Note: This site is for reviewing legacy plan of work data from 2007-2011. If you are looking for the current plan of work interface, visit pow.nmsu.edu.
Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture (Santa Fe County)
Plan Goals
Increase urban horticulture knowledge and skill levels of homeowners and landscape professionals by teaching and recommending practical and responsible landscape and gardening practices.
- Owner
- Related Plans
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Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture
Impact Reports
C. A demonstration xeriscape garden has for several years been a very visible and effective means of landscape water conservation. It has been highly regarded locally and nationally. In 2009 the Sandoval County Master Gardeners received the 2009 Search for Excellence Award at the International Master Gardeners Conference in Las Vegas, NV for this demonstration xeriscape garden they have maintained for many years . The demonstration garden was also featured on the “Gardening by the Yard” television program hosted by Paul James and broadcast nationally by the Home and Gardening Network.
Long-term successes
A. In a conversation with Jim Brooks, proprietor of Soilutions (a composting and landscape waste recycling firm in Albuquerque), I was told that his $ ¾ million business was the result of Extension an NMSU Extension project begun in the early 1990’s. In response to a request from the City of Albuquerque Waste Management Department, as Bernalillo County Extension Horticulture Agent I began a Master Composter Program attended by Jim Brooks. Although he was already composting, the course taught by NMSU Specialists, local experts, and me provided new information at a depth that improved his knowledge of composting. In addition to knowledge he gained in the classes, he told me that a person to whom I introduced him became his partner in the formation of Soilutions. In addition to the direct economic benefits of job creation and income to the company, the company economically and environmentally benefits the City of Albuquerque by recycling landscape wastes (under contract to the City). These waste materials are used to produce valuable soil amendment rather than contributing to the filling and eventual moving of the municipal landfill to a location farther from the city (increasing costs to city taxpayers and rate payers). These citizens have access to an economical soil amendment to improve their garden soil and reduce irrigation needs. Jim Brooks continues to be a local resource teaching composting and other environmentally wise activities to people in the Albuquerque area and all New Mexico, to work with state and municipal agencies. This continuation of information dissemination was the reason Master Composters were formed. Jim still remembers and discusses the importance of NMSU Extension Programs in this area. (Master Composter education has been incorporated into Master Gardener training since I left Bernalillo County, but in the past year there has been a citizen based effort to reestablish the program and Bernalillo County Extension has been a partner in this process.)
B. John Bulton, director of East Central Ministries (a non-profit faith-based organization), recently told me that the olla production facility that his ministry operates supports 1/3 of his ministry to a disadvantaged community within Albuquerque. This ministry was established in a multi-cultural community with gang violence, drug problems, and chronic unemployment/underemployment. John established the ministry and olla production facility to teach employment skills, provide food support (food pantry) and a clothing closet for the community. This has grown to include a low cost apartment living facility in which life skills are taught, a community garden, an affordable middle school, and a health clinic. All this is supported by donations and the olla production facility. A related consequence is that the production of ollas has improved landscape water use efficiency in numerous residential landscapes in New Mexico and many other state in which East Central Ministry sells ollas. To date I am not aware of any other major producers of ollas, although I have spoken to people who expressed an interest in starting production.
A. In a conversation with Jim Brooks, proprietor of Soilutions (a composting and landscape waste recycling firm in Albuquerque), I was told that his $ ¾ million business was the result of Extension an NMSU Extension project begun in the early 1990’s. In response to a request from the City of Albuquerque Waste Management Department, as Bernalillo County Extension Horticulture Agent I began a Master Composter Program attended by Jim Brooks. Although he was already composting, the course taught by NMSU Specialists, local experts, and me provided new information at a depth that improved his knowledge of composting. In addition to knowledge he gained in the classes, he told me that a person to whom I introduced him became his partner in the formation of Soilutions. In addition to the direct economic benefits of job creation and income to the company, the company economically and environmentally benefits the City of Albuquerque by recycling landscape wastes (under contract to the City). These waste materials are used to produce valuable soil amendment rather than contributing to the filling and eventual moving of the municipal landfill to a location farther from the city (increasing costs to city taxpayers and rate payers). These citizens have access to an economical soil amendment to improve their garden soil and reduce irrigation needs. Jim Brooks continues to be a local resource teaching composting and other environmentally wise activities to people in the Albuquerque area and all New Mexico, to work with state and municipal agencies. This continuation of information dissemination was the reason Master Composters were formed. Jim still remembers and discusses the importance of NMSU Extension Programs in this area. (Master Composter education has been incorporated into Master Gardener training since I left Bernalillo County, but in the past year there has been a citizen based effort to reestablish the program and Bernalillo County Extension has been a partner in this process.)
B. John Bulton, director of East Central Ministries (a non-profit faith-based organization), recently told me that the olla production facility that his ministry operates supports 1/3 of his ministry to a disadvantaged community within Albuquerque. This ministry was established in a multi-cultural community with gang violence, drug problems, and chronic unemployment/underemployment. John established the ministry and olla production facility to teach employment skills, provide food support (food pantry) and a clothing closet for the community. This has grown to include a low cost apartment living facility in which life skills are taught, a community garden, an affordable middle school, and a health clinic. All this is supported by donations and the olla production facility. A related consequence is that the production of ollas has improved landscape water use efficiency in numerous residential landscapes in New Mexico and many other state in which East Central Ministry sells ollas. To date I am not aware of any other major producers of ollas, although I have spoken to people who expressed an interest in starting production.
Due to the County Agents having other prior work commitments during the month of March, 2 Master Gardeners were asked by the Agent to speak to the Rancho Viejo Neighborhood Association about the Principles of Xeriscape and also to a new garden club called Design and Grow about Coldframes and Their Uses. The reason that these requests came to the Extension Office was due to the fact that the Agent had advised some members of this particular neighborhood association last year on the management of their landscape, and the request from garden club chair came as a result of her familiarity with Cooperative Extension Service in the state that she moved from as being a reputable source of information. Seventeen people were in attendance at the neighborhood association meeting while only 10 attended the the garden club meeting.
During the month June the Agent made a one-hour presentation to the an all ladies group of the LDS Church in Santa Fe. The group was interested in Container Gardening. This request came as a result of people taking a renewed interest in growing some of their own food. Aside from the presentation, the group present asked many other questions relative to vegetable, fruit and flower gardening. The discussion were very interactive with the 14 ladies present.
Educational presentations on horticultural topics were made at the April and May monthly meetings of the Rainbow Makers Homemaker Club. The club of 14 women were interested in care and management of flowering bulbs, and about soils and fertility. The presentations and discussions that followed were very interactive with several expressing that the presentations explained why they were having problems with some of their gardening practices.
At the request of the chair of the Santa Fe Herb Society, a 30 minute slide presentation was made during the month of March to the 14 member of the society about the the Santa Fe Master Gardener Program. The discussion was held following the presentation. Upon completion of the program, the society chair presented a $50 check to the Agent for the Master Gardeners to use to continue some more of their good work.
During the month June the Agent made a one-hour presentation to the an all ladies group of the LDS Church in Santa Fe. The group was interested in Container Gardening. This request came as a result of people taking a renewed interest in growing some of their own food. Aside from the presentation, the group present asked many other questions relative to vegetable, fruit and flower gardening. The discussion were very interactive with the 14 ladies present.
Educational presentations on horticultural topics were made at the April and May monthly meetings of the Rainbow Makers Homemaker Club. The club of 14 women were interested in care and management of flowering bulbs, and about soils and fertility. The presentations and discussions that followed were very interactive with several expressing that the presentations explained why they were having problems with some of their gardening practices.
At the request of the chair of the Santa Fe Herb Society, a 30 minute slide presentation was made during the month of March to the 14 member of the society about the the Santa Fe Master Gardener Program. The discussion was held following the presentation. Upon completion of the program, the society chair presented a $50 check to the Agent for the Master Gardeners to use to continue some more of their good work.
Two different sections of the Master Gardener course were offered during the spring months of 2009 in Santa Fe and Eldorado. The 16 week course prepared a total of 48 citizens from Santa Fe County with research-based knowledge on proper gardening techniques of the Santa Fe area. The information which was gained will assist the course participant not only with their own gardening experiences, but also to assist the County Agent in disseminating sound home horticultural advice to other gardeners who have inquiries or wanting to know how to correct their own horticultural problems. Of the 48 students who enrolled in the classes, 39 completed the course successfully. Furthermore, of those students submitting their course evaluation forms, 70% rated the course as "highly satisfactory" in terms of meeting their expectations, with the other 30% of the participants rating it as "satisfactory".
In order to facilitate travel cost savings for the specialists, the Agent took on the responsible for contacting speakers, developing the course syllabus, ordering manuals for the Taos and Los Alamos County Master Gardener Programs as well.
On one August afternoon many of these prospective students were invited to attend a social gathering at the Audobohn Center (which is one of the sites in which the Master Gardeners do some volunteer work) so that they could interact with Certified Master Gardeners and ask questions about the program. Through this event, it becomes more apparent to many of the prospective students that this is a volunteer organization.
Many calls were received throughout the 2009 year from individuals wanting to get on a list to receive information and an application for the 2009 Master Gardener course. As of the end of September 92 people are on the list.
As Master Gardener interns and Certified Master Gardeners, this group of volunteers continues to provide a great amount of service to the greater Santa Fe area in the form of education, outreach and community service. Over 3200 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $51,200 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2008 to the late summer of 2009. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The fifth annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included 8 different presentations made by Master Gardeners, Extension Specialists, and other gardening experts from the Santa Fe area. Once again the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations along with several pages of water conservation tips which were distributed at this one day event and other public outreach venues. The cost of printing the directory was underwritten by the County Extension Office. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 32 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. While trying to determine the exact number of fair attendees is a cumbersome task, it is estimated that over 1800 people attend the event. This is an increase of over 600 more attendees than last year. One of the factors that we can attribute this to is the renewed interest in people wanting to grow their own food. A plant sale was held once again in conjunction with the annual Garden Fair with the proceeds being used to cover the cost of projects that the Master Gardeners have been working on or are in the process of developing. Some of the plants that were sold were plants which the Master Gardeners themselves propagated in the hoophouse. The planning of the Gardening Fair was an eight month process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline continues to be staffed 2 mornings every week from early May to the end of October. Typically 3 volunteers are available to staff and answer questions at each session. A dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 which includes an answering machine that is checked mid-week by a volunteer. The Master Gardeners answered an average of 15 calls per week on the hotline.
Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1200 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The management of the Herb/Drip Irrigation Demonstration Garden continues to be managed by the County Agent and the master gardeners. This demonstration garden is a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project which demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. This year the master gardeners reconfigured the planting and installed stepping stones to make the Herb Demonstration Garden more attractive. 2) The Xeric Demonstration Garden in front of the County Extension Office continues to be maintained to demonstrate low water use ornamental landscape plant material. It also serves as an outdoor classroom to teach the interns how to maintain these types of plant material. 3) The Randall Davey Audobohn Center Native Plant Demonstration Plot is a small garden which was planted and has been maintained since 2003. The purpose of the plot is to demonstrate native plants that can make for an attractive landscape and yet attract small wildlife into the landscape.
The Santa Fe Master Gardener Association once again worked with Habitat for Humanity by assisting with the planting of new plant material around newly built homes for the fifth consecutive year. This year 4 new homes received the assistance from the master gardeners and provided home owners with garden care and maintenance information.
The nurseries recognize that Master Gardener volunteers are well trained in the subject of horticulture and can provided unbiased and sound information to the public. Two nurseries in Santa Fe asked the Master Gardener Association to staff information tables at their respective locations. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other location had an information table staffed on Sunday afternoons.
Once the class spaces for the Master Gardener filled up the requests continued to come in to the Extension Office for making concessions to allow individuals to enroll in the course. Due to limited space this was not an option. Therefore the Agent began to develop a six week gardening series for those individuals who did not get in to the Master Gardener Course. A large amount of these requests were coming from the Eldorado Area where members of the community were exploring the idea of developing a community garden. Once some master gardeners learned of the idea of the gardening series, they asked the Agent if they could help run the series and work with these people on the development of the community garden. The Agent agreed to let them run the series, but the Agent arranged for the presenters and also presented the lectures Season Extensions, Composting and Simple Irrigation Systems. The development of the community garden turned out to be a success. Many work days were had with different styles of gardening being incorporated into the overall garden with over 65 people participating. The community garden flourished with enough produce that later in the fall the Agent received a request for a program on food preservation. It is estimated that at least $2000 worth of produce was grown in the community garden.
An average of 15 calls are received on a daily basis beginning in March on good gardening practices including pest identification and their control, vertebrate pest management, soil fertility, watering practices, pruning, and the use of mulches. These types of call continue on through mid-October when Santa Fe has experienced a hard killing frost. This does not take into account the office walk-in traffic which would average out to 2 persons per day.
In order to facilitate travel cost savings for the specialists, the Agent took on the responsible for contacting speakers, developing the course syllabus, ordering manuals for the Taos and Los Alamos County Master Gardener Programs as well.
On one August afternoon many of these prospective students were invited to attend a social gathering at the Audobohn Center (which is one of the sites in which the Master Gardeners do some volunteer work) so that they could interact with Certified Master Gardeners and ask questions about the program. Through this event, it becomes more apparent to many of the prospective students that this is a volunteer organization.
Many calls were received throughout the 2009 year from individuals wanting to get on a list to receive information and an application for the 2009 Master Gardener course. As of the end of September 92 people are on the list.
As Master Gardener interns and Certified Master Gardeners, this group of volunteers continues to provide a great amount of service to the greater Santa Fe area in the form of education, outreach and community service. Over 3200 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $51,200 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2008 to the late summer of 2009. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The fifth annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included 8 different presentations made by Master Gardeners, Extension Specialists, and other gardening experts from the Santa Fe area. Once again the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations along with several pages of water conservation tips which were distributed at this one day event and other public outreach venues. The cost of printing the directory was underwritten by the County Extension Office. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 32 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. While trying to determine the exact number of fair attendees is a cumbersome task, it is estimated that over 1800 people attend the event. This is an increase of over 600 more attendees than last year. One of the factors that we can attribute this to is the renewed interest in people wanting to grow their own food. A plant sale was held once again in conjunction with the annual Garden Fair with the proceeds being used to cover the cost of projects that the Master Gardeners have been working on or are in the process of developing. Some of the plants that were sold were plants which the Master Gardeners themselves propagated in the hoophouse. The planning of the Gardening Fair was an eight month process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline continues to be staffed 2 mornings every week from early May to the end of October. Typically 3 volunteers are available to staff and answer questions at each session. A dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 which includes an answering machine that is checked mid-week by a volunteer. The Master Gardeners answered an average of 15 calls per week on the hotline.
Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1200 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The management of the Herb/Drip Irrigation Demonstration Garden continues to be managed by the County Agent and the master gardeners. This demonstration garden is a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project which demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. This year the master gardeners reconfigured the planting and installed stepping stones to make the Herb Demonstration Garden more attractive. 2) The Xeric Demonstration Garden in front of the County Extension Office continues to be maintained to demonstrate low water use ornamental landscape plant material. It also serves as an outdoor classroom to teach the interns how to maintain these types of plant material. 3) The Randall Davey Audobohn Center Native Plant Demonstration Plot is a small garden which was planted and has been maintained since 2003. The purpose of the plot is to demonstrate native plants that can make for an attractive landscape and yet attract small wildlife into the landscape.
The Santa Fe Master Gardener Association once again worked with Habitat for Humanity by assisting with the planting of new plant material around newly built homes for the fifth consecutive year. This year 4 new homes received the assistance from the master gardeners and provided home owners with garden care and maintenance information.
The nurseries recognize that Master Gardener volunteers are well trained in the subject of horticulture and can provided unbiased and sound information to the public. Two nurseries in Santa Fe asked the Master Gardener Association to staff information tables at their respective locations. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other location had an information table staffed on Sunday afternoons.
Once the class spaces for the Master Gardener filled up the requests continued to come in to the Extension Office for making concessions to allow individuals to enroll in the course. Due to limited space this was not an option. Therefore the Agent began to develop a six week gardening series for those individuals who did not get in to the Master Gardener Course. A large amount of these requests were coming from the Eldorado Area where members of the community were exploring the idea of developing a community garden. Once some master gardeners learned of the idea of the gardening series, they asked the Agent if they could help run the series and work with these people on the development of the community garden. The Agent agreed to let them run the series, but the Agent arranged for the presenters and also presented the lectures Season Extensions, Composting and Simple Irrigation Systems. The development of the community garden turned out to be a success. Many work days were had with different styles of gardening being incorporated into the overall garden with over 65 people participating. The community garden flourished with enough produce that later in the fall the Agent received a request for a program on food preservation. It is estimated that at least $2000 worth of produce was grown in the community garden.
An average of 15 calls are received on a daily basis beginning in March on good gardening practices including pest identification and their control, vertebrate pest management, soil fertility, watering practices, pruning, and the use of mulches. These types of call continue on through mid-October when Santa Fe has experienced a hard killing frost. This does not take into account the office walk-in traffic which would average out to 2 persons per day.
1. Media
TV and newspaper: Numerous readers and viewers have approached me personally at various events and a.)stated that they have learned much about gardening in the Southwest from Southwest Yard and Garden (both print and tv), b.) people attending Extension Programs state that one reason they attend is that they learned from Southwest Yard and Garden (print and tv) that the Extension Service has information that benefits them and they want more Extension information, c.)many questions for the print Yard and Garden are prefaced with a thank you regarding what they have already learned, d.)viewers of tv SW Y&G have requested more shows and some potential underwriters have expressed willingness to help fund production o f new shows.
I have received messages on my office answering machine that just said “Thank you for all you do to help us garden in New Mexico.”
2. Master Gardeners
With specialist assistance Master Gardener programs in the counties are growing and providing increased assistance to the Extension Service agents as stated in the Agents’ impact statements.
Some Master Gardener programs have resulted in significant teaching opportunities for county residents:
Lea Co. – Waite House – the oldest residence in Lovington was donated to the Historical Society and Museum. The museum then gave access to this house to Lea County Master Gardeners to develop a demonstration garden and access to the house as a classroom.
NM Jr. College in Hobbs has been impressed by the Lea County Master Gardener program and has offered to provide classroom space for teaching Master Gardeners, advertising for the Master Gardener classes, and willingness to offer Junior College continuing education credits to people who take the Master Gardener classes.
Santa Fe - Habitat for Humanity has been using Santa Fe County Master Gardeners to design and install water efficient landscapes at the homes they build. The Master Gardeners then teach the new homeowners how to garden appropriately and conserve water.
El Rancho de los Golondrinos has worked with Master Gardeners maintaining a heritage apple orchard to demonstrate historical gardening practices to visitors.
Master Gardeners have maintained demonstration gardens and collaboration with NMSU Extension faculty (George Dickerson’s herb garden and Curtis Smith’s olla garden). This provides hands-on experience for the Master Gardeners who then teach this to their fellow citizens and to visitors to the demonstration garden site adjacent to the County Extension Service office.
Otero - An Otero County Master Gardener has become a regular landscape and garden columnist for the local newspaper providing appropriate information to the citizens of her county.
Sandoval - A demonstration garden in developed in cooperation with city of Rio Rancho, Sandoval Extension Service, and Master Gardener has been highly regarded locally and nationally.
3. Partnerships with other institutions:
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the Horticulture Specialist was in a position to encourage cooperation between NMSU and CNM. Dr. St. Hilaire on the NMSU end and Paul Zalesak at CNM have developed articulation agreements between NMSU and CNM. Distance learning venues were developed so that NMSU professors could teach some of the classes at CNM and some CNM teaching could be made available to NMSU students as desired by the faculty.
Northern NM Jr. College requested advice regarding landscape problems on the campus in Espanola, NM. A visit by the Horticulture Specialist and County Agent resulted in several solutions to the problems that the Physical Plant director and Grounds supervisor stated that they would implement. They were very thankful for the help and want to increase cooperation with NMSU.
4. As reported in County Agents’ impact statements, specialist support of county agents and county Master Gardeners has enabled them to meet the changing needs of the nursery industry and home gardeners in their counties, to develop educational programs in schools and among the public.
Specialist support of county Extension programs have enhanced agent respect within the counties to the point that they are often the source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.
TV and newspaper: Numerous readers and viewers have approached me personally at various events and a.)stated that they have learned much about gardening in the Southwest from Southwest Yard and Garden (both print and tv), b.) people attending Extension Programs state that one reason they attend is that they learned from Southwest Yard and Garden (print and tv) that the Extension Service has information that benefits them and they want more Extension information, c.)many questions for the print Yard and Garden are prefaced with a thank you regarding what they have already learned, d.)viewers of tv SW Y&G have requested more shows and some potential underwriters have expressed willingness to help fund production o f new shows.
I have received messages on my office answering machine that just said “Thank you for all you do to help us garden in New Mexico.”
2. Master Gardeners
With specialist assistance Master Gardener programs in the counties are growing and providing increased assistance to the Extension Service agents as stated in the Agents’ impact statements.
Some Master Gardener programs have resulted in significant teaching opportunities for county residents:
Lea Co. – Waite House – the oldest residence in Lovington was donated to the Historical Society and Museum. The museum then gave access to this house to Lea County Master Gardeners to develop a demonstration garden and access to the house as a classroom.
NM Jr. College in Hobbs has been impressed by the Lea County Master Gardener program and has offered to provide classroom space for teaching Master Gardeners, advertising for the Master Gardener classes, and willingness to offer Junior College continuing education credits to people who take the Master Gardener classes.
Santa Fe - Habitat for Humanity has been using Santa Fe County Master Gardeners to design and install water efficient landscapes at the homes they build. The Master Gardeners then teach the new homeowners how to garden appropriately and conserve water.
El Rancho de los Golondrinos has worked with Master Gardeners maintaining a heritage apple orchard to demonstrate historical gardening practices to visitors.
Master Gardeners have maintained demonstration gardens and collaboration with NMSU Extension faculty (George Dickerson’s herb garden and Curtis Smith’s olla garden). This provides hands-on experience for the Master Gardeners who then teach this to their fellow citizens and to visitors to the demonstration garden site adjacent to the County Extension Service office.
Otero - An Otero County Master Gardener has become a regular landscape and garden columnist for the local newspaper providing appropriate information to the citizens of her county.
Sandoval - A demonstration garden in developed in cooperation with city of Rio Rancho, Sandoval Extension Service, and Master Gardener has been highly regarded locally and nationally.
3. Partnerships with other institutions:
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the Horticulture Specialist was in a position to encourage cooperation between NMSU and CNM. Dr. St. Hilaire on the NMSU end and Paul Zalesak at CNM have developed articulation agreements between NMSU and CNM. Distance learning venues were developed so that NMSU professors could teach some of the classes at CNM and some CNM teaching could be made available to NMSU students as desired by the faculty.
Northern NM Jr. College requested advice regarding landscape problems on the campus in Espanola, NM. A visit by the Horticulture Specialist and County Agent resulted in several solutions to the problems that the Physical Plant director and Grounds supervisor stated that they would implement. They were very thankful for the help and want to increase cooperation with NMSU.
4. As reported in County Agents’ impact statements, specialist support of county agents and county Master Gardeners has enabled them to meet the changing needs of the nursery industry and home gardeners in their counties, to develop educational programs in schools and among the public.
Specialist support of county Extension programs have enhanced agent respect within the counties to the point that they are often the source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.