Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture

The agent worked with over 15 people to better inform them on appropriate tree selection for the arid southwest, proper site selection, and healthy pruning techniques. The delivery of this information and these positive personal contacts should increase landscape beauty and survivability.

This agent spends roughly one to two days a week answering questions about lawns, trees, vegetables, insects, and other various small acreage or homeowner questions. These are often simple questions but can be rather detailed and require much time on the phone or researching answers for clientele. Over 70% of the people that receive information about small scale horticulture situations respond that they have learned something from information provided by this agent and will adopt those changes into their home situations. This agent has encouraged residents to utilize soil tests to determine fertilization needs for their home lawns and gardens. Over 50% of the people that have utilized soil tests have adjusted their home garden management to better fit the needs of the garden.

This agent provided assistance to the Elida School System on making baseball field management decisions. This agent had been approached by Elida Administration to assist with management questions regarding the ball field. After consultation with our Turf Specialist, Bernd Leinauer, and water and soil tests recommendations were made to the School board on their options for trying to utilize the well water on school premises to provide irrigation. The School Board was 100% satisfied with the report and were better able to make an informed decision with their situation.

2010 Program Year:
Due to an influx of new residents to the county and a large interest in home gardening and landscaping, the demand for site-specific and reliable horticultural educational programs in Valencia County has continued to rise to meet the challenges of gardening in the arid southwest. As a result, the agriculture agent’s objectives have been to maintain a strong group of certified Valencia County Extension Master Gardener (VCEMG) volunteers, maintain personal consultation, site visits, NMSU lab testing services and interpretation, and provide relevant programs and workshops to non-commercial gardeners as needs arise.

Valencia County Extension Master Gardener Program: The 12 week VCEMG training program yielded 7 new trainees and retained 24 veteran members, of which the average exam score was 88%, well above the 70% minimum. Of the class of 2010, 90% of the volunteers were retained by meeting training requirements and the 40 hour/individual volunteer time requirement for certification for the upcoming 2011 program year. Volunteers provide an enormous value to our county by dedicating their time, talents, and energy to the Master Gardener program. Based on total numbers submitted to the agent, VCEMG gave 1,435 hours of volunteer service worth $23,650 in 2010. A figure that doubled the short-term objective set by the agent, and exceeds the 3 year objective of the VCEMG program by 50%.

Notable 2010 VCEMG activities included weekly outreach information booths at local Farmer’s Markets, where residents and growers were able to ask questions and bring in sick or dying plants for diagnosis. These efforts alone yielded hundreds of personal consultations and maintained a high visibility of NMSU Extension programs in the county. Another activity in which VCEMG volunteers served their community was through the development of site-specific publications and materials, which complimented and summarized numerous NMSU publications that covered topics important to the area. Additional events sponsored by the Valencia Extension Office and the VCEMG include an annual free pruning seminar which invites NMSU-CES specialists to speak, and several seminars on bees, honey, and apples offered to school groups, and the general public throughout the year, sponsored by a longstanding VCEMG volunteer, local expert and apple/honey producer. Over 400 residents and students have attended these events. Program participants expressed a high level of interest in future workshops and were satisfied with the quality of information provided at these workshops. In summary, this volunteer program has provided a relevant service and contributed significant impacts to the general public who have attended a VCEMG function, interacted with a trained volunteer or agriculture agent, through a variety of public outreach educational programs.

Urban Horticulture: The most notable impact realized by the general public is the ability to attain free research-based information on area-specific horticultural topics necessary for successful gardening in the varied and challenging central New Mexico environment. This includes the capacity to gain knowledge in proven gardening practices for the area, the development of alternative water supplies, efficient irrigation techniques, and other urban water conservation practices. Additional educational services include water-wise plant selection and proper landscaping, fruit and vegetable production, pest and weed control, plant disease identification, and many other related topics. Approximately 60% of the agriculture agent phone calls, emails, and office visits are related to urban horticulture.
Season extension is a program that has received increasing interest from small-scale fruit, vegetable, and ornamental growers. In collaboration with NMSU-RAIPAP staff, the agent coordinated and implemented a 1-day Hoop house Construction Workshop intended to generate interest in season extension and provide an example of a cost effective blueprint to follow. Participants (100%) stated they gained knowledge and thought they would be able to construct a similar structure. Additionally, district NRCS staff expressed interest in collaboration, as certain federal programs have recently included cost-share opportunities for qualified agricultural producers.
The most constant service the agent has offered non-commercial clientele is individual consultation, phone and email correspondence, and field visits typically on specific problems, concerns, or questions associated with urban horticulture. Clientele often seek information from the extension agriculture agent or VCEMG volunteers on a variety of soil and plant science related topics, as well as main campus lab services such as soil testing and disease diagnostics. Both urban and commercial growers consistently seek free extension agriculture services including weed identification and control, insect identification and control, pesticide application, organic and/or natural production methods, and plant disease prevention. The agent documented over 400 requests for horticultural assistance over the past year.

Impacts for this have a vast range of areas in which several accomplishments can be measured.
The City of Tucumcari’s Community Garden has continued for another year with the help of a USDA grant amount of $2700. Other grants were also received for this noble initiative through state and federal organizations. America the Beautiful Fund and Common Ground Garden program allotted donations of seeds, plants, and equipment valued at over $1,200.
Volunteers included local and area neighbors, single parent households, underserved and poverty level income audiences. The garden also served a host of youth organizations seeking community service projects. Volunteer hours on the community garden totaled a documented 590 hours with an estimated value of $16.84 an hour (Independentsector.org) for a total of $9,935.60. Community projects highlighted during the 2010 growing season include irrigation technology, soil properties and fertilization, variety selection and holistic gardening techniques.
Pecans are a crop of increasing interest to local and area producers. With new varieties being developed through USDA plant sciences lab, Eastern New Mexico is becoming an ideal potential site for nut production. Program highlights for the 2009-10 year includes the annual pecan show. Area producers can learn how to grade and weigh pecans for quality, nut size, and percent kernel. Pecan producers are able to utilize this information for marketing purposes and increasing profits. Additionally, a pecan grafting workshop was held as a “hands on” management practice for incorporating newly developed cultivars into older orchards. Methods included whip graft, four flap method, and other orchard management issues.
The half day program increased knowledge of producers by an overall 87% throughout all topic areas of discussion. Producers stated they will implement such practices on their respective operations for the next growing season. Overall satisfaction with the information offered at the workshop was rated excellent to outstanding. Adoption of practice was rated at 97% among participants.
Horticulture contacts and on site consultations account for about 87% of all calls to the Extension office for agriculture. Topics range from soil science, plant health, disease, insects and water management issues to the home horticulturist. Programming included “Living on the Land – Small Acreage series”, Organic Farm Conference and Organic Farm tours. Presentations to Nara Visa Garden Club, local Altrusa Women’s club and assistance with New Mexico Pecan Grower’s Short Course.

Community gardening is in high demand for the citizens of Socorro County due to the concerns of the economy and food safety. The Agent assisted the Socorro Storehouse representative with information on community gardens and specifics on getting the garden started and varieties to plant. In the planning process, it became evident that the program would be to labor intensive for this individual to handle and did not think the volunteer base would come through and eventually tabled the project. On the other hand, the Magdalena Community Center took another approach providing lumber and information back to clientele to build their own raised bed garden to produce food. The Agent held a series of three workshops to provide information on gardening, actually building the raised beds, and varieties they were given to plant. This collaboration actually produced food, with 60% of the participants harvesting vegetables for their own consumption.