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Master Gardener News

August 2016

2015 Officers: In This Newsletter

CCMGV Next Meeting 1 CCMGV 2016 Activities 2 From the President 3 MGV Hours Due 4 Zika Issues 5 Portage Daily Register 6 Fair Award/Introduction 7-8

Columbia County MGV Next Meeting & Tour

Tuesday, August 23, 2016, 6:00 pm

Arlington Agriculture Research Station, Public Events Bldg.

N695 Hopkins Road, Arlington

The August 23rd meeting will host Mark Martin, Madison Audubon Society,

educating us on prairies, pollinators and a monarch butterfly tagging project.

Attendance is open to the public and we will have the opportunity to tour the stations

“weed garden”. Mark and his wife Sue have managed and expanded the Goose Pond

Sanctuary since 1979. Mark graduated from UW-Stevens Point where he majored in

Wildlife Management. Mark is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and has a long tenure

with the Wisconsin DNR.

A brief business meeting and refreshments to follow .

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Date Event Program & Chairperson Aug 23 Arlington Ag Research Jeff Breuer and Station, N695 Hopkins Rd. Kelly Tomko Arlington, WI “Prairies, Pollinators & Monarchs” with Mark Martin View ARS Weed Garden Sept 15-17 Upper Midwest MGV In WI Dells Conference (combined With WIMGA Conference Sept 27 Root’s Chocolates Jane Considine Wisconsin Dells Oct 25 Wreaths with Paul Bergum Kelly Tomko Nov 22 Pot Luck and Member Becky Gutzman Activity Dec 27 No meeting George

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Lila Waldman, President

It’s hard to believe that summer is ending soon and fall is approaching.

Columbia County Master Gardeners have had a busy summer. We had a great

field trip to Madison on June 28 to see The Flower Factory, the West Madison

Agricultural Research Station, and Epic Systems gardens. The CCMGV officers

met on July 6 to discuss the results of the member survey and future events.

We decided to have another field trip in 2017. Give any officer your

suggestions for next year’s trip.

CCMGVs, of course, are always active at the county fair. Thanks to so many

MGVs who worked at our booth and helped with judging. The booth had a

nice display on container gardening and one of our microgardens with four

planted flats, but the highlight was making wildflower (milkweed) seed bombs.

Both kids and adults enjoyed getting their hands dirty and monarch butterflies

in Columbia County will have a better future. Thanks to Bill Damm for

obtaining the seeds for us.

I had the pleasure of awarding MGV plaques and certificates to youth and

adults on the Sunday. Winners and awards were: Junior Division: Gardener’s

Choice Award – Vegetables, Kiana Wylesky – plaque and a check; Gardener’s

Choice Award – Flowers, Olivia Gramer – plaque and a check (see photo on

pg.7). Open Class: Gardener’s Choice Award, Amy Jo Cross – plaque and a

check; Honorable Mention, Bonnie Hellenbrand and Paul Bergum – certificates.

If you haven’t yet registered for the Upper Midwest MGV conference in

Wisconsin Dells, it’s not too late to do so.

Go to https://midwestmgconference.wordpress.com/ to complete your

registration. Notice that there is an option to print and mail the registration

form.

We still need members to write articles for the Portage Daily Register. Contact

George with your ideas for an article related to

gardening.

Our next meeting will be at the Arlington Ag Research

Station on August 23 after a tour of their facilities. See

more details from Kelly published in this newsletter.

Remember to review the April meeting minutes in

your June newsletter prior to the meeting.

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MGV Hours due October 1st

Please remember to turn in your volunteer hours report for October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016 to George by October 1st, 2016. If you need a new timesheet, contact George. You may receive it in “Word”, “Excel”, or print form. There are two sides to the form we need from you. Side one is a record of your hours. Side two is collecting date on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Date of Birth. Side two also needs to be signed if you want your name, address, phone and email withheld from lists that are released upon request. This must be submitted annually, so please be sure to complete both sides of the form. REMINDERS:

Annual Recertification requires a minimum of 24 hours of volunteer service and 10 hours of continuing education from October 1 through September 30.

Please record your hours in the proper column. Youth Education – volunteer hours dedicated to youth education

working with 4-H members to plan and plant Fair Planters at Link’s Nursery

working with the micro-farm at various elementary schools in the county

teaching high school students at various parks during planting clean-up days

include your time to prep for the program and travel time to the program Community Education – hours dedicated to adult/community education

teaching sessions at “Let’s get Green and Growing”

teaching sessions at MGV meetings, Senior Centers, or Libraries

teaching sessions at Do-it Center – “Ladies night out”

hours spent at the Columbia County Fair booth

include your time to prep for the program and travel time to the program

Support Services – hours dedicated to community service projects

community gardening/beautification projects at parks and libraries

MGV plant sale

committee work and time spent planning “Let’s Get Green and Growing”

assisting others at “Let’s Get Green and Growing”

MGV officer meetings and committees

if in doubt call or email George with questions Continuing Education – 10 hours annually

while gardening books, unapproved television programs, the internet and self guided garden tours are encouraged, they DO NOT QUALIFY for continuing education recertification hours. The quality of this information is variable and difficult to evaluate.

again, call or email George with questions.

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The Report

First discovered in Africa in the 1940’s, the Zika situation is an interesting topic, however, the virus is only half of the story. Only two mosquito species are capable of transmitting the virus to humans: the Asian Tiger Mosquito and the Yellow Fever Mosquito. The good news…..neither of these species are native to our area. We will certainly see cases of the Zika virus, but this will more likely be linked to individuals that have traveled to areas with active infestations. Because the virus is linked to a number of serious heath issues, it can pose significant health risks, especially with pregnant women. With as many as 60 different mosquito species in the state, there are other mosquito-borne diseases that are a threat to our area. One example is West Nile Virus which is transmitted by the Northern House Mosquito. While cases can vary from year to year, historically we’ve had issues and human deaths have occurred in the past. There are several approaches to keeping yourself and your family safe.

Reduce or eliminate standing water (i.e.; toys in a sandbox, old tires, gutters, bird baths) Use EPA approved repellents such as DEET or Picaridin Wearing long sleeves while working outdoors Avoid activities at dawn/dusk Simply staying indoors

UW-Madison researchers have taken a lead in the role in addressing the Zika virus. They are now screening mosquitos for their ability to carry Zika and infect humans and to use a harmless bacterium to block transmission of the virus. They are also studying the consequences linked to pregnancy.

Excerpts from an article by PJ Liesch, UW Extension Entomologist

Tiger Mosquito

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Portage Daily Register CC MGV Schedule

Due Date Publish Author Topic 8-8 8-13 Lila Waldman Composting 8-22 8-27 9-5 9-10 9-19 9-24 10-3 10-8 10-17 10-22 10-31 11-5 11-14 11-19 11-28 12-3 12-12 12-17 12-26 12-31

**Remember , time spent on this “Community Education” volunteer time counts towards your 24 hours needed for the year

Here are some possible topics to choose yet:

Training and pruning Apple (Fruit) Trees

Indoor houseplant care in winter Soil fertility Choosing a growing media Feeding vegetables and flowers Proper watering IPM and pesticide use Fertilizing your lawn Pruning lilacs and summer flowering

shrubs Mowing your lawn Watering your lawn Waging war with moles Household composting Using worms to compost –

vermiculture Caring for a strawberry bed

Growing blueberries Growing Aronia berries CSA’s Amish Vegetable Auction in Dalton Crabgrass Control Lawn weed Control – Dandelion Container Gardening Growing Hops Cleaning up planting beds House Plants County Fair-flower and vegetable

building Benefits of Spiders Tomatoes – early blight, late blight,

verticillium wilt Growing Greens Growing Raspberries EAB—Protecting your ash trees

HELP!

We need more writers for these articles—

please contact George ASAP to get your name on the list

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My name is Jennifer Evans and I am excited to

begin this new journey with UW-Extension! I am

proud to say that I am also a Master Gardener, so I

feel that we already have a lot in common!

I will be the new Program Assistant for Agriculture, 4-H and Resource

Development and will have a variety of responsibilities and I will be here

to assist in any way that I can.

I have over 20 years experience in office support and business manage-

ment, accounting, sales, marketing and customer service.

My husband and 3 children reside in the Cambria area . When my hus-

band isn’t farming, we enjoy camping, sports and spending time togeth-

er. I enjoy gardening, reading, hunting and cooking.

Pictured from left to right are Grandmother Annette Manthey, Olivia

Gramer (winner of the MGV Gardeners Choice Award for Flower in the

Junior Fair Division), mom Rebecca Gramer. Both Annette and Rebecca

are members of the Columbia County Master Gardener Volunteers.

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