Annual 4-H Plant Sale

Flyers for the 2013 4-H plant sale are ready for distribution! This annual fundraiser includes plants for nearly every landscape, offering hardy and productive varieties of berries, muscadines, and figs, and flowering shrubs and perennials for sun and for shade, including a shrub for semi-shade, the fragrant Daphne relative Edgeworthia chrysantha that flowers on bare stems in winter.

As in the past, plants are ordered through the Cobb County Cooperative Extension office, and the prepaid orders are picked up at Jim Miller Park on one day only; this year that day is Saturday, March 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For those whose gardens are full but who would like to support 4-H, donations are also very much appreciated.

For more information about the plants, including pricing and specific varieties available, pick up a copy of the 4-H Plant Sale flyer-and-order-form at the Cobb County Cooperative Extension office or download one from our website. To download, go to the homepage, then select News & Events from the left sidebar,  then click on the clover below the big, green headline.

Anyone interested in learning more about growing berries, figs, and muscadines at home is invited to attend a presentation on Monday, March 4, from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the Cobb Water System Training lab. County Agriculture Agent Neil Tarver will present a free seminar on the growing and care of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, figs, and grapes. To register for the seminar, call 770-528-4070, or check the appropriate box on the 4-H Plant Sale flyer-and-order-form.

Upcoming Events

* note change to location for Feb. 8 Mushrooms talk
 
Propagating Perennials
Friday, Jan. 11, Noon to 1:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. Bring your lunch and enjoy the presentation! Presented by Cobb County Master Gardener Electa Keil, at the County Water Lab at 660 S. Cobb Drive (the smaller brick building at the back of the property), as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. Electa will show us how to grow from seed and from both soft and hard wood cuttings.

The Art of Pruning
Monday, Jan. 14, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Presented by Cobb County Master Gardener Pam Bohlander, at East Cobb Regional Library, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County.

Green Industry Update
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 8:30 a.m. (registration until 9 a.m.) to noon.
Recertification credits: 21/23/24/27 = 3 hours; ISA = 3 hours; Private = 2 hours. $10 per person at the door; Pre-register with emily.harper@cobbcounty.org or by calling 770-528-4070.
Weed ID for Weed Control: Winter Weeds, with Neil Tarver, Cobb County ANR Agent; Future Direction for Georgia Pesticides Division, with Eric Olsen, Agricultural Compliance Specialist; Lawn Herbicide Effects on Tree Roots, with Paul Pugliese, Bartow County ANR Agent.

Mushrooms
Friday, Feb. 8, Noon to 1:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. Bring your lunch and enjoy the presentation! Presented by president of the Mushroom Club of Georgia, Cornelia Cho, at the Cobb County Cooperative Extension 2nd-floor classroom, as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. Cornelia will give us a new understanding of mushrooms including information about their medicinal uses and how they help us take care of the environment.

My Favorite Winter Plants
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Presented by Cobb County Master Gardener Terry Barton, at West Cobb Regional Library on Dennis Kemp Lane in Kennesaw, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County.

It's a New Year in the Yard, too: Louise's January Tips

Cobb County Cooperative Extension staff member Louise Weyer has published this month's set of tips for keeping your lawn and landscape in good order. As the calendar year begins and as winter finally brings us some more sustained cold weather, having a list at hand of tasks that need to be completed can help get the yard off to a good start, so that it shines through the rest of the year.

The tips for Trees and Shrubs includes this information:

Trees and Shrubs

Ø  Protect tender plants (camellias, gardenias) if night temperatures go below 20 degrees.  Use burlap, weed barrier fabric or cotton sheets.

Ø  Protect ornamental plants in containers during subfreezing weather.  See “Winter Protection of Ornamental Plants.”

Ø  Read “Winter Care of Roses.”

Ø  Plant winter-blooming shrubs like winter daphne or winter honeysuckle. Prepare the planting beds by tilling in soil amendments.  Examine the roots at the nursery.  Healthy roots are firm, white or cream color.

Ø  Plant bare-root, balled and burlap or container grown roses through February. Prepare bed for bare-root roses:  dig an area 4 ft. wide by 12 in. deep for each plant, adding plenty of soil conditioner.

Ø  Plant trees and other shrubs. Be sure to remove synthetic burlap from ball and burlap plants.  It does not decompose.  Fertilize fall planted shrubs in the spring.

Ø  Transplant trees and shrubs.

Ø  Keep new plantings well watered.

Ø  Refresh mulch, 3 inches deep, around trees and shrubs.  Keep mulch away from trunks. If planting had a disease problem, remove old mulch to help prevent disease in future.

Ø  Cut down and remove trees or shrubs attacked by Asian ambrosia or pine bark beetles.

Ø  Prune out dead, damaged or diseased material.

Ø  Prune hardwood trees.  DO NOT TOP TREES.

Ø   Major pruning of broadleaf evergreens should be delayed until March.

Ø  Prune abelia, butterfly bush, chaste tree, crape myrtle, pee gee hydrangea, and St. Johnswort.

Ø  Pick bagworms from evergreen shrubs.

Ø  Inspect trees and shrubs for scale.  Spray with dormant oil now and in early Spring.

The remainder of the list for Trees and Shrubs includes disease and pest information for some specific landscape plants and links to websites for a homeowner tree survey published by the Georgia Forestry Commission, to the UGA publication "Planting and Taking Care of Trees During a Drought," and to the publication "Planting Under Trees."

Louise also lists tips for taking care of Annuals and Perennials (example: Prune most ornamental grasses to a height of 12 to 24 inches.), for Turf (example: Do not fertilize Bermuda, centipede, or Zoysia.), for Fruit (example: Prune apple, fig, pear, plum, and persimmon trees and grape vines late January and into February.), and Vegetables (example: See "Vegetable Gardening in Georgia" for varieties, planting dates, etc.).

There is more, of course, ranging from ways to manage water use in the landscape, to problem plants and pesticide disposal, to mulch and compost, and more.

For the Louise's full list, go to the Cobb County Cooperative Extension home page, select the link to Agriculture and Natural Resources, then select the link at the top of that page to the Cobb County Extension Publications and Articles. Louise's Tips for January are linked at the top left corner of the table of publications.

Corn Growers Shortcourse in Tifton

The Corn Shortcourse for 2013 is scheduled for Tuesday, January 15 at the RDC Conference Center in Tifton.

Due to good corn prices, interest in the program is expected to run high. This year's panel of three National Corn Grower Winners (from Georgia, Texas, and Missouri) is also expected to generate some strong interest.

The agenda includes presentations on Preventing Yield Losses to Diseases and Nematodes, results of 2012 Fertility Studies, Weed Control Systems, Insect Control Methods, Strategies to Manage Nitrogen, Outlook and Market Update for 2013, Strategies for Maintaining Top Yield Potential, and Knowing Your Corn's Growth and Development - A Better Way to Manage.

The day will also include a Georgia Corn Growers Association Business Meeting, refreshment break, lunch, door prizes, and trade exhibits.

For additional information, contact your local Cooperative Extension office (see righthand sidebar) or call the conference office at 229-386-3416.

Registration can be through the mail (Send your contact information and a check for the $5 registration fee to Corn Short Course, Tifton Campus Conference Center, 2360 Rainwater Road, Tifton, GA, 31793-5766) or through the online site at this link.

Registration fee at the door on the day of the event is $10.

Indoor Citrus for Gardeners Who Can't Wait for Spring

Key Lime flowers, in December.               Photo/Amy Whitney

For gardeners willing to risk potential scratches from long thorns, dwarf citrus trees grown in containers can be very rewarding. When the little trees are well-cared for, they tend to produce an abundance of sweet-smelling flowers that will, if pollinated, result in a lot of healthful, delicious fruit.

Illinois Cooperative Extension Education Specialist Sandra Mason provides a list of consistent indoor producers in the article "Add a tropical flair to your home with citrus": "Ones that bloom and fruit reliably indoors include Meyer lemon, Ponderosa lemon, Otaheite orange, Persian lime, calamondin orange and kumquats."

Although these all will bloom and fruit when grown outdoors year-round in warmer regions of the country, North Georgia is still a little too cold for most of these to survive the winter outside. Like in Illinois, gardeners in North Georgia who are tending citrus need to keep the trees indoors during the colder months.

Mason recommends keeping citrus outdoors in summer, and then moving the plants indoors when the temperatures outside get below 50 degrees F.  The plants will need to be placed near the sunniest windows, according to Mason, and humidity in their space will need to be kept fairly high.

The Mississippi State University publication "Growing Citrus in Containers in Mississippi" echoes Mason's recommendations and adds specific information on the best growing medium and fertilizers for citrus in containers.

For the growing medium, the MSU publication explains that "A good mixture is four to five parts ground pine bark and one part sand." Plants should be watered when moisture can no longer be detected "below the top inch or two of soil," and a slow-release fertilizer that contains the essential micronutrients iron, manganese, and zinc is recommended.

The MSU publication closes with this statement: "Mississippi gardeners can produce a limited amount of high quality citrus products by growing them in containers anywhere in the state. There are some challenges to this type of production, but the effort is worthwhile."

Ditto, for gardeners in Georgia!

Upcoming Events

Propagating Perennials
Friday, Jan. 11, Noon to 1:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. Bring your lunch and enjoy the presentation! Presented by Cobb County Master Gardener Electa Keil, at the County Water Lab at 660 S. Cobb Drive (the smaller brick building at the back of the property), as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. Electa will show us how to grow from seed and from both soft and hard wood cuttings.

The Art of Pruning
Monday, Jan. 14, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Presented by Cobb County Master Gardener Pam Bohlander, at East Cobb Regional Library, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of Cobb County Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County.

A Soil Test Now Can Save Some Pain Later

When a lawn or garden is doing less well than we are hoping for, in spite of a lot of time and  money spent on planting, fertilizing, and watering, an answer to the question of "what's wrong?" can sometimes be found in the results of a soil test.

To encourage healthy plants, getting the soil "right" is incredibly important. A routine soil test can help by identifying the pH and the balance of major nutrients of the soil in question. In general, soils in Cobb County tend to be more acidic than most turfgrass and garden plants will do well in, but it is actually possible to apply so much limestone to the soil that the pH is raised too high.

When the pH is beyond the most optimal range (which varies, depending on the kinds of plants being grown), the plants are less able to use the nutrients that may have been added to the soil, in either fertilizer or composts.

The value of a soil test, such as one done at the soils lab at UGA, is that it will not only identify the soil's pH and nutrient levels, but it also will provide a recommendation for how much limestone (or not) and specific fertilizers should be applied to benefit the desired plants.

Adjusting a soil's pH is a long-term project. Applications of limestone for raising the pH, or sulfur for lowering the pH, won't make a big difference right away; it takes months to work. If a soil test done now finds that the pH is too low for the desired plants (Bermudagrass, for example), then applying limestone now, or very soon, will give it more time to work ahead of the growing season.

The UGA publication Soil Testing for Home Lawns, Gardens, and Wildlife Food Plots provides instructions for taking soil samples, including that about 2 cups of soil should be brought to the local Cooperative Extension office for sending to UGA. Currently in Cobb County, the routine soil test costs $8, as of Jan. 2016, and it can take seven-to-ten days to get the results, which can be returned via either email or U.S. Postal Service.

Winter Vegetable Gardens Need Water

The fall and winter vegetable garden is relatively a lot less work than the summer garden, but the plants still need to be watered and fertilized in order to be most productive.

According to the University of Georgia publication "Home Garden Broccoli,"

"Broccoli requires proper irrigation to achieve optimum growth. Water plants daily for the first week to get the crop established. Continue to irrigate broccoli every four to five days, as needed, to keep the plants healthy.

Broccoli is a fairly heavy feeder and will require additional nutrients. After initial fertilization at planting, apply 2 pounds of 5-10-15 fertilizer or equivalent per 100 square feet of bed each month during the growing season. Mulch broccoli with pine straw or leaves to keep weeds away and to preserve moisture in the soil."

Broccoli in many local gardens is nearing the end of its fall production; the big heads of florets have already been brought in and eaten - but it is not alone in needing this additional care. The task of keeping the garden soil moist and fertile will be well-rewarded when the rest of the harvest - lettuces, spinach, cabbages, kale, and more - comes to the table.

Keeping an eye on the garden's moisture level through the winter has an additional benefit of reducing the risk of cold-damage to the plants. Moist soil holds heat better than dry soils, providing an additional level of protection from freezing weather. University of Delaware's Cooperative Extension has this to say about the protective effect of moist garden soil:

"A moist soil can hold 4 times more heat than a dry soil. It will also conduct heat to the soil surface faster than a dry soil, aiding in frost prevention. In a study performed years ago, the air temperature above a wet soil was 5°F higher than that above a dry soil and the difference was maintained until 6 am the next morning."

While most of us gardeners are not going to want to be out in freezing weather tending our garden plots, there are still plenty of warm days in which being outside for the tasks will be a joy, and the resulting good food will, too.