Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Registration is now open for 2009 Gardeners Day, a day of classes for gardeners, held at the Dutchess County Farm & Home Center in Millbrook.

Registration is being handled by Nancy Halas at nh26@cornell.edu or 677-8223 x 115.

Cheryl Hearty Community Horticulture Program Educator Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County 2715 Route 44, Suite 1 Millbrook, NY 12545 (845)677-8223 Ext. 134 (845)677-6563 FAX http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/dutchess

here’s the brochure

Spring Gardening School – April 18      brochure  here

Sustainable Landscaping – April 25       brochure  here

As budgets are cut and staff members are reduced are you finding yourself picking up the work of those let go without letting go of the overload of work you already have?

This Cornell Cooperative Extension professional development opportunity might help your team work towards prioritizing…

Managing Your Program Portfolio

Two Adobe Connect workshops are scheduled:

9:00-10:30 am April 29, 2009

12:30-3:00 pm May 5, 2009

Instructional Goal: Participants will understand the value of actively assessing and managing the mix and balance of their program commitments and be able to select from approaches and tools available for improving balance.

Go here to register

Invasive Species Workshop

Prevention, Management, Restoration and Monitoring of Invasive Species

April 17, 2009

9:00am to 3:00pm

Alverna Heights (next to Green Lakes State Park)

7770 Green Lakes Road

Fayetteville, NY 13066

Registration fee: $30

More info here.

John Graham NYS DEC – Forestry Cortland, NY

You are invited to join a “weather-spotters” network for plants to observe and record the first day of flowering of plants in your backyard.

Last year we had over 150 people from all over central New York record over 500 observations. Some facts: The annual average temperatures right here in the northeastern United States have increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 30 years and are expected to continue to rise. Because of the temperature increase, lilacs have been flowering days earlier. Increasing temperatures are starting to affect many of our native plant species.

The effects of global warming may be evident right in your backyard and Cornell scientists need your help. Climate change may be affecting our native plants by changing the timing of bud break, leaf emergence, flowering, fall coloration, and leaf drop. To begin to sort out whether increasing temperatures are causing damage, we are asking people to join our plant-spotter network.

Recording this information is easy and fun, and takes only a few minutes a week. We have made it fast to enter your observations into an easy-to-use website, including videos you can watch that show how to make observations. We’ll be putting all kinds of information, maps, and tools on the web site about what is happening to plants here in central NY, so you’ll be able to learn as we learn too!

Pick one or two or more plants outside your house and start watching each day for the first signs of flowers beginning to form, branches greening up, and leaves starting to spring forward. You’ll start to see a whole new world happening before your eyes.

So please join us.

Visit our web site

For more information or questions, contact David Weinstein (email: daw5@cornell.edu; phone 607-351-4214).

Join us today, because spring is about to happen!

Thanks, David

Dr. David A. Weinstein

Department of Natural Resources

Assistant Director of Sustainable Initiatives Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station

Cornell University

204 Fernow Hall

607-351-4214

Email: daw5@cornell.edu

More here.

Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is an award-winning national environmental education program for educators and their students in grades PreK-12. GreenWorks! is the service-learning, community action program of PLT that partners PLT educators, students, and communities in environmental neighborhood improvement projects. GreenWorks! blends service activities with the academic curriculum and addresses real community needs as students learn through active engagement.

More info here.

These awards will be presented annually to groups and organizations that are making a difference in their communities. We are looking for community groups who are committed to improving their local environment by planting trees, bushes and shrubs to make their communities a better place to live.

We have a regional Vegetable Specialist position we are looking to fill in eastern NY. This person would be on a two person team serving a 10 county area in the Capital District of NY. The focus is on fresh market vegetable production. For additional information please go to;

http://www.northeastipm.org/ipm_job_popover.cfm?id=695

If you have any questions about the position, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks, Steve –

Steve Reiners

Phone:315-787-2311

Associate Professor

Fax:315-787-2216

Dept. of Horticultural Sciences

NYS Agricultural Experiment Station

Geneva, NY 14456

Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) at the University of Delaware is researching state-level policies that are used to support small-scale agriculture (SSA).   We are currently focusing on two components of SSA: community gardens and home gardens.

An important part of the research project is to determine what other states are doing to promote community and home gardens.

The survey is very short, it should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

click here for the survey

While much of the survey is focused on state-level policies they are interested in relevant policies or programs at all levels of government that might be useful models for Delaware.  Do share any information you have about community or home garden policies or programs.

Jessica Quinn
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy
JCQuinn@udel.edu

Nine Out of Ten Households Believe It’s Important to Maintain Their Landscapes in a Sustainable Way

National Gardening Association study demonstrates that homeowners need education on environmental stewardship practices

Contacts:
Bruce Butterfield
National Gardening Association
bruceb@garden.org

Keri Butler
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
keri.butler@scotts.com

South Burlington, VT (May 20, 2008) – Nine out of 10 households believe it’s important to maintain their landscapes in a way that benefits the environment. However, only half (53 percent) of all households said they are knowledgeable about how to maintain lawns and gardens in an environmental friendly way, according to the National Gardening Association’s (NGA) 2008 Environmental Lawn and Garden Survey.

Environmentally sound lawn and garden care involves appropriate maintenance practices, selecting the proper product for the situation, on-target application in the correct amount, and only watering landscapes when needed.

Key 2008 NGA Environmental Lawn and Garden Survey highlights include:

• Nine out of 10 households said it’s important to manage their lawns and gardens in an environmentally friendly way
• Only half (53 percent) of all households say they are knowledgeable about how to maintain their home lawn or garden using good environmental stewardship practices
• Thirty percent of households admit they are ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ knowledgeable about how to care for their landscape in a way that benefits the environment

“This year’s research reinforces an increased need for homeowner education about simple, actionable ways they can be a good environmental steward at home while cultivating a healthy lawn or garden,” said Bruce Butterfield, research director at the National Gardening Association. “We conducted this study to better understand lawn and garden care trends and consumer attitudes, and industry leaders take notice.”