Jeffco CSU Extension Colorado Master Gardeners: 2013 Highlights by Mary Small

Colorado Master Gardener volunteers in Jefferson County actively engage Jefferson County residents to foster successful gardening. A dedicated corps of 110 volunteers brings a variety of projects to life. In 2013, these energetic volunteers donated 6944 hours to CSU Extension. In business terms, that’s the equivalent of almost 3½ full time staff! In dollars, that volunteer service is worth $153,740. Following are descriptions of some of the major outreach projects which resulted in 10,338 direct contacts with Jefferson County citizens.

Beekeeping 101

Public Gardening Classes – CMG volunteers trained in public speaking presented classes on a variety of gardening topics throughout the year. One of the most successful projects in 2013 was the Backyard Food Production Classes. Colorado Master Gardeners and staff in Jefferson County developed a class series that studied successful backyard food production. Topics covered included Small Fruit Production, Growing Heirloom Vegetables, Biointensive Garden Design, Starting Your Own Plants from Seed, Soil and Amendments, Irrigation, Mapping, Planting, Season Extenders and Backyard Beekeeping. Three hundred seventy two (372) citizens attended. Approximately 1/3 of the audience were first time gardeners. 

Low Humidity Problems and Indoor Houseplants by Carol King

Spider Plant Chlorophytum comosum

This time of year, we Colorado gardeners turn to indoor plants to soothe our gardening souls.  However the indoor environment in our homes can be very harsh for many plants. Many of our house plants are native to humid, tropical rain forests and require special consideration when they reside in our Colorado homes. While lighting and temperatures need to be monitored for successful indoor gardening, humidity is the big issue during colder months.  Heating systems common in Colorado circulate dry, warm air throughout the house. Our indoor environment often has less than 10 percent humidity. This is a drastic reduction from the 70 to 90 percent relative humidity levels found in the native climates of most tropical plants.

Why does this matter? Humidity is the level of moisture in the air and can affect a plant's need for water.  Plants grown indoors with low humidity lose more water through transpiration, so their root systems require more water. In addition, plants located near heating or cooling vents may develop leaf spots or brown tips.

Clean Your Garden Tools Quickly and Easily by Gail Wilson

January can be a grim time in the garden here along the Front Range.  Master Gardener Gail gives some good tips for taking on this task and January might just be the time to do that!

Deicing Salts Can Damage Plants by Carol King

Use care when applying deicers

Winter is in full swing along the Front Range and with it comes the inevitable snow and ice causing slippery roads, sidewalks and driveways. Most municipalities use mag chloride on roadways.  Homeowners and business people also often use rock salt (sodium chloride, or table salt) or ice melt on slippery walkways. All of these are salts, and salt works by lowering the melting or freezing point of water. The effect is termed 'freezing point depression'. 

While salt is a necessary part of winter road and walkway safety, it does have its drawbacks. Unfortunately for your plants, it often winds up in the landscape causing injury. When salt sprays from puddles onto plants as cars drive by, it may scorch leaves or kill buds and twig tips. Pines in general are especially noted for their sensitivity to roadside deicing salts. If you notice dying vegetation is on the side of plants facing the road or driveway, the damage has likely been caused by salt spray. Turf grass and other plantings can also be killed if salt-laden snow is piled on it over the course of winter. Accumulation of salt in the soil makes it difficult for plant roots to absorb water and will inhibit seed germination of grasses and wildflowers.

Norfolk Island Pine Care by Planttalk Colorado

Photo courtesy squidoo.com

Norfolk Island pine is a tropical evergreen tree that is adaptable to indoor conditions and is a favorite of many indoor plant enthusiasts. Often used as an indoor Christmas tree, It is not a true pine. In the landscape, it can grow up to 220 feet tall with a trunk as large as 10 feet across. Small trees grown indoors are uniform in appearance and have branches that are parallel to the ground. The Norfolk Island pine is a long-lasting houseplant that grows three to six inches annually.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice! by Donna Duffy

It feels like the days just can’t get any shorter, and it’s true. Today we celebrate the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice officially arrived in Colorado at 10:11 am this morning, marking the moment that the sun shines at its most southern point. To the delight of many of us, this means that the days will start getting longer, however incrementally.

Spiders Paired with Unlikely Partner to Make Silk by Elaine Lockey

Spiders use their silk for building webs to catch prey, as a safety or drag line if they are spiders that roam, spider "dens" (think orb spiders) and more. Spider silk, a protein fiber, is stronger than steel. Humans discovered the benefits of silk thousands of years ago for fishing lines, the healing of wounds and blood clotting. In more recent years silk has been used in body armor, fishing nets, a thread for optical crosshairs such as telescopes in WWII, beautiful cloth, and violin strings!

However, as you can imagine, it is very difficult and time consuming to harvest enough silk for most applications. So researchers are looking at a host of other ways to extract silk or create silk more efficiently.

That's where goats come in. Yes, goats. Through biotechnology, transgenic goats can produce spider silk proteins in their milk. Amounts average 1-2 grams of protein per liter of milk. However, the silk still does not fully retain the properties of natural spider silk. The following video explains the science behind this strange pairing and should reduce any horrific images in your head about what this looks like.

The science is moving quickly as researchers have also had some success with genetically altering silkworms to produce spider silk and also using bacteria to produce spidroin, the spider's dragline.

top photo courtesy of  http://www.gutsandglorytennis.com/

For more information on spiders and spider silk research, check out these links:

http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/media/periodic-tabloid/2012-05-23-the-amazing-adventures-of-spider-silk.aspx

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Pests/spiders.htm

Gardening With Children by Nancy Brant

Photo CSU Extension

One of the main reasons that children enjoy gardening is to spend time with someone they love.   It is a good time to experience the outdoors, talk over problems and bond.  If you love gardening, your children will probably enjoy it too.  Another reason children like gardening is that they love being outside and playing in the dirt.

You can plan the garden with very young children by talking about what you might plant, going to the garden store and picking out some fun seeds.  Choose seeds that are easy to handle, germinate quickly, and are tasty to eat.  Radishes are great because they germinate quickly.  Choose a mild variety if your children do not like spicy foods.  Radishes come in white red, pink, purple and black varieties.  There is even an Easter egg seed blend which is a blend of seeds in shades of purple, lavender, pink, scarlet and white radishes in one seed packet.  

Enjoying Hardy Brassica Vegetables By Joyce D’Agostino

 

Collard Greens Photo by Joyce  D'Agostino

If you grow any vegetables from the Brassica family (Bok Choy, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Colza, Hanover Salad, Kale, Kohlrabi, Mustard, Rutabaga, Turnip) you may notice that even though the days are shorter and we have experienced some cold weather and even frosts, they seem to still be alive and well. 

As the summer started to wind down, I planted Collard Greens (Brassica oleracea) which quickly came up and despite a late season hailstorm which tattered some of its leaves, it is still doing well and ready for harvest even though we are well into fall.

In fact, most of the Brassicas improve in flavor once they have had a nip of frost. When you harvest these vegetables, some will winter over if some of the leaves remain and the roots are intact. Add a layer of mulch with leaves or pine bark to help protect the plant during the cold winter months. Many of these vegetables are considered to be nutritional powerhouses and are great to add to your fall and winter meals.

If you missed planting any of these for your fall garden, you can  add them in the spring. These hardy vegetables like cool spring weather too, so look for these seeds and plants as you plan your 2014 garden. Remember the seed catalogues for the new year will be arriving soon!

Here is a Planttalk tip sheet that gives you some information about growing and enjoying plants in this family:

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1823.html

Emergency Quarantine Issued to Protect Colorado Ash Trees by Christi Lightcap, Colorado Department of Agriculture

Emerald Ash Borer Photo Courtesy Cornell Extension

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Colorado Department of Agriculture has established an emergency quarantine in the Boulder County area related to the recent discovery of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The quarantine is effective immediately. 

“The Emerald Ash Borer is a highly destructive pest to ash trees. In other states, it has caused significant economic impact to property owners and the nursery and landscaping industries. The quarantine is vital to limiting further infestation,” said CDA’s Plant Inspection Division Director, Mitch Yergert 

The emergency quarantine prohibits the movement of all untreated plants and plant parts of the genus Fraxinus out of the quarantined area. This includes, but is not limited to:

·         Logs and green lumber

·         Nursery stock, scion wood, and bud wood

·         Chips and mulch, either composted or uncomposted

·         Stumps, roots and branches

·         Firewood of any non-coniferous (hardwood) species

Welcome New Master Gardeners! by Donna Duffy

On November 13^th, twelve individuals were honored as Jefferson County’s newest Master Gardeners. To earn this designation, they went through a comprehensive application process and interview through Jefferson County CSU Extension. Once accepted as an apprentice, these dedicated people completed a minimum of 60 hours of college-level classroom instruction (including lectures, small group activities, and lab activities) focused on home gardening. On top of that, they contributed at least 50 hours of volunteer service in the past 7 months. 

Did you know that there are 140 certified Master Gardeners in Jefferson County? If you are a gardener, you’ve probably interacted with these Master Gardeners around the county – at Farmer’s Markets, on the phone, in the Plant Diagnostic Clinic, leading youth programs, providing educational programs…they seem to be everywhere in the summer months. In fact, during 2013, the Jefferson County Master Gardeners donated 5,941 hours of volunteer service to benefit residents of all ages. Those hours are the equivalent of almost 3 full-time staff, and are valued at $131, 533! The Jeffco Gardener blog and Facebook page had almost 172,000 hits this year. These are busy volunteers who make a difference in Jefferson County!

Carbon Farming with Jatropha by Elaine Lockey

photo courtesy of http://research.ifas.ufl.edu

There has been much recent press about the desert shrub Jatropha curcas and it's potential to soak up carbon monoxide emissions. A team of German scientists, publishing in the international science journal Earth System Dynamics, analyzed data from Jatropha plantations in several countries and found that approximately 2.5 acres of Jatropha can capture 17-25 tons of carbon monoxide per year, over a 20 year period. 

According to the study’s lead author, the plants can lower desert temperature by as much as 2 degrees Fahrenheit as well as increase rainfall in these regions. Scientific American.com states that if the 1 billion hectares of suitable land was to be used for growing Jatropha, it would be "enough to offset the annual CO2 pollution of China, the U.S. and the E.U. combined."

This poisonous scrubby plant grows as a shrub or small tree and can handle low-nutrient soils. It can live for over 50 years and has not shown to be invasive. The benefit of growing Jatropha is that it grows well in the most arid of regions where it is difficult to farm for food.  Instead, it is grown for ‘carbon farming’. Ideally this plant would be grown in coastal regions where it can receive some minimal irrigation.  The cost of planting these plants if you use existing desalination devices would be more cost effective than higher-tech practices.