Category: Master Gardener Activities

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What’s the future of gardening in Oregon?

The future of gardening can be confusing right now. With changing seasonal weather, new techniques, different plants, you might be asking yourself, what should I be doing now? What should I be doing into the future?

Garden Future is about growing resilience in a changing climate.

When it comes to climate change, there are some things we know. But there’s a lot we don’t know, too. We’re collecting information from gardeners across Oregon to find out what they’re seeing, what they’re doing, and what they need help learning about, when it comes to climate change and its impact in gardens.

And for OSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers, it’s go time. It’s time to get involved with the project, Garden Future.

Beginning in April, Garden Future will be out in the wild, and this is the official call to Master Gardener volunteers to get involved in the movement.


What is Garden Future?
Climate change is already transforming the way we garden. From shifting growing seasons to unpredictable weather, Oregon gardeners are seeing these changes firsthand. Garden Future is an OSU Extension-led initiative that empowers Master Gardener volunteers to engage the public in conversations and actions for gardening in a changing climate.
This project is built on the power of conversation—research shows that talking about climate change in relatable, solution-focused ways is one of the most effective ways to inspire action. And who better to lead these conversations than gardeners like you?

How You Can Get Involved:
We’ve created a Garden Future Volunteer Guide to give you an overview of the project and materials available to use. Inside, you’ll find:

  • Tabling resources & outreach materials – Posters, prize wheels, and interactive tools to engage the public
  • Conversation starters – Tips on how to frame discussions around climate-smart gardening
  • Training & learning opportunities – So you can feel confident talking about gardening in a changing climate
  • Ways to share stories & insights – Help collect gardener experiences and be part of the conversation

The success of this project relies on Master Gardener volunteers who can help champion it. Once you’ve read the guide, think about fellow MG volunteers who would be interested in working on this project. Reach out to them. Reach out to your MG coordinator and let them know you want to help with Garden Future. Your involvement is what will make this project thrive.

Are you ready to be part of the future of gardening?

  • Start conversations at tabling events and community gatherings
  • Share your story—how has your gardening changed?
  • Help document and uplift other gardeners’ experiences
  • Stay connected through the Garden Future Champions newsletter

Together, we can make a difference—one conversation, one garden, and one story at a time.

If you are an OSU Extension Master Gardener volunteer and would like to learn more, become a Garden Future Champion, and to receive your copy of the Garden Future Volunteer Guide, please email mastergardener@oregonstate.edu.

P.S. Garden Future will be at Hortlandia – Stop by! Reach out to Amy Espinoza to find out about volunteering at the Garden Future booth at Hortlandia. Special thanks to our friends at the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon for offering us this opportunity!

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Join us for the Joy of Gardening Conference 2024!

Treat yourself this summer to two days of education and inspiration at this year’s Oregon Master Gardener Association Joy of Gardening Conference, July 12-13 on the OSU campus in Corvallis.

Two days packed with over twenty classes, keynote speakers, and horticulture tours led by OSU faculty, you’re sure to come away with new connections and ideas for your future gardening and gardening education. Current schedule includes:


Opening Remarks: The Master Gardener Program 2024 and Beyond with Dr. Leslie Madsen



Keynote Speakers

  • 10 Cool Things We Learned from Garden Research with Sherry Sheng and Dr. Gail Langellotto
  • Oregon IPM Center: Hub of Information to Solve Pest Problems with Dr. Silvia Rondon


Tours

  • Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture with Nick Cavagnaro
  • Horticulture Science at OSU (Lab Tours) with Dr. Gail Langellotto
  • A Historical Tour of the OSU Campus Arboretum with Dan Blanchard


 Classes

  • Soil – What It Is and How It Works with James Cassidy
  • Growing Your Home Lawn Sustainably with Dr. Alec Kowalewski
    Empowering Communities through Inclusive Leadership: Bridging Innovation, Diversity, and Well-being with Dr. Ana Lu Fonseca
  • The New USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map: A Look Behind the Scenes at How It Was Developed and What It Can (and Cannot) Tell You with Dr. Christopher Daly
  • The Bees You Must Have: Discoveries of the Oregon Bee Atlas with Dr. Andony Melathopolous
  • Growing Fruits and Berries in the Home Garden with Logan Bennett
  • New MG Training Module on Climate Change (Interactive) with Dr. Brooke Edmunds and Signe Danler
  • Hydrangea Highlights with Darren Morgan
  • Garden Trivia Live! with Nicole Sanchez
  • Top Picks for Low Water Use Gardens from the NW Plant Evaluation Trials with Heather Stoven
  • Outreach as a Master Gardener Volunteer: Activating Our Circles of Influence with LeAnn Locher
  • Garden Allies: An Introduction to Life in the Garden with Frederique Lavoipierre
  • Garden/Yard Tool Renovation: Maintenance, Sharpening, and Storage with Fred Alley
  • Resilient Gardens with Darren Morgan
  • Learn from Several Chapters Regarding Best Practices for Successful Plant Sales with Benton, Central Gorge, Yamhill, Douglas, and Tillamook Chapters
  • Best Practices for Growing Peppers and Tomatoes from Seed with Bruce Gravens
  • Junior Master Gardener Program with Jim Liskey and Kelly Noack
  • Heroines in the History of Botany with Lucretia Weems
  • Rainwater Harvesting for Landscape Use with Ann Geyer
  • Let’s Give Them Something to Buzz About with Dan Blanchard
  • Growing Onions, Leeks, and Shallots from Seed with Bruce Gravens
  • Safe and Sustainable Management of Pests in Gardens and Landscapes through IPM with Thomas Jima
  • Secrets for Growing Lilies Anywhere with Kenn Parry

Get the full schedule, learn about lodging, cost and other details, at the conference website.

Early bird registration ends June 15th!

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You’ve got a problem, we’ve got a project. 

Is your garden home to this problematic pest? 

(Photo) Cornu aspersum (also known as Helix aspersa; European Brown Garden Snail)

The slug and snail experts at OSU want your samples for a new USDA-funded project. 

In fact, if you’re in Western Oregon with a significant number of these slimy shelled mollusks, they’d like to come pull samples every few weeks. 

Or, you can even mail them in. 

Please contact Rory Mc Donnell and his lab via email or phone for details on how to get involved. Tel: +1 541 737 6146.  rory.mcdonnell@oregonstate.edu.

Thank you Master Gardeners for helping science at OSU!

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Master Gardeners, let’s play some trivia!

The Oregon Master Gardener Statewide Trivia Tournament is happening during our “quiet gardening times” of October and November 2023, and January and February 2024.  Open to OSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers throughout Oregon, these five sessions offer the opportunity to learn more about specific gardening topics, have fun, and even win prizes.

  1. Register to play.
  2. Join via zoom.
  3. Connect to the trivia app (Slido) on your phone or computer.
  4. At the start of the tournament evening, you’ll be directed to the Slido app to begin competing.
  5. Multiple choice trivia, 50 questions per session.
  6. Winners will be announced live during the Zoom event.

Each session counts as one Continuing Education Unit for Master Gardener volunteers.

Did we say prizes? Yes we did. For each session, you can win gift certificates to mail-order garden companies in the PNW.

  • 1st place: $100 gift certificate
  • 2nd place: $50 gift certificate
  • 3rd place: $25 gift certificate

Winners will receive gift certificates approximately one week after each event.

Register for each event:

Let’s identify woody plants! Wednesday, October 18th, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Name that flower: herbaceous annuals & perennials, Wednesday, November 15th, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The buzz on biologicals: biological controls in food crops, Wednesday, December 13, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Least wanted: noxious and invasive weeds in Oregon, Wednesday, January 17th, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Right place, right plant: Oregon natives in the landscape, Wednesday, February 21st, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

For questions or accessibility requests, contact Nicole Sanchez, 541-883-7131, Nicole.sanchez@oregonstate.edu

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Exciting opportunity to support the Master Gardener program

woman in sweatshirt holding in her gloved hand a large onion that she just harvested from a large raised garden bed of onions. Beavs Dam Proud Day Believe it. 4/26/23 OSU Extension Master Gardeners Let's Show Up!

One day, everyone together.

On April 26, 2023, Master Gardeners and supporters will come together to show our belief in the Master Gardener program and Oregon State University’s Dam Proud Day. This 24-hour period is dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of the Oregon State community, including supporting Master Gardeners, and stretching ourselves toward our aspirations.

As a featured fund on Dam Proud Day, we have a special opportunity to raise money to support our work.

On one day, can you imagine what we could do together?

Here’s how Master Gardener volunteers, past and present, can help NOW.

1.     Help us tell the Master Gardener story. Share your story by participating in our storytelling campaign. Reach out to LeAnn at leann.locher@oregonstate.edu to receive 3 questions for you to answer, and to send in a photo. We’ll be sharing these over the coming weeks to highlight all that Master Gardeners do. Your stories tell the story of the Master Gardener program!

2.     Follow OSU Extension Master Gardener on social media. www.facebook.com/OSUMG and @mastergardenersOSU on instagram. Share our stories and posts about Dam Proud Day with your friends and followers.

3.     Show up on April 26th and make a donation online signaling your support for the Master Gardener program. It’s all online, all on one day.

On one day, we can show up for gardening and Master Gardeners in Oregon!

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An exciting opportunity for Master Gardener demonstration gardens and volunteers: Master Gardener Grow-Along

Master Gardeners and their demonstration gardens are invited to participate in a “grow along” event this growing season. “Grow along” with thousands of Oregonian households who are participating in the Grow This! Gardening Challenge, an initiative of SNAP-Ed and Food Hero. (Last year 93,138 Oregonians participated!) These beginning gardeners can learn from you, see the same plants they are growing in your demonstration gardens, and discover the incredible resource they have with local Master Gardeners and the educational gardens you care for.

What you’ll do:

-Grow one or more of the following plants (preferably by seed) in your local Master Gardener demonstration garden.

  • Kale
  • Tomatoes
  • Herbs
  • Lettuce
  • Zinnias

-Share via email 2-3 updates a month of the progress, including photos, tips, challenges, and/or advice for growing these plants.

-Offer Grow This! participants the opportunity to drop by during your garden work days to talk with Master Gardeners, and visit your gardens.

Some examples of updates shared in 2022:

What you’ll receive:

-Your growing updates and open garden opportunities will be shared through the Grow This! Newsletter, the Food Hero social media channels, as well as the OSU Master Gardener social media channels.

-Recognition of participation on our statewide demonstration garden page (this is a much-visited resource to the public).

-Increased recognition of the value and assets of local demonstration gardens.

-Connection to a local audience eager to learn how to grow their own food and begin gardening, many for the first time.

Other ideas:

-Some demonstration gardens may want to plan special open house events around growing these five types of plants, such as “learn how to plant your new seedlings” or “how to build your own tomato cage out of recycled materials.”

-Share a video how-to from your garden, demonstrating how your team direct sows zinnias.

-Share photos of your educational signage for growing these plants, or growing in containers.

We are excited to highlight the many demonstration gardens across the state to an eager and large audience seeking to grow healthy food on a budget.

Apply here: https://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2g9jL9phEboAGkS

Please apply to participate by March 31.

About Grow This!

The Grow This! Garden Challenge is a call to action to families, schools and other groups to garden together and eat what we grow. Participants receive free seeds, a monthly garden newsletter with new, simple ideas for growing; tips on harvesting, seed-starting, seed-saving and pollinators; recipes; and more. This is a project of Food Hero, whose mission is to help low-income Oregonians improve their health by increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables, and is an initiative of Oregon Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) program, developed by Oregon State University Extension Service and funded jointly by OSU Extension Service, Oregon Department of Human Services, and the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. 

P.S. Visit all of our gardening content at Food Hero: wonderful resources for beginning gardeners!

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Growing & Belonging: Winter Update

Hello! This is your Winter Update from your statewide Growing & Belonging committee. Four times a year we publish on the program news blog, sharing our work, findings, and resources to help keep you informed and engaged in creating a local Master Gardener program and association experience that is one of growing and belonging.

Events

Thank you to the 75 Master Gardener volunteers, faculty, and staff who gathered last month to view Dirt! The Movie on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day of Service. Dr. Gail Langellotto shared reflections on the movie and several Master Gardeners offered their thoughts on the movie as well. I encourage you to read your fellow Master Gardeners’ words in the comments section but will share here a bit of what Donna Leveridge-Campbell wrote:

Dirt! The Movie…resonated with me in so many ways, both in my long-held beliefs and gut feelings, and that there was much synchronicity with things I have read and taken to heart. For myself, I have been considering ways I can support the dissemination of this important information and world-view in order to bring about the much-needed changes to bring health to our soils and biomes, and to our human communities.

A quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer in her phenomenal book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, that kind of sums up where I am at in my life these days is, “The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world.” Another quote I love from this book is, “I taught my daughters to garden so that they would always have a mother to love them, long after I am gone.”

Read more of the thoughtful comments here.

Call for Participation

Do you or someone you know garden to connect to your culture? We would love to share your story. The Culture of Gardening storytelling site, a project of the Growing & Belonging committee, is a beautiful collection of photos and stories told in the gardener’s own words, of gardening to connect us to our heritage and foods specific to our own cooking. Please consider sharing your story or nominating a fellow gardener to be interviewed and featured. Our stories are powerful, healing, and insightful. Please email LeAnn LeAnn.Locher@OregonState.edu to be connected to the project: we promise to make it an easy and fun experience!

Resources You May Find Helpful

The work of Dr. Douglas Deur, associate research professor at Portland State University, focuses on the intersection between culture, place, and environment. He works closely with Native American knowledge holders to illuminate misunderstood environmental traditions, and more. Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America tells the story of traditional plant cultivation practices found from the Oregon coast to Southeast Alaska.

Webinar series: Culturally Inclusive Teaching in the Garden. A six-part series from February – June exploring ways to celebrate and center culture through garden-based learning. “Garden education is increasingly recognized as an interdisciplinary approach that integrates academic goals, health and wellness, place-based education, and community connections and relationships. However, a discussion of culture is often missing in garden-based education. To validate and celebrate the interests and experiences of our students, we will delve deep into the significance of culture as it relates to food and gardens and also as it relates to the diverse populations with whom we work.”

A wonderful resource for all garden educators, and that certainly includes Master Gardeners!

Exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend: Creations of Spirit. Six Plateau artists created works recognizing and containing the spirit of their maker and will have ongoing relationships with contemporary communities. These six pieces are meant to be borrowed and used by the community. Learn more about this innovative and thoughtful project.

“A lot of times it’s hard because baskets are cherished and put behind glass and they’re never out. That’s what I really liked about this project. The basket is going to be out there and useful. It’ll wear, it’ll get dirty, and it’ll have marks of age that define its history.”
– Joe Feddersen, member of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation

Podcast Black Food: Liberation, Food Justice and Stewardship. Listen to this important conversation between Karen Washington and Bryant Terry on how Black Food culture is weaving the threads of a rich African agricultural heritage with the liberation of economics from an extractive corporate food oligarchy. The results can be health, conviviality, community wealth, and the power of self-determination.

This is Kalapuyan Land at the Pittock Mansion in Portland is an exhibition of contemporary Indigenous artworks alongside a selection of historical panels curated by Steph Littlebird (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya, Chinook). Learn more and plan a visit with your fellow Master Gardeners.  

Call to Action for Master Gardener Associations: Here is a wonderful book to pre-order for your Master Gardener resource library. A new children’s book by Warm Springs Elder Linda Meanus, is set to be published by Confluence and OSU Press in June 2023. Learn more about Native American history through a first-hand account, “My Name is LaMoosh” is also a reminder that Indigenous people continue to maintain a cultural connection to the land and river that gave them their identity. Preorder here.

We encourage Master Gardener volunteers to share the information and resources in this winter update with others, including your fellow volunteers. Read and together discuss these resources, consider organizing a listening session of the podcast or a group trip to an exhibit, or purchasing these publications for your Master Gardener resource library. Thank you for contributing to a growing and belonging environment in your Master Gardener program.  

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A call to action for gardeners: Dirt! The Movie screening

As part of OSU’s 41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration 2023, the OSU Extension Master Gardener program is proud to host an online movie screening of Dirt! The Movie.

When: Monday, January 16th at 3:00 pm

Where: online at https://kosmi.app/bllb9i

We’ll be screening the movie online with an opportunity to chat with other attendees throughout the movie. No registration required. Free.
 
About Dirt! The Movie
Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, “dirt is very much alive.” Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. “Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt.”
DIRT! the Movie—directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow and narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis—brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.
DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: “When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked.” But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT the Movie is a call to action.

Three questions for attendees to reflect upon prior to the movie:

  1. Dirt! The Movie demonstrates some of the unjust systems surrounding agriculture and how our most impoverished communities are most greatly impacted. How is this seen in your region of Oregon? Who are some of these communities being impacted?
  2. The King Center’s 2023 observance is titled “It starts with me.” Master Gardener volunteers are community educators: what responsibility do we have, as individuals and as a collective, to ensure our work strives to remove the inequities of Oregon’s different communities.
  3. The relationship between dirt and conflict is centered in the movie. Martin Luther King Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. What can gardeners be inspired by knowing this?

About OSU’s 41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration 2023

The annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration is the longest-running annual event at Oregon State University focused on social justice and transformative change. The commemoration objectives are:

  • Learn about and reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. King and collaboratively envision ways to carry forward his work;
  • Participate in an impactful, inclusive and engaging celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King; and
  • Collaboratively learn about and reflect on the legacy of Dr. King in a way that is relevant in today’s context.

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OSU Extension Master Gardeners Statewide Trivia Tournament

Open to Master Gardeners throughout Oregon this fall and winter, join us once a month for an evening of multiple choice trivia, all online. With 50 questions per session, learn about timely gardening topics, have fun, and earn valuable prizes.

Each session is good for one Continuing Education Credit in the Master Gardener program.

How it works

Register below for each night you plan to play. Then the night of the event, join via Zoom, and play along via the trivia app “Slido” on your phone or computer. Instructions will be sent upon registration.

There are prizes

  • Valuable prizes each session!
  • 1st place: $100 gift certificate*
  • 2nd place: $50 gift certificate*
  • 3rd place $25 gift certificate

*Gift certificates to mail-order garden companies in the PNW such as Territorial Seed Company, Conifer Kingdom, Heirloom Roses, Noname Nursery, etc. Winners will receive gift certificates approximately one week after each event.

The whole schedule (separate registration for each):

Questions? Contact Nicole Sanchez at nicole.sanchez@oregonstate.edu 

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What does it mean to garden in community?

Photo courtesy Centro Latino Americano

For the Latinx and immigrant community in Lane county, gardening in community means connecting in the 7 community gardens and growing organic produce together. At an upcoming webinar by the Lane County Master Gardener Association, learn how Centro Latino Americano (formerly Huerto de la Familia) provides services and support for this great initiative, and how gardeners are teaching new gardeners in the garden. Leaders from the organization will share insight into community building through gardening, lessons learned, and examples of community engagement.

Come learn how the Lane County Master Gardener Association has fostered this important community relationship and helped to take a behind-the-scenes role in supporting Centro Latino Americano’s work.

Tuesday, September 20th, 6:30-7:30 pm. Online webinar.

Master Gardener volunteers and program coordinators across the state are invited and encouraged to attend. Read more about the event, and register for the webinar.