September: Learn about Bulbs, Compost and Getting More Plants

The September programs are now taking registrations. The Fall Into Gardening event is free but register now for the other programs.

Bulbs-Fall Planting program: Find out about choosing, planting and caring for spring flowering bulbs. Learn how to force bulbs to flower during the dreary winter days. More about this interesting topic at "Trick Bulbs Now for Winter Treats." $10 - You'll think it's a bargain when beautiful blooms brighten your windowsill on a gray January day.

"Composting" is a valuable resource and money saver. Learn which of the variety of methods you can use at your house. $10 Sign up now and start composting this month.

Perennials at MG Nancy Miller's house (Laurie Collins)

"Dig, Divide & Multiply Perennials" will help you figure out when and how to divide your perennials to keep them healthy - and to share with others, too! $10 is a bargain for all the money you'll save multiplying your plants.

All course and events are held at the Agriculture Heritage Center, 181 Franklin Farm Road, Chambersburg, unless noted.

Our programs are growing in popularity and now require pre-registration. Call 717-263-9226 for more information and to register. We now accept credit cards to make phone registration easier.

Snip Your Herbs: Use or Save for Winter

by Carol Kagan, Master Gardener



My Herb Garden July 2014

Another nice morning to work in the garden although at 7:30 am it was already a bit muggy.

Some C'munks in the Back Yard

Dale is alternating between munching on bird seed and raisins and chasing some other chipmunk around and out of the garden. I'm not quick enough with the camera to catch them running in and out of the petunias, daisies and herbs.

There seems to be a few new c'munks this year, hanging out in the back yard. Maybe they're scooting around front to munch on birdseed. We'll have to throw some out back, too.

 

The weather has been kind to the plants in my yard, providing just enough rain and warm weather. The herb bed, moved this year from the back raised bed due to black walnut contamination, is thriving.

Garden Sage

 The garden sage needed pruning so I took the opportunity to document what has become known as Maria's Drying Technique (after MG Maria G.). This is in preparation for the October 18 MG Workshop: Herbs 103: Harvesting, Preserving and Overwintering Herbs. *

Here's my first try at documenting this. The big picture is that the herbs, after washing and drying thoroughly, are wrapped in a paper towel and dried in the crisper or butter compartment of your refrigerator. This won't work with all that basil. Make pesto and freeze it.

After 2-3 weeks, the dried herbs can be removed and stored. The herbs dried with this method retain their color and do not turn that funky gray-brown like many of the air dried herbs.

Wash, dry thoroughly (Tip: Use a salad spinner to get most of the water off.), and carefully remove leaves from the stems. Place in a paper towel and fold up to a triangle. Fold the flaps in toward the center.

Fold the top triangle down past the bottom fold. Wrap the flap around to the back and tuck it in to form an envelope.

Close-up of the folded envelope

* Penn State Master Gardeners, Franklin County hold workshops all year. To register for a workshop, to get on the e-mailing or snail-mailing for information about workshops and events, call 717- 263-9226.

 

Here's a few of the upcoming workshops held at the Franklin County Ag Center, 181 Franklin Farm Rd. unless noted otherwise.

Sat, July 12:  Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head: 9-11 -Learn how to use rain barrels to store and use water in your garden. Make a rain barrel ($40) or just sit-in ($10) Deadline to register to make a rain barrel is July

Sat, August 2:  Succulents: 9-11 Learn how to grow and propagate these beautiful and nearly indestructible plants

Fun Events include

Sat, Aug 23: Tomato Tasting Day: 10-2pm Day change by popular demand!    Moved to Saturday- Open to the public. Free parking. Save the Date. Do blind taste tests of over 20 tomato varieties. Taste and vote in the Salsa Contest. See the winners of the ugliest tomato and the biggest tomato contest. Pick up some great tomato recipes. See and feed the ducks in the stream. Enjoy talking with Master Gardeners.

Sat, July 26 Summer Garden Experience: 9-1 pm -Tour the center, do tomato tasting which includes paste tomatoes this year, enjoy seminars; Speaker-Stephanie Cohen, Perennial Diva $10/carload– Located at 1446 Auction Rd Manheim, PA 17545



Upcoming Master Gardener Workshops and Events

by Carol Kagan, Master Gardener

We've pruned little plants at the Bonsai program and big ones at the pruning workshop. We've sowed our winter seeds and built indoor seed starting set-ups. We've found out how to lure and keep both birds and bees. Now what?

Master Gardener Workshops & Events                    March, April & May

These are held at the Agriculture Center, 181 Franklin Farm Road, Chambersburg. For more information, to register, or to be added to the e-mail event schedule list, please call 717-263-9226.

Sat, March 15- Backyard Fruits-Small Fruits & Brambles: 9-11 am
 

Thu, March 20—Deadline to order strawberry plants to support 4-H Gardening Club- call the office -$7 for a bundle of 25
 

 

 

Thu, March 27 - First meeting of 4-H Gardening Club: 6:30 pm - Youths 8-18 welcome w/parents
 

Sat, March 29- Miniature Landscaping (Fairy Gardens) Make & Take Workshop: 9 -11 am - all materials included $50 - Limited number
 

Tue, April 8 - Repeat of March 29 Workshop: 6:30-8:30 pm - Limited number

Thu, April 3- Intro to Growing Vegetables  (Growing Vegetables series): 6:30 - 8:30 pm
 

Weds-Thurs Apr 9 & 10: Strawberry plant pickup
 

Thu, April 24- Gardening w/Fewer Pesticides: 6:30- 8:30 pm
 

Sat, April 26- Starting an Herb Garden (#1 Herb Series): 9 -Noon
 

Sat, April 26- Native Woodland Plants: 1-3 pm (off-site in Blue Ridge Summit)
 

Thu, May 1- All About Tomatoes (Growing Vegetables series): 6:30-8:30 pm
 

Sat, May 3- Container Gardening-Kid friendly!  (Good Garden Practices Series): 9-11 am
 

Fri, May 9- Vegetable Plant Sale: 10 am - 2 pm

 

Sat, May 10- Backyard Water Features: 9-11 am
 

Sat, May 17- Plant Sale: 9 am- 1 pm

 

Visit our Blog ( franklincountymgs.blogspot.com )

Report on Stop and Smell the Roses-Roses 101

It was still chilly on April 6 and everyone seated around the plastic drop cloth on the Nancy Redington’s basement floor was looking down. Spread out were a variety of tools used in caring for roses. Redington, Master Gardener and rose expert, talked about hand saws, gloves, weeders, and the all-important bypass pruners as part of the Master Gardeners of Penn State Extension, Franklin County Roses 101 workshop.





Wielding those all-important pruners



President Ronald Reagan signed a resolution into law on October 7, 1986 naming the rose as the “national floral emblem” of the United States. Redington said one of her dream goals is to “plant a rose bush next to the American flag at libraries” and other public buildings in our area.

Red rose in full bloom Photo by Peggy Greb, courtesy
USDA Agricultural Research Service Image Gallery

According to Eric Cech in an Ezine Article, it's estimated that 150 million plants are purchased annually by gardeners worldwide every year and roses dominate the world's cut flower market.

“The first thing I planted …was a rose,” said Rebecca Keller, Chambersburg, who moved to the area recently.

Sylvia Kremp, Chambersburg, asked “What is the difference between the varieties of roses?” Redington and son Jim talked about the types such as old garden, English roses, miniature, hybrid teas, mini-flora, shrub, and grandiflora roses.


Jim Redington shows the size of a mini-floral rose

Once selected and purchased, however, gardeners need to know how to plant and care for their roses. Good pruning practices are an important part of rose maintenance.

“I have a Joseph’s Coat rose,” said Judy Scriptunas, Chambersburg, noting that she is interested in knowing more about how to care for it.



Nancy demonstrates correct pruning method

Redington demonstrated correct pruning methods citing her mantra - “prune the dead, diseased, dying and dinky.” Everyone got to practice on rose canes cut from her garden.



Nancy Redington prunes a tree rose while son Jim watches

Everyone bundled up, grabbed pruners and gloves and headed out into Redington’s yard. She demonstrated how to prune a tree rose, calling out why she chose each cut – “dead,” “dinky,” “dead,” “dying.” 

Nancy and Starbuck prune a miniature rose

She moved out into the yard and severely pruned a miniature rose bush. Most of those crowded around were amazed at how much she pruned out. “Come back in June and you’ll see plenty of roses," she said. "Trust me.” 


Dawn Stinson and LuAnn Munson prune a hybrid tea rose

As the hands-on workshop neared the end, participants were invited to choose a rose bush in her yard and begin practicing with those all-important pruners.

Learn more about roses



Penn State Extension: Roses- The Queen of the Flowers
Penn State Extension: Rose Disease
American Rose Society
Rogers Roses: Roger Phillips Rose ID Site (58,000 pictures)
Lilly's Rose Garden: Fun Facts About Roses

A Symphony of Daffodils

April 24–25, The Chambersburg Garden Club and Tuscarora Daffodil Group will present the 74th Annual Standard Flower Show and the 38th PA State Daffodil Show. The Theme is “Symphony of Daffodils”.

Times for the Show: Saturday April 24, 2010 –1:30 to 7 pm, Sunday April 25, 2010 from 12 noon to 4 pm. Place: First Lutheran Church, 43 West Washington St., Chambersburg. Open to the public, free admission.

Franklin County Master Gardeners will have an educational display highlighting our public outreach efforts on pollinators.

Dr. Holly Scaggins, the Virginia Tech contingent from the Garden Professor's blog, recently posted some interesting facts about our favorite Narcissus, sharing her research into the reasons why daffodils are such bad neighbors when it comes to sharing space in a floral arrangement:

So is there really an effect and if so, what makes daffodil sap deleterious to the other flowers in the vase? The study “Effects of Daffodil Flowers on the Water Relations and Vase Life of Roses and Tulips” by W.G. van Doorn appeared in the Journal of Horticulture Science. Dr.van Doorn found the mucilage (sap) was indeed to blame, with just one daff shortening the vase life of both the tulips and roses by almost half. But what component?

He split out the alkaloid fraction and the sugar fraction of the sap, and then added them as individual components to the vase water. He drew different conclusions as to the cause: the research indicated that the effect in roses is mainly due to the sugar and polysaccharide fraction of the mucilage stimulating bacterial growth. This clogged the rose’s vascular system resulting in bent neck. You’ve seen this before – the bud, yet to open, flops over, never to recover.

These same sugars didn’t impact the tulips negatively but the alkaloids sure did. Even touching the sap to the tulip foliage produced a yellow spot. He was not able to distinguish which of the six alkaloids detected were responsible, but at least narrowed down the cause.

Oh, and the reason they are left alone by squirrels, deer, and such:

There is such a thing as “daffodil picker’s rash” which has been reported in the journal of Contact Dermatitis (Julian and Bowers, 1997). The authors attribute this rash to the “crystals of calcium oxalate in the sap, in conjunction with alkaloids, [which] act as an irritant, and also cause the characteristic sores.”  Said calcium oxalate crystals are found throughout the daffodil, in the bulb, stem, sap, flowers, etc. Micrographs show that these crystals are needle-sharp, and apparently very painful. This is why deer and bunnies will not eat your daffs.

I plan to be a little more careful when I pick them in the future.

Speaking of the Garden Professors - lookit who got a gold star for guessing last week's diagnosis problem correctly. 

Master Gardener Banquet

Don't forget to sign up for the Master Gardener Banquet scheduled for Saturday, March 20, 2010 at the Ag Heritage Building. We need confirmation of your attendance by the end of this week (Friday, March 12) to send a head count to the caterer. Tickets are $20.00 apiece.

Menu

Hors d'oeuvres
Tossed Salad
Roast Pork Loin with Stuffing
Chicken Marsala
Red Skin Potatoes with Parsley
Peas and Baby Carrots
Coffee, Tea, Iced Tea
Assorted Cakes and Pies

Contact Nicole at the office to sign up at 263-9226.