Hurray for May! Spring has fully arrived 
in the Rogue Valley!

This time of year always brings to my mind a line from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll: “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! He chortled in his joy.” I have been chortling in the sunshine – as have the weeds in my yard.

Part of that joy is the thought of summer vegetables. It is time to start hardening off those summer sprouts for transplant into the garden. Be sure to give them limited sun for a few days if they have been under shelter, or in a greenhouse.

Our association and Master Gardener members are still working hard, despite the shutdown.
Our Master Gardener Extraordinaire, Sherri Morgan, has spearheaded a committee to put together an amazing Native Plants Garden Tour. The tour features 13 native gardens, and will be online as of May 15. Go to the Jackson County Master Gardeners Association website to register.

Our Gardens Working Group has been instrumental in working with Rich Roseburg to find a place to locate the six storage containers that are being placed near the parking lot to store all the extension programs’ materials that are currently in the “creepy old house.” Since the five-year plan calls for expanding the parking lot and we no longer have a GEM for the kitchen garden, it was decided that placement would be there. The containers will flank the wooden raised beds in that garden – three on each side. The beds will be planted with annual flowers, once we can return to campus on a regular basis and the seating area will be expanded. We will have a cozy meeting place, once all the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

While we will all miss having a Spring Garden Fair this year, there is a lot of nursery stock in both the Propagation Garden and the Native Plants nurseries. Because we were planting native seeds last fall that needed to stratify over winter, when the shutdown occurred again on campus, those seeds were sitting out under protective screens. The problem of course became that they sprouted and were beginning to outgrow their germination trays. I was given special permission to go on campus to water in the nursery, so I have been bringing the seedlings home with soil mix and repotting. The upshot is that we have in excess of 80 trays of plants that will be ready for sale in summer or fall. We are anxiously awaiting the time when we can return to having our in-person pop-up sales.

There is never enough space here to thank everyone who is working so hard for our association. I personally cannot wait until we can meet again, in person, and I can give everyone giant hugs. Having been fully vaccinated, I have to tell you that it is a great joy to be able to hug family and friends again.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely spring weather, have a “frabjous” day, and GARDEN FOR LIFE!