Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Are citizens in your county going nuts about food gardening? Are you getting a lot of calls about food gardening?

Well, I am getting calls from media folks including CNN, NY Times, wall Street Journal, Washington Post…so tell me is this media hype or are people really following through with vegetable gardening? I hope they are and they check out our gardening home page where we have highlighted some of our many resources www.gardening.cornell.edu

Including this press release which I strongly encourage you to reprint: http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/cals/hort/news-events/20090324_vegetable_gardening.cfm

And Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners is the best place to find the right plant for the right location. Take advantage of the search engine on that site. Type in resistant and find disease resistant varieties of many crops. Type in bolt and find those leafy greens that tend to bolt or resist bolting. Looking for heirloom varieties type in heirloom… http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/

And more articles from the media…

What’s a home garden worth?

White House Garden… Find the article about this garden here.

another article from the NY Times: Obamas to Plant White House Vegetable Garden

and Washington Post:
Shovel-Ready Project: A White House Garden

And here’s what growing at the big white house :

http://www.farmfed.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sam-kass.jpg

Check this article out. Did Cornell promote this soil bag growing a while back? What did we call it then?

…

By Chris McLaughlin

Is anyone out there in a hurry? Are you working three jobs, have seven children, or on your way to a fire? This no-dig planting method is the fastest way to a vegetable garden – a soil bag can be planted in under 60 seconds (I clocked it). Planting directly into a bag of topsoil is also easy and convenient.

Here’s the full article at Fine Gardening

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090313/COLUMNISTS/903135001/-1/TRAVEL?Title=Organic-Pesticides-Are-Not-Harmless

Get a national perspective from this Mar 16, 2009 AP story.

Maybe we’ll all soon be heading to North Dakota?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ― Educators and agriculture advocates in Ohio and other farm belt states say budget proposals would cut funding at many university-based extension programs, even as the grim economy prompts more and more penny-pinching residents to seek out their advice on gardening, canning and do-it-yourself repair projects.

Each state has an extension office at its land grant university along with several local or regional offices. Farmers, consumers, educators and small businesses all rely on extension offices for help and advice.

……

“The unfortunate thing is, at a time when we’re in economic straits, when we are needed more than ever, we’re not going to be able to do the same services….

Click here to find the full story

Spread the word!

Registration is open for the 2009 New York State Master Gardener Volunteer Conference: A Showcase of Cornell Campus Resources.

This event is exclusively for active Cornell Cooperative Extension volunteers and educators!

Check out all the details and register at: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/mgconf/

The core conference features 4 concurrent educational sessions with 20 topics from which to choose. There is an optional post-conference session with 6 choices.
Also consider adding these pre-conference events to add to your itinerary:
July 21: Cornell Floriculture Field Day - Featuring the Sixth Annual Kathy Pufahl Container Design Competition
July 22: Living Sculpture Conference - One-day, hands-on conference on creating art with plants.

New and long time active Master Gardener Volunteers and other Community Horticulture Volunteers like Tree Stewards,  Master Composters,  Citizen Pruners…are sure to find excellent opportunities to connect with Cornell experts.

Opportunity to network with some of the more than 2,000 other active CCE Volunteers from across the state will also abound starting with our Wednesday night gala banquet and social. Then a special one hour Thursday afternoon break and poster share fair.

Come and enjoy quality information and good garden conversation.

Check out the website to register and get  more details as well as download a powerpoint side you can use to advertise this event at your next MGV meeting.

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/mgconf/

Sincerely,
Lori Bushway
State Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator

As part of Commissioner Grannis’ Priority to Promote a Toxic-Free Future, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would like to share information and resources for Landscape Professionals and Homeowners regarding non-toxic lawn and landscape care.

The Department has prepared web pages on this subject, which are posted at:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/44290.html.

You will find information regarding non-toxic pest control practices, ways to achieve an aesthetically pleasing lawn, and information on becoming trained in non-toxic lawn and landscape care.

The NY Beginning Farmer Project is thrilled to announce the release of our new video series, “Voices of Experience.” It’s a series of 12 web-based clips featuring a spectrum of farmers offering advice on topics like marketing, financing farm start-up, profitability, lessons learned, and many more. Please share these with any new farmers you work with, or educators you know who help support beginning farmers. The advice offered is timeless, and particularly valuable because it’s coming from farmers themselves. You can find the videos at http://www.nybeginningfarmers.org

Erica Frenay
Cornell Small Farms Program
NY Beginning Farmer Project Coordinator
162 Plant Science
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-9911
http://beginningfarmers.cce.cornell.edu
http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu

We need your help directing people to your current website and contact inforamtion in the aftermath of CCE meltdown.  Are we linking to the right place to send your local gardener to you from this page?

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/gardening/counties.html

US Department of Agriculture, Animal And Plant Health Inspection Services, is planning an Emerald Ash Borer, EAB, Survey this summer from approximately May 25th through September 4th throughout New York, primarily in the following counties, but may include work in the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains as well.

Monroe, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Wyoming, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, and Essex counties.

The type of work includes the deployment / monitoring / and servicing of insect panel traps to detect EAB in New York.

Salary will be commensurate with experience/ and each applicant will be asked to submit a resume with their college transcripts, major fields of study must include biological/environmental  sciences,entomology, plant pathology, or agronomy type courses.

USDA-APHIS-PPQ will be recruiting for temporary limited authority appointments, up to approximately 4 positions may be available covering the above mentioned counties.

Transportation will be provided.

Please send resumes to:

USDA-APHIS-PPQ
8237 Kanona Rd.
Avoca, NY  14809-9729
Attention: Stephen Kubber, SPPQO

For further information:
Thomas W. Colarusso

Plant Protection & Quarantine Officer
USDA – APHIS – PPQ
217 West Service Road
Champlain, NY 12919

(518) 298-5529 Office
(518) 420-9779 Cell
(518) 298-5564 Fax