Community Garden - Updates from Ann Odvody 1/30 - To put it mildly, it was brisk in the garden this morning. Mary and I did the harvesting of several varieties of lettuce, collard and mustard greens, broccoli, celery and spinach. We also had one Savoy cabbage for a little weight. The harvest for today was 13 pounds 14 ounces. For the year we are at 159 pounds. If I can find seed potatoes, we will get them planted next week. 2/14 - We had two beautiful mornings in the garden this week. The lettuces, greens and broccoli are doing very well. We are almost through harvesting cabbage, but the greenhouse team has us covered and their plants will soon be ready to be set out in the prepared beds. We did get potatoes planted this week and will seed a new bed of lettuce next week. Spring weeds are popping their heads up and we are diligently working at digging them up. A lot of work has been done up by the orchard and the area looks a lot better. Harvest total for the week was 34 pounds 14 ounces, giving us a total of 209 pounds 7 ounces for this year. The guys are done with rodeo for a couple of weeks. YEAH!! we have missed them! Speakers Bureau January 12, Liz Romero gave presentation to the Lazy Daisy Garden Club on "Rain Barrels for the Gar- dener" January 20, Nancy Masterson gave a N.I.C.E presentation to the Nogales Garden Club. February 16, Peggy Jones a presentation on "Let’s Talk Roses", at the Tye Preston Memorial Library at Canyon Lake. February 17, Nancy Masterson's presentation to the Nogales Garden Club was "Hello Invasives Good- bye Texas”. Submitted by, Treva Hicks , Speakers Bureau Keyhole Gardens at the Rodeo Featured in the Bexar County Raised Garden Beds by the HEB Buckaroo Barns Tent at the SASSR is the Guadalupe County Community Garden's Keyhole Garden that was donated by Cynthia Lyssy from Class 25 and put together by two Class 26 graduates and very recent certified MGs, Cynthia Leos and Donna Wise. Photos provided by Cynthia Lyssey . 121212 DOWN THE GARDEN PATH BY THE TEXAS MASTER GARDENER Family up north is enjoying their January thaw with weather in the 50s. By weekend they are expecting weather in the 20s and snow. Sunshine and blue skies – sure glad I don’t live up north! Of course these beautiful spring-like days will be short lived - back to winter. While the last article covered planting trees, it’s important to care for the trees you have! To ensure the good health of your trees, it’s time to consider pruning. Unless it is a fruit tree, most trees don’t need a major pruning every year. You should trim dead wood, branches that are rubbing or limbs that will damage your home’s roof. You can cause more damage to your trees by over pruning than by leaving them alone. Nothing looks worse than a once stately tree turned into a bonsai tree from over pruning. While landscape trees can be pruned any time of the year, right now is the best time while the sap is low and in- sect populations are small. Fruit trees, like peaches, should be pruned just before bud break. Pruning at that time will induce bud break and flowering. Timing is everything with fruit trees – early flowers and late freezes equals a lack of fruit. While pruning trees is based on scientific principles, it’s also an art. It’s important to be true to the character and overall long-term shape of the tree. While you may be tempted to raise the canopy of your tree, restrain yourself. Low growing limbs exist for a reason – they protect the roots. Especially live oaks. Heavy thinning of a tree’s can- opy will throw the tree out of balance, inviting wind and storm damage. The stress from this will create a perfect situation for insects and disease. Remove limbs that grow toward the center of the tree, limbs that are dangerous or will damage buildings. Avoid “V” shaped crotches by removing one of the co-dominate upward shoots. Do not gut the interior of a tree’s canopy with heavy pruning. Over thinning of the canopy will allow the tree’s limbs to be susceptible to sunburn. Use proper tools. Make sure your tools are sharp to make pruning cuts. Use loppers, pole pruners, and pruning saws for small limbs. Chain saws can be used for larger limbs. Just use common sense when operating power equipment. Wear protective glasses, gloves, and long sleeves. Do not make flush cuts. Pruning cuts should be made at the point where the branch meets the trunk, just outside the branch collar. The branch collar is a swollen area at the base of every branch fork. Cuts made at the right place leave a round wound. Improper flush cuts leave an oval cut which can cause cavities to form in the trunk. Pruning at the collar allows the tree to quickly grow new wood over the wound and seal itself in a few years. Flush cuts encourage decay at the top and bottom of the cuts. Flush cuts destroy the natural protective zone be- tween the trunk and the branch. This can lead to serious problems which include decayed wood, wet wood, resin pockets, cracks, sun injury, cankers and slow growth of new wood. These problems make it easy for insects to invade and cause damage. Branch stubs that are too long can be a problem as well and should be avoided. It is better to err on the side of long stubs than stubs that are too short. The scientific community has gone back and forth on the use of pruning paint and wound dressings. Current re- search by Alex Shigo, Carl Whitcomb, and the U.S. Forest Service has shown that there is no benefit from the use of these techniques. It has been shown that they can be harmful, slowing the healing process damaging healthy tissue needed for callus formation. Trees have defense cells that work like our white blood cells. These lignin cells are produced on the backside of a wound to prevent diseases from entering fresh cuts. It is the same princi- pal as a cut on our finger that heals faster when exposed to fresh air. Small limbs and foliage should be shredded and used as mulch under trees or mixed into a compost pile. Large pieces can be used as firewood. What you remove from the land should be returned to the land. Take care of the trees you have. Keep your trees properly hydrated and mulched. They are a valuable part of your property. Consider adding some for the future. When you plant a tree, you are planting for future genera- tions. Happy Gardening Gwen DeWitt - 358-9473 or 813-9936 131313 Are My Hours Creditable? Question: I work at my subdivision entrance weeding, planting, mulching, etc. I have been reporting those hours as Volunteer Hours. Is this correct? Answer: No. The ongoing maintenance of a garden/landscape is not reportable volunteer hours, unless the Board has deemed the garden/landscape as an approved GCMG Volunteer Project. Your subdivision entrance is not a GCMG approved garden and, therefore, maintenance work would not be creditable, i.e., watering, weeding, planting, mulching, etc. However anything you do to help educate the members of your subdivision would be creditable volunteer hours. This includes teaching safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that promote the development of healthy gardens, landscapes and communities. Examples of reportable activity would be holding impromptu classes on gardening in your subdivision, helping your subdivision lay out, design, and build the landscape, help- ing them decide what to plant and why, teaching them how to plant and teaching them how to maintain the land- scape, etc. When recording your volunteer hours in VMS, describe the educational nature of your contribution to the garden/ landscape under “Event Description”, so that someone looking at your hours would have no question that you were educating the public. Identify the “Project” as (h) Outreach to the Public. Question: How do I credit research for a presentation that I will be giving and the actual presentation itself? I’ve been crediting the research for the presentation as Continuing Education and the presentation itself to include travel time as Volunteer hours. Is this correct? Answer : You are partially correct. Preparation and research for presentations, workshops and other training of both Master Gardeners and/or the public is creditable as Volunteer Hours as well as the actual presentation and travel to and from the presentation. This also includes preparation for and presentation during the KWED Radio Show. It is all creditable as Volunteer Hours. When recording your volunteer hours in VMS, the “Event Description” would read something like “Research, preparation and presentation of Vegetable Seminar to the Lions Club”. The “Project” would be (h) Outreach to the Public. Continuing education is defined as lectures, workshops, hands on training - all important not only for advancing our knowledge, but also for meeting other Master Gardeners and the public. (Attendance at a lecture, workshop, or hands on training is implied in the definition.) Submitted by Cindy Waechter February Volunteer Recognition Program 31 Certified Master Gardeners qualified for the February Volunteer Recognition Program Drawing. Having done so, all 31 also qualify for one entry into the $150 Annual Recognition Drawing. Members reporting 5 or more hours in January 2015 were: Kathy Bennett, Mary Bowe, Joyce Briscoe, Carol Cal- entine, Mike Chandler, Robert (Bob) Cox, Jon Elia, Joyce Friesenhahn, Susan Hadley, Beth Henry, Elizabeth (Betty) Hughes, Peggy Jones, James Knight, Jr., Ellen Laubhan, John Lewicki, Janet Magee, Cindy Martin, Kay McElveen, Elaine McIntyre, LaVerne McKenney, Ann Odvody, Dale Odvody, Karen Patterson, Jerilyn Preston, Liz Romero, Polly Ruppert, Pat Schultze, Iris Seale, Judy Stanley, Carol Suchan and Pamela (Pam) Turner.