Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture

Agent conducted seven presentations to local clubs and leader organizations within the county. These presentations dealt with home and garden topics. These presentations increased contacts within the county as to what the extension service can offer residents located in an urban environment. Agent noticed an increase in communication with more urban residents during the summer months of 2009.

Lea County's Master Gardeners program had a break out year in 2009. Working in conjuction (NMSU) with New Mexico Junior College the 2009 program had a 60% increase in enrollment. With advertisement done through our original group of gardeners with newsletters, radio announcements, local T.V. media and posted on bulletin boards; New Mexico Junior College also advertised with the radio and through their Continuing Education Department as a Horticulture class. This partnership was a win win for both colleges and extension. With this partnership New Mexico Jr. College has been impressed by the Master Gardeners program in Lea County and has offered to provide classroom space, at no charge, advertising for the program and willingness to offer Junior College continuing education credit to people who enroll in the course. Also, the Master Gardeners of Lea County landscaped the Waite House, the oldest residence in Lovington, this home was donated to the histroical museum located in Lovington. With the MG's assistance they were given access to this home to develop a demonstration garden and access to the house as a classroom. It is an exciting time for the Lea County Master Gardeners as we move forward to make this the premier program in the state.

Christina (Christy) Rubio has signed on to support Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture within Hidalgo County.

Urban horticulture continues to be this agent’s most active POW field, encompassing all home-owner interactions, most commercial operation interactions, most site visits and phone calls, most committee and conference work. Topics covered under this broad heading include home vegetable gardening, urban tree care, lawn and landscape care, xeriscape issues, insect identifications, and related subjects.

The Master Gardener program assists the agent considerably in this area. We have about 200 active Master Gardeners in the county. This volunteer group has a well-developed governance structure and long-term momentum. Agent acts as Faculty Advisor, and lead instructor for the training classes, but much of the credit for the success of the program is due directly to the wonderful volunteers we have. Many put in way more than the 40 hours of volunteer time we require. They enjoy the learning, the educating of others, and the camaraderie of the corps.

In a typical year, our Master Gardeners report about 10,000 hours of volunteer time in service to our County office. Many of those hours are logged on the Hotline, every call of which is one the agent doesn’t have to take (though a good number get referred on for further elucidation). Other volunteer activities include staffing tables at various libraries on certain weekends, an information table at the Downtown Growers Market, 4-H Seeds Program, ARCA greenhouse and gardens, Organic Demo Garden, Tomato Fiesta, Fall Plant Sale, Spring Plant Sale, and various others. The Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners are also the largest and most active member group within the broad umbrella organization known as the Albuquerque Council of Garden Clubs. This organization maintains a building, which the Master Gardeners use for training purposes, and provides a second hotline phone site for our volunteers.

In 2009, we enrolled 60 new students in our county Master Gardener classes. Of these, 6 paid extra to take the classes without becoming volunteers. Over the 13 weeks of the class, we lost 2 students. A simple evaluation tool was administered on the last day of classes; 78% of the class submitted evaluations. Of these, 100% indicated they learned new information and/or skills; 100% indicated they would use this new information/skill set; 34% felt the new information would be "quite" useful to them, while 66% indicated the information would be "very" useful to them. 100% indicated they would recommend the program and the presenters to other people. Agent solicited commentary on his direct role as one of the instructors (agent teaches approximately 25% of the classes in this county). Comments received are represented by the following direct quotes:
“He is very knowledgeable and transmits info in a pleasant and easy way. Is very approachable.”; “Thank you. Great job. Joran is always extremely polite and very knowledgeable. This is an outstanding program. He is always prepared to back up if an instructor doesn't show.”; “He is an excellent representative for NMSU. Well spoken, well educated and very pleasant.”
Urban arboriculture continues to be a mainstay of agent’s activities. As an International Society of Arborists (ISA) certified arborist, agent is frequently consulted by commercial plant care companies for assistance with diagnosis and treatment suggestions. More than 50% of agent’s public phone calls are tree related, as well. Agent has instructed dozens of people on proper tree planting, pruning, watering, fertilization, and selection. Some of this is through hands-on workshops (National Hispanic Cultural Center, early March; no attendance taken or evaluations sought, but agent estimates attendance at this 4-hour workshop at 30 people; several local arborists including Nick Kuhn (City of Albuquerque), Bryan Shur (UNM Physical Plant) , and George Duda (recently retired from State Forestry) assisted in working with the attendees.) Much of agent’s arboriculture consultation was through one-on-one interactions. During the summer, it is a rare day that does not bring a few more branches and bags of leaves into agent’s office.

The agent also presented a lecture on urban arboriculture to both the Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners (AAEMG), as part of their regular training schedule, to San Juan County Master Gardeners, to Valencia County Master Gardeners, and at the Santa Fe Master Gardener’s Garden Fair. Of AAEMG interns who heard the presentation, 13 (22%) returned evaluations. One person felt the information would be “somewhat” useful, two felt it would be “quite a bit” useful and the ten felt it would be “very much” useful.

Nine AAEMG members and threeo non-members also attended a day-long Tree Tour, organized in conjunction with Ms. Judy Nickel (ISA certified arborist, member of Think Trees, and an AAEMG member). This driving tour of notable Albuquerque trees is something we try to do once or twice a year, and provides a hands-on venue to learn tree identification, cultural issues, and pest problems. All participants expressed having learned valuable new information.

The agent continues to be active in the New Mexico Forest Re-Leaf Tree Planting Advisory Committee, operating under the State Forestry Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. This committee reviews grant requests made by NM cities, towns and other public entities, and awards funds for tree planting projects on public lands with a strong community benefit factor. Agent is incoming vice-chair of the committee.

Much of the work agent does is with area greens industry members, whether that is in identifying insect and disease problems brought in, or meeting with industry professionals on-site to diagnose problems. This industry is in great need of good information and accurate identification of issues that may, or may not, be problems. Agent doesn’t have an formal evaluation process for this part of the clientele, but many are “repeat customers”, suggesting they benefit from the interaction.

Agent is also a member of the Xeriscape Council, which puts on a top-notch water-conservation conference every year, a conference of national and international stature. The main conference aims mostly at the design professional, which is appropriate in that many landscape problems are due to a lack of understanding by the designer about the horticultural constraints at play in a given site. There is also a series of free workshops (known as the expo) that immediately follow the conference, and these are aimed at the homeowner who wants more hands-on information on a variety of topics. In his role with the Xeriscape Council, agent helps set the agendas for the conference and expo, and does presentations at the Expo each year. Given the tremendous water issues facing us today in the Southwest, this work with xeriscaping is very important. Proper water management continues to elude many irrigators. Agent finds most tree and shrub issues have at least a partial cause in a lack of sufficient water, and/or an inappropriate irrigation schedule. Many commercial operators continue to put in systems that may work as plumbing but not as a horticulturally appropriate watering system. Agent tries to suggest to homeowners that they spend a bit more up front for an irrigation system that will actually supply the amount of water needed to the correct volume of soil in a timely manner; then he tries to explain, with examples, what this might look like.

Approximately 75% of agent’s phone calls, office visits, and site visits are with private citizens. Topics they need information on vary widely, from home vegetable gardening and fruit growing to plant identification and care advice. The following quote from a homeowner is illustrative of typical responses from contacts: “…He spent over an hour with me, discussing the problems with my tree…solving problems that I have had with other plants…He is obviously intelligent and knowledgeable. He listened to me carefully and answered my questions with great patience, kindness and completeness. Moreover, he took pains to make certain that I understood his explanations…Those who consult him will painlessly learn much, improve their skills, and thereby improve the Albuquerque landscape.”

Agent also provides presentations to groups, such as garden clubs and homeowners’ associations. In the 2008-2009 reporting year, agent made such presentations to various groups, on topics ranging from xeriscaping to home vegetable gardening, tree care to edible weeds. Eleven such presentations were made, mostly on weekends. Evaluations were not done for these presentations.

2009

This past year a representative from Intel Corporation requested that extension provide a plant clinic and information table at their facilities. Intel is familiar to most residents of the state as one of the larger employers and corporate donors. We scheduled two evening sessions from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM when shift changes occur. We had over 200 employees pick up literature and bring in plant samples for diagnosis. Intel was very happy that we provided this service to their employees and would like us to continue next year.