RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

All events will be held at Rutherford County Extension/Lane Agri-Park 315 John R. Rice Blvd. Murfreesboro TN 37129 unless otherwise noted.

PH: 615-898-7710 Visit our website for more information http://rutherford.tennessee.edu

TO REGISTER FOR EVENTS AND CLASSES CALL 615-898-7710

March 2014

4-H Yard Sale &

Pancake Breakfast

Pancake Breakfast 7 – 9:30am

4-H Staffers & Volunteers will be preparing a delicious pancake breakfast for you to enjoy while

you shop our yard sale & vendors! $5 a plate

Includes pancakes, meat & drink

March 15th 7am-1pm

Community Center

Yard Sale Donations Needed!

Let us help with your spring cleaning!

If you have gently used, non-clothing items to donate, we will be accepting

donations March 13 & 14 at the Community Center.

Please help support 4-H by donating items!

Vendors Wanted $25 for inside 10x10 spaces

Businesses, crafters and vendors

are welcome.

Contact Barbara Davenport at

bdavenp4@utk.edu or

Walter Dirl at wdirl@utk.edu for

application or more information.

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

For additional infor-

these or other related

topics, contact the Ex-

tension office at 898-

7710 from 8:00 a.m.-

Fri.

You can email Mitch-

March 2014, Page 2

Living Well With

Chronic Conditions

If you or someone you care for has heart

disease, arthritis, COPD, diabetes, depression, or

any other chronic disease, this free 6 week

workshop can help you take charge of your life

and learn to self-manage your disease more

effectively.

There is NO cost to attend and is open to anyone

with chronic condition and their family members.

Class is limited to 20 individuals.

Dates: 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20 and 5/27

2:00pm to 4:00pm

Call 615-898-7710 to register

In this fun and interactive workshop you

will learn: Skills to manage pain, fatigue, depression and

frustration.

Relaxation techniques

Evaluation of new treatments

Wise use of medication

How to communicate more effectively with

health care providers

Healthy eating tips

Setting reachable goals

Call today—spaces are limited

Brown Bag (Lunch & Learn)

11:30 am in Auditorium Free! No registration

March 27 11:30—12:20 Spring Lawn Mower Tune-Up

It may still be cold, but the grass will be knee high before you know it. Enjoy

your lunch while you learn to get your lawn mower and garden tools ready to roll. No pre-registration required, but you must furnish your own lunch.

FREE! 6 week

workshop to

help you learn

to enjoy life

m ore wh i l e

living with a

chronic disease

Farm Pond Management Tuesday March 11 6:00PM

No cost, No registration

Creig Kimbro, UT Pond and Fisheries Specialist will be here to answer your questions about ponds, including controlling weed & algae, stopping leaks, and stocking. This session will give anyone wanting to know more about pond management the opportunity to learn from one of the best in the area. Meeting will be in Auditorium.

Our website is changing! Our brand new & improved website

will be on-line March 15th.

Until then—we are NOT updating the old site. Thanks for your patience

while we go thru this process to better serve our community.

http://rutherford.tennessee.edu

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS March 2014, Page 3

Healthy Vegetable Gardens

Even if you missed the first session, you can still attend one or all of the remaining sessions!

This FREE course will emphasize the basic necessities for growing a garden. Sessions are scheduled to follow the garden season to teach you WHAT you need to know WHEN you need to know it! Each session will start at 9am and should be over by noon. Call 898-7710 to register for one or all classes.

Session 2 March 29

Cool Season Veggies

Hybrids & Heirlooms

Session 3 April 19

Warm Season Crops

Irrigation & Mulches

Session 4 June 14

Managing pests & diseases

What to plant next

Each will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end by noon

Call 615-898-7710 to reserve your spot!

If you have questions about the course, call or

email: Janie Becker (jbecker8@utk.edu) or

Mitchell Mote (mmote1@utk.edu).

Hands on activities! Do your own dissections Care for your own sheep

Field trip to the ZOO! Visit Tennessee State University science lab and conduct

science experiments. Study embryology, parasitology and more! For more information contact mshirle1@utk.edu

ATTENTION!! Students 7th—9th grade who are considering Animal Science and Pre-Vet pathways in high school.

March 31—April 4th 9am—3:30pm Cost $75.00

Animal Science

Day Camp

Beginners Bee Keeping

Thursday 3/20 6:30—9pm

Friday, 3/21 6:30—9pm

Saturday, 3/22 9am-12noon

Community Center

Rutherford County Bee Keepers Association will be holding a 3 part Beginners Bee Keeping class. Cost of the course is $20 for RCBA members

$30 for non-members Deadline to Register March 10

Payment is due by March 20 Call Keith or Robbin Elrod @615-274-3725 to register

or for more information.

PLANT SWAP

April 26

Master Gardeners’ will hold their annual plant

swap April 26th at the Community Center .

Bring a plant—take a plant to this FREE event.

If you are just getting started in gardening &

don’t have plants to share, bring a canned

vegetable for the food bank to swap for plants

Plant Swap—Silent Auction—Garden Demos

Start dividing your plants to share now!

Check their website: mastergardeners-rc.org

for more information

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS March 2014, Page 4

UT-TSU EXTENSION—RUTHERFORD COUNTY @RUTHERFORDCOEXT

2014 Season Starts May 9th! Get ready to enjoy the seasons freshest, LOCALLY GROWN

produce and food items at Rutherford County's ONLY “home-grown” farmers’ market !

Farmers’ Market

Spring Vendor Meeting

April 14th 8am—4pm Get help to “Grow” your market business -

Farm Business Planning

Safe & Effective Pesticide use

Enhancing the Safety of Locally Grown Produce

2014 RCFM Updates

WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program Training

We will be drawing for season booth holders and

have updates on more Market programs.

NO COST to attend, but registration is required by

April 10th (lunch provided)

Call Janie Becker at 615-898-7710 or email her at

jbecker8@utk.edu for more information

Adventures in Agriculture April 12

10am—2pm

Fun for all ages.

Animals Trolley Rides Horse Events

Games Garden Demos

Activities

From the farm to you….

Lane Agri-Park

Commercial Fruit & Vegetable

Grower Workshop

March 13 3-6PM

Community Center

~New Vegetable crop offerings

~ Insect Awareness and Control

~ Disease Control for Small Scale Producers

~ Bring your questions!

FREE workshop—but you must register!

Call 615-898-7710

or email Janie Becker jbecker8@utk.edu

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS March 2014, Page 5

Early Spring Lawn, Garden and Landscape Tips

by: Mitchell Mote, Extension Agent

Lawns:

Preemergent herbicides for the prevention of crabgrass, goosegrass,

and other summer annual weeds should be applied to turfgrass areas

prior to weed seed germination. Crabgrass will likely be the first to

begin germination, starting around mid-March most years, but an

extended early warm-up could speed the process up. To improve your

odds of being ahead of crabgrass germination, strive to have your preemergent down and activated by

the second week of March at the latest. All preemergent herbicides require that some volume of water

(often ½ inch), be applied after application within a fairly short time in order to be effective. Rainfall

or irrigation both work, the key is to get the water on it in time. Directions are on the product label.

Follow them! A second application several weeks later (time specified on the product label) will offer

the best season long summer annual control.

Cool season lawns (tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, etc.) will often respond favorably to an application

of nitrogen in early March and again in early April. If using a fertilizer with a highly water soluble form

of nitrogen, shoot for applying about ½ lb. of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. of turf area. The percentage of

nitrogen in the fertilizer will determine how much fertilizer is needed to supply the desired quantity of

nitrogen. If the fertilizer you use contains mostly a slow release form of nitrogen, you can make a

single application at the rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. in March and skip the April

application. We don’t recommend applying nitrogen to cool season turfgrass past the middle of April to

help minimize conditions favoring disease development. We recommend the bulk of fertilizer be applied

to cool season turf in Sept., Oct., and Nov. To figure how much of a particular fertilizer is needed to

supply a desired quantity of nutrient, use this formula:

what you want (lbs. of nutrient per 1000) = lbs. of fertilizer What you got (% of nutrient in fertilizer) to apply/1000 sq.ft. Example using 33-0-0 fertilizer:

0.5 lbs. N = 1.5 lbs. 33-0-0 per 1000 sq. ft. 0.33 (%N)

Warm season lawns (bermudagrass and Zoysia grass) won’t respond to nitrogen until they begin to

break dormancy (often by mid-April), so there’s usually no need to apply nitrogen before April 15. Shoot

for applying 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. Subsequent applications could be made around June 1,

July 15, and Sept.1 (depending on availability of moisture.)

To know how much if any phosphorous and potassium should be applied to turf, a soil test should be

performed.

Continued on Page 6 It’s time to get your soil tested.

Call 615-898-7710 to find out how!

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS March 2014, Page 6

Programs in agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, and resource development. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture and county governments cooperating

UT Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment

Winter annual broadleaf weeds (chickweed, henbit, bittercress, etc.) should be controlled

before they begin to bloom heavily and produce seeds. A wide variety of products will provide

effective levels of control if applied at the correct rate before the weeds become overly mature.

The greater the level of weed maturity, the lower the level of control will generally be.

Follow label directions! Don’t spray if the wind is blowing more than 5 mph.

Vegetable Gardens:

Many cool season vegetables can be planted now. Refer to SP291-O Guide to Spring Planted, Cool

Season Vegetables available at:

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/SP291-O.pdf

There’s still time to build beds or develop a piece of ground for growing warm season vegetables

during the late spring through summer period.

Several publications that may be helpful to you can be found at the UT Extension publications

page located at: https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Pages/default.aspx

Now is a good time to start seeds indoors for desired warm season vegetables such as tomatoes.

Growing your own transplants is one way to insure you have the desired varieties available when

it’s time to set them in the garden (assuming you planted seeds of the varieties you want.)

Landscapes:

If you weed your plant beds and get them clean and weed free, the use of preemergent herbicides

can minimize the populations of summer annual weeds that appear later. Many brands are available.

The key to success is to follow label directions.

Woody landscape plants and trees can be protected from overwintering scales, mites, aphids, and

other overwintering critters by applying dormant oil between now and bud break. Thorough

coverage of the plant is essential for good control when using oil.

Plants can be protected from critters such as lace bugs, Asian Wooly Hackberry Aphids

(remember the mess from them last year) and others by applying a drench of a product containing

imidacloprid when the plants begin to show signs of growth this spring.

The window for planting summer blooming bulbs is opening now.

A fresh layer of mulch can spruce up the looks of beds, just don’t get carried away! A total depth

of 4 inches is plenty

It’s a good time to prune summer blooming shrubs such as crape myrtle as well as trees in the

landscape while they’re still dormant. But don’t delay too long as they’ll wake up soon.

Spring Tips, Continued from Page 5