline Kickoff at 9am)

The RIDEM Division of Fish and Wildlife manages wildlife populations and habitat across nearly 60,000 acres of land statewide. The Division often receives calls regarding nuisance wildlife, including everything from woodchucks to coyotes. In this program, you will receive some basic information about the most common garden pests, ways to coexist with pesky critters, and a brief update on Division-funded conservation projects. Please register in Volgistics.

March Master Gardener Meeting: Communicating Science to the Public (URI Swan Hall Auditorium)
Monday, March 12 | 6-8:30pm

As an Extension Educator, you may find yourself answering tough questions from the public, explaining why a client  should adopt sustainable gardening practices.  ‘What should I spray for:_____?” is a common question.  Our March MG meeting keynote speaker is Sunshine Menezes, Ph.D. who will provide innovative strategies for communicating complex concepts.  How do we effectively encourage the public to become stewards of the land? As executive director of the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting,  Menezes frequently gives lectures about the importance of science communication, working with the news media, and how to become a more effective science communicator. Please register in Volgistics.

The Ecological Landscaping Alliance’s 2018 Conference – Sustaining the Living Landscape (UMass Amherst)
Wednesday, March 7 & Thursday, March 8

Looking for New Ideas? Solutions? Inspiration? From the practical to the applicable, immerse yourself in a two-day exploration of ecological concepts as our speakers share their experiences and expertise. Delve into this year’s wide-ranging topics as we look at the principles and practices we need to design, build, and restore the living landscape. Conference Brochure

Composting: Reducing Waste and Bringing Goodness to our Gardens (44 Beach Street; North Kingstown)
Wednesday, March 21 | 2:00PM

This lecture will focus on the benefits and basics of Composting.  Composting is a component of our lifestyle.  The amount of time and energy we put into composting our kitchen, garden and yard waste will vary and so will the results.  The fact that we choose to make composting one of our lifestyle habits is wonderful given the goodness it brings to our gardens and that it reduces material that will end up in a mounting landfill.  In this talk you will learn everything you need to do to start composting, a bit of history, how composting happens, types of composting from the casual to the obsessive, how to use compost, the tools, the rules and the glorious results. Speaker: Nan Quinlan, URI Master Gardener. If interested in attending, please contact Rayna Wilcox, Volunteer/Program Coordinator, at The Beechwood Center for Life Enrichment at 401-268-1594; or email her at: RWilcox@northkingstown.org.  These programs are offered to members and the public at no charge.  Master Gardeners receive education credits for attending.

RI Wild Plant Society invites MG’s to learn: Plants are better than mulch! (URI Pharmacy Building, Kingston RI)
Sunday, March 25 | 2-3:30pm

This is part of the RIWPS annual meeting (free to attend!). We have a strange relationship with mulch in America. Landscaping often means a sea of red mulch dotted with a few over-pruned arborvitae shrubs. But how many gardeners got into the hobby for a love of mulch? There are good reasons to use mulch, it helps to control weeds, prevents soil erosion and maintains soil nutrients. Yet for every advantage that mulch offers well-chosen plants work even better. From groundcovers to larger mat-forming species there is a plant for every area in the garden. Join Dan Jaffe, author of Native Plants for New England Gardens to learn about the myriad of plants that can take the place of mulch on your landscape.

Dan Jaffe is the Propagator and Stock Bed Grower at New England Wildflower Society’s Garden in the Woods. His past experience includes a degree in botany from the University of Maine, an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from New England Wildflower Society, and nursery management experience.  Dan Jaffe’s photography has been used in numerous publications and his book Native Plants for New England Gardens is scheduled to be released in March.  New England Wildflower Society is selling the book online. Copies will be available at the lecture. Purchase with cash, check or credit card. For more details, including directions and parking see www.RIWPS.org

URIMGP Core Training: Classes Open to MGs for Continuing Education!

The URI Master Gardener Program Core Training classes are held on Wednesday evenings from 6-8:30 at the URI Kingston Campus in Avedesian Hall (Pharmacy Building) room 170. All Master Gardeners are invited to attend these sessions to brush up on their knowledge, learn the latest research, and to earn continuing education hours.  The 2018 Course Schedule (topics subject to change) follows.

2/21Soil Fertility & Plant Nutrition
2/28Compost & Food Safety / Research in Action: Agroecology Practices from the Field
3/7Edible Gardening: Vegetables
3/14Volunteer Opportunity Fair / Volunteerism and Communications Class
3/21Site Assessment  & Regenerative Landscape Design
3/28Establishment & Maintenance of Home Lawns / Turf Pests & Pollinators
4/4Diagnosing Plant Problems / Group Challenge
4/11Invasive Plants / Native Plants
4/18Ornamentals: Woody Plants and Perennials

Review all upcoming classes and events on our calendar: https://web.uri.edu/mastergardener/calendar/

Upcoming Events

Febuary 17
9am-12pm
Greenhouse Kickoff
URI Pharmacy Bldg, Room 170
Febuary 17
1pm – 4pm
Project Leader Meeting
URI Pharmacy Bldg, Room 240
March 3
8:30 am – 4 pm
Garden Symposium
URI CBLS Auditorium
March 12
6pm-9pm
Master Gardener Meeting
URI Swan Hall Auditorium
March 14
5:30-6:45pm
Volunteer Opportunity Fair
URI CBLS Bldg Atrium
April 25
6-8:30pm
Core Training ends
URI Pharmacy Bldg, Room 170
May 5
9am-1pm
URIMGP Spring Plant Sale
URI Botanical Gardens
May 21
6pm-9pm
Master Gardener Meeting
URI Swan Hall Auditorium
June 23
9am-1pm
Project Open House
Project locations, statewide
September 22
TBD
Volunteer Recognition Event
Whispering Pines, Alton Jones Campus

 

Check our internal calendar for a full listing of events. Password – seeds

https://web.uri.edu/mastergardener/calendar/