Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Do you give quizzes or exams as part of your MGV training?

Some counties do and here is an example of an exam from Holly Wise, Extension Educator Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County. Exam.

Do you have exams or quizzes you are willing to share with your colleagues around the state? send them to Lori (bushway@cornell.edu)

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
March 15, Spencer, NY
Learn how to prune apple trees at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s ‘Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop’ on Saturday, March 15, 9:00 a.m to noon, at Brian Caldwell’s Orchard, 303 Gunderman Rd, Spencer, New York.

Instructors Rick Reisinger and Brian Caldwell will demonstrate pruning techniques and discuss the theory of how apple trees grow. Both instructors have decades of fruit tree experience on their own orchards and at Cornell’s orchard in Ithaca. The focus of this year’s workshop will be on establishment and maintenance pruning of an apple orchard, rather than on renovating overgrown trees. The workshop will be held outside the orchard so dress for the weather.

The $10 fee includes light refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4:30 p.m. March 14. For questions, driving directions and to pre-register, call 607-687-4020.

Introduction to Growing Stone Fruit
June 7, Watkins Glen, NY
Learn how to grow peaches, plums and cherries at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s ‘Introduction to Growing Stone Fruit’ workshop on Saturday, June 7, 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Reisinger’s Orchard, 2750 Apple Lane, Watkins Glen, New York.

Orchardist Rick Reisinger will discuss site selection, planting, and fertilization. Cornell fruit pathologist Kerik Cox will teach how to ID and manage diseases, and there will be a small scale sprayer demonstration. The instruction will be geared towards serious home gardeners and people interested in starting a small scale commercial orchard. Emphasis will be on sustainable production practices.

The workshop will be held in the orchard so dress for the weather. The $10 fee includes light refreshments. Pre-registration is required by 4:30 p.m. June 5. For questions, driving directions and to pre-register, call 607-687-4020.

Molly Shaw
South Central NY Ag Team
Fruit and Vegetable Specialist
CCE Tioga
56 Main St, Owego, NY 13827
ph: 607-687-4020
f: 607-687-3619

Put a little spice in your garden botany training session with your new and active Master Gardener Volunteers with this Jeopardy game created by our talented Anna Snider in Westchester County CCE

She says in her last training:

It was a lot of fun and the MGVs loved it. The icing on the cake was that we borrowed some buzzers from 4-H so we could tell who buzzed in first!

Get the PowerPoint Garden Botany Jeopardy here. You must enable macros to get the buttons and sound to work. Go to tools, options, security and then macro security. Set it to medium and restart PowerPoint.

Anyone else created a jeopardy training tool or any other clever activity. Please share. Lori

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Livingston County Cornell Cooperative Extension, 158 Main Street, Mt Morris, NY
1 pm-3 pm
So You Want to Be a Berry Farmer?
Cornell Berry Extension Support Specialist Cathy Heidenreich from the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ithaca will present a program on berry growing on Tuesday, February 26 at the Cornell Cooperative Extension building in Mt Morris from 1 to 3pm.
The program will point out the keys to successful commercial and non-commercial berry farming including marketing, startup costs, site selection, preparation and layout, cultivar selection and planting, crop production and management, labor, and profitability. Strawberries, brambles, blueberries, currants and gooseberries will be included in discussions. Topics include nutrient management, weed, insect and disease management, trellising, irrigation and more. Printed materials are included in the presentation and production guides for brambles, highbush blueberries and strawberries will be available to examine for ordering.

There is no fee, but registration is suggested to assure notification of any change in scheduling. Phone 585-658-3250 for registration or questions.

This program is from Cornell Cooperative extension of Onondaga.

The program focus is caring for trees in public places to assure healthy trees. Stewards learn a lot about trees and do a lot of good work. Participants have all levels of expertise and interest in trees and in gardening. A pet project is the native plant garden at the zoo.

Check out these brochure and contact Fran Lawlor if you have any questions.

CommuniTree Stewards program (pdf)

2007 planting (pdf)

Does your county have any similar volunteer programs? Is there interested in having something like this?

Have you seen the multimedia section of the www.gardening.cornell.edu? From the home page scroll down towards the bottom.

There you’ll find:

The most recent episode of

Garden podcasts from North Country Public Radio featuring horticulturist Amy Ivy, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex and Clinton Counties.

and…

Zone Creep – NPR’s Wired Science explores global warming and ‘zone creep’. Clip features David Wolfe, climate change expert in Cornell’s Department of Horticulture.

Let us know if you have found multimedia we might want to consider sharing on our site.

This e-newsletter comes out of the Dutchess County Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture Program.

Are other counties producing similar e-newsletters for their community residents?

Dutchess Dirt (PDF)

This summer Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County began its Turf Love Program, a county-wide program designed to get participating homeowners to protect water quality by learning and using lawn care IPM principles. The program consists of: * Lawn Site assessment by Master Gardeners

(click here for site assessment survey and here for lawn survey questionnaire)

* Soil nutrient analysis

* Turf Love Journal – a homeowner diary

* Best Management Plan

* Kick-off Saturday Workshop for participants

* Mid-summer contact by Master Gardeners

* Super Turf Saturday workshop at end of September .

They hope to expand the program next year to other counties.

If you are interested in being part of the expansion let us know.

For more information, contact:

Dianne K. Olsen

Environmental Horticulture and Natural Resource Educator

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County
1 Geneva Rd., Brewster, NY 10509
845-278-6738

2007 America in Bloom Criteria Award Winners Announced!

Check out this site to find out about the Ball Horticultural Company Floral Displays Award Saratoga Springs, New York won and the J Frank Schmidt & Son Company Urban Forestry Award won by Ithaca, New York

Go New York.

Jessica Damiano a writer for newsday is blogging about her experiences as a trainee in the Nassau County CCE Master Gardener Volunteer program.

Check out her blog here.