Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture (Socorro County)

Socorro County, like the rest of the state and nation, was hit with some extremely cold weather this winter. Many residences dealt with immediate issues such as broken pipes and gas shortage, but when springtime came residents began to deal with the horticulture issues from the extreme cold. Agave plants that were well established were some of the first to show the devastating results turning black and clumping up on the ground almost immediately. The agent submitted an article to the newspaper after handling several calls on the condition of plants and what to do. Early in the spring, patience was encouraged to wait and see if plants would overcome and begin to reproduce. Overall the agent was able to assist residents in making decisions about their landscapes.

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.

Agent provided a presentation to the Rotary Club on Noxious weeds and overall weed management. 32 members were present and received information on what are noxious weeds, what is a weed, and management options for weeds. Members were able to ask questions and take home a noxious weed calendar to assist in identification. One member commented “so this is why I can’t kill that weed, I have been going about it the wrong way and spending to much money”.

The Socorro office receives over 400 phone calls a year from homeowners needing information on gardening, pests, tree questions and general landscaping. In order to help clientele gain all the needed information, the Agent hosted 7 classes on various horticulture topics. Seventy-six clients participated in organic gardening, entomology, pecans, hoop houses, intro to gardening, soils, and vegetable production. Attendees gain knowledge of many practical applications that assist them with their home projects. 4 producers have established pecan orchards after the presentation on nut trees, 1 hoop house was constructed and utilized, and several homeowners were successful in their gardens for this year. Workshops are developed to reduce the number of calls, but once clientele found out the wealth of information to obtain they become frequent uses of these resources.

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.