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Barbara Low

Feb 28

JCMGA Announcements March 2025

By Beet 2025 03 March

March

  • Articles for the April Garden Beet due by March 15th. Send articles to jcmgabeet569@gmail.com
  • Volunteers needed to help plant and transplant seedling (see article)

 

April

  • Blue Heron Park Earth Day Event – April 19th
    • JCMGA will have an information table at this event. If you are interested in working at the table that afternoon, contact Barbara Low barbaralow@msn.com
  • OMGA Awards Nominations due April 15th (see the article)
  • Tree Planting and FREE Lunch – April 22nd (see article)

 

May

  • Spring Garden Fair – May 3 and 4 at the Mace Building at the Expo.
    • Save the Date – Mark your calendars!
  • Medford Open Streets Event – May 31st
    • JCMGA will have an information table at this event. If you are interested in working at the table that afternoon, contact Barbara Low barbaralow@msn.com
Feb 28

President’s Corner

By Beet 2025 03 March

This is the time of year when gardeners are busy planning their next gardens: evaluating what went well last year, buying and planting seeds, as well as pruning and fertilizing.

As a gardener, I am constantly monitoring what works well and making changes as needed. In wanting to improve my gardening skills, I read books, ask an expert whom I trust, and attend classes (either online or in person.) We are very fortunate to have access to many great gardening books and educational classes on gardening.

Have you heard of the “10-Minute University” online videos?  They are created by the Clackamas Master Gardeners Association. These are great, research-based educational videos on a variety of gardening topics. You can access them at  https://clackamascountymastergardeners.org/10-minute-university/ . These are free to view. Some of the videos available are:

Another great resource for getting information is the OSU Level Up Series  https://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/growing-oregon-gardeners-level-series. This site contains a variety of gardening topics from the past four years, all free!

Grace Florjancic, our Master Gardener Coordinator, schedules some wonderful speakers during the year for Community Education. I encourage you to investigate them.

While you are planning your garden for this year, please consider planting an extra row of produce for our Plant a Row project. The donated produce which we collect from late July through September is given to the Medford Access to help those families who are struggling with obtaining nutritional food. Last year, JCMGA donated a whopping 1,000 pounds of produce from our JCMGA Vegetable Demonstration Garden and members’ home gardens! Thank you to those of you who donated.

Enjoy Your Gardening!

Feb 28

Book Nook – Growing Fruit Trees and Berries

By Beet 2025 03 March

Growing fruit trees and berries has been an interest of mine for a long time.  Since retiring, my husband and I have spent time planting a small orchard. I am continuing to learn more and more about how to properly take care of it and improve my fruit production.

As part of my learning, I have attended some wonderful classes, and have used that knowledge to improve our orchard and berries. These include classes given at SOREC as community education. I am also always looking for and utilizing books to help us in our endeavor to improve our fruit production.

Last summer our work paid off, and we had a bumper crop of peaches, apricots, figs, and blueberries. They were delicious, and we really enjoyed having them with our meals and for snacks.

While looking for more information on how to improve our home orchard and berries (which include currants, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, Marionberries, and Tayberries), I found a wonderful book with a great deal of information pertaining to planting and tending small fruit trees and berries, “Growing Your Own Mini Fruit Garden,” by Christy Wilhelmi.

In, “Growing Your Own Mini Fruit Garden,” Wilhelmi covers the steps from planning your “mini fruit garden” to caring for and maintaining it. The book contains beautiful photographs and detailed sketches. It even has a chapter on dealing with pests and diseases. This is a book which, I believe, will be a great resource for us in working with our fruit trees and berries.

 

 

Feb 27

Annual JCMGA 2025 Photo Contest Winners

By Beet 2025 03 March

 

The Jackson County Master Gardener™ Association Member Services Working Group (MSWG) would like to announce the winners of its annual photo contest for 2025.

Thank you to those who submitted photos for the front cover of our JCMGA 2025 Chapter Directory.

With many wonderful pictures to choose from, it was a difficult decision.

The overall winner was Linda Jo Millus (2023) with her photo “Echinacea – Cone Flower”.

“I just love Echinacea- Cone flower, part of the Daisy family. I have several beds of them.

They are very easy to grow and maintain. They really don’t take a lot of care and are pretty drought and pest tolerant, also, a great pollinator as well.

This Echinacea bed is in our front yard beside a stream. The happy colors and sturdy flowers bloom all Summer into Fall if you keep them deadheaded. I love the variety of colors. Also, they self-sow which is a real bonus. They fit in nicely in my cottage type garden. 

If you don’t have any in your yard, I suggest you try one. We have Native Coneflower plants in our Native Nursery @ SOREC if you prefer a Native, I have both”   Linda Jo Millus

 

 

 

 

Our Runner Up in this year’s Photo Contest was Susan Hoehn with her beautiful photo. 

“This Cornus florida is one of the three Flowering dogwoods I am fortunate to have growing in my yard in Phoenix. I can’t say it’s a constant source of delight, as it is unglamorous in the winter. But its glorious green leaves in the dog(wood) days of summer turn a ravishing red in the fall, and such fabulous flowers spring forth in the spring as to render me awestruck. I captured this photo using the 0.5 Ultrawide lens on my iphone 15 Pro on a splendidly sunny day in April, 2024.”  Susan Hoehn

 

 

 

 

Feb 27

Volunteers Needed

By Beet 2025 03 March

Do you like working with plants, getting dirty, watching seeds and seedling grow?

We have an opportunity for you!

The JCMGA Practicum is looking for volunteers to help plant seeds and do some transplanting of seedlings.  These plants will be sold at our Spring Garden Fair.

You will be working with a Practicum Mentor and students.

We are looking for interested people working 

from 10-12 p.m. or 2-4 p.m. starting March 17 and ending April 25.

Contact Barbara Low at barbaralow@msn.com if you are interested or have any questions

Jan 31

President’s Corner

By Beet 2025 02 February

The new year brings opportunities and new beginnings for all of us. I hope that you had a relaxing time with family and friends over the holidays.  It is always good to take time to rejuvenate and enjoy the company of loved ones.

JCMGA has had a successful 2024! In the December Garden Beet, I highlighted some of our accomplishments during the past year.  Below are more of JCMGA’s 2024 accomplishments:

  • The Fundraising Working Group has been busy with many projects, including selling our Garden Guides at community events.

  • As a way of getting JCMGA and gardening topics out to the public, we participated in many community events. We had an information table/booth with several of our volunteers who answered questions and provided gardening information.  These events included: Josephine County Home Builder Show; Blue Heron Park Event; JCMGA Spring Garden Fair; Medford Open Streets Project; Fall Festival; and One Sanctuary Event.

  • The Community Outreach Working Group has worked actively on getting more community gardens involved with JCMGA. They also provide school grants for gardening projects.  What a great resource!

  • We started a new project – the Friends of the Gardens. Its members are interested in working in our gardens and learning more about gardening without becoming a Master Gardener.

  • The Class of 2024 Clothing Committee developed a gardening shirt logo – created by Adrienne Cheng.

  • The JCMGA Native Plant Nursery is booming! A big “thank you” to Lynn Kunstman and all the volunteers for their hard work in making it a success. Cody Maple, a Class of 2024 student, created the new Native Plant Nursery logo and Nicole Smith created a new Native Plant page on our website.

  • The Marketing & Technology Working Group continued to create publicity for JCMGA, while keeping our technology up-to-date.

  • The Member Services Working Group designed and distributed the JCMGA Chapter (Membership) 2024 Directory to our members. They also planned and implemented the following events: Class of 2024 Master Gardener First Day Lunch; JCMGA Annual Picnic; and Class of 2024 Master Gardener Graduation Celebration.

  • The Board has been developing the JCMGA vision and determining what is needed make our new tool shed, lathe house, and practicum classroom.

Our working groups are made up of wonderful people committed to working together to accomplish their goals.  I encourage you to join us.  Contact the chair of a working group that you are interested in to find out more about what they accomplish.

Our working groups and their chairs are:

Community Outreach                           Michael Hornbeek

Fundraising                                              Jane Moyer

Gardens                                                     Janine Slavatti

Marketing & Technology                    Keltie Nelson and Lucy Pylkki

Member Services                                   Barbara Low

Program Support                                   Grace Florjancic

Spring Garden Fair                                Marcie Katz and Lucy Pylkki

Winter Dreams/Summer Gardens         Colet Allen, Susan Koenig, and Barbara Low

We are a very active organization which provides gardening expertise – whether hands-on or via classes – to our members and community.  It takes all of us working together to accomplish our goals. Thank you to all those who have helped with our 2024 projects. We should be proud of what we have accomplished! We look forward to moving forward in 2025.

 

 

 

Jan 31

Master Gardeners Class of 2025 Practicum Begins!

By Beet 2025 02 February

We will be starting our 2025 Practicum on February 5th.  Soon we will be starting to plant the seeds and transplanting the plants for the JCMGA 2025 Spring Garden Fair.

If you would be interested in helping with the planting of seeds and/or transplanting the young plants for Spring Garden Fair, please contact Barbara Low (barbaralow@msn.com)

I will let you know when we need volunteers and schedule a time for you to help.

Jan 31

Book Nook — “Shrubs to Know” by Edward C. Jensen

By Beet 2025 02 February

Book review by Barbara Low

Have you ever been out for a walk and come upon a shrub that you thought would be a great addition to your yard?

I have had that experience.  I’ll be in a park or walking around town or at a friend’s home and see a shrub that has beautiful blossoms, leaf color, size, and/or shape.  I can imagine it in my yard around some of my other plants.  BUT, I don’t know the name of the shrub, and many times other people I talk to don’t know its name either.

I attended a training led by Grace Florjancic, our Master Gardener Coordinator, wherein she introduced us to the book “Shrubs to Know in Pacific Northwest Forests” by Edward C. Jensen.  It is published by the Oregon State University Extension Service.

This book is a fantastic resource.  The author leads you through the process of becoming a “shrub detective” in a step-by-step manner, such as what to look for in identifying a shrub and what shrubs to stay away from.

The book also contains detailed descriptions of 49 common species in the Pacific Northwest forests and has over 500 color photos.

If you are interested in adding this book to your personal library, it is available for purchase at the SOREC Extension office at 569 Hanley Road, Central Point.

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