Master Gardener Association of Grayson County

The Gardening Thymes Summer 2016

Note from the President… Kentucky Master Gardener

Training Program 2016

Are you an enthusiastic gardener? Have

a green thumb? (Or even a brown

thumb?)

Enjoy talking about gardening? Want to

learn more to become a better gardener?

If so, we want you!

The Grayson County Extension Office

is now taking applications for the 14

week Master Gardener course.

Learn about Basic Botany, Entomology,

Fruits, Annual and Perennial Flowers,

Landscape Design, Lawn Management,

Ornamental and Woody Plants,

Pesticides and Pesticide Safety, Plant

Pathology, Soils, Fertility, Vegetables.

This course is a condensed version of an

agriculture or horticulture degree. All

classes are taught in a relaxed

atmosphere and are easy to understand.

All of this is only $100!

The weekly classes will be held on

Mondays at 10:00 am, beginning

September 12th. They will be held in

Grayson and Breckinridge Counties, and

will include some on-location training.

For more information, please contact Whitney Carman, Grayson County Extension Agent at 270-259-3492.

Happy Summer!

Our 7th Annual Plant Fair and Spring

Fling has come and gone.

We had a beautiful day, although a bit

windy.

We hope our vendors and attendees

enjoyed it as much as we did.

Although we have endured a cool, wet

spring, gardens and “weeds” are

thriving beautifully.

“There is a time for everything, and

everything on earth has its special

season.”

See you in the garden,

Martha Higgs

MGAGC President

Remember one

year of weeds

equals 7 years of

seeds. So keep

those gardens,

containers and

beds weed free.

Monthly Garden Tips !

July:

Direct seed broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower in the garden for a fall harvest.

Harvest vegetables frequently to help plants continue producing.

When pea vines are finished producing, pull and replace with fall crops, such as turnips,

collards and other fast growing greens.

Continue to mulch. This helps to inhibit weed growth and helps to retain soil moisture.

Keep removing dying blooms from roses to encourage new foliage and flower growth.

Spend a few minutes every day walking through your garden, pinch off dead/dying leaves and flower

blooms.

Watch for signs of disease and insects. Take time to enjoy your hard work!

Divide bearded irises, if needed.

August:

Direct seed greens for the fall garden: spinach, kale, swiss chard, lettuce.

Quit watering garlic and onions. When the tops die down and turn yellow, pull and let

cure.

The second week of August is the time to stop fertilizing roses.

Continue removing faded blooms from flowers. Otherwise, annual flowers will start

producing seeds and stop blooming.

September:

Harvest all of the ripe summer and winter squash, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and any frost

sensitive vegetables, if frost is predicted.

Be prepared to cover any vegetable plants you want to keep going with a heavy weight row cover.

Sometimes, it’s possible to keep some vegetable plants producing for another month or so.

Collect leaves for composting. For best results, alternate layers of green

ingredients, dry ingredients and thin layers of soil with a little watering between

each layer.

This is a good time to dig and dry gladiolus, dahlias, and tuberous begonias, to

replant next spring. Some people just add an extra mulch covering and leave

them in the ground.

Plant hyacinth, tulips, and daffodil bulbs in late September or early October for spring blooms.

Vermicomposting

By Elena Donovan, Kentucky Master Gardener and Certified Square Foot Gardener Instructor

Vermicomposting is just another word for worm composting. Yes, there are people

out there who have worm farms and they “grow” worms so that they can either use

them for gardening, fishing, or to sell them. We know that compost is a material from

decayed organic matter that we, as gardeners, like to use as fertilizer for our fruits,

vegetables, or flowers. However, worm compost appears to have added benefits!

There are more than 4,000 different species of worms across the world. Gardening

worms usually are the red worms known as Red Wigglers. Worms function as

decomposers. Toss them some of your table scraps and they go crazy. Their waste,

also called worm castings, is known in the garden world as “garden gold”. This

garden gold is what is sold by some large scale worm farms as fertilizer for your

gardens. The prices for a pound of worms (about 1,000 worms) can sell anywhere

from $20.00 to $80.00, depending on the worms used.

The added benefits of using worm castings in your garden are plentiful. They

increase aeration and are water soluble, thus increasing the absorption rate of the

nutrients from the castings to the plant roots. Vermicompost, when compared to a

healthy soil, contains 11 times the Potassium, 1.5 times the Calcium, and 5 times the

nitrogen. So the next time you see worms wiggling around in your soil, just

remember how they are benefiting your garden.

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Vermicomposting can also be

done at home with a worm bin

like the one pictured, found on

walmart.com, or a DIY version,

with instructions on http://

whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/

easywormbin.htm

We are on Facebook! Keep up to date with the latest local gardening news, plus

upcoming workshops and seminars by “liking” us on Facebook. Master Gardener Association of Grayson County Kentucky

A Cottage Garden

By Robin Mundy, Kentucky Master Gardener

A Cottage Garden is a lush, fun and colorful flowerbed, usually near the kitchen

door. This makes it easy to run out to cut fresh herbs for cooking and fresh flowers

for the table. As with any garden bed, prepare the soil by loosening and amending

with compost before planting. Since most of the plants will be perennials or

self-seeding annuals, you want to have a good start.

First, choose a location with plenty of sun. A fence or wall makes a nice backdrop for

the flowers, and a rock border along the front of the bed makes a very attractive

border edge. A curved path through a larger flowerbed, or along the front of a

smaller bed is pleasing to the eye, and forces you to slow down and enjoy the view.

This is when you can start “designing” your Cottage Garden. Choose plants with lots

of differences in size, shape, blooms and foliage. Plant the tallest in the back and the

lowest in the front. Avoid straight rows and plant 2 or 3 of the same plant close

together for a clumping effect. Install a drip line or soaker hose for easy watering.

Use an old wooden step ladder or pretty trellis for a climbing vine. Now let your

creativity run wild with garden art. Include a birdbath and birdhouses, statue or

animal figurine, old urn, maybe some large rocks, an old wagon or wheelbarrow full

of potted herbs, and of course, a small table and chair to sit and enjoy your beautiful

garden!

Give the flowerbed a finished appearance by adding mulch. The mulch will help

retain moisture, keep weeds down, and will also improve the soil as it breaks down.

Here is a list of flowers that would be perfect in a Cottage Garden. Pick your

favorites first, then add others that will be complementary in color.

Asters, Bellflower, Black-eyed Susan, Columbine,

Coneflowers, Coral Bells, Coreopsis, Delphinium,

Dianthus, Foxglove, Holly Hock, Hosta, Hydrangea,

Lavender, Marigold, Peonies, Phlox, Roses, Shasta

Daisy, Sweet Peas, Sweet William, Violets, Zinnias.

Bulbs can also be included, such as Daffodils, Irises,

Lilies, Tulips and Gladiolus.

And don’t forget the herbs!

If you don’t mind waiting a year or two for your Cottage Garden to fill in, you could prepare your flowerbed and plant your specimen plants (Roses, Hydrangea, Hostas) this summer. Then buy a couple of packages of a seeds, either a Cottage Garden Mix or Perennial Mix, and plan on winter sowing your seeds in milk jugs in December or January. By early summer, you should have lots of new plants for your new garden.

Gardening for Seniors

By Robin Mundy, Kentucky Master Gardener

It’s hard to admit as we get older, that we can’t do everything we once did. And you sure don’t tell a

senior, who has gardened all of their life, how to garden. But there are a lot of senior gardeners who

have difficulty standing or walking, and if those aren’t necessarily issues, maybe bending over or

carrying things is a problem. Here are just a few ideas that may help you, or a senior in your life,

continue gardening, whether traditionally or in containers.

If a senior doesn’t have many health problems and is still capable of gardening traditionally, these

tools would be handy and make the job a little easier. Load all of the tools into the little wagon below,

along with a hat and cold drink, and then pull it all out to garden in one trip. There is even room for

small spray bottles of weed killer and bug killer. Pull the wagon to a shady area to sit on while taking

short breaks as needed. After harvesting, pile the flowers and vegetables in the wagon and pull it

back to the house.

Helpful Garden Aids

Containers and Raised Beds for Seniors

If growing vegetables for only one or two people, enough vegetables can be grown in containers.

There are a few vegetables that just grow too large for containers, so if you really want to grow those,

a small area in the yard could be planted with corn, full size melons, etc.

Another nice thing about gardening in containers is that since so few plants are needed, it makes more sense to just buy a few transplants of the main crops, instead of trying to start everything from seed. You can still sow seeds for root crops, and for those with less-nimble fingers, seed tapes are wonderful!

Ames 1123047100 2 cu ft Lawn Buddy sells for $50 online at walmart.com, and a little

higher at other online sources. Nice and sturdy, plenty of storage under the seat for garden

tools and the lid lifts to make this an easy to pull little wagon capable of hauling two 10”-12” pots

easily.

Children’s Garden Tool Sets can be found at numerous stores locally and online. The tools are about $5-$7 each. They are pretty sturdy and are great to work the soil in an established garden from a sitting position on the rolling seat. Add a 30” -36” piece of 1” PVC pipe, and you can even plant seeds exactly where you want, by dropping a seed down the pipe, then carefully use the end of the pipe to cover the seed with soil.

Pocket Hose Ultra Garden Hose - 50'. $20 at Dollar General. I found this super lightweight

and extremely easy to handle and put away. I have heard/read some complaints about the

quality, however, I have not had a single problem and one of mine is going into its third summer.

To prolong the Pocket Hose life, after using, turn the water off at the faucet to drain the hose

Tubtrug Colander This is great idea for rinsing fresh-from-the-garden vegetables outside. Put

the vegetables in the black basket, set inside red container, fill with water, then lift up and down

several times. When rinsed well, set the black basket out to drain. This set is $15, but a DIY

version is possible.

Source: http://www.gardeners.com/

The Cooperative Extension Service prohibits discrimination in its programs and employment on the basis of race,

color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.

To file a complaint of discrimination, contact Tim West, UK College of Agriculture, 859-257-3879; Terry Allen or Patty Bender, UK Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity, 859-257-8927; or the USDA, Director Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W Whitten Bldg., 14th & Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 (202-720-5964).

2nd Annual Extension Family Farm Fest

Saturday, October 15th,

10 am -2 pm at the Extension Facility for Research and Education Off Highway 62.

Demonstrations, Educational Sessions, Community Information, Children’s Activities, Food and More!

*Admission and Educational Sessions are FREE*

More information will be available at a later date.

Save the Date!

Saturday, July 9, 2016—2 p.m. Grayson County Public Library Fairy/Zen Garden workshop.

Grayson County Master Gardeners are assisting the library with this hands-on event at the Extension

Office. Pre-registration is required. Call the Library at 270-259-5455 for more information.

Friday evening, July 15, 2016—Freedom/Fiddler Festival, On the Courthouse Square, Leitchfield.

Stop by the Master Gardeners’ booth on the square for the kickoff night of the festival.

Monday, September 12, 2016, 10 a.m. Master Gardener Classes begin. Become a Kentucky Master Gardener through this 14 week course in horticulture. For more information see first page of newsletter.

Saturday, October 15, 2016, 2nd

Annual Extension Farm Fest, Off Hwy. 62 on Quarry Rd. 10 a.m.-2

p.m. See all the Extension Service has to offer, including the Master Gardeners, with demonstrations and

family fun at the annual Farm Fest.

Saturday, May 6, 2017 - Master Gardeners 8th

Annual Plant Fair, Leitchfield

Horticulture Scholarship!

Master Gardener Association of Grayson County will again be offering a scholarship to a Grayson County higher education student studying horticulture or a horticulture-related field for the 2017/18 school year.

We will start accepting applications after the first of the new year. If you know of a student who would be interested, please pass along the information.

Deadline for submission: April 14, 2017 by 3:00 p.m.

Contact the Grayson County Extension Office at 270-259-3492

or our Facebook page for more information

Grayson County Extension Agent

Create your own Fairy/Zen Garden

The Grayson County Public Library is offering a Fairy/Zen Garden workshop with assistance from the Master Gardeners on July 9th at 2 p.m. at the Extension office. The program is free, but space is limited. Contact the library to pre-register, 270-259-5455.