Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Bus ridership is on the rise and the Northeast IPM community IPM work group jumped on board to give riders something valuable to read. This bulkhead banner aims to raise awareness about best lawn care practices.

CCE educators would you be interested in getting these banners in public buses in your communities?

Let Lori (bushway@cornell.edu) .

How this for getting the message out about gardening?

Roger Doiron Founding Director, Kitchen Gardeners International created this YouTube video about the “Eat the View” campaign to turn part of the White House lawn back into a productive landscape.

What clever campaigns might we think up for our local goverment?

Have any of you seen these videos from Fine Gardening?

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/Videos/

What do you think of them? Have you made use of them in meeting your programing effort or volunteer training? Share by posting comments below.

This is an invitation to submit photos for the Cornell Garden-Based Learning Program’s new website. Your program can become world famous!

We have been working on an exhaustive and exciting revision of our website. Soon, it will be easy to navigate, attractive, user friendly, featuring excellent content! BUT, we’re missing photos of YOUR program, and that would make it so much better.

1) We are looking for 4 photos to feature on our homepage. We invite you to submit photos from your program that you would like to be permanently featured on our site! Your photo submission(s) should illustrate the following four themes:
· Garden-based learning activities and projects in action
· Keys to a successful adult, youth or adult and youth gardening programs
· Your garden
· Connecting with others interested in gardening (i.e. photos of Master Gardener Volunteers, 4-H leaders, older folks in the community, etc…)

2) We are also looking for many more photos to feature throughout our website that beautifully illustrate the following:
· Garden-based learning in action with youths, adults, families, communities…
· CCE Volunteers or adult and youth citizens actively engaging in leadership roles
· People of all ages learning about food/ nutrition as it relates to the garden
· People demonstrating an appreciation of the outdoors/garden environment
· The intimate connection between children, youth or adults and nature
· The unique perspective volunteers or children and youth bring to a program
· The role of your garden/program in your community
· Your garden-based learning success stories or any other fantastic photos from your program!

Please send your photos to Marcia Eames-Sheavly by August 1^st, 2008.

This training targeted at retail employees of garden centers is out of CA so I am not sure how appropriate it is for the Northeast. If you have a moment to check it out let us now what you think about it for NYS by leaving a comment below. Maybe it is a model for the development of a similar course for NY retail employees? A job training grant opportunity that might also benefit our volunteers’ training needs?

The website is here.

The press release (pdf).

Have you checked out their resources lately?

Lots of good resources including…

Woody Plant Data Base

Recommended Urban Trees

Using Porous Asphalt and CU-Structural Soil® (pdf)

Deciduous Woody Groundcovers (pdf)

What else have you found on the Cornell website to be particularly useful for your outreach to the gardening public? Please share in the comment section.

These EPA reports on pesticide sales and usage might offer some evidence for persuading granters or government funders or supervisors to invest in our community horticulture public education efforts.

EPA reports on Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage are at this site.

Figure 3.4 in the latest reports notes pesticide usage in the Home & Garden category since 1998 usage has steadily increased from 72 million pounds of a.i. to 102 million pound of a.i. in 2001 while usage in agriculture was 724 million pounds of a.i. in 1998 and down to 675 million pounds of a.i. in 2001.

What is your guess as to why?
And what resources do we need in our CCE community horticulture programs to decrease this rise?

…edited by Richard Bonnano and specialists from across the Northeast, 2007. A 50 page comprehensive pest identification guide that can be carried to the field to better identify pests and select appropriate management measures. It contains color photos of all of the insects, diseases, and weeds that are described in the region’s various Vegetable Management Recommendations, including photos of weeds at the seedling stage and disease symptoms on different crops.

Available from the Univ. of Mass. Bookstore (413-545-2717, umassextensionbookstore.com); $10.00 plus $5 shipping and handling (bulk rate: 80 copies @ $5 apiece plus shipping and handling).

DO YOU THINK THERE MIGHT BE ENOUGH INTEREST THAT OUR COMMUNITY HORTICULTURE PWT SHOULD BUY 80. I am not sure what shipping might them be but it might reduce the books from $15 to maybe $8?

Sisters in Health is a program out of Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Science.

Sisters in Health – A Nutrition Program for Women is a research-based and community-grounded food and nutrition education program that encourages women with limited incomes to eat and enjoy more fruits and vegetables through active experiences with foods in a positive social setting.

I heard about this program and thought it might be a great opportunity to us horticulture folks to partner with nutrional folks. Community horticulture could certainly provide the education and skill to help women in this program grow their own vegetables.

Sisters in Health website

Is anyone already partnering with their local nutrition people on this program or any other programing effort?

Peter Smallidge (NYS Extension Forester and Director, Arnot Teaching and Research Forest Cornell University) writes that Brett Chedzoy of Cornell Cooperative Extension – Schuyler County noted nearly 100% mortality of the pignut hickory in the three woodlots.

And wonders if anyone else seen hickory mortality?

Here is fact sheet from Wisc. on hickory mortality (pdf).