Iowa State University Extension and Outreach The Potting Shed Official Jones County Master Gardeners Newsletter March/April 2014 Bi-monthly edition Coordinators Master Gardener Activities Column Late Winter/Early Spring 2014 I’m reading the column from January/February and still looking forward Tuesday, February 11th, Joe Yedlik , Iowa State Fair 4-H Horticul- to spring—green grass, ture superintendent, presented a program on Horticulture Judging. Joe gave great tips on judging (selection) of horticulture exhibits. He trees leafing out or shared his story about his children growing vegetables to exhibit at maybe just warmer the State Fair also. weather that will melt all this white stuff!!! Well most of the white stuff has melted. SI Hgot O Wspring fever on March 10th and planted Saturday, March 1st was the Anamosa Home and Garden Show at lettuce in a container the Lawrence Community Center from 9 am to 3 pm. It was a snowy day and attendance was low for the presentations scheduled that here at work by Friday. day. Betty Paschall brought the forced bulbs for the display table and The lettuce had popped 2 decorated pots - a leprechaun and clown. Our new intern, Judy up so by our next Tuetken came to assist at the display table also. Thanks to Jim meeting I should be Christianson for setting up tables and chairs for the show also. enjoying a fresh salad. Even the rabbits At the Anamosa Home follow the sidewalk at and Garden show I Fountain Park— Anamosa early March promised people that 2014 spring will be here Photo submitted by Jim Christianson according to the calendar that would be March 20th. I did see about 30 robins this morning looking for Earth Day Celebration April 12th, 2014 food driving to work Lawrence Community Center—Anamosa this morning. 10 am—3 pm display table Kim Article from Trees Forever Jim Christianson provided this photo from Trees Forever newsletter. Chuck West, Mary Kelchen, Jim Christianson and Kim Miller helped with this activity last fall. Hopefully, all the trees survived this harsh winter. Surprising Uses for Coffee and Coffee Grounds (article from Reader’s Digest) You can speed up your composting! Pour on coffee (or tea, or non-diet cola) to increase the bacterium population and help both soil and compost break down faster. You can fertilize your plants! It isn't the caffeine in coffee grounds that plants like azaleas and rosebushes and evergreens love but rather the acidity and aeration the grounds pro- vide—not to mention nitrogen, phosphorous, and trace minerals. Just be sure to dig the grounds into the soil to keep them from becoming moldy. But don't overdo it: Dig about 3/4 cup of grounds into the soil near the roots, repeating once a month. Fertilizing even acid-loving plants with coffee grounds too frequently could increase soil acidity to undesirable levels. About 100 million Americans drink coffee every day. The average coffee drinker will spend about $165 each year on the beverage. This means a lot of leftover coffee grounds. Students at Arizona State University in Tempe found a use for the used grounds. "[The] Grounds for Grounds program is a recycling program that we started to recycle Star- bucks coffee grounds on campus and use them in our flower beds and our lawns, and even sometimes in pest control," said Vicente Solis, a civil engineering student at Arizona State. Solis and fellow student Rigoberto Polanco collect more than 500 pounds of used coffee grounds each week to use as a natural fertilizer. "We usually just throw straight coffee grounds on the lawns. For our flower beds, we mix [the grounds] with a little bit of compost, like a 50-50 mixture," said Solis. The results they've seen are healthier flowers and plants, and greener grass. When spread over flower beds and lawns, coffee grounds slowly release nitrogen – a key nutrient that helps plants grow – into the soil. The used grounds also attract earthworms. As the earthworms dig in the soil, the amount of water and air allowed to flow through the soil increases. Earthworms also break down organic matter in the soil like leaves. Using coffee grounds as natural fertilizer can also save money on lawn and garden care. "You can use coffee grounds on your flower beds and on your lawns instead of going out and buying synthetic fertilizer," explained Solis. Used coffee grounds are easy to come by even for those who don't brew coffee at home. "They can go up to any Starbucks they want and ask for coffee grounds," said Solis Article from Inside Science More Tidbits A lot of people already know coffee grounds are great for enriching soil with nitrogen, but if your gardens just can't keep up with your coffee habit there are a ton of other great ways to put those grounds to use. Kitty Be Gone Keep the neighborhood felines out of your garden by sprinkling a mixture of coffee grounds and orange peels around the edges of plant beds. It's not only beneficial for you and your garden—there are lots of plants that are harmful to cats. Ant Control It's that time of year: Ant season. If you have an ant problem, sprinkle coffee grounds near doorways. How does it work? The nitrogen burns the ants' legs so they won't walk cross it. Some people cover ant holes with grounds, but I'm a little too softhearted for that. Sow Seeds If you want to grow lots of carrots or radishes, you can make your seeds go further by adding in coffee grounds. Let the grounds dry and then mix them with seeds. Plant the grounds with the seeds and your plants will actually grow in thicker. Get Shiny Hair Coffee grounds can add shine to your hair and condition it naturally. Work the grounds into clean, wet hair and massage for a few minutes, then rinse. You may want to do this out- doors in warm weather to keep your drains from becoming clogged. (And brunettes—you'll get the added benefit of lovely highlights.) Eliminate Odors Coffee absorbs scents from its environment, which makes it a fantastic natural deo- dorizer. Let the grounds dry, then pour them into a cup you can sit in your fridge or freezer. If you've been cooking with onion, garlic or other pungent foods, rub your hands in dry coffee grounds to re- move smells. Cara Smusiak writes on behalf of Naturally Savvy.com about how to live a more natural, organic and green lifestyle from Green Living TLC Coffee grounds make excellent odor removers for small spaced like vehicles, refrigerators and freez- ers. Dry your used grounds completely and pour in a clean sock tie the end and place at offending odor’s source. Chamber Chatter - Anamosa newsletter 2014 Home & Garden Show Despite the cold and snow, March 1 brought out plenty of folks who were looking forward to new spring projects for their homes and yards! A very special thank you to the Master Garden- ers and our wonderful vendors; without you there would be no show. Yard and Garden: Plants Affected by Frigid Temperatures AMES, Iowa -- Winter can be tough on Iowa’s trees and shrubs. Low temperatures, rapid temperature changes, winter desiccation and the weight of ice and snow can damage vulnerable trees and shrubs. Horticulturists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach answer questions about the effect this winter’s frigid temperatures will have on land- scape plants. To have additional questions answered, contact Hortline at 515-294-3108 or [email protected]. This winter temperatures have dropped to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. What effects will the cold temperatures have on my fruit trees? The cold temperatures may have damaged peach and sweet cherry trees. Peach trees are not reliably cold hardy in much of Iowa. Temperatures below -18 F will destroy the flower buds on peach trees. Temperatures of -25 F or below may damage or destroy the peach trees themselves. The flower buds on sweet cherries are slightly more cold-hardy than those on peaches. The flower buds on some sweet cherry cultivars can survive temperatures of -20 F. Iowa gar- deners should expect poor crops on peaches and sweet cherries this summer. It also is possible that the trees them- selves may have been damaged. Damage may vary from dieback of twigs and branches to complete death. On a brighter note, the cold winter temperatures should not have damaged apples, pears and sour (tart) cherries. What effects will this winter’s cold temperatures have on my trees and shrubs? Trees and shrubs that are native to Iowa (or similar regions of the world) are well adapted to our climate and should have suffered little or no damage. However, marginally hardy plants, such as Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), flower- ing dogwood (Cornus florida) and Japanese flowering cherry (Prunus serrulata) may have sustained damage. (The maximum cold hardiness of most Japanese maple, flowering dogwood and Japanese flowering cherry cultivars is -20 F.) Damage may vary from the dieback of twigs and branches to complete death of the tree. This winter’s cold temperatures also may have destroyed the flower buds on flowering quince (Chaenomeles spp.) and some forsythia cultivars. Temperatures of -20 F or below likely destroyed the flower buds on flowering quince and ‘Lynwood Gold’ and ‘Spring Glory’ (two popular forsythia cultivars). As a result, these shrubs likely will produce few, if any, flowers in spring. Fortunately, the cold temperatures should not have any long term effects on the shrubs.