Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture (Bernalillo County)

In 2008, we enrolled 60 new students in our county Master Gardener classes. Of these, 10 paid extra to take the classes without becomming volunteers. Over the 13 weeks of the class, we lost 5 students. A simple evaluation tool administered on the last day of classes yielded the following information:
47 people responded. Of these, 100% indicated they learned new information and/or skills; 100% indicated they would use this new information/skill set; 25.5% felt the new information would be "quite" useful to them, while 74.5% indicated the information would be "very" useful to them. 100% indicated they would recommend the program and the presenters to other people. I also asked for commentary on my direct role as one of the instructors (I teach approximately 25% of the classes in this county). Comments received tended to sound like the following direct qoutes:
"One of our better speakers, most interesting"; "Has always been available and extremely helpful. Very approachable. Excellent interpersonal skills."; "He is very knowledgeable, entertaining and makes lectures more interesting - he should present more often."; "Joran is as good as it gets - an excellent presentor, enourmous knowledge in the field, personable and entertaining as well as informative - a true expert whose enthusiasm shows - inspirational! 5 stars"; "Very practical, down to earth information and relaxed knowledgeable presentation style."

Ollas
For several years I have taught use of ollas (buried, unglazed clay jars) as means of efficient irrigation and adding interest to landscapes. This information was presented in newspaper articles, news releases, and various publications, presentations to county agents, Master Gardeners, and various gardening/civic groups. The result has been the development of a new small industry in a disadvantaged sector of Albuquerque society.
East Central Ministry in Southeast Albuquerque has developed a growing market for ollas, providing employment and work-skills training to low income and underemployed residents of the area of Albuquerque known as the “war zone”. John Bulten, director of East Central Ministries, told me that this project provides 4 part-time jobs in which workers are trained to hold jobs. The ollas are being sold in California, Colorado, and by several New Mexico Nurseries (many are then shipped out of state), and Whole Foods is negotiating to sell the ollas in 20 stores.
The concept was taken by a friend on a trip to South Africa. Her purpose on this trip was to plant gardens and teaches gardening in poor villages of South Africa. She took information I had written about ollas. Later additional information was requested by organizers of the project for expanded implementation in arid regions of Africa.
John Bulten said that another person has taken ollas to teach container gardening to low income people in Mexico.
In addition to newspaper articles and news releases, this information was published in the Proceeding of the Desert Green Conference and in a quarterly publication of the Colorado Xeriscape organization.
I continue to receive requests for olla information and for public presentations to teach use of ollas in landscape water conservation.


Gardening public and Professionals

When I overheard my name mentioned during a break at the Eddy County Master Gardener classes, I asked what was being discussed. A man, now seeking to be a Master Gardener, said that he had previously attended a xeriscape workshop that I presented. As a result, he xeriscaped his front yard and was now expending the xeriscape to his back yard. He attributed his change in gardening practices and resulting great savings in water (over $100 each month in the growing season) to the earlier xeriscape workshop. He also said that he was now growing plants more successfully as a result of selecting appropriate plants as recommended in the workshop.

A Valencia County apple grower, beekeeper, Master Gardener, community leader, president of the NM Beekeepers Association, president of a local Growers Market annually hosts a tree care workshop because “Extension programs have improved everything I do and I want my neighbors to share in this information.” (Quote from Ken Hays, Bosque Farms, NM)


Master Gardener Program.
In 1995 (when I assumed responsibilities as Horticulture Specialist) there were 4 Master Gardener training programs in New Mexico. One of these was only classes and did not involve the students as Master Gardener Volunteers. In 2007 there were 15 counties with Master Gardeners, 13 counties teaching the classes. I also assist the Navajo Tri-State Extension Master Gardener Program as well. In 2006 a survey of the 15 Master Gardener counties resulted in 9 responses. From the responding counties it was determined that there were 560 active Master Gardeners. These Master Gardeners provided at least 22,808 volunteer hours of service to their counties (10.92 FTE). This benefit which accrued to the 9 reporting counties is valued at $411,456 (based on value for trained volunteers from Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Gardening public and Professionals
Fifty- two weekly newspaper garden columns were published in numerous New Mexico publications and web sites (including the NMSU College of Agriculture web site) and 26 bi-weekly articles were written for The Albuquerque Journal. The impact of these articles on readers is made evidence by numerous weekly requests for information in which the articles are mentioned, and new questions for the question and answer articles.
In 2006 presentations were made to 8 garden clubs and public venues 6 New Mexico counties. I am frequently asked to return to give additional presentations because the garden club members state “your information is so useful to us”. At these return engagements, I learn that the information from previous presentations has been employed successfully by the garden club members as we discuss their successes.


NMSU Extension Agents
Twelve New Mexico Counties included Urban Horticulture in their plans of work. Each of these counties has requested and received assistance from the specialist. In addition, 14 counties that did not include Urban Horticulture in their plans of work also requested and received assistance from the specialist. This indicates the desire for even rural counties to have attractive landscapes that use water efficiently. Eleven appointments with county agents in the specialist office or the specialist on-site in the county were recorded. A greater number of unrecorded contacts resulted from telephone contacts and request for assistance.


Master Gardeners
The specialist drafted guidelines for starting a Master Gardener Program and core curriculum for Master Gardener classes. This draft was given to County Agents with new Master Gardener Programs (or considering programs), new County Agents with existing Master Gardener Programs, and selected other people for their comments.
The specialist advised new agents and agents considering establishment of Master Gardener Programs in their counties. In each case, the time commitment involved and the need for volunteer commitment was discussed and used in making the final decision. The result was redirection of some existing programs in some counties and development of a series of gardening programs in others to evaluate community interest and need. Master Gardener programs may develop in the future in some counties as a result of these “pilot garden series” programs.
The specialist taught Master Gardener 23 classes in 10 New Mexico counties and 3 classes for Navajo Nation (Master Gardeners and Master Growers). Following the classes the specialist supported agents and Master Gardener volunteers through e-mail, telephone, and on-site visits as they served their public. PowerPoint presentations were provided to county agents as requested.
The impacts of Master Gardeners in the counties were reported in Agent Impact Reports. Four counties reported number of volunteer hours (19,661) and two counties reported the dollar value of Master Gardeners volunteers in their county ($60,376). A great diversity of volunteer service to the public and communities was reported by the agents.

Recent newspaper reports claim that one-third of New Mexico’s population lives in Bernalillo County. Of these, the vast majority are urban dwellers, and many of these people engage in some sort of horticultural activity. This activity ranges from simply trying to keep the lawn green and mowed and the trees healthy, to large home gardens producing lots of food, to carefully planned xeriscapes with different native plants coming into bloom all season. As the Horticulture Agent in Bernalillo County, it is my pleasure and duty to provide assistance, training and information to county residents on all kinds of horticulture fronts.

It is often difficult to find ways to horticulturally help the less-affluent segments of our community. I was fortunate to receive a phone call from a volunteer working with Habitat for Humanity, who was looking for a project to initiate that would involve youth in gardening. After some initial discussions with the Habitat folks, we developed a project involving some families that had just moved into Habitat-provided homes in the South Valley. All of these families had teenage children, and this project was targeted to those young people. After an initial meeting to gauge interest, we (myself, and staff and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity) helped the youth put in double-dug garden beds, using compost donated at my request by Barela’s Landscaping, and seeds donated by our office. We planted an early spring garden in each of three backyards, using the youth as the main labor (besides myself), and having them work on each other’s gardens as well as their own. This began building some camaraderie among those kids, who did not know each other prior to moving to these homes. I took the kids to visit Master Gardener Ron Jobe, himself a South Valley resident; in addition to giving them a tour of his garden, he donated many chile and tomato seedlings, as well as landscape plants from his backyard nursery. We came back in later in the spring to check on the gardens, help plant warm-season crops, and to do a tree planting, using the stock donated by Mr. Jobe, as well as many more trees donated by Tree New Mexico. These latter trees I selected and brought up from Trees That Please. I demonstrated proper tree planting techniques with two of the trees, explaining about root systems and appropriate watering. The youth were very excited with this part of the project, and soon had all the trees planted in all the yards (five trees each in four yards, one more yard than we did garden beds in). Through this project (which started in January and went into May, with a total of eight on-site work days), the youth learned basic gardening skills and tree planting skills, and developed relationships among each other. To this date, the gardens are ongoing (though frost over the last two nights may have ended some of that!).

I receive more requests for arboriculture assistance than for any other topic. Through my ongoing involvement with Think Trees New Mexico, a non-profit industry group that puts on an annual arboriculture conference, I had the opportunity to become a Certified Arborist. As such, I am used as a resource by very many professionals in the county, who mostly come to me for diagnostic services related to trees in trouble. In addition to the commercial side, at least half the phone calls and site visits I do with private parties relate to tree issues. I hastily convened a pruning demonstration at the Church of Latter Day Saints Temple, which drew three Master Gardeners, who were able to learn by demonstration some structural pruning points. I have been able to teach dozens of people proper tree planting techniques, through one-on-one conversations and site visits. I’ve also been able to help many clients with tree irrigation techniques, which alone will result in a much healthier urban forest canopy. Most people have incorrect ideas about tree root systems and best irrigation practices; after interacting with me, they understand enough to provide much better care to their trees. I’ve also been able to steer many people into making better choices for landscape trees – it’s amazing how many nurseries carry plant material that is not well suited to our climate and soils. I prepared a talk on Urban Forestry for a recently-held Environmental Studies “school”, put on with support from the National Gardening Association, which was attended by about twenty persons on a Saturday in September. This presentation, which I will expand on for future Master Gardener trainings, focused on the special circumstances of urban trees, with special attention to conditions in the southwest.

I am also active with the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico, another non-profit group created to put on an annual conference. Like the Think Trees conference, the Xeriscape conference is a regional event, drawing attendees from across the state and the southwest. Through this conference, which is attended by about three-hundred paying customers and several thousand visitors to the free Saturday workshops, we are able to get good information out to homeowners about the advantages and pitfalls of low-water landscaping. As a consequence of attending the conference and/or workshops, people come away with a deeper understanding of water conservation issues and appropriate horticultural responses to those needs. It is a special challenge to me to help people understand the integration of the urban forest into a xeric environment. In November of 2006, I taught a class to the Xeric Garden Club on soil types and the effect of soil on xeric plantings. Students learned how to recognize the basic soil texture type they have, how much and how so that can be changed or worked with, and plant selections for different soil types.

In spite of efforts to push xeric alternatives, many homes in Bernalillo County still sport lawns. While turf questions are not among the more common calls I get, a fair number of people still need assistance with this topic. Typically, it’s a caller who is concerned that their turf has a fungal problem. While this is often the case, I always start with the water. Usually, the client learns that how they have been watering the turf is not appropriate, and in fact one of the leading causes of the fungal problem. Given the difficulty in visually diagnosing turf fungus, I send many samples to the lab for analysis. In May, I assisted my colleague Bob Pate by speaking at a pesticide CEU workshop he runs annually. I spoke on an IPM-approach to turf management. I’ve also worked with Dr. Leinauer on a few problematic lawns which needed greater insight than I alone could provide.

Home vegetable gardening is an area of strong interest, both on the part of the broad community and of myself. I have assisted the Master Gardeners with their Organic Gardening Demonstration Plot at the community garden on Los Poblanos Open Space, providing insight and diagnostic services. I field quite a few calls on vegetable gardening topics, ranging from the very basic (“I’m new to New Mexico, and have never gardened before…how do I start?”) to helping clients who are themselves accomplished gardeners but have problems they can not solve. I’ve consulted at the start-up of two community gardens, one of which entered produce in the State Fair and won a ribbon. I’ve also helped a couple of schools plan and start school gardens. I did a presentation at the Director’s Choice Regional Early Care and Education Conference in June, on the topic of Gardening with Kids. Attendees learned how to incorporate garden activities into daycare settings, and the topic received strong reviews. I worked with the Albuquerque Home Schoolers, doing a seed planting workshop for very young kids, which was a hands-on event involving dirty hands. The kids loved it.

Master Gardeners remain both a strong asset and a large client group, where urban horticulture is concerned. This year, they logged nearly 10,000 hours of volunteer time, in activities ranging from answering phone call questions on gardening, to working with ARCA group homes on gardens, to assisting at the Xeriscape conference. As with any large volunteer group, results are mixed, but generally good. In general, the 2007 Master Gardener trainees had an increase in knowledge, as measured by pre- and post-course surveys, that brought their scores up from an average of 64% correct to 81% correct. We continue to work on issues of recruitment and retention of the most qualified individuals we can find.

Though Bernalillo County has two Agriculture agents, in addition to one Horticulture agent, I do spend some time working with specialty crops. Given that this county has lost most of it’s production agriculture, what we do have tends to be small specialty operations. Many of these are organic, if not by certification then at least by practice. Having a strong background in organic production, I’ve been able to assist a number of these growers with soil fertility, crop rotations, and pest control. I was an active member of the community group that worked with Dr. Rossana Alvarez to develop some guiding principles and documents regarding the ongoing effort to preserve agriculture and open space in the South Valley. We all came away from those meetings feeling hopeful about our efforts, but aware of the challenges ahead.

Joran Viers has signed on to support Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture within Bernalillo County.