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 (Bernalillo County)

Plan Goal

To improve public's satisfaction with landscape plant issues by teaching proper plant selection and management, including pest, disease and weed control; soil conditioning and fertilization; and appropriate, efficient irrigation.

Situation Statement

Bernalillo County is the largest urban county in the state (estimated 2005 population is 603,500), though one of the smallest in geographical terms (1,166 square miles). Population growth continues apace, with many newcomers moving in every year (8.6% increase from 2000 to 2005). A significant proportion of these people are not aware of the range of horticultural issues in which our conditions don’t match those found elsewhere and in which our recommendations may not be what they knew “back home”. In this large urban center, there is a very strong demand for all types of horticultural information, from basic plant selection, to pruning, to home gardening, to xeriscape, and more.
The Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardeners, whose membership numbers just over 200, is one part of the solution, through their interaction with the gardening public. We try to train the members to be able to respond to most home-owner questions. At the same time, there are limits to the breadth of knowledge that part-time, non-professionals can be expected to master, so continued reliance on the Horticulture Agent is a given.
The County is also home to many landscape professionals and plant nurseries. A good number of these businesses take advantage of the services provided by the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service, not least among these consultations on problems they are not able to solve to their own, or their clients, satisfaction. The Horticulture Agent is a strongly involved member of two organizations which exist to put on conferences aimed at different segments of the greens industry. These are Think Trees New Mexico (which is responsible for the Think Trees conference, aimed at the regional arboriculture segment) and the Xeric Council of New Mexico (which is responsible for the Xeriscape NM conference, aimed at landscape designers/architects as well as landscape installation and maintenance firms, and which includes a free Saturday of seminars open to and aimed at the homeowner audience). These two conferences are great venues for mass education. The Agent has made presentations at both conferences.
To the extent that agriculture continues to exist in the County, apart from the landscape/ornamental industry, it is to be found in the form of very small farms. These may be just in alfalfa, or they may be fruit orchards, vineyards and market gardens. Demand for assistance and information in these latter categories is strongly increasing, as many local organizations coalesce around the greater goal of retaining the agricultural nature of the Rio Grande river’s valley floor. These efforts are strong along the river’s run in Bernalillo County, from Corrales and Ranchos de Albuquerque to the South Valley. There is tremendous market potential for continued expansion of these types of operations in the region. There is also interest in meeting that potential, as indicated by the strong response to a recent hoophouse construction workshop hosted by our office. However, much remains to be done to re-introduce good small-scale farming practices and foster the beneficial use of the remaining available farm land.

Target Audience and Actions

Includes homeowners, home gardeners, Master Gardeners, landscape installation and maintenance operations, local civic organizations (Home Owners Associations, Neighborhood Associations, Albuquerque BioPark, schools, churches, etc.).
Agent will respond to contacts from organizations, and will seek out additional opportunities, by providing training to the members of said organizations with presentations/trainings on horticultural topics of their choice. These will be either given at a public location, such as our office or the Albuquerque Garden Center, or will be taken to the regular meeting site of said organizations. Typical formats will include PowerPoint presentations, casual lectures, and hands-on workshops.
Agent will respond to inquiries made to the office on matters horticultural, either by phone, in person, or using the internet. Agent will provide accurate and up-to-date information. Agent will request follow-up responses from clientele to determine their satisfaction with the information (ideally, this will be set up on the county website).
Agent will organize, or participate in the organizing of, conferences and workshops in various topic fields. Examples include the afore-mentioned Xeriscape Conference and Think Tree conference, but also smaller workshops aimed at market gardeners, bamboo growing, hoop-house construction.
Agent will seek input from plant nursery management to design short half-day trainings to be done on-site at the nurseries, with the intent of providing nursery workers an opportunity to increase their knowledge and thus be better information resources for their customers.

Short-Term Objectives

Over the next twelve months, the Agent will respond to contacts, providing satisfactory information to 80% of the clients, and leading them to an increase in knowledge of not less than 20%.
Over the next twelve months, the Agent will respond to presentation requests from groups and organizations at the rate of 1 per month, on average. Clientele attending said presentations will self-report an increase in knowledge of not less than 20%, on average.

Medium-Term Objectives

In the next three years, Agent will devise, plan and host workshops and trainings on various topics. Some of the topics that will be visited include: sustainable fruit production; small-scale market gardening; growing figs and other uncommon fruits; growing bamboo; building and using hoophouses. Agent will do an average of four of these workshops per year. Clientele attending the workshops will report an average increase in knowledge of at least 20% in the subject area.

Long-Term Objectives

In the next five years, Agent will devise, plan and present special in-house training sessions to local plant nurseries. These are imagined as 2-3 hour, interactive trainings focusing on plant care in the nursery, planting instructions for the customers, plant selection and recommendations, and pest identification. Starting by year 2, agent will begin presenting these trainings, and will average 3 per year. Attendees will report an average increase in knowledge of not less than 20%.

Evaluation Plan

Agent will develop short evaluation forms to be handed out at presentations and workshops; Agent will set up system for one-on-one clients to report outcome of interaction with Agent.