What: Monthly Meeting of the Master Gardener Association

Speaker: Dan Caputo - Dealing with Wildlife in Your Garden

Where: Northland Hospice office - 452 N. Switzer Canyon Drive

When: Thursday, November 19, 6:30-8:30 pm

Who: all Master Gardeners
See agenda in extended entry.

Friends of Flagstaff's Future
Presents the Sustainable Lifestyles Home Tour
December 5th 12pm - 4pm

We are opening the homes with access to the home owners who are demonstrating socially responsible living. You can ask them about their PV systems, their solar hot water systems, their water harvesting systems, and their daily personal choices that minimize their impact on the planet. There are a few homes designed with passive solar, hydronic heating and straw bale, but most are homes just like yours that folks are creatively making more energy efficient through weatherization and low energy use appliances, lighting and behavior. This is a walkable tour of 10 homes in the North of the Hospital Neighborhood. Just for fun take a ride in a llama cart somewhere during the tour.

In addition to learning from the homeowner's experience, you will be able to meet local contractors who have provided the solar installations, weatherization services, and home design. For even more fun there will be local artists providing holiday gifts and musicians providing live entertainment at each home.

The price is $30 a ticket, but to encourage community, buy four at a time for $25 each. Bring the kids for free. With a CCC or NAU student ID it's $10 for you. Tickets will be available at local businesses TBD. Join the festiveness, take a walk, meet some like minded people, learn some new tricks, do your holiday shopping and have a good time. What more could you want from an afternoon in fabulous Flagstaff?

For more info: eric.souders@friendsofflagstaff.org.

If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it 's brown...

We enjoyed some quince jelly I made from fruit gathered on the property. We have had the shrub for more than 5 years, and for the first time it fruited (global warming?).

I spent part of Saturday putting in the last of the bulbs, and putting furniture away for the winter. I also gathered a bouquet of beautiful grasses from the garden for the house. The seedheads are wonderful. Some were planted but many are volunteers from throughout the garden.

So we are officially done until next spring. We will begin monthly planning meeting in January and start up in the garden weather permitting in April. If you want to join us let me know. (maxmaddy@infomagic.net)

Attached is a thank you note for all who helped this season.

Master Gardener Column 11/7/09

In his sonnets, when Shakespeare summoned "up remembrance of things past," he longed for "the lack of many a thing I sought." (30). He was speaking of the Dark Lady, the elusive paramour he swore was "fair" and "bright," yet was "black as hell, and dark as night" (147).

Such has been the sorry tale of many tomato paramours with anticipations of luscious, full-fleshed, lip-locked ecstasies right off the vine but who instead got the cankered mold of late summer blight. Just as Shakespeare was "frantic-mad" and "past cure" (147), the tomato paramour, too, grieves for those tomatoes once sought, turned "black as hell" and "dark as night." However, there are lessons to be learned. In today's limited lexicon, Shakespeare had the "hots" which often produce undesired consequences, such as "buzz off," "yuck," or the Black Lady's, "not you" (145).

Master Gardener Column 10/31/09

The International Herb Association has designated dill as the Herb of the Year for 2010. This decision coincides with the best time for planting this ancient herb - generally in late fall and winter in zones 6 & 7. In Flagstaff at zone 5, it's an annual so that the seeds sown in the fall won't come up until the ground thaws in late spring.

Dill (Anethum graveolens) is a cool season plant, needing to be planted in full sun. Although dill plants purchased locally did well in my garden this year, it generally does not like transplantation. Growing quite tall, 3 feet or more, dill plants need to be staked along with being watered regularly, weekly during dry spells. The plant seldom develops more than one, smooth, shiny, hollow stalk which displays fragrant feathery, fernlike foliage. Attractive to butterflies, the flowers resemble clusters of umbrellas characteristic of all umbellifers, such as parsley and parsnips. After flowering, the plant develops the crescent shaped seed for which it is famous.

6:40pm-7:25pm Continuing Education
Sharing Gardening Successes for 2009
Topic I - Planting bulbs
Loni Shapiro shared photos from the hospice garden of some of the successful bulbs, provided catalogs, and three resource articles from the MG blog (Bulbs are Easy, Species Tulips and our yearly resource for catalogs).
Bob Cooper shared pictures on his computer of his winning dahlias from the county fair. He also shared ideas about planting (soil, amendments, leaving or digging up (some do some don't).

Hello friends!
TheArizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA) would like to invite you to our premier fall event. We have invited Amazonian ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin to give a presentation entitled "Amazonian Shamans, Healthcare, and Google Earth: Saving the Rainforest in Six Dimensions." Please look at the beautiful poster attached as a PDF file for all the details. We are presenting this event in conjunction with the NAU Botany Club and Department of Anthropology.

After Patty Hooker, my dental hygienist, finished scraping, polishing, picking, and excavating debris, I asked her if she thought plaque were a moral issue. Appearing surprised, she claimed she'd never thought about it before. Patty bears an unnerving resemblance to Sarah Palin, a discomfiting experience for a cranky old Democrat. I was puzzled about her surprise, plaque being the raison ?être for dental hygiene.

I feel guilty about plaque because, as Patty explained, plaque amongst other things is the result of bad oral hygiene. Throughout my life, in one way or another, a woman in authority has been my hygienic nemesis. My great aunt Marie Aslaakson, a hygienic warrior, who resembled a Norse berserker with battle axe in hand, would often jab the air with her wooden spoon, proclaiming "Cleanliness is next to godliness."

My junior high school, home room teacher was the school's "mental hygiene" enforcer. "To dream the impossible dream," she set about in a high-pitched, nasal shrill to cleanse the hearts and minds of boys under the hormonal assault of puberty. "Nasty boys."

Reclining in Patty's dental chair with various nozzles in my mouth while she picked, poked, and scraped, I thought about my garden's plaque. Again, I felt guilty.

Now, Patty, a charming and delightful woman, has become another woman in authority. Smiling, her blue eyes dancing, she disputed any connection between morality and plaque, smugly asserting scientific impartiality, all the while asking me if I flossed regularly.

TIME TO SCRAPE THAT GARDEN PLAQUE!

Dave Hill and his wife Terri donated 4 gliders and Olivia White's grandparents, Ray and Joan White, donated 2 benches in honor of her 16th birthday.

The rest of the gardeners (Marcia Lamkin, Crys Wells, Leslie Penick and Charlotte) spent time putting the garden to bed, feeding the birds, working on compost, adding solar batteries to our outdoor lights, and watering. We plan to turn off the drip next week.

We had our last Saturday workday for the season, with the Grand Canyon Youth and the Honor Society, both from Northland Prep Academy. They cleaned pots, planted more than 200 bulbs, cleaned up our compost pile, put compost into our raised beds, and deadheaded lavender. There were more than 10 and they did all that work in less than 3 hours.

Greetings,

I know you're a gardener and I thought you might be interested in learning about an effective gardening nonprofit that I'm supporting. They're called Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) and they're a network of 18,000 people from 100 countries who are growing some of their own food and helping others to do the same. You might have read about them in the news earlier this year for their successful campaign to replant a garden at the White House.

With that garden in the ground and producing, they're turning their attention back to the rest of the world and the timing couldn't be more urgent. You might have seen last week that the world's leaders were meeting in Rome to figure out how we're going to feed 9 billion people in 2050 when we can't feed 6.7 billion in 2009.

KGI thinks it has part of the solution to the problem: help and teach more people to feed themselves. They are currently running a new online campaign called "Crush Hunger" to win a prize of $50,000 from the Case Foundation. They're planning on using the funds to support their work in promoting gardens as a solution to hunger and food insecurity around the world. You can read about their campaign and make a donation if you like here:

http://CrushHunger.org/

The nonprofit group that secures the most donations between now and November 6th wins the $50,000 prize. Even if you can't make a donation now, do check out KGI. Their flagship website serves up millions of portions of food and garden how-to information and all of it ad-free which is refreshing compared with some of the other gardening sites out there.

Loni Shapiro

Master Gardener Column 10/17/09

There's a chill in the air. The wind softly rustles the leaves around in the yard. The pots and flower beds look rough and will soon look bare. The perennials have run their course, and the annuals have suffered a season ending freeze. This is the time of year we fear that we have no color until spring, which makes for a long winter.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Fall for many people is a favorite time of year because of its full of color. If the weather doesn't turn cold fast, all lovers of fall will get to enjoy the color of the leaves changing. It is our last hurrah of the season, similar to the finale of a good fireworks show. Fall is also time to enjoy the wonderful rustic colors of mums and asters that scream autumn.

Our two old friends, pansies and violas, are also ready for an encore. For most of us, these two called it a season in the mid summer months because they just don't like the summer heat. They also brought us into this great season, and they are going to lead us into winter. Don't worry they will come back and welcome us into the coming spring.

This may be our last entry for this blog which may be ending on October 19. Watch for future entries on our own blog in a couple of weeks - Olivia White Volunteer Hospice Garden Project.

Last Thursday many of our regular volunteers came to help put the garden to bed for the season. Nancy Palmer spent most of her time feeding and providing water for the birds. David Hockman finished spreading our mulch and helping me move some heavy granite bird baths under shelter for the winter. Linda Guarino did some work on the drip (repairs and winterizing) and helped Marcia Lamkin put away hard scape from the Faerie Garden and the Birdhouse trellis. I planted some white bulbs in the Moon Garden, and Leslie Penick worked on the compost pile.

While working on the drip Linda came across some unusual fruits, It seems our flowering quince decided to fruit this year. It has been in the garden for probably 6 years and we have never seen fruit - but it was a very warm summer. After talking to several people at the Master Gardener Association meeting I have decided to try some quince jelly. If it works we will sample at the next meeting.

It's the last talk and walk of the season, and what a fantastic season it's been. We've had such great speakers and events this year.

Join us next week as we will have the new style of AZNPS T-Shirts available for sale.

Evening Program Talk: Tuesday, October 20th, 7:00pm "Plant Programs of the Museum of Northern Arizona" by MNA Program Coordinator Keri Stiverson.

Ms. Stiverson will discuss the projects at the Museum of Northern Arizona that are aiding in the revitalization of the MNA botany program. These projects include the Native Plant Materials Program, field excursions for the Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ), a large research and community garden, and the living roof of the new Easton Collection Center.

Weekend Field Trip: Sunday, October 25th, 9:00am***

A tour of the MNA gardens, landscaping and living roof system and an opportunity to participate in the collection of native seed that will be used in various MNA projects.

****Please meet at the Museum of Northern Arizona Garden*** Directions from Flagstaff: Head north on Fort Valley Rd (Hwy 180) as if you were going to the museum or Snowbowl. Turn right on Winding Brook Rd(there is a sign for the Peaks Senior Assisted Living Facility). Winding Brook Rd dead-ends in a T. The top of
the T is the MNA Garden. Parking is available at this location.

What: The World of Seed and Soil

Where: Northland Pioneer College, Silver Creek Campus in Snowflake/Taylor

Area gardeners and growers are invited to attend a special fall symposium, The symposium is the brainchild of two popular NPC gardening instructors, Kim Howell-Costion and Jan Mathis. "These two gentlemen will be here literally by popular demand!" says Mathis, a master gardener and forestry expert for the Navajo County Cooperative Extension Service. "They spoke at the High Country Garden Conference at Hon-Dah four years ago and people have been begging to have them visit and speak again. So Kim and I decided we'd do just that!"

Howell-Costion, an expert in her own right whose well-received NPC gardening classes often deal with seeds and with soil improvement, regards Melendrez and McDorman as mentors. "Bill has traveled as far as Siberia in search of unique seeds and Michael is one of the cutting-edge people in the field of soil microbiology. Yet they are so ... well ... they are so down to earth!"

Both Mathis and Howell-Costion emphasized that the speakers will address issues useful to every kind of grower. "Landscapers, turf farmers, nursery owners, tree growers, and home gardeners can all learn so much from these phenomenal experts," added Howell-Costion.

FLOW (For the Love of Water) Screening
When: Thursday, October 15th, 7:00pm
Where: Gardner Auditorium, Franke College of Business, NAU Campus
The NAU Student Chapter of Friends of Flagstaff's Future will host a free screening of the revolutionary film, FLOW. Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigates into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "Can anyone really own water?" Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

For more information, contact Tamara Ramirez@nau.edu, (928) 523-0499