What's Growin' On
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Brazoria County Master Gardener Association WHAT’S GROWIN’ ON FEBRUARY 2009 Contents Ed barrios, THE PREZ, SEZ Since this is the first newsletter of the year, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Thanks to everyone for the great job The Prez Sez 1 ya‘ll did in 2008. We completed the rainwater harvesting system; had a financially successful ―What‘s AgriLIFE: Enabling Garden 1 Growin‘ On‖ education session for the public; bought and installed a weather station; completed one pro- fessional-looking set of bleachers; hosted the State rainwater harvesting seminar; expanded the grape B.E.E.S. Buzz 2 and berry February,gardens; developed 2009 the orchard; received $10,000 for an Enabling Garden; started the process Early Spring Color 3 to apply for a $100,000 grant for numerous upgrades; built impressive work benches in the barn; re- paired Ike damage to the potting shed; added a square foot garden, a native garden, and a Tropical Garden Update 3 ―Grandmothers‘‖ garden; made major improvements to the ―Men‘s‖ garden; and that‘s all in addition to maintaining our existing 24 garden areas, holding 2 plants sales and 6 Open Houses!!! Wow, we did good!!! The Inquiring Gardener 4 Let‘s all welcome the new crop of Spring 2009 interns. Photos will be at BEES soon. Plants of the Month 5 Howard Allen Lake Jackson Sandra Lockhart Richwood Have You Heard? 6 Gerrie Baccus Lake Jackson Charles McFerrin Brazoria Joan Bailes Angleton Special Announcements 7 Trisha Meiller Lake Jackson Kaye Cooper Brazoria Ruby Lee Williams-Robinson Lake Jackson Les Cooper Brazoria Lynn Waters Freeport COMING UP Donna DiGiuseppe Danbury Judy Easterling Angleton Fred Wetherly Lake Jackson CLUTE GARDEN SEMINAR Jane Eppner Lake Jackson Rose Wilson Alvin Sat, 02/07/09 Sandy Henderson Lake Jackson Barbara Zetka Angleton 8 am-12 noon Clute Community Center 108 Hargett Paula craig’s AGRIlife: the enabling garden MG TRAINING Ongoing As many of you already know, Master Gardener redesign building plans to ensure a comfortable Every Thursday intern, Dr. Jennifer Northrop, was recently space for gardening. People living with MS will be 02/05—02/26 awarded $10,000 in grant monies for the installa- able to continue to participate in the pastime of 9:00 am AgriLIFE Office Volunteers Needed! tion of the Enabling Gardens of Texas at the Bra- gardening, and some may even develop a new hobby. zoria Environmental Education Station (BEES) See Page 4 Advisors on design and content of the garden in- through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. clude Drs. Joe Novak and Louis Castillo of Texas BCMGA MEETING According to its website, The NMSS, Lone Star A&M University. They hope that this garden and Tues, 02/10/09 Chapter ―has created a program to reward creative, associated programming will serve as a prototype 6:30 pm AgriLIFE Office Citrus Sale Prep innovative individuals who are passionate about for counties throughout Texas, even the nation. developing new ways to improve the lives of Texans Jennifer Northrop is a pediatric genetics specialist touched by multiple sclerosis.‖ B.E.E.S. GRANT MEETING in Houston Medical Center. She is a gardener cur- Fri, 02/13/09 Project Overview: Jennifer hopes to give back rently residing in Brookside Village. I can‘t say that 10 am BEES some of the activities that are often thought to be Jennifer is a victim of MS, because that‘s not a CITRUS SALE lost after the diagnosis of MS by creating both word anyone can use to describe her. Jennifer Sat, 02/21/09 individual and community enabling gardens that are battles MS—I think with every weapon available. 8 am-sellout BEES completely accessible, including raised beds. A web She is an active volunteer for NMSS and a wel- site will allow interested gardeners to download comed member to the BCMGA. MARCH GARDEN SERIES plant suggestions and an illustrative guide, and to Begins Sat, 03/07/09 9 am-12 noon at BEES From the editor Veggies Thanks to everyone who wrote great information for this newsletter. Hope you enjoy the new format — remember you can magnify the .pdf file! We‘re already planning next month‘s issue, so if you have ideas for articles, plants you want to introduce or special topics you‘d like covered, send me an email at [email protected] WHAT’S GROWIN’ ON P ag e 2 THE BEES BUZZ WITH lee withers Wow! The old year The areas we feel we can use the money from Whew! To enhance our ability to get the grant went out with a this grant are: from H-GAC we needed a logo that embraced whoosh! And the new the theme of the grant. We adopted ―B.E.E.S has come in with a ADA complaint walkways-especially in water –-Brazoria Environmental Education Station bang! Big exciting prone areas, (unless we have to tweak this for the grant) times for BCMGA. Our More rainwater harvesting and a cute little cartoon bee that I named little gardening group Fencing for security ―Braz‖ – short for Brazoria. This logo does is taking big steps to not replace our Brazoria MGA logo but will be Upgrading the composting area grow from a young used in conjunction with any educational pro- toddler to at least a teenager. Signs for gardens and buildings, etc gramming and will help emphasize our public Greenhouse fans and heaters outreach. What does this mean? BCMGA has begun a huge upgrade process. We are attempting Irrigation for citrus grove Jennifer Northrup and I are coordinating the to get a grant from Houston Galveston Painting the buildings actual grant writing, but many people are help- Area Council (HGAC). H-GAC's mission is ing with the research that will help pin down Finishing out the horse barn with classroom to serve as the instrument of local govern- the finer points. Final pricing on all aspects of and bathrooms ment cooperation, promoting the region's the grant is due Friday, February 13. orderly development and the safety and Acquiring tools needed for these projects All members and interns are welcome to at- welfare of its citizens. Key H-GAC gov- And probably something I have forgotten tend this update meeting at 10 am at BEES. ernmental services include transportation planning, cooperative purchasing, homeland security, air and water quality planning, B.E.E.S. forecasting, and mapping. The grant‘s pri- mary focus is recycle, reduce and reuse. Brazoria Environmental Education Station MORE BUZZ Citrus open house—a success The first Open House of 2009, on Saturday, January 31, featured the fruiting plants we will sell at the Citrus and Fruit Sale. Although the day started in the low thirties, it was beautifully sunny and warmed up fast. Nearly seventy people turned out to hear Gil Livanec tell us the characteristics and culture of various citrus, avo- cados, and other fruits. He brought an array of citrus for tasting, pleasing us all even more. Many guests used break periods to tour the demonstration gardens, and to express interest in our other educational programs. Thanks to Gil for a great program, to all the Master Gardeners who came last week to weed and clean BEES, and to those who gave tours, answered questions, and charmed the visitors the day of the Open House. All for the better—Structural changes age research, back in the Ag Research The Shade House is now much days. It wasn‘t Ike who removed it, how- more functional. We‘ve struggled When Hurricane Ike ripped off the lean-to area at the ever. In January, some county workers for some time with our potted south of the Potting Shed, noticed that the very large hoist, and the plants sitting directly on the gravel we needed to make some very heavy I-beam that supported it, floor; some areas flooded, some of changes. Fortunately the seemed to be attached by one rusty our backs couldn‘t appreciate the giant stainless steel sink bolt…they took it down for us. ups and downs of tending the pots . unit was fine – it would take more than a rickety Recently, we installed new benches lean-to to dent that mon- which are constructed with cinder ster. Part of the reconstruction included raising and blocks and cattle panel. The look is smoothing out the floor of that area with crushed stone. professional and clean, and we won‘t All those odd bits of concrete and other unevenness are have to fight to get pots uprooted history. And the new lean-to, constructed by Larry Lewis from the substrate anymore…not and Billy Heck, looks fresh and airy, and very functional. to mention having to fight to get ourselves upright anymore. That old hoist apparatus at the front of the Potting Shed is gone. It was a hold-over from the shed‘s service in for- Happy plants on new benches WHAT’S GROWIN’ ON P ag e 3 Color for Brazoria Late Winter Gardens While the north is snowed-in, we can primrose, the gaudy ones, for bright win- have a whole different garden in the ter through spring color. winter and early spring. Then there are the plants that are lesser We have the tried-and-true annuals known but worth a try because they‘re available in every big-box store — designated in seed catalogs as ―hardy an- ‗BRIGHT LIGHTS‘ CHARD ABUTILON x ‗VOODOO‘ SALVIA ‗MYSTIC SPIRES‘ the pansies, petunias, alyssum, dian- nuals.‖ thus and snapdragons. With some For instance, Limnanthes douglasii, the field trips to nurseries in the Hous- ―Poached Egg Plant‖ is a 6‖x6‖ edging plant ton area we can even find some in- with shallow-cupped white flowers with a teresting cultivars of the usual an- large, bright golden center — or, golden MUSTARD ‗PURPLE OSAKA‘ POACHED EGG PLANT EURYOPS nuals.