Cucumber Lemonade Should I be watering my trees and shrubs? Ingredients: It’s been a hot, dry summer so far and our trees and shrubs are  1 cucumber, peeled not immune from the stressful effects. Trees, for example, signal and cubed their water deficit through a number of symptoms. The most  1 lemon (more for common are: stronger lemon  Lighter green to taste) yellow-green foliage  5 cups water  Leaf scorch around the margins  Sweeten to taste  Wilting leaves Directions:  Leaves dropping  Wash and peel cucumber prematurely

 Cut into sections and put cucumber and Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether the established trees water in a blender and puree and shrubs in our landscape need to be watered. Here are two  Strain articles that might help answer the question “Should I be water- ing my trees and shrubs?”  Add juice of lemon and sugar to taste  Serve over ice The first is an ISU Extension and Outreach article published in 2012—a  With 1 cup servings, recipe serves 6 very dry summer—titled Should I be Wa- Did You Know? tering Trees?and the second is from the Cucumbers are a light and cooling vegetable University of Minnesota Extension called made of 95% water! Watering established trees and shrubs. Source: Farmers Market Fun Family Recipes, West Virginia University Extension Service, http://ext.wvu.edu/fun_family_food

Soldier beetles, sometimes called leatherwing beetles, are closely related to fireflies, which were last month’s I Spy topic. However, soldier beetles do not have a light-producing organ like their cousins.

In Iowa, we usually see the goldenrod soldier beetle, also called the Pennsylvania soldier beetle, Chauliognathus pensylvanicus. They start showing up in numbers in August and September.

Some gardeners may become concerned when they see a large num- ber of beetles landing in their garden but soldier beetles are beneficial. The larvae feed on other insects including the eggs and larvae of some garden pests. Adults feed on pollen and nectar. They can resemble bees when moving from flower to flower and because of their frequent contact with flowers, are important pollinators. Flowers also seem to encourage the romantic side of soldier beetles as they are often found mating on them.

Soldier beetles protect themselves by secreting an offensive chemical to make them less tasty to would be predators. Their yellow color is also thought to be a warning signal to predators that they don't taste good.

Since soldier beetles are beneficial and harmless, it is unnecessary to control them. If they accidentally make it inside the house, just help them back outside where they can find a nice flower.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Newsletter on Yard, Garden and Local Food Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5 6 Click underlined links for more Harvest and dry information on a herbs for later use topic…

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Local Food Cooking Gardener Open Practical Farmers National House—Sioux County Tasting at Rock with Garden of Iowa Field Day, Farmers’ Vegetables class Ext. Office - 10am- Rapids Farmers’ 2pm & Cooking with 7 W Farm— Market Week Market—4pm Rock Rapids - Paullina 10am- 6pm-8pm Herbs class— Sutherland 6pm-8pm 2pm 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Gardener Open Gardener Open Gardener Open Sow seeds of House Lyon Coun- House Osceola House O'Brien lettuce, spinach & ty Extension Office County Extension County Extension radish for fall 10am-2pm Office 10am-2pm Office 10am-2pm harvest

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Check out Continue to harvest “Preserve the those wonderful Taste of Summer” zucchini and for information on cucumbers to keep preserving garden plants productive produce 28 29 30 31 1 2 3

Sow grass seeds September Check water quality and level for new lawns and Master Gardener of ponds and to repair existing class applications water features lawns due

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Pick up and dis- Labor Day card windfall apples to reduce pest problems

AUGUST 2016 ISSUE GARDEN TO TABLE NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 Master Gardener News

2016 Master Gardener Core Training Will be at the Osceola Community Hospital in Sibley starting September 20. Online registration is now open at www.mastergardener.iastate.edu. Starts September 20th.

Volunteer Service Opportunities  Help harvest produce at the ISU Demonstration Garden in Rock Rapids  Take part as we count, weigh, wash, bag and distribute the food to area pantries  Harvest days are Monday and Tuesdays (though days may be added as needed)  Time is either morning or evening as schedules allow—I email folks a few days before to confirm  Let me know if you want to be placed on the email list for volunteering

 Help answer yard and garden questions either in the office or accompanying me on site visits—I have 2 coming on re: trees

 Assist with “Ask a Master Gardener”. Tuesday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. a Master Gardener is available to answer gardening questions at the ISU Demonstration Garden in Rock Rapids - if you are available Tuesday, August 9—please come out to the garden unless you are at the Cooking with Garden Vegetable class at the community center like I will be☺

 Looking for a volunteer to help with administrative tasks for the master gardener program & local food program

Continuing Education Summer Webinars Thursday August 25 - The 3rd and final webinar for the summer will be shown at the Sibley Public Library, 406 9th St. 5:45pm-7:45pm. Topic is insects native to Iowa plus, what to know about garden pest. Program is free and open to the public.

Food Security in Iowa Webcasts Master Gardeners will gain educational hours while learning about the realities of hunger in Iowa, the best way to work with food banks, donation garden food safety, and more. Click here to watch the series online.

Extension Master Gardener Social Media Training https://sites.google.com/a/extension.org/social-media-resources/welcome Master Gardener volunteers can complete the online modules to receive a certificate and continuing education hours. Great tool for those who manage Master Gardener Facebook pages!

Two upcoming Master Gardener Conferences: 1. Upper Midwest Master Gardener Conference will be September 14-17, 2016 in scenic Wisconsin Dells. The theme is “Helping Nature Thrive,” and will feature area garden tours, educational sessions, expert speakers, and the Wisconsin Master Gardener Association annual meeting and ice cream social. Visit the conference website for more information. 2. The 2017 International Master Gardener Conference will be July 10-14, 2017 in Portland Oregon. Please visit the conference website for more information.

Keep Reporting Your Hours Report hours at www.extension.iastate.edu/mastergardener/volunteers Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you!!

AUGUST 2016 ISSUE GARDEN TO TABLE NEWSLETTER PAGE 3

Food Pantry Project This summer the Master Gardener program partnered with Iowa State University SNAP-Ed program to help support the latter's food insecurity relief efforts.

One main goal of this partnership is to make fruits and vegetables more accessible for Iowa families experiencing poverty. According to the Food Bank of Iowa, 396,620 Iowans live at or below the poverty line and 1 in 8 Iowans are considered to be food insecure, which means they are without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

Effects of hunger are wide spread. Food insecurity can put people at higher risk for chronic disease. It can affect mental health with increased anxiety and aggression. For children, being food insecure has been shown to impair academic development.

Gardening enthusiast like Master Gardeners can play an important role in helping to make healthy foods more accessible in their communities. We can grow food to donate to area food pantries, provide gardening education for people wanting to grow their own food and forge partnerships with community groups to develop projects such as community gardens.

One exciting project we have going on in Rock Rapids this summer is a food pantry garden. Vegetables we are growing at the ISU Demonstration Garden located at the Lyon County Fairgrounds are being donated to several area food pantries. So far this season we have harvested 560 pounds of produce.

Master Gardeners in Lyon County received funding from monies made available through SNAP in the form of mini-grants. The funding helped Master Gardeners start up pantry gardens or, in our case, helped purchase needed equipment to harvest, weigh, wash and distribute the produce to food pantries.

If you are interested in growing food for food pantries, a few things to keep in mind—grow popular, well-know varieties that are hearty and will store and transport well. Talk with pantry staff to confirm they take fresh produce and the best time to delivery it. Plan to deliver the produce as most pantries are small with limited staff and/or volunteers and can’t do pickups. Also, be sure to use appropriate food safety procedures while in the garden and getting the produce washed and bagged for delivery. Work with the pantry staff on the front-end of planning your pantry garden to ensure a successful partnership.

One last lesson learned from working with a pantry garden this summer—having help is a good thing!!

Feel free to contact me with questions if you are interested in starting a pantry garden or want to donate your extra garden fare.

AUGUST 2016 ISSUE GARDEN TO TABLE NEWSLETTER PAGE 4

Herbs...Parsley

Parsley, an often underutilized herb too long associated with being just a garnish on a dinner plate. But parsley is rich in both flavor and nutrients providing vitamin A and C plus, minerals. It is also considered a natural breath freshener because of its high chlorophyll content.

Parsley is a biennial but in our region is treated as an annual. The two most common culinary varieties are the Italian flat-leaf and curly-leaf. Each is easy to grow by direct seeding into the garden. Plant in the spring just be for the last frost of your season. However, be patient as parsley is slow to germinate. There’s an old saying that says parsley goes to the devil 7 times before it grows. Try soaking the seeds in warm water for 24 hours before plant- ing or start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before transplanting. A helpful aid to keeping track of rows of newly seeded parsley is to plant radish seeds in with the parsley seeds. The radish will germinate quickly to mark the row where parsley is also planted.

Parsley is a host plant for the swallowtail butterfly. If planted near asparagus, it’s believed that both plants will benefit with increased vigor. Keep in mind that rabbits love it!

This is a "cut-and-come-again" plant so you can harvest leaves as they mature. Snip stalk close to the ground as this will encourage continued growth.

There is a superstition that it’s bad luck to move parsley from garden to garden. It stems from the fact that parsley is hard to transplant so it should be sown where it is to grow.

Fresh parsley works with most foods and can be added to salads, sauces, soups and, yes, used as a garnish for an after dinner treat.

A few fun facts about zucchini

 One zucchini has just 25 calories  The flower of the zucchini plant is edible  The world’s largest zucchini on record was 69.5 inches long, and weighed 65 lbs. Bernard Lavery of Plymouth Devon, UK, grew the humongous veggie  According to World’s Healthiest Foods Nutrition, nutrients found in zucchini can help prevent cancer and heart disease  The peel is a good source of dietary fiber  A zucchini has more potassium than a banana  The word zucchini comes from ‘zucca’ the Italian word for squash  The most flavorful zucchinis are small- to medium-sized  Zucchini has anti-oxidant benefits. Much of the antioxidant nutrients are found in the seeds and skin of the plant, and not just its flesh. So it is important to consume it without peeling the skin. To retain the strongest amount of anti-oxidant benefits, steaming is recommended over baking or boiling

Source: Food Channel website and Fill Your Plate.org.

AUGUST 2016 ISSUE GARDEN TO TABLE NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 increase in hay yield and quality.~ RSVPs Requested for Meal Tuesday August 9 Click here for more information. Cooking with Garden Vegetables with nutrition & wellness specialist, Renee Sweers—part of our garden to Table series. A Thursday August 25 hands-on cooking class featuring tips on how to prepare easy, Last of three Master Gardener Growing Season Webinar - nutritious meals using fresh garden fare. Time: 6pm-8pm at the Learn about native garden insects and garden pests. Master Forster Community Center, Rock Rapids. Free but pre-registration Gardeners receive 2 hours of continuing education. required. See flyer on next page. Place: Sibley Public Library (406 9th St.)

Time: 5:45pm-7:45pm Thursday August 11 Free and open to the public Cooking with Herbs with Renee Sweers—part of our Garden to Table Series. Join a hands-on cooking class featuring easy cooking Horticulture Open Houses at Local Extension Offices tips and recipes using fresh herbs at the Sutherland Fire Rescue Gardening enthusiasts are invited to stop by their local Extension office on and Ambulance building from 6pm-8pm. Cost: $15/person. See the following dates between 10am and 2pm to enjoy coffee, treats and green-thumb conversation. Click here for more information. flyer on the last page for more information & to register. Thursday, August 11, 2016 Saturday August 13 Sioux County Extension and Outreach Office 400 Central Ave. NW, Suite 700, Orange City, IA 51041 Practical Farmers of Iowa Field at 7 W Farm—The Wilson family ----- will share their experiences with a pastured poultry operation, Monday, August 15, 2016 including touring the on-farm processing shed. They'll discuss Lyon County Extension and Outreach Office 710 North 2nd Ave. East, Suite 103, Rock Rapids, IA 51246 raising pigs from farrow-to-finish on pasture and their research trials ----- that include apple cider vinegar in the ration for improving animal Tuesday, August 16, 2016 Osceola County Extension and Outreach Office health. They will talk about small grains production and an ISU trial 110 Cedar Lane, Sibley, IA 51249 using rotary hoeing in oats for weed control, as well as their own ----- Wednesday, August 17, 2016 trials supplementing hay with micronutrients to see if there is an O’Brien County Extension and Outreach Office 340 2nd Street SE, Primghar, IA 51245

Pest of the Month Management Septoria Leaf Spot on Tomatoes  Do not plant tomatoes in the same location for 3-4 years Find us on Facebook Septoria leaf spot is caused by a fungus and commonly  Reduce moisture on tomato leaves by using drip causes leaf spots and stem lesions. The fungus can irrigation or directing water at the base of the plant. Iowa Master Gardener survive the winter on diseased plant debris or on Water tomatoes early in the day so leaves dry perennial weeds such as nightshade. In the spring, the quickly in the sun. MG Hours Online fungus produces spores that are windblown or rain-  Stake plants to improve air circulation around the splashed to healthy tomato leaves, causing primary plant. infections.  Apply mulch around the base of plants to minimize Yard & Garden FAQs

Symptoms usually begin to appear on the lower leaves water splash. after fruit set. Initially round, yellow spots develop. Later,  Pinch off infected leaves and remove them from the Hort & Home Pest News these spots enlarge and turn brown to gray. Tiny black garden (never remove more than 1/3 of a plant's fruiting bodies eventually form in the center of the leaf foliage). Flavors of Northwest Iowa spots, which produce spores that cause secondary infec-  At the end of the season remove all plant debris tions, usually in an upward direction, throughout the plant. from the garden, or in large gardens till it under to Heavily infected leaves speed up break down of plant material. Questions or Comments turn yellow, then brown  If the above cultural control practices do not reduce and fall from the plant. disease enough to produce a good crop of tomatoes Exposed fruit, due to fungicides can be applied to protect healthy leaves. defoliation, may be Make sure the product is for use on tomato crops for damaged by overexpo- septoria leaf spot and follow label instructions sure to the sun carefully! (sunscald). Source: University of Minnesota Extension

For questions, comments or to contribute an article or photo Contact: Margaret Murphy, Horticulture Educator & Regional Food Coordinator Iowa State University Extension and Outreach - Lyon, O’Brien, Sioux and Osceola Counties (712) 472-2576 / [email protected]

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach programs are available to all without regard to race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.