Spring 2012 'Learn to Grow' Gardening Classes!

All classes free unless otherwise noted. Registration required:

Growing Healthy Soils

• Thursday, Feb. 16, 10:30—noon at the Hampstead Library
• Saturday, Feb. 18, 10:30—noon at the Burgaw Library
• Saturday, April 21, 10:00—11:30 at the Pender Extension office
• Find out more: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/content/spring2012soil

 Growing Flowers and Vegetables from Seed

• Wednesday, Feb. 29, 10:00—noon at Poplar Grove Plantation
• Saturday, March 3, 10:00—noon at the Pender Extension office
• $5 materials fee
• Find out more: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/content/spring2012seed

 

Growing Great Tomatoes

• Saturday, March 24, 11:00—12:30 at the Poplar Grove Herb and Garden Fair, $5 admission
• Tuesday, April 3, 10:30—noon at the Hampstead Library
• Saturday, April 14, 10:30—noon at the Burgaw Library
• Find out more: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/content/spring2012tomatoes

Call Pender County Cooperative Extension at 259-1235 to register or find out more. 

Start an Asparagus Patch!

Fresh asparagus is a spring delicacy, especially when it comes from your own garden.It is also an easy crop to grow in eastern North Carolina. Because asparagus is a perennial plant that comes back from the roots year after year, gardeners who plant an asparagus patch now can expect to harvest from it for at least 10 to 15 years.   

Because it is a perennial, extra effort must be taken to get asparagus plants off to a good start, to ensure long term productivity. To understand how to grow and care for asparagus there are a couple of terms you need to know. First, the new shoots of asparagus which are harvested to be eaten are known as spears. When spears are left to grow, they develop into tall stems that leaf out with delicate, airy foliage. This growth is known as fern, and asparagus plants produce a lot of fern during the summer, which reaches 4’-5’ tall. The spears and fern grow from the crown of the asparagus plant, the thickened solid mass found just below soil level, from which the roots grow down and the shoots (or spears) grow up. 

Find out more about planting and caring for an asparagus patch in your own yard - read the rest of the article on the Pender Extension website: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news&ci=LAWN+167

Sign up for the Pender Gardener or Food Gardener email listservs to receive weekly updates of what to do in your yard and garden!

Pender Gardener
Weekly updates on what to do and plant in your landscape and lawn!

• To subscribe to the Pender Gardener email listserve, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe pendergardener

Food Gardener
Weekly updates on what to do and plant in your vegetable and herb garden!

• To subscribe to the Food Gardener email listserve, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe foodgardener

 

Free Trees!

Live Oak

Trees are an essential part of our community, providing clean air, cooling shade, habitat for wildlife, beauty and much more. Unfortunately, many trees are lost each year due to development, hurricanes, pests, and drought. To help replant trees, a group of local and state organizations has been giving away free tree seedlings to area residents since 1997 at an annual event known as TreeFest. 

TreeFest 2012 will be held Friday, Jan. 20 from 10am to 5pm, and Saturday, Jan. 21 from 10am to 5pm, in the JC Penney wing of Independence Mall in Wilmington. Residents are invited to come by and pick up five free tree seedlings during TreeFest. 

Seedling trees start out small but grow quickly. This 15’ live oak growing in my yard was planted as a 1’ tall TreeFest seedling in 2003. To learn more about the types of trees available at TreeFest and how to establish young tree seedlings, read the rest of the article on the Pender Cooperative Extension website: http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news&ci=LAWN+166


If you can’t make TreeFest, or need more trees, seedlings can be purchased from the NC Forest Service through their website, http://nc-forestry.stores.yahoo.net/. Most varieties are available in bundles of 10.

Planting Winter's First Crops

Garden peas ready for harvest

As food prices increase many families are looking to their own backyards as a source of fresh, healthy, locally grown vegetables. Irish potatoes and garden peas are two of the earliest crops gardeners can plant outside. Both are easy to grow, highly productive, and favorites of both kids and adults at the dinner table. 

Garden peas, and their relatives, snow peas and sugar snaps, are simple and productive crops that almost anyone can grow. Peas grow best in sunny areas with well drained soil that is not too acidic, ideally with a soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5. In coastal areas, peas can be planted outside as early as mid January. Even away from the coast peas should be planted by mid February at the latest so they have enough time to mature before hot weather sets in. Garden and snow peas that develop under temperatures above 80° will be starchy and tough.  

Seed potato piece ready for planting

Potatoes planted in early February will be ready to harvest in May and June. For best results, plant only certified seed potatoes, which can be purchased from garden centers this time of year. Certified seed potatoes are small potatoes that have been grown under special conditions to ensure they are free of diseases and usually give better results than potatoes purchased from the grocery store. 

When cutting seed potatoes into sections, make sure each piece includes at least one sprout, known as an 'eye'. Red skin potatoes will have pink eyes, while yellow skin potatoes will have green eyes.

To learn more about growing peas and potatoes, read the rest of the article on the Pender Cooperative Extension website, http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news&ci=LAWN+165.

Sign up for the Pender Gardener or Food Gardener email listservs to receive weekly updates of what to do in your yard and garden!

Pender Gardener
Weekly updates on what to do and plant in your landscape and lawn!

• To subscribe to the Pender Gardener email listserve, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe pendergardener

Food Gardener
Weekly updates on what to do and plant in your vegetable and herb garden!

• To subscribe to the Food Gardener email listserve, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe foodgardener

 

Helping You Grow in 2012!

Do your New Year’s resolutions include growing your own food, doing a better job of caring for your yard, or gardening more sustainably? Do weeds and insects have you perplexed? Need soil testing supplies or gardening advice? If so, Pender Cooperative Extension can help you! 

Sign Up For Email News!
One way Pender Cooperative Extension can help you stay up to date on all that needs to be done in your lawn, garden, and landscape is through our two email news services, Pender Gardener and Food Gardener. Both bring timely, accurate information for local growing conditions directly to your email inbox, including pest alerts, planting times, and announcements of upcoming classes and events. 

Pender Gardener News focuses on what you need to know to sustainably care for your lawn and landscape. News posts in 2012 will include exciting new plants and proven performers you could grow in your landscape, information about controlling lawn and ornamental insect and disease problems using less pesticides, and ways your yard can help the environment. To sign up for Pender Gardener News, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe pendergardener 

Pender Extension’s newest news service, Food Gardener, was launched in August of 2011 to provide fresh and local information on growing fruits, vegetables and herbs in southeastern North Carolina. Food Gardener posts in 2012 will focus on varieties of edible plants you can grow here and when to plant, how to care for them, as well as insects and disease alerts and how to manage them using organic or sustainable methods. To sign up for Food Gardener News, send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message put: subscribe foodgardener  

Most of the news postings sent to Food Gardener and Pender Gardener subscribers are also posted on the Pender Gardener Blog, http://pendergardener.blogspot.com, providing another way you can to stay up to date on the latest gardening news for Pender County.

Ask a Master Gardener!
Master Gardeners are trained volunteers willing to share their time and expertise to help you garden more successfully. In Pender County, over 60 active Master Gardener         Volunteers work with the Pender Extension office to answer gardening questions during the growing season (April - October) at the Poplar Grove Farmer’s Market and Hampstead Library, as well as at local events including the Poplar Grove Herb and Garden Fair, Burgaw SpringFest and the Blueberry Festival.

To find out how you can ‘Ask a Master Gardener’, or if you would like to become a Master Gardener in Pender County, contact Charlotte Glen, Pender County Horticulture Agent,  by calling 259-1235, or email cdglen@ncsu.edu. The next Master Gardener training course in Pender County will begin in August.

Ask Online!
Another way to get quick, reliable answers for your gardening questions is to use the ‘Ask an Expert’ widget on the Pender Extension website, http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu. Look in the upper left hand corner, just under the black bar, for the ‘Ask an Expert’ link. You can even upload pictures of weeds, plants, or pests for identification. The ‘Ask an Expert’ widget is not limited just to gardening questions; this is also the place you can get answers to questions related to farming, livestock, 4-H, nutrition, and food preservation.

You may also ‘Ask an Expert’ in person at the Pender Cooperative Extension office, by calling 259-1235 or visiting us at 801 South Walker Street in Burgaw. The Pender Extension office is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, though it’s best to call first to make sure the person you need to speak to will be in the office.

Learn More!
To keep up to date with everything that is happening at Pender County Cooperative Extension like us on Facebook (search for Pender Cooperative Extension) or visit us online at http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu where you can find out about upcoming classes and local events.

Cooperative Extension is part of NC State University and NC A&T State University. Offices are located in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. To learn more about Cooperative Extension or locate offices in other counties visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/.

Winter Extension Gardener Now Available!

Fill the cold dark evenings of winter with dreams of spring! The Winter 2012 issue of the Extension Gardener Newsletter is now available online! 

Extension Gardener newsletter is written by horticultural experts with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Each issue includes statewide features plus a special regional section written specifically for your area of the state.
 
In the Winter 2012 Coastal Plain issue, you can learn about: 

• Pruning Trees
• Growing Garden Peas
  
• Winter Garden Chores
  
• Trees and Hurricanes
  
• Eco Friendly Landscaping
  
• Growing Microgreens
  
• Building Healthy Soils
  
• and lots more!
  

Download your copy here http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agcomm/successg/latest%20issue_eg.htm today!