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3:45 pm
November 18, 2008
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I put a link in the seed pollination thread—-
4:53 pm
August 24, 2010
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Pete said:
Aw, come on! The Master Gardener program is a very specific program. It was recommended as one avenue to satisfying the need to learn about plant propogation, seed starting (the topic of this conversation) and the like.
sparrowgrass said:
Ross, lots of people are good gardeners, and that is an undisputed fact. Master Gardeners exists so people can increase their knowledge of botany, soil science, plant propagation, landscaping, turf management, pest and disease identification and lots of other good stuff.
Anyone can "call" themselves a Master Gardener, and there are a lot of knowledgeable, skilled and masterful gardeners out there that have learned it all by trial and error.
BUT, the title of Master Gardener is in fact copyrighted and trademarked by the Land Grant Universities of the United States. It is earned through Education – specific to each state and taught by that state's Land Grant University – along the commitment to Volunteer, and give back of your time, talents, and knowledge, to your community, in return for the education.
I LOVE the lifelong learning, knowing where to get the "right answer" when I don't know it off of the top of my head, and the science of growing things!
I'm a Master Gardener too.
5:05 pm
December 14, 2010
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Thank you everyone for that clarification. The only program that I knew about was the two year resident program at Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square ,PA
8:29 pm
January 16, 2011
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I am currently enrolled in the Master Gardener program in my state!
And I would like to make something VERY clear. Each state's program is different. You learn about your area and not a lot about other areas growing conditions & soil conditions. My state happens to be pretty difficult since we have hardiness zones from 6b thru 8b and heat hardiness zones from 5 thru 10. We have some different pests and diseases down here that other areas of the country don't! What might be a perfectly useful plant in the north can be an invasive down here…example: privit hedge!
I am also finding that our program teaches almost nothing about being organic and I'm not sure they know much about it! I prefer to garden as organic as possible…and no, I'm not a purest but still strive to keep it that way if at all possible.
Since I have gardened for close to 60 yrs. and in Ill., Ca., Fl. & now Ga. I have an advantage over a lot of the younger folks learning. I also know lots of different ways to do things than what they teach…so the "right answer" isn't always the one that will work.
And ours was/is not "free"! It cost me $200 to enroll…after I have completed my first year's requirement of 50 volunteer hours, I will recieve a check for $75. So it has still cost me $125! If I don't complete the required 50 hrs. within that first year it will have cost me the whole $200. AND we are required to volunteer 25 hrs. per yr. every year thereafter to retain our Master Gardener statis. The classes here are twice a week for 2 hrs. per class & last just over 2 1/2 mos….so between 46-50 classroom hrs.
9:20 pm
August 24, 2010
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gakaren said:
I am currently enrolled in the Master Gardener program in my state!
And I would like to make something VERY clear. Each state's program is different. You learn about your area and not a lot about other areas growing conditions & soil conditions. My state happens to be pretty difficult since we have hardiness zones from 6b thru 8b and heat hardiness zones from 5 thru 10. We have some different pests and diseases down here that other areas of the country don't! What might be a perfectly useful plant in the north can be an invasive down here…example: privit hedge!
I had to chuckle at this! EVERY state has its own unique challenges. In FL we have mostly Myakka sand, the least moisture retaining, least nutrient containing, most buggy habitat growing medium known to man. 
The only good thing about it, is it is really easy to dig a hole.
The good thing about FL gardening is that we garden all year. The bad thing about FL is that we garden all year. 
9:23 pm
August 6, 2010
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Karen, that is just how Missouri's program works. (Some minor differences in hours and dollars, but basically the same.)
I am actually a 4-H specialist, and took the classes so I could give advice to people who come into my office, instead of sending their questions on to our horticulture specialist, who is in another county.
I apologize for being a little snippy, but I am proud to be a Master Garden, I love volunteering in my community, and I love to talk/teach gardening with people who are interested. And I am tickled to death to see several posts plugging MG!!
Missouri also has a Master Naturalist program run on the same lines, to encourage people to work on environmental type projects and education. And a Missouri Woodland Steward, to help folks manage their timberlands.
(We also answer questions on septic tanks, plant diseases, what is eating my begonias, how do I do a household budget, Missouri fence law, what steps do I have to take to start a small business, can I waterbath my green beans, etc., etc., etc.!! Most of our information is free, sometimes there is a small charge to attend classes or buy a publication. Find your Extension office--the amount of information available will surprise you!)
9:27 pm
August 6, 2010
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Forgot to say that I am completely organic as well. I am working on our horticulture person to do a session on organic gardening, but I think I will have to develop the lesson myself to get that done.
Organic except--I do use Roundup on poison ivy--I would use a nuclear weapon on PI if I though it would do any good. 
10:14 pm
December 28, 2008
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Same here on the Round-Up on poisin Ivy! I brush it on undiluted… 
10:41 pm
December 14, 2010
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I am not sensitive and just pull it with my hands. or hoe it out. I have a friend that can get it if her dog walks through it.
9:14 am
August 24, 2010
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sparrowgrass said:
Missouri also has a Master Naturalist program run on the same lines, to encourage people to work on environmental type projects and education. And a Missouri Woodland Steward, to help folks manage their timberlands.
FL also has Master Naturalist. I would love to take it but it requires too much travel away weekends. I too love my teaching / volunteer time. My very favorite was taking my worm composting system to teach a class of 5th graders all about worms and composting. The giggles and squeals as they had hands on learning made it a lot of fun.
One thing I wish we did have that we don't, is the Master Canner program. I just heard about it a few months ago, before then I didn't even know the program existed. I'm trying to find out more about it now.
9:24 am
August 6, 2010
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We don't have a Master Canner program--canning is coming back, and I think that might be a good idea. I usually plan a canning program each summer, and they are well attended.
Ross, dogs are a great vector for poison ivy. I know what PI looks like, I avoid it as much as I can, I wash thoroughly when I do get near it, but I just cannot teach the dogs how to identify it. I know lots of people allow the dogs to sleep on the bed--no way!! Makes me itch just to think about it. I don't even pet them in the summer, unless I can wash up immediately.
9:28 am
February 10, 2009
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Wow Hershiesgirl, that Master Canner program sounds VERY interesting!! I'm going to check at our Extension Office and see what may be new here in my county/state too. Also, I think it's time to hear about the plant sale they have every year here. VERY inexpensive fruit and nut trees, and many other kinds of shrubs and flowering plants as well. None are huge or elaborate, but I think I want to get a bunch of hazlenut trees this year, it sounds like they should do very well in the part of the yard that's quite soggy.
Oh, I too avoid using chemicals and anything like roundup etc, but poison ivy has been changing over recent years from what I've been reading, getting more agressive and it can be quite dangerous to those who are sensitive to it, so best not to take chances really. I grew up with it all over the place and never gave it a thought, but now that my father is over 90 and has delicate skin, I take no chances with it and spray it on site without mercy!
9:34 am
August 24, 2010
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My neighbor says that the Roundup Brush killer (also available in other brands) works better on poison ivy than regular roundup. me, I just put long sleeves on and heavy gloves and pull it out. I don't get a real severe reaction to it if it does get me, but my hubby breaks out pretty badly just by getting near to it, it seems. And you'd think that someone that was so sensitive to it would know what it looked like….
9:48 am
December 28, 2008
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Some of us with sensitivity to it don't have to get close enough to see it! When I do, it's too late. So, the heavy duty use of the Round-Up concentrate to get rid of it. (Doing so requires being completely covered, with masks etc, and having the shower already prepared to just walk into it after.)
10:39 am
December 27, 2008
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To answer a few questions asked at the beginning of this thread:
Ground cherries are delicious! We grow lots of them and eat them in salad, make jams and pies. They are easy to grow. Providence Acres Farm has them for sale. (I hope its ok to say that). They taste like a cherry tomato/pineapple cross, sweet and delicious – IF they are ripe. Sometimes you have to leave them sitting on the counter in the husk to fully ripen. They can still be a bit green when they fall onto the ground. We love them! Start early indoors in the north to get even more fruit since they keep producing until the frost takes them.
Saving tomato seed: leave tomato on vine until very, very ripe. Pick and leave on counter until way past edible stage and fermenting. Slice open and collect seed and juice in cup. Leave cup on counter until well fermented – several days to a week or so. Wash seed in cold water, removing as much pulp as possible. Strain and pat dry with clean cloth. Spread out on very fine screen or cloth to dry for a couple of weeks until completely dry. Put completely dry seed into paper envelope to help keep dry and label on envelope the type, date, etc. Put envelop in jar or baggie and seal. If dried on paper towel just roll towel up and put in jar or baggie when completely dry and seal. Keep seed in dry, cool and dark place.
I keep all my seed, sealed in baggies, in a cooler in the spare and unheated cold bedroom upstairs where it is dry.
Plant paper towel pieces with seed in spring.
Repeat this procedure with cucumber seed also.
1:14 pm
May 5, 2010
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Thank you, Sheryl, for the description of ground cherries … further investigation has led to an alternate name of "gooseberry". This isn't a plant we know in CA! … but I'm now definitely ordering some seed. I think I even have some cookbooks with recipes for gooseberries. Considering it's ridiculously similar to tomatillos there should be no problem in growing 'em here. Thanks!
1:37 pm
August 24, 2010
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I have looked at gooseberries before…after reading a magazine article about how delicious they are. I *think* they need a very long, very very cold winter – which is why I never bought seeds. You might want to check on that, especially if they produce fruit on old growth… might save you some frustration Jackie
2:03 pm
December 14, 2010
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There are gooseberry bushes which are hardy and long lived and are a rather traditional fruit. They are almost never propagated from seed.
We have a wild weed that from the discriptions I have been reading here maybe to same plant. Blossoms like tomato or potato and a small berry fruit enclosed in a large husk that resembles a japanese lantern. They are frost sensitive and the fruit presists into very cold weather. The hust can stay intact and loose all of the membrane between the lacework like veins. Is this what is being called ground cherry?
3:28 pm
May 5, 2010
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Hi Ross, here's a link to a ground cherry … a similar image on another site called it the alternate name of a "Cape Gooseberry". My quick look-see on a search engine dug up that ground cherry and cape gooseberry are very similar with unique flavors. Yeah, I'm bettin' that your local weed is probably the ground cherry in its native state. Not a weed here in CA! Not even the tomatillo (Mexican husk cherry), another relative to the ground cherry, grows wild here and that I'm definitely more familiar with that sweet-sour puss due to the larger Mexican influence.
5:43 pm
January 16, 2011
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Sorry we got off subject here!
I looked at the pics of the ground cherry on the link that Ruthmarie posted…it is nothing like the gooseberries we grew when I was a kid. Those gooseberries had thorns too! 
They made wonderful pies & jams! That was if I didn't sneak out there & eat them all before my grandma got ahold of them! 
Ours looked like the first images in the first 2 rows.
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