JUNE 2012 THE SCOOP

M a s t e r G a r d e n e r s o f R u t h e r f o r d C o u n t y Volume VIII Issue 6

THE SCOOP JUNE 2012

THE VEGETABLE GARDENERS’ CORNER By: Jack Smith, CMG, TAB

For the best and freshest taste harvest your vegetables as soon as they are ripe enough to pick. This will tend to prolong production and help to avoid pest is-sues. Most vegetables are best picked early in the morning while moisture from overnight is still in the produce; but pick after the dew is off the plant to help prevent the possible spread of disease. Do you have potatoes? If you do and about two-thirds of the tops have died down, then it is time to dig your potatoes. Dig them, clean them, but do not wash, and store in a cool and dark place. If stored in an area of excess light the tubers may start to turn green. The green color comes from the pigment chloro-phyll, produced as a response to light. Chlorophyll itself is not toxic, however another response is increased production of a colorless alkaloid called solanine. Consuming a large quantity of solanine can cause illness, or even death in ex-treme cases. However, most people are not likely to eat enough of the affected tissue to cause illness, because of solanine’s bitter taste. Your onions should be about ready to harvest. Gently remove from the soil and eliminate any soil clinging to the bulb. Again, do not wash and allow to dry in an area that is dry and has a good circulation of air. While this area does not have to be dark it is better to have limited light. If the tops are still attached allow them to dry. Once they have dried you may braid the tops and suspend the bunches to allow air to continue to circulate. If you have not started preserving your garden’s bounty it is about time to start. You may already have beans, squash and peas ready. If you are not canning and/or freezing it is time to start, or at least take time to learn how to save your pro-duce for later in the year when frost is on the pumpkin. Wait, you are not through planting your garden yet! You can still plant okra, field peas, lima and green beans, sweet potatoes and second planting of corn. These plantings can replace those you have already harvested and continue to have your vegetable garden produce for you and your family.

(Continued on page 5)

MGRC Gardens 2

MGs At The Market 3

The Organic Minute 4

Vineyard 5

Daylily Leaf Miner 6

Recipe of the Month 8

Upcoming Events &

Calendar

MGRC Activities

Work Days

9

Mark Says 10

MGRC Board &

Committees

10

About MGRC 11

Inside this issue:

THE SCOOP Volume VIII Issue 6

Busy In The Butterfly Garden

G ood things are accomplished when we work together. On May 8th several Master Gardeners and interns worked and played a little planting the herb garden and adding milkweed seeds and add-

ing few plants to the butterfly garden. The herb garden is going to be a wonderful asset for the butter-flies as well as other visitors to the area. We planted parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme of course, along with several other herbs like a bay that Beth donated from her garden. Many thanks to Beth for picking up all the herbs and caring for them during the preparation of the bed; the advice and instruc-tion during the planting; and the sandwiches for everyone. We enjoyed lunch together after the work was finished. I think everyone had a good time. It’s always fun to garden with friends, just one of the joys of being a Master Gardener. ᴥ

THE MGRC GARDENS By: Nancy Nelson, CMG

Herb Garden

T he Rose has been named Herb of the Year for 2012. It would only be appropriate to plant the herb of the year as the cornerstone for the

garden when it is established, so a pink double Knockout Rose is planted at the corner. We don’t usually think of the rose as an herb, but the petals of some roses are used in making perfume and can be used as edible decora-tions. Rose hips are high in vitamin C and used in some herbal medicines, making jams, jellies or rose hip tea. The rose is not just a beautiful flower, it has many uses that date back for centuries.

The rose in our garden has a very special meaning. It is planted in loving memory of Beth Fedorowitz’s late husband, Chester, who passed away last year. Chester was a member of our Master Gardener group and was passionate about roses. He is missed and will always be remembered ᴥ

MGRC Butterfly Garden In Bloom

Chester’s Rose


On Friday, May 11th, the Rutherford County Farmers Market opened for the 2012 season to a nice crowd of eager shoppers who found a good variety of early season veggies, as well as baked goods, flowers, and honey. Market shoppers also found the smiling faces of members of the Master Gardeners of Ruth-erford County hosting our Information Table and Concessions Window.

The Market was open for six days in May, and at those six days we had 20 of our members and interns volunteer a total of 100 hours of com- munity service! A big thank you goes out to all of those who volunteered this month and helped make our first month at the Market a big success, especially those from our terrific 2012 Master Gardener Training Class! While the June volunteer schedule is already filled up, anyone interested in helping out on a Friday can just let me know. While we schedule the mini- mum needs of 2 volunteers per Market day, we can usually use an extra hand on Fridays. We will be signing up volun-teers for July at our next Association Meeting on June 18th.

Looking ahead to June, we will start the month off on June 1st with our monthly First Fridays at the Market programs, a monthly series of free garden inspired workshops for gardeners of all levels. Our members will present these free programs at the Farmers Market at 9:30 am the first Friday of each month from June through October. The June program will be Organic Approaches to Garden Fertilization and Pest Control, followed each month thereafter by: It’s the Organic Matter that Matters-Improving Soils with Compost; Planning your Fall Vegetable Garden-What to Plant Now; Getting Started with Easy to Grow Small Backyard Fruit-Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Figs, and Muscad-ines; and Root Cellaring Basics-How to Store your Fall Harvest to Enjoy All Winter. More information about these programs is available on our web-site.

June 2nd also marks the beginning of the Saturday Market on the historic square in Downtown Murfrees-boro. This outdoor Market runs each Saturday morning from 8:00 am till noon, June through October. We will be hosting an Information Table at this Market as well. While our June volunteer schedule for this Market is already filled up, anyone interested in helping out is welcome to contact me. As with the RCFM, we can always use an extra person. Just be sure and let me know in advance. We will also be signing volunteers up for the Saturday Market for July at our next Association Meeting.

Remember that our involvement in these Markets provides us with a wonderful opportunity for our membership to meet and interact with the public, and to promote our organization as well as our classes and activities. Again, thanks to the many Master Gardeners and Interns who are making our Master Gar-deners at the Market activities so successful.

Any Master Gardener or Intern who would like to participate in any of these Master Gardeners at the Market opportunities is welcome to contact me, Reggie Reeves, via e-mail at [email protected] , or at 615-210-3050 We typically try to complete sign-ups for the following month at each of our monthly meetings. ᴥ

MASTER GARDENERS AT THE MARKET By: Reggie Reeves, CMG,

mailto:[email protected]


Ultimate Local = Your Backyard

When shopping the Organic section of your favorite grocery store or market, one might have visions of a small local farm with a crystal-clear creek flowing past free-range livestock and a farm family tending plots of diverse crops teaming with honeybees and butterflies. While that scenario might sometimes be true… often, the reality is that Organic produce is grown on a large scale, in monoculture, and then shipped hun-dreds (or thousands) of miles to the consumer.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a proponent of Organic agriculture, as I believe that it offers many benefits to both the consumer and the environment. However, we should not fool ourselves into thinking that Or-ganic farming, as a whole, is a panacea that is devoid of waste or free of any negative impacts to the envi-ronment.

So, what to do if you want to enjoy Organic foods that are more “energy efficient”? … grow your own, in your own backyard. [For those without a backyard; substitute a patio, balcony, or other suitable area]. Not only will veggies straight from your backyard be the freshest possible, but they will not incur expendi-tures of energy to pack and ship across town, or across the country.

Are you going to grow 100% of the produce that you want? … I doubt it. If we tried to be self-sufficient growers, I imagine that most of us would fail miserably. Plus, you’re probably not going to produce ba-nanas, oranges, or coffee here in Tennessee; and, you’d likely succumb to the desire for a store-bought tomato in January. But, as the saying goes… “every little bit helps”.

Here are just a few ways that growing your own produce can positively affect energy consumption and/or environmental impacts, by eliminating or reducing. 1. Materials, fuel, and waste from the manufacture and use of packing materials. 2. Fuel and materials used by large machinery {some gardeners use only manual tools}. 3. Fuel and materials used for trucking and freight. 4. Energy for warehousing and refrigeration {except for your home refrigerator}. 5. Energy and materials for retail marketing. 6. Landfill waste. Some organic farms generate a lot of plastic waste that is not recycled, including greenhouse plastic and row covers, plastic “mulch” barriers used for weed control, irrigation lines and fittings, and pots/containers. Note: A home garden may also generate waste (trash). But, compared to a large commercial farm, it may be much easier to practice “the three Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle) at the home level.

You may have already made the decision to purchase Organic produce when possible, and to select locally produced items when they are available; that’s great! If you’re also growing as much of your own produce as possible… well, I call that ULTIMATE!

Until next time … Garden on!

Send your questions or comments about Organic gardening to [email protected], and we’ll try to address your concerns or include your input in future installments of The Organic Minute.

THE ORGANIC MINUTE By: Mark Murphy, President 2012, CMG

mailto:[email protected]


Heat loving herbs like basil, rosemary and Mexican tarragon can still be planted for your continued use in the kitchen. And, you need to pinch back you existing herbs to encourage bushier growth. While you are harvesting your produce and removing those unwanted weeds it is a great time to look for and to control insects and diseases. This is a good time also to make sure soil moisture levels are good for continued pro-duction or if it may be time to irrigate. It may also be a good time to add mulch between rows to help limit the loss of soil moisture. ᴥ

(Continued from page 1)

VEGETABLE

BE ON THE LOOKOUT—DAYLILY LEAF MINER By: Linda Lindquist, CMG

Dr. Alan Windham (Soil Plant Pest Center) stopped by the Extension office recently with examples of Daylily Leaf Miner Damage. It only affects daylilies. This is relatively new to our part of Tennessee although it's been seen in East Tennessee for at least 2 years. Damage is caused by the rice grain sized larva of the "Sasakawa" fly. This is an agromyzid fly not previously known outside Japan and Taiwan. No definitive preventative or treatment yet, but remov-ing damaged leaves will help control the population. It's suspected that the larvae overwinter in the crowns of the lilies. And of course, it likes the natural "ditch lilies" as much as our hybridized ones, so they can always find a place to live. Removing damaged / dead / dying leaves will help. Some preliminary research at UT has shown appli-cation of MERIT to be effective at reducing populations, but it's not conclusive yet. In the meantime.... be careful & inspect new lilies before purchasing. ᴥ

Adult Fly (clemson.edu) Larval Damage

http://clemson.edu

THE SCOOP Volume VIII 6

The Grape Vines At The Lane Extension Center Are Coming Back

On May 8th I walked through the vineyard. The vines are coming back. You can still see some evidence of

frost damage from the Easter freeze. The good news is that the vines have leafed out again and new grape

clusters are present.

THE VINEYARD By: Warren Anderson, PhD, CMG

#1 The above photo is of a vine in row 1. You can see

#2 Shows one of the old vines with secondary

and lateral buds having grown out.

#3 I pruned the vines in rows 1, 2, and 3 back to pre

-Easter form. Compare picture #3 and picture #2.

#4 The picture right shows one of the sixteen seedlings we

planted the last week in March survived the frost. They have

all leafed out again. You will also see a lot of plantain and garlic

in the vine rows.

(Continued on page 7)

THE SCOOP Volume VIII 6

THE VINEYARD

#5 We need to set some traps. I suspect vole population is

too high. Dr. Phillips is pointing to a burrow entrance in the

picture left.

#6 The shears in the picture right are pointing to trunk

damage to an older vine.

We could set out some traps. Mr. Mote suggested a slap trap baited with peanut butter, invert a bucket

to set over the trap and a rock on top of the bucket. I suggest we set ½ dozen traps in the vineyard. Let’s

pool our resources. Who has a jar of peanut butter, 6 traps, 6 buckets and 6 rocks?

I found these references:

http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/rodent/voles.htm https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/PB1475.pdf https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1689.pdf

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=utk_agexcrop

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/SP307-D.pdf

(Continued from page 6)

http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/rodent/voles.htm

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/PB1475.pdf

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1689.pdf

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=utk_agexcrop

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/SP307-D.pdf

The Scoop Volume VIII Issue 6

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Boss Hawg’s BBQ Sauce for Pork Ribs Ingredients:

1 QT. catsup

2 TBS. paprika

1 TBS. garlic powder

1 TBS. onion powder

1 TBS. black pepper

1 TBS. brown sugar

Vinegar to taste

Mix all ingredients and heat to boil.

Pork Rib Preparation:

Detach membrane, salt & pepper ribs

Marinate for 30 minutes before cooking

Source: Memphis In May International Festival Cookbook, ©1989, Wimmer Brothers Printers, Memphis, TN

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Memphis In May International Festival, Inc. is renown for it’s World Champion BBQ Contest. It is always fun, and you can eat like a ”pig”. The “Ms. Piggie” Contest is always good for a laugh, with the entrants from the BBQ Team Contestants, to see who is crowned “Ms. Piggie”.

Beautiful Butterfly Garden

Lane Agri-Center

Recipe by: Linda S. Thompson

Boss Hawg’s Best BBQ Team

3rd Place Winner, Ribs

1987 Memphis in May BBQ Contest

Cape Girardeau, MO


Upcoming Events

2012 MGRC ACTIVITIES

June 9 MGRC Home Garden Tours & Picnic 9:00 a.m.

August 28 Cumberland County MG Fall Festival—Crossville, TN

October Bennett’s Nursery—Huntsville, AL (date TBA)

Detailed information for each activity will be discussed at the MGRC

Monthly Meetings prior to the activity.

Gardens Workdays:

Butterfly & Herb Gardens Workdays

CONTACT: Nancy Nelson

Orchard Workdays: CONTACT: Les Heaberlin

Vineyard Workdays:

Contact: Warren Anderson

June 12

Fruits of the Backyard Field Day—

Middle TN Research & Education Cen-

ter—1000 Main Entrance Dr., Springhill

TN

Hydrangea Symposium—West TN Ag

Research Center, Jackson TN

http://www.uaex.edu/imgc2013/

frequent_questions.html

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

June 2012

Farmers Market—Every

Tue & Fri 7:00-12:00

MG

Meeting

MG Garden

Tour/Picnic

Brown Bag

Roundtable If you did not receive

your Membership

Directory at the May

Meeting, be sure to pick

it up at the June

meeting.


Mark says… “Submit your garden-related photos for the monthly Association meeting!”

It’s seems that everyone has been enjoying the member-submitted photos included in the presentation

of the Association business meeting.

We encourage everyone to participate in this simple way to share

your gardening interests with the group.

Please attach some of your photos of gardens and gardening to an Email, and send them to Mark Murphy at:

[email protected]

Please include a brief description of the subject matter of

your photo(s).

MARK SAYS:

Nasturtium in the garden…

(Summer 2009)

MGRC BOARD MEMBERS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS

OFFICERS (BOARD MEMBERS)

President Mark Murphy

Vice President Doretha Jackson

Secretary Judy McBride

Treasurer Emily Arnold

Newsletter Editor Katherine Smith

Website Coordina-

tors

Bob Ellis; Sabine Ehlers

Event Coordinator Doretha Jackson

Parliamentarian Jack Smith

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Butterfly Garden Nancy Nelson

Farmers Market Reggie Reeves

Garden Basics Mark Murphy

Master Gardener Class Jack Smith

Media & Public Relations Gina Embry

Membership & Certification Don Richardson

Orchard Les Heaberlin

Vineyard Warren Anderson

Welcoming Marilyn Rogan

Winter School Keith Miller

Extension Master Gardener Coordinator: Janie Becker

UT/TSU Rutherford County Extension

Lane Agri-Park

315 John R. Rice Blvd.

Suite 101

Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Phone: 615-898-7710

Fax: 615-898-7999

Email: [email protected]

Editor Email: [email protected]

“The Scoop” is the official newsletter of the Master Gardeners of Ruth-

erford County, Tennessee and is published by email the first week of

the month. Those members without email and who are not able to at-

tend meetings may receive the newsletter by U.S.Postal mail. The

deadline for articles, pictures, events, etc. to be included in the news-

letter is due the last Friday of the month.

Meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at the Lane Agri

Park at 6:30 p.m., unless specified. Membership is $25 for a single or

$35 for a couple at the same address. All memberships are valid Janu-

ary through December and are pro-rated for new members only.

Please note: Master Gardener Certification requires 40 hours of training

plus 40 hours of volunteer service. Recertification requirements are 25

volunteer hour, plus 8 hours of continuing education per year. Atten-

dance at meetings counts as 1.5 hour of continuing education and 1.5

hours of administration.

Trade and brand names are used only for information. UT/TSU Exten-

sion does not guarantee nor warrant the standard of any product men-

tioned; neither does it imply approval of any product to the exclusion of

others which also may be suitable.

M a s t e r G a r d e n e r s o f R u t h e r f o r d C o u n t y

www.mastergardner-rc.org

We’re on the Web:

www.mastergardeners-rc.org


JUNE 2012 THE SCOOP

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