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President’s Corner

Barbara Low
Latest posts by Barbara Low (see all)

What a busy month!  After all the work in the spring and early summer preparing the vegetable garden, now comes the time to watch our plants grow and produce.  The past week I have been harvesting onions, figs, blueberries, plums, and a few tomatoes.  Nothing tastes as good as produce freshly picked from your garden!  I hope that you are enjoying your gardens and some of their produce.  It takes hard work, but it is well worth the effort.

Jackson County Master Gardeners Association has also been busy with a variety of events:

  • The JCMGA Annual Picnic was held on June 28th at SOREC. Our presenter, Robert Coffan, did a terrific presentation on the Monarch butterfly.  Joe Alvord did a fantastic job cooking our hamburgers, garden burgers, and hot dogs. A big thank you to our Member Services Working Group for organizing this event.  A wonderful time was had by all that attended.
  • Our OMGA and JCMGA Awards Nominations Committee has been busy at work and spent many hours submitting nominee names to the OMGA for award consideration. Linda Millus was the chair of this committee. Great job!  Her article with the awards details is included in this August Garden Beet.
  • We have started collecting the extra garden produce which will be donated to the Medford Access Program as part of our Plant A Row All produce is collected every Wednesday at the Gathering Place at the SOREC Extension from 9:00-12:00 p.m.
  • We had nine JCMGA members attend the JOY of Gardening Conference this year! It was a great conference with a variety of classes to choose which to attend. In the evenings we got together for dinner – we had a great time.  I encourage you to consider attending the JOY of Gardening Conference next Summer.
  • The Fundraising Working Group has formed a committee to begin work on updating the Rogue Valley Garden Guide Month-By-Month.
  • The Marketing and Technology Working Group has added a new column to our monthly newsletter, The Garden Beet. It is the brainchild of Susan Hoehn and is called “Growing Knowledge: A Homegrown Advice Column by Jackson County Master Gardeners.”
    • This month’s topic is tomatoes!  Make sure to take a look at the article to see what Master Gardeners suggested for growing tomatoes.
  • We are also adding another new column to our Garden Beet – simply called “Critter Photos”. All photos are the work of Erin Galbraith.  Check it out.
  • Our Demonstration Gardens plants took a hit during the freak storm that hit the Rogue Valley a few weeks ago. Hanley Road was closed for approximately one week while they were repairing downed power poles and lines.  This meant that there wasn’t any electricity at SOREC and we couldn’t get to the gardens to water the plants by hand (since there wasn’t any electricity to run the well pumps).  A BIG THANK YOU to John McCole for parking by the baseball fields and walking to our Native Plant Nursery to water the potted plants!  That was way above and beyond of John!

It is time to start working on getting your nominations in for the JCMGA 2026 Board of Directors.  Please submit any nominations by September 1st to Linda Millus. (check the article in this Garden Beet).

We have many volunteers who are working hard for JCMGA in many ways.  A BIG THANK YOU to all of our volunteers!  Please remember to take care of yourself during this heat wave.  Your plants and you need to make sure to drink water, find shade, and relax.