The Dirt – September 21, 2018: new URIMGP class in 2019

What’s Inside:

Recruitment for 2019 MG Class,
Invasive Earthworms/Compost Lectures,
Ecolandscaping.org Report on School Gardens,
New Help Wanted, Continuing Education

Encourage Your Network to Apply to Next Year's MG Class!

Happy autumn, all!  It is time to “harvest” applications for next year’s Core Training class.  Is there someone in your network who would make a great URI Master Gardener?  Perhaps someone who partners with your school garden or project?   Please encourage them to apply to the URI Master Gardener Core Training! 

Online applications are accepted until November 1, 2018, for the class of 2019.  The course will be held on Wednesday evenings, and scholarships will be made available to those who have been accepted to the program.

More info about class: https://web.uri.edu/mastergardener/training/. Direct link to application: https://web.uri.edu/mastergardener/urimgp-core-training-application/

Questions regarding the Core Training can be directed to Christina DiCenzo at cdicenzo@my.uri.edu.

Lessons Learned in the First Year of a School Garden

The enclosed courtyard garden in the fall of 2016

By Missy Fabel, reprinted from the Ecological Landscape Alliance newsletter, September 14, 2018

A lot can happen in a year, especially in High School. In the spring of 2017, a dozen students, a couple of faculty members and a handful of PTA parent volunteers planted more than 3,000 native plant plugs in an enclosed courtyard at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, NY. The project was driven by one motivated parent volunteer.

After reading Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home, this parent convinced the district to remove the turf and hedge of burning bush (Euonymus alatus) that was in the courtyard and fund the plant material for what has now been christened The Greeley Native Plant Learning Garden (GNPLG). She brought me on board as a native plant expert and mother of three children in the district, the oldest of whom will be a sophomore this year and the youngest who is still in middle school. In other words. I would be at the school a long time.

This was an amazing opportunity for me to try my hand at an ecological design with a clean palette, testing my favorite ground covers as living mulches, building a plant community and having a front row seat to watch what happens over the next several years. Read more.

Wiggly Worms and Compost

By Jean Anderson, URIMGP Class of 2005

On Friday, September 7, a group of Master Gardeners gathered at the greenhouse complex to attend two lectures by Josef Gorres, PhD. The first covered invasive Asian earthworms and the second addressed three methods of composting. Dr. Gorres is an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont Department of Plant and Soil Science with a BSc in physics, an MS in Natural Resources from the University of Rhode Island, and a PhD in Paper Physics from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Dr. Gorres introduced the invasive earthworm, Amynthas, which is thought to have been brought to the United States in the 1930s from Korea or Japan. This earthworm has a unique light-colored band that resembles a collar. The worm moves like a snake, making it difficult to capture. It can devour residential gardens and the forest understory.

In his second lecture, Dr. Gorres spoke of three approaches to composting: thermophilic, vermicompost, and bokashi. Bokashi is a Japanese method using fermentation.

NEWS & INFORMATION

MG Quick Tip Fall Lawn Care Part 2: When to Fertilize the Lawn

  • Low maintenance 2x, early spring, and September, but no later than mid October
  • High maintenance 3-4x early spring, June, late August, late September. More than this is excessive, wastes inputs and money.
  • Fall fertilizers should be higher in Phosphorus to build root strength for the winter. Spring should have Nitrogen for green up.
  • Get a full soil analysis from UMASS or UCONN before fertilizing.

For more information, visit the UMass Extension Turf Program Fact Sheet web page.

When are year end reports due?

All URIMGP-approved projects and school garden mentor locations submit year-end reports on November 1, 2018. The report forms can be found on the documents page of our internal website. Click here for project report form; click here for SGM report form. 

HELP WANTED

Volgistics Help Needed: Earn Volunteer Hours from Home

The Volgistics team is seeking volunteers. This is a good opportunity to get some volunteer hours from home. Our primary needs are for one or more people who can be available to help those who have entered their data incorrectly. Incorrect data gets entered in a form and you would be asked to look at the entries once or twice a week and make changes in Volgistics.

Additionally we are seeking someone who would be willing to enter events into the Volgistics calendar, so that others can sign up for the event. This is a great chance to see events as they are posted and be the first to volunteer for them! Training will be provided. Let Richard Suls know of your interest at richardsuls@gmail.com. Thanks!

Brawn, Beauty, and Breakfast

Forget the gym membership: URI Master Gardeners at Mabel’s Garden in the Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown invite you to dig and dine on Saturday, October 13, from 9:00 am to noon. We’ll demolish the knotweed, bishop’s weed, and bindweed with pauses to enjoy a hearty breakfast/brunch as we work. Your tensions will disappear while ripping out these monsters and viewing peaceful Third Beach framed by tall grasses. Please contact Linn Lydon to join the group.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Growing and Enjoying Herbs
Monday, September 24 | 6:00–7:00 pm
Harmony Library, 195 Putnam Pike, Harmony, RI

Master Gardener Deb Brodie presents practical ideas for cooking with and preserving herbs. You’ll learn how to attract pollinators to your garden by growing herbs. There will be a show-and-smell demo with several common herbs, as well. Register through Harmony Library.

Tree Identification
Saturday, September 29 | 12:30 pm–4:30 pm
URI East Farm Building 75

Did you miss our summer session on tree identification with RI Tree Council’s John Campanini? Not to worry! John will be back this September to review how to identify conifers and deciduous trees. Learn a simple but reliable science-based approach to what often is considered a very complicated and confusing topic to understand. This novel approach starts with learning how to profile plants by size, shape and location and ends by developing a descriptive narrative of their important anatomical features. By mastering this protocol both novice and professional alike will have acquired a unique skill-set, one that will surely increase their knowledge and enjoyment of the environment, especially the world of trees. If you are interested in attending, please remember to register in Volgistics.

Workshop: Path to Food Waste Reduction in Rhode Island
October 4, 2018 | 8:30 am–1:00 pm
Rhode Island College, Student Union Ballroom, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence

Food recovery to feed hungry Rhode Islanders, and minimizing and recycling food waste are goals of the RI Food Policy Strategy, the RI Department of Health’s Rhode to End Hunger Initiative, and the complementary RI Hospitality Association’s Taste the Waste initiative. EPA’s Excess Food Opportunities Map further highlights opportunities within the state. All of these initiatives support the state of Rhode Island’s 2016 food waste ban.

Join like-minded colleagues from not-for-profits, institutions, K-12 schools, businesses, and all levels of government to strategize how to continue to make progress on these goals. The workshop will highlight success stories, share resources, and create a working group to further promote progress under the leadership of a dedicated group of experts. Register here to participate.

Tour of the Buxton Hollow Farm Compost Plant New Field Trip Added!
Saturday, October 13 | 10:00 am–12:00 pm
Buxton Hollow Farm, North Smithfield

Since its founding in 2013, The Compost Plant has worked to transform Rhode Island organic wastes into soil products that are an environmental and community resource for local gardeners and farmers. The Plant has diverted over 5,500 tons of food and compostable waste from over 40 commercial and industrial customers, in addition to selling a retail line of compost and soil blends under the Rhody Gold label.  The Compost Plant currently anchors its operations at Buxton Hollow Farm in North Smithfield, a 33-acre farm originally established in the 18th century when the Continental Congress awarded 300 acres of land to Captain James Buxton after the Revolutionary War. Buxton Hollow Farm, under Frank Jacques, has been an organic compost production farm since 2002, focusing on the benefits of balanced soil biology.  Rhode Island’s “waste” resources offer a phenomenal diversity of base ingredients for high-quality compost. 

Come meet The Compost Plant team and learn about the innovative work happening at Buxton Hollow Farm. We’ll have a tour of the site and operations, talk through the process for managing food waste and other compost feedstocks, and share The Plant’s long-term vision for the site and the composting sector in Rhode Island!  If interested in attending, please remember to register through Volgistics! 

Groundcovers – Ecological Solutions in Place of Mulch
Thursday, October 18 | 10:00 am–12:00 pm, $20 – $30
Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA

The ecological garden is a richly layered plant community. At the base of the plant layer we find the herbaceous groundcovers, the plants that help to reduce garden maintenance. Growing in popularity, groundcover plants add beauty from leaf shapes, textures, and colors. As a bonus, they add valuable ecosystem services not offered by mulch alone – including the challenging areas such as the base of trees. Unlike the monotony of mulch, groundcovers offer seasonal interest in both flowers and foliage and many can also provide fruit for humans or wildlife.

Join Dan Jaffe for a walking tour at Garden in the Woods as he discusses the process of transforming large areas of mulch into lush groundcover plantings. Dan will discuss native plant options, provide an overview of plant spacing and techniques for getting the groundcover layer established, and take the group to several examples of groundcovers used at Garden in the Woods.

Buy tickets through the Ecological Landscape Association website.

Guided Horticultural Walking Tour of Mt. Auburn Cemetery New Field Trip Added!
Saturday, October 20 | 11:00 am–12:30 pm
Mt. Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA

Join the Activity Committee for their third field trip: a guided, horticultural walking tour of Mt. Auburn Cemetery. This National Historic Landmark is one of the most beautiful and historic landscapes in America, combining horticulture, architecture and sculpture with the beauty of nature.

Carpools have been arranged from two sites. The East Farm car/s will leave at 8am, Emerald Square car/s will leave at 9am. Following the tour you may want to remain in Cambridge for lunch. This trip will be held ‘rain or shine’.

Please contact Gail Skidmore at gskidmore@yahoo.com with your name and phone number if you are interested in joining. The cost of the trip is $10.00 and is due no later than October 1, 2018 (lunch not included in the price).

Ecological Landscape Alliance Webinars
September and October 2018

Click on the events page of the Ecological Landscape Alliance website to see webinars:

Stay tuned for more webinars coming throughout the year! All webinars have a small fee, so be sure to read the description and register through the ELA site.

More upcoming URIMGP Continuing Education.

Have something you’d like to see in The Dirt?

Please email us at thedirtnewsletteruri@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you! Have a submission related to the URI Master Gardener Program? Send it to us (in email or MS Word ONLY please) by Tuesday at 8:00 pm to include in that week’s newsletter!

Questions?

Do you have questions about the URI Master Gardener Program? Please find our leadership directory in the documents page. This will point you in the direction of the proper council member, MG leader or staff member who can answer your question.  

Stay Connected with the URIMGP!

Follow @URICoopExt on Facebook and Instagram. Not into social media? Visit the MGP website for our event listing.

September 22
11:30-4 pm		 URIMGP Volunteer Recognition Event
URI Botanical Gardens, By email invitation, registration closed
October 20
9 am –12:30 pm		 MG Project Leader Meeting
URI, Pharmacy 170
November 1 MG Year End Reports Due
November 3
9 am – 12 pm		 URIMGP Meeting
URI Kingston
March 2, 2019
9 am – 3 pm		 URIMGP Garden Symposium
URI Kingston
June 17-21, 2019
TBD		 International Master Gardener Conference
Valley Forge, PA
June 29 & 30, 2019
TBD		 URIMGP’s Gardening with the Masters Tour
Gardens statewide