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Plant Management Systems: Urban Horticulture (Otero County)

Plan Goal

To increase horticultural knowledge of home and professional gardeners, and landscapers by providing training, skills, and resources in urban horticultural.

Situation Statement

Like many small communities in the arid Southwest, many people in Otero county are interested in having an attractive lawn, landscape, and now more commonly, garden and or orchard area. Either through the experience of having lived here several years or being a newcomer and having episodes of dying vegetation people soon decide they need some additional information on drought tolerant species, pests, irrigation, species for high pH soils, pesticides, and more. Many people inquire at the Cooperative Extension Office on a problem-by-problem basis and others choose to take the Master Gardeners course.
It is probable that there will be an increase in home gardens and orchards, due to issues with our economy, and therefore it is important that timely and accurate information on horticultural and water issues is readily available.

Target Audience and Actions

Horticultural information will be provided to those who:
-Inquire at the Cooperative Extension Service office by phone, FAX, mail, E-mail, or walk-ins.
-Attend open public CES presentations and workshops
-Attend Master Gardeners classes
-Attend presentations requested by groups

Short-Term Objectives

1. At least 15 Master Gardeners will be trained annually to assist the Agent in the dissemination of basic horticultural information through workshops, educational demonstrations, and cultivation of demonstration gardens.
2. The agent will respond to 95% of horticultural inquires received at the CES resulting in at least a 10% increase in their horticultural knowledge base.

Medium-Term Objectives

1. The agent will provide at least 3 presentations to community groups and organizations each year. Clientele participating in these presentations should increase their knowledge base by at least 10%.
2. At least one training per year will be conducted for private urban horticulturalists and public landscape professionals which will include information on pest management.

Long-Term Objectives

1. Residential landscape, home garden, and home orchard owners who participate who participate in Extension horticultural programs will reduce their water use by 10% over the following 4 year period while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing landscape and benefiting the community by aiding to preserve a sustainable water supply

Evaluation Plan

Evidence of success through the Master Gardeners program will be evaluated by number of course participants who pass the subject matter tests that are administered and by the number of hours of recorded volunteer community service in the dissemination of horticultural information and service projects by those graduates.
Evidence of successful horticultural instruction and dissemination of information by the Extension office will result in urban horticulturists changing their landscapes, gardens, and home orchards without decreasing the aesthetics or the production of their home gardens and orchards while reducing water use.
Surveys and evaluations will be used to gauge the success of workshop and educational demonstrations conducted.