Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture

This topic ranks first with regard to how often the agent must address some aspect of it on the job, with tree questions comprising at least 25 percent of every question that comes across her desk. In other words, tree topics rank number one with regard to how often the agent addresses some aspect of it on the job. Topics such as soil, lawn, weeds, vegetable gardening, the Master Gardener Program, general program planning, and other topics make up about 45 percent of the questions she is faced with.

Bernalillo County is the most densly populated County in NM. The county has approximately 30 percent of the state’s population. The county is mostly urban in nature, with some more rural areas such as the South Valley and the East Mountains. There is great demand for quality urban horticulture information.

This year the agent consulted with homeowners, school garden volunteers, and green industry professionals. She received approximately five to eighteen phone calls per day and I did eight to ten site visits per week during the high-traffic season of April through August. The agent includes site visits in her activities when the problem is too complex or there is not enough information to solve the problem over the phone. The agent believes that site visits are very valuable to the client because of the quality one-on-one attention for the client on site. Site visits are also very valuable to the agent as a learning tool. When the agent learns to identify issues in the field, she is better able to communicate with people over the phone having seen a common problem in the field several times.

the horticulture agent return every phone call and e-mail received. She makes it a point to follow through with promised requests. As a new agent, this is the only way to build trust with the community that she is a resource that can be relied upon.

The horticulture agent advises the Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners (AAEMG’s). Bernalillo County has a large and active Master Gardener program. There are approximately 200 active members and an additional 49 graduated this year.

The Master Gardeners are a critical resource for disseminating urban horticulture information. The AAEMG members field phone calls on two separate hotlines from February through October. Members also volunteer in educational activities including the 4-H Seeds Program, the ARCA Homes project gardens, the organic demonstration garden at Los Poblanos Community Garden, give presentations for various groups, and volunteer for numerous other community activities.

The Master Gardeners and interns fielded 745 hotline phone calls from June through August. The interns alone this year accumulated 2,350 hours of volunteer time, which is equivalent to hiring a full time employee willing to put in some extra hours. All of the Master Gardeners (interns and veterans) volunteer hours will likely exceed 10,000 hours. This is equivalent to hiring 5 full time employees to address the urban horticultural needs of Bernalillo County. Even this is not enough to address everyone’s needs, but it helps the community a great deal.

The agent did a number of activities and presentations around the community which addressed urban horticulture needs. She did a short activity for four and five year olds on the basics of trees and plants. She helped the students plant beans. She presented “Soil!” to the Heights Wildflower Club. She presented the soil and irrigation information at the East Mt. Gardening Series. She addressed the Nob Hill Neighborhood Association to inform them about the Cooperative Extension Service and her programs. She facilitated two Master Gardener tree tours around Albuquerque. She spoke at the Greater Albuquerque association of Realtors about organic gardening, compost, and native plants. The agent was a presenter at the Master Composter Training. She presented, “Soil, the Matrix of Life”. She also presented at the Herb Festival on the basics of soil. She helped set up and man a booth at the Local Food Festival at the Hubbell House. She facilitated the purchase of corn, beans, and squash seeds that were given out to kids as prizes. The agent wrote an informational insert for the seed packages on the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash). She presented, “Limited Space Gardening; Where Do I Begin???” to the Greenbriar Coop. She held a field trip for La Petite Academy in which 20 kids ranging from first to fourth grade planted seeds and did a hands-on demo on the consequences injuring tree vascular tissue. The agent Reviewed a publication on composting [revision of Guide H110 (Composting)]. She helped a Life Skills class with the CNM Workforce Training Center with raised-bed gardening issues. This class had four homeless women enrolled, but the program is growing. These young women have been given a place to live, education, and they are learning other skills such as how to garden. The agent did two short presentations on soil at the Alcalde Field Day. She helped Judge at the NM State Fair Flower show. She wrote part of the soils section in the Master Gardeners new edition of Down to Earth and she is currently assisting them in editing other portions of the book. She also presented, “Soil” at a school gardening workshop for Educators.

The results of these activities have been largely positive. In evaluations, the agent received 95 percent 3’s, 4’3, and 5’s (on a scale from 1 to 5) in “usefulness of information”, “Quality of Presentation”, and “Knowledge Gained”. She would like to improve this to where the evaluations are all 4’s and 5’s. The agent received comments such as, “Good presentation. Used visuals very well.”, “Great presentation! Very Informative! Good topic.”, and “Very energetic, good speaker.” The agent also received one or two useful critiques about slowing down with the laser pointer and topics that she should expand on.

Regarding the horticulture agent's day to day interaction with clients, here is an example of some feedback, “Cheryl Rosel was not only professional and knowledgeable, but very personable as well. I cannot express how pleased I was with her help." - Sincerely, Grant L. Marek

Throughout the day, it is hard to quantify how much people gain from phone conversations with the agent, but based on their reactions, she estimate that the majority of people gain knowledge they did not have before. She also has repeat callers that would not call me back if they were not benefiting from the agent's advice.

The horticulture agent is a member of the Xeriscape Council. The Council plans the Xeriscape Conference and Expo that is held in Albuquerque on an annual basis. The conference typically attracts approximately 350 paid attendees and the Expo may attract thousands. This year (2010) attendance was down due to the poor economy, but the Conference and Expo was an overall success. The agent organized more than 60 volunteers (mostly AAEMGs) that provided vital support at the Conference and the Expo.

Cheryl Kent has signed on to support Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture within Bernalillo County.

Eddy County master gardeners supported the third annual farmers market this year. They also started a community garden with produce going to the soup kitchen and they supervised a therapeutic garden at Carlsbad Mental Health Treasure house and Marvin Watts center. on the the therapist told me there was a young man in his early twenty's who had not responded to any activities of therapy for the last eight years, who enthusiastically participated in the garden project. His parents were delighted.

Eddy County Agent continued to work with the therapeutic garden at Crossroads drug rehab. center. The clients from last year in a voluntary return survey said the garden made a difference. There was a 62.6% return in surveys. Of these 43% had continued to garden in some fashion.

Based on the objective to respond to 95% of the requests for horticultural information providing Los Alamos clientele which will lead to a minimum of 20% increase in knowledge.

Impact: The agent made 2053 one-on-one contacts with Los Alamos residents in the area of integrated pest management and general cultural issues during the program year. Each client contact is approached with a strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as pesticide use, biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. Of the 463 contacts surveyed, all indicated at least a 60% gain in knowledge.

Educational Programs for Civic and Other Organizations

The following educational programs were presented by the agriculture agent to specific audiences and the general public:
“What is Extension ?” – Sunrise Optimist Club, 10 persons in attendance.
“Backyard Gardening” - Community Coalition Backyard Watch group, 17 persons in attendance
“Master Gardening Program and Gardening Tips” – PEO Chapter B, 22 persons in attendance
“Recycled Containers” – Home Garden Club, 26 persons in attendance
“What is Extension?” – Kiwanis Club, 15 persons in attendance
"Rainwater Harvesting" - Morning Garden Club, 17 persons in attendance.
All persons gained information that will assist them in being more successfull at gardening or they gained information about the Extension Service which can be utilized to better their lives.