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.
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- Related Plans
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Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture
Impact Reports
ABC Garden Club
A one-half hour presentation on the Basics of Pruning was presented to the ABC Garden Club in Santa Fe at their January monthly meeting. The 23 members expressed that the information presented re-affirmed their knowledge about pruning and that things haven’t changed much in the last 5 years, but were still grateful for the presentation.
Santa Fe Community Gardens
A presentation was given to 13 participants representing three city-sponsored community gardens on the basic home vegetable gardening. Some of those in attendance also interjected their ideas and experiences. After an hour and a half presentation, everyone present felt that a great discussion had be had.
City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission
The Santa Fe County Agent has been serving on the City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission for the past 4 years. In January of 2010 a subcommittee of the Advisory Commission was formed in which the County Agent was elected to serve as chair of what is the Municipal Tree Board. As requirement to retain “Tree City USA” status, some type of an event must be had as part of Arbor Day. Therefore a tree planting and tree seedling distribution was had in which three trees were planted along a City trail with the assistance of 26 students from a private school and 200 seedling were given to those in attendance. Furthermore, another 500 seedling were given away at the annual City of Santa Fe Community Day.
Holy Cross Catholic School Garden
Assistance was provided to Holy Cross Catholic Schools in Santa Cruz in the development of a school garden. The goals of the garden were to: 1) provide some hands-on science learning on how food is grown, 2) teach the youth the vocabulary associated with growing vegetables, 3)teach the students about citizenship be having them donate the food to homeless or displaced citizens. The agent provided guidance in the purchasing of equipment and supplies utilizing monies the school received from the Catholic Foundation. Crops grown included: carrots, radishes, peas, scallions, pumpkins, chile, squash, jalapenos, cucumbers and plenty of tomatoes. The younger students were presented information on the life cycle of the plant –from seed to fruit , and the older students learned about the composition of soils and their the macro-nutrients. In the spring of 2011 each one of the 140+ got an opportunity to plant a crop either directly into the ground or to start some transplants. The garden was worked by volunteers over the summer. Upon the start of the new school year in late summer, the students assisted in harvesting the produce. All produce was donated to the San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen in Espanola. Over 250 pounds of squash, 70 pounds of cucumbers, 12 pounds of radishes, 5 pounds of carrots, 25 pound s of chile, 15 pounds of jalapenos, 28 pounds of scallions, 80 pounds of tomatoes and68 pounds of pumpkins were donated to the soup kitchen. One of the volunteers at the soup kitchen expressed that one of the recipients had indicated that her family wouldn’t have been eating fresh vegetables had it not been for what they had received from the donations to the soup kitchen.
Master Gardener Program
Two different sections of the Master Gardener course were offered once again during the spring months of 2011 in Santa Fe. The second one was not offered in Eldorado this year for the reason that no one from the community was interested in serving as a host. The 16 week course prepared a total of 60 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 60 students who enrolled in the classes, 58 completed the course successfully. Furthermore, of those students submitting their course evaluation forms, 88% rated the course as "highly satisfactory" in terms of meeting their expectations, with the other 12% of the participants rating it as "satisfactory".
In order to facilitate travel cost savings for the specialists once again, the Agent took on the responsible for contacting speakers, developing the course syllabus, ordering manuals for the Los Alamos County Master Gardener Program as well. Furthermore, due to vacancies in the some Specialist positions, some of the veteran Master Gardeners and Extension Agents assisted with instructing some of the class sessions. This Agent taught the sessions on Tree and Small Fruits in Santa Fe.
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 3700 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $59,500 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2010 to the late summer of 2011. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The seventh annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included four different gardening-related presentations and other short demonstrations. For the fifth consecutive year, the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations which were distributed at this one day event. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 34 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. The estimated attendance was 1900 people which is slightly less than last year. The one thing that remains constant from last year is that there is a 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. The planning of the Gardening Fair is becoming a year-round process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline is staffed by Master Gardeners who take turns in checking messages on the hotline answering machine at least twice per week from May to the end of October. This dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 received an average of 4 calls per week.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The Herb Demonstration Garden continues to be maintained by the master gardeners. This demonstration garden which was originally developed as a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project, demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. 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. To support the master gardeners in their efforts, the Agent provided a pruning demonstration to the work crew at the Audobohn once again in April. The group expressed that being able to see how to prune the trees and shrubs in the way that they were done helped them to understand why certain practices were used.
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 come back to their locations to staff information tables while an additional nursery offered the same opportunity. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other two locations had an information tables staffed on Sunday afternoons. Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1400 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
In addition to some of the other Master Gardener projects, the Master Gardeners Continuing Education committee offered a Gardening 101 series in later winter which consisted of a series of4 class sessions. The class was full with 30 participants each time. The committee also co-sponsored a Meadows conference in the fall of 2010 with the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. The attendance at the conference was 60 in which participants learned about the establishment of natural meadows in landscapes.
Day-to-Day Contacts
An average of 6 calls were received on a daily basis beginning in March on best 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 continued 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.
A one-half hour presentation on the Basics of Pruning was presented to the ABC Garden Club in Santa Fe at their January monthly meeting. The 23 members expressed that the information presented re-affirmed their knowledge about pruning and that things haven’t changed much in the last 5 years, but were still grateful for the presentation.
Santa Fe Community Gardens
A presentation was given to 13 participants representing three city-sponsored community gardens on the basic home vegetable gardening. Some of those in attendance also interjected their ideas and experiences. After an hour and a half presentation, everyone present felt that a great discussion had be had.
City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission
The Santa Fe County Agent has been serving on the City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission for the past 4 years. In January of 2010 a subcommittee of the Advisory Commission was formed in which the County Agent was elected to serve as chair of what is the Municipal Tree Board. As requirement to retain “Tree City USA” status, some type of an event must be had as part of Arbor Day. Therefore a tree planting and tree seedling distribution was had in which three trees were planted along a City trail with the assistance of 26 students from a private school and 200 seedling were given to those in attendance. Furthermore, another 500 seedling were given away at the annual City of Santa Fe Community Day.
Holy Cross Catholic School Garden
Assistance was provided to Holy Cross Catholic Schools in Santa Cruz in the development of a school garden. The goals of the garden were to: 1) provide some hands-on science learning on how food is grown, 2) teach the youth the vocabulary associated with growing vegetables, 3)teach the students about citizenship be having them donate the food to homeless or displaced citizens. The agent provided guidance in the purchasing of equipment and supplies utilizing monies the school received from the Catholic Foundation. Crops grown included: carrots, radishes, peas, scallions, pumpkins, chile, squash, jalapenos, cucumbers and plenty of tomatoes. The younger students were presented information on the life cycle of the plant –from seed to fruit , and the older students learned about the composition of soils and their the macro-nutrients. In the spring of 2011 each one of the 140+ got an opportunity to plant a crop either directly into the ground or to start some transplants. The garden was worked by volunteers over the summer. Upon the start of the new school year in late summer, the students assisted in harvesting the produce. All produce was donated to the San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen in Espanola. Over 250 pounds of squash, 70 pounds of cucumbers, 12 pounds of radishes, 5 pounds of carrots, 25 pound s of chile, 15 pounds of jalapenos, 28 pounds of scallions, 80 pounds of tomatoes and68 pounds of pumpkins were donated to the soup kitchen. One of the volunteers at the soup kitchen expressed that one of the recipients had indicated that her family wouldn’t have been eating fresh vegetables had it not been for what they had received from the donations to the soup kitchen.
Master Gardener Program
Two different sections of the Master Gardener course were offered once again during the spring months of 2011 in Santa Fe. The second one was not offered in Eldorado this year for the reason that no one from the community was interested in serving as a host. The 16 week course prepared a total of 60 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 60 students who enrolled in the classes, 58 completed the course successfully. Furthermore, of those students submitting their course evaluation forms, 88% rated the course as "highly satisfactory" in terms of meeting their expectations, with the other 12% of the participants rating it as "satisfactory".
In order to facilitate travel cost savings for the specialists once again, the Agent took on the responsible for contacting speakers, developing the course syllabus, ordering manuals for the Los Alamos County Master Gardener Program as well. Furthermore, due to vacancies in the some Specialist positions, some of the veteran Master Gardeners and Extension Agents assisted with instructing some of the class sessions. This Agent taught the sessions on Tree and Small Fruits in Santa Fe.
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 3700 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $59,500 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2010 to the late summer of 2011. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The seventh annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included four different gardening-related presentations and other short demonstrations. For the fifth consecutive year, the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations which were distributed at this one day event. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 34 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. The estimated attendance was 1900 people which is slightly less than last year. The one thing that remains constant from last year is that there is a 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. The planning of the Gardening Fair is becoming a year-round process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline is staffed by Master Gardeners who take turns in checking messages on the hotline answering machine at least twice per week from May to the end of October. This dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 received an average of 4 calls per week.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The Herb Demonstration Garden continues to be maintained by the master gardeners. This demonstration garden which was originally developed as a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project, demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. 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. To support the master gardeners in their efforts, the Agent provided a pruning demonstration to the work crew at the Audobohn once again in April. The group expressed that being able to see how to prune the trees and shrubs in the way that they were done helped them to understand why certain practices were used.
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 come back to their locations to staff information tables while an additional nursery offered the same opportunity. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other two locations had an information tables staffed on Sunday afternoons. Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1400 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
In addition to some of the other Master Gardener projects, the Master Gardeners Continuing Education committee offered a Gardening 101 series in later winter which consisted of a series of4 class sessions. The class was full with 30 participants each time. The committee also co-sponsored a Meadows conference in the fall of 2010 with the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. The attendance at the conference was 60 in which participants learned about the establishment of natural meadows in landscapes.
Day-to-Day Contacts
An average of 6 calls were received on a daily basis beginning in March on best 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 continued 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.
The six-week East Mountain Gardening Series was offered once again in Moriarty during March and April in collaboration with Torrance and Bernalillo County Extension Agentss. The Santa Fe Count Agent was responsible for developing the schedule, the speaker line-up and contacting them. In addition, the Agent presented the lecture on Fruit Production. Each of the session had an average attendance of 11 people and some as many as 16.
A one hour presentation was made in Novemeber 2009 to a group of 6 women on from a neighborhood associaiton on Winterizing Your Garden. Along with the information presented, the Agent answered many questions from those in attendance. They all expressed their appreciation for the presentation and indicated that the information that was received was very helpful.
The Santa Fe County Agent has been serving on the City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission for the past 3 years. In January of 2010 a subcommittee of the Advisory Commission was formed in which the County Agent was elected to serve as chair of what is the Municipal Tree Board. Soon after its inception the Municipal Tree Board applied to the National Arbor Day Foundation for a Tree City USA designation and was granted the status by late February.
The Agent conducted a workshop for nine employees of the City of Santa Fe Parks Department on pest management and sprayer calibration. All of the participants were preparing to take their Public Applicator Certification exam.
A one hour presentation was made in Novemeber 2009 to a group of 6 women on from a neighborhood associaiton on Winterizing Your Garden. Along with the information presented, the Agent answered many questions from those in attendance. They all expressed their appreciation for the presentation and indicated that the information that was received was very helpful.
The Santa Fe County Agent has been serving on the City of Santa Fe Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission for the past 3 years. In January of 2010 a subcommittee of the Advisory Commission was formed in which the County Agent was elected to serve as chair of what is the Municipal Tree Board. Soon after its inception the Municipal Tree Board applied to the National Arbor Day Foundation for a Tree City USA designation and was granted the status by late February.
The Agent conducted a workshop for nine employees of the City of Santa Fe Parks Department on pest management and sprayer calibration. All of the participants were preparing to take their Public Applicator Certification exam.
Two different sections of the Master Gardener course were offered once again during the spring months of 2010 in Santa Fe and Eldorado. The 16 week course prepared a total of 58 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 58 students who enrolled in the classes, 52 completed the course successfully. Furthermore, of those students submitting their course evaluation forms, 82% rated the course as "highly satisfactory" in terms of meeting their expectations, with the other 18% of the participants rating it as "satisfactory".
In order to facilitate travel cost savings for the specialists once again, 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 as it is now becoming tradition, many of the 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.
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 3600 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $57,600 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2009 to the late summer of 2010. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The sixth annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included 9 different gardening-related presentations. For the fourth consecutive year, the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations which were distributed at this one day event and other public outreach venues. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 36 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. Due to the weather pattern the day prior to this event,the estimated attendance was 2000 people which is about the same as last year. The one thing that remains constant from last year is that there is a 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 is becoming a year-round process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline was staffed a little differently this year. Master Gardeners took turns in checking messages on the hotline answering machine at least twice per week from May to the end of October. This dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 received an average of 8 calls per week.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The Herb Demonstration Garden continues to be maintained by the master gardeners. The committee responsible for this garden pulled up some of the existing plants and replanted them after they developed a new design for the plot. This demonstration garden which was originally developed as a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project , demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. 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. 4) Anew demonstration garden which the master gardeners helped to maintain during the 2010 growing season was the garden at the Friends Meeting House. To support the master gardeners in their efforts, the Agent provided a pruning demonstration to the work crew at the Audobohn Center and another demonstration to the crew at the Friends Meeting House. Both groups expressed that being able to see how to prune the trees and shrubs in the way that they were done helped them to understand why certain practices were used.
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 come back to their locations to staff information tables while an additional nursery offered the same opportunity. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other two locations had an information tables staffed on Sunday afternoons. Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1400 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
An average of 12 calls were received on a daily basis beginning in March on best 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 continued 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 once again, 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 as it is now becoming tradition, many of the 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.
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 3600 hours of volunteer service valued at minimum of $57,600 was provided by the Master Gardeners from the Fall season of 2009 to the late summer of 2010. Some of the ways in which the Master Gardeners provide volunteer hours to the County Extension Office are as follows:
The sixth annual Gardening Fair was organized and facilitated which included 9 different gardening-related presentations. For the fourth consecutive year, the master gardeners also developed a directory of landscape and gardening related businesses and organizations which were distributed at this one day event and other public outreach venues. Also inclusive of the Gardening Fair once again this year was the trade-fair in which 36 organizations and businesses were invited to have an information table. Due to the weather pattern the day prior to this event,the estimated attendance was 2000 people which is about the same as last year. The one thing that remains constant from last year is that there is a 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 is becoming a year-round process.
The Master Gardener Home Gardening Hotline was staffed a little differently this year. Master Gardeners took turns in checking messages on the hotline answering machine at least twice per week from May to the end of October. This dedicated phone line provided by the County Extension Office was established in 2002 received an average of 8 calls per week.
Several demonstration gardens continue to be managed and cared for by the Master Gardeners. 1) The Herb Demonstration Garden continues to be maintained by the master gardeners. The committee responsible for this garden pulled up some of the existing plants and replanted them after they developed a new design for the plot. This demonstration garden which was originally developed as a Rio Grande Basin Initiative project , demonstrates the efficiency of drip irrigation in backyard gardens while demonstrating varieties of culinary herbs suitable to grow in the Santa Fe area. 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. 4) Anew demonstration garden which the master gardeners helped to maintain during the 2010 growing season was the garden at the Friends Meeting House. To support the master gardeners in their efforts, the Agent provided a pruning demonstration to the work crew at the Audobohn Center and another demonstration to the crew at the Friends Meeting House. Both groups expressed that being able to see how to prune the trees and shrubs in the way that they were done helped them to understand why certain practices were used.
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 come back to their locations to staff information tables while an additional nursery offered the same opportunity. One location had an information table staffed on Thursday mornings from May thru July and the other two locations had an information tables staffed on Sunday afternoons. Through the information table the master gardeners provided literature, answered questions, promoted the hotline and promoted the Master Gardener course. Approximately 1400 contacts were made through the course of the market season with the vast majority of the contact being related to gardening questions or problems.
An average of 12 calls were received on a daily basis beginning in March on best 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 continued 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.
Medium-term successes
Eddy County
Living Desert State Park, Eddy County Cooperative Extension, and the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist offered a Water Wise Landscape workshop attended by 38 citizens. This is an annual event that has resulted in increasing knowledge of plants and techniques to conserve water in Southeastern New Mexico landscapes. Attendees report successful changes in their landscape and irrigation practices as a result of this annual workshop.
Santa Fe (on-going projects) -
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.
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the NMSU Extension 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.
Eddy County
Living Desert State Park, Eddy County Cooperative Extension, and the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist offered a Water Wise Landscape workshop attended by 38 citizens. This is an annual event that has resulted in increasing knowledge of plants and techniques to conserve water in Southeastern New Mexico landscapes. Attendees report successful changes in their landscape and irrigation practices as a result of this annual workshop.
Santa Fe (on-going projects) -
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.
CNM (formerly TV-I) – as chairman of the advisory committee for the Landscape Horticulture training program at CNM the NMSU Extension 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.
Short-term successes
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 primary source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.
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. 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. This is a long-term and continuing project that provides landscape design and management demonstrations to citizens of Lea County.
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. This collaboration began in 2009 and is continuing and growing. The New Mexico Junior College experienced a 60% increase in enrollment as a result of collaboration with NMSU and Lea County Master Gardeners.
Otero - Otero County Master Gardeners provided 6 educational programs to educate local gardeners about techniques for landscaping and gardening in a water conserving manner. They were provided NMSU publications and information. Through the year 49 Otero County Master Gardener volunteers provided 2269 hours of horticultural educational service to their fellow citizens.
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. In 2009 Master Gardeners had donated by the time of the county report over 2000 pounds of vegetables from this garden to two charities that distribute vegetables to people in need. The provision of fresh vegetables was a much needed addition to the foods available and the nutrition of program participants.
Master Gardeners provided well-attended plant clinics to answer gardening questions from 200 citizens annually. They conduct numerous educational programs for 500 county residents utilizing Master Gardeners, County and State Extension professionals as instructors. These have resulted in ongoing changes in gardening practices in Sandoval County.
Over 100 active Master Gardeners have contributed more than 5,000 hours of educational service to Sandoval County.
Bernalillo- About 200 active Master Gardeners assist the Bernalillo County Extension Program in offering horticulture education programs to the public. Many contribute more than the required 40 volunteer hours due to their commitment to the success of the program and desire to teach their fellow citizens. Volunteer activities exceed 10,000 hours in providing gardening information at libraries, the Downtown Growers Market in Albuquerque, 4-H Seeds program, the Organic Demonstration Garden, Tomato Fiesta, and various joint activities with the Albuquerque Council of Garden Clubs.
Valencia- Twenty-one Master Gardeners contributed 1, 297 volunteer hours in support of the Valencia County Extension horticulture educational program. The Master Gardeners maintained a demonstration water harvesting/container garden at the Valencia County Extension office using information provided by the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist and the County Agent. Master Gardeners conducted 50 plant clinics to provide educational outreach to Valencia County residents.
Los Alamos- Forty-two Master Gardeners volunteered 688 hours of a variety of horticultural educational service to county residents.
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 primary source of information that cities, counties, and other organizations use for referrals.
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. 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. This is a long-term and continuing project that provides landscape design and management demonstrations to citizens of Lea County.
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. This collaboration began in 2009 and is continuing and growing. The New Mexico Junior College experienced a 60% increase in enrollment as a result of collaboration with NMSU and Lea County Master Gardeners.
Otero - Otero County Master Gardeners provided 6 educational programs to educate local gardeners about techniques for landscaping and gardening in a water conserving manner. They were provided NMSU publications and information. Through the year 49 Otero County Master Gardener volunteers provided 2269 hours of horticultural educational service to their fellow citizens.
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. In 2009 Master Gardeners had donated by the time of the county report over 2000 pounds of vegetables from this garden to two charities that distribute vegetables to people in need. The provision of fresh vegetables was a much needed addition to the foods available and the nutrition of program participants.
Master Gardeners provided well-attended plant clinics to answer gardening questions from 200 citizens annually. They conduct numerous educational programs for 500 county residents utilizing Master Gardeners, County and State Extension professionals as instructors. These have resulted in ongoing changes in gardening practices in Sandoval County.
Over 100 active Master Gardeners have contributed more than 5,000 hours of educational service to Sandoval County.
Bernalillo- About 200 active Master Gardeners assist the Bernalillo County Extension Program in offering horticulture education programs to the public. Many contribute more than the required 40 volunteer hours due to their commitment to the success of the program and desire to teach their fellow citizens. Volunteer activities exceed 10,000 hours in providing gardening information at libraries, the Downtown Growers Market in Albuquerque, 4-H Seeds program, the Organic Demonstration Garden, Tomato Fiesta, and various joint activities with the Albuquerque Council of Garden Clubs.
Valencia- Twenty-one Master Gardeners contributed 1, 297 volunteer hours in support of the Valencia County Extension horticulture educational program. The Master Gardeners maintained a demonstration water harvesting/container garden at the Valencia County Extension office using information provided by the NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist and the County Agent. Master Gardeners conducted 50 plant clinics to provide educational outreach to Valencia County residents.
Los Alamos- Forty-two Master Gardeners volunteered 688 hours of a variety of horticultural educational service to county residents.