GRANTS AND OTHER GOODIES FOR KIDS' GARDENS

**LISTADMIN LISTADMIN@GARDEN.ORG> (by way of Lucy Bradley BradleyL@ag.arizona.edu>)**

GARDENWIRE:
News from the National Gardening Association

September 2, 1999

GRANTS AND OTHER GOODIES FOR KIDS' GARDENS
=================================================
Does your child or grandchild attend a school or club that
could benefit from NGA's Youth Garden Grant? For 17
years, NGA has teamed with leading companies from the
lawn and garden industry to award grants in the form of
quality tools, seeds, and products. We award 300 grants
annually, each valued at $750. For more information and
to download an application, visit

http://www.garden.org/edu/NGA-EDU6.HTM.

To encourage your local school, community groups, or
clubs to explore the valuable lessons that gardening provides
for children, we are offering NGA's publication "Sowing The
Seeds of Success: How to Start-and Sustain! - A Kids'
Gardening Project in Your Community." This inspiring 32-page
guide includes tips, suggestions, and plans for creating your
school or community garden. Regularly priced at $9.95
($13.45 postpaid), "Sowing The Seeds of Success" is
available to Gardenwire subscribers at the special price of
$6.95 ($10.45 postpaid). Call 1-800-538-7476 x 143 for credit
card orders, or mail a check for $10.45 with a note that mentions
SS & YGG to NGA, 180 Flynn Ave, Burlington, VT 05401.
Save $3 AND get your Youth Garden Grant application under way!

SPECIAL OFFER
===============
Learn more about plants! Become a better gardener!
NGA's Learning Garden online courses will help you understand
your garden plants, so you can "read" their symptoms and understand
their needs. Register now at

http://www.garden.org/courses/lghome.asp

and get a free National Gardening magazine subscription with every
course purchased before November 1, 1999.

THE WAY OF THE MASTER (GARDENER, THAT IS)
==============================================
Master Gardeners -- you've heard this impressive title, or may
have talked to one on the phone, and maybe even considered
becoming one yourself. What does it take to be a Master Gardener?
No, you don't have to spend a lifetime training with a Yoda-like master
of the Force -- all you need is the desire to learn about the science
and practice of gardening, and to help others with the knowledge
you gain. This week's featured articles offer more encouragement
to those who have been toying with the idea of joining the ranks of
"MGs," and offer ideas and inspiration for how to share your
gardening skills and talents with your community.

Master Gardeners: Who they are, and how you can become one
http://www.garden.org/redirect/mgard.html

San Antonio Success: City kids and Master Gardeners team up
http://www.garden.org/redirect/cgard.html

Your state's Master Gardener Coordinator can answer more
specific questions. This webpage lists contact information by state:
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/img/coordinators.html

QUESTION OF THE WEEK
=====================
Q. My flowers have beautiful blooms, but the stems aren't strong
enough to hold them up. I've been using 10-10-10 fertilizer. What
do I need to use to make the stems stronger?

A. The numbers on the fertilizer package relate to the amount of
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium the fertilizer contains.
A 10-10-10 would have equal amounts of all three nutrients.
These nutrients have complex purposes in plants, but in general
terms, nitrogen promotes lush foliage and vigorous growth,
phosphorus helps with stem, flower, fruit and seed production,
and potassium helps the roots and other growing tips develop.
It's possible that you've overfertilized your plants, and they're
growing so quickly that the tissues in the stems are weak and
cannot support the flower heads. Other explanations may be
that the flowers you're growing have a 'nodding' characteristic
when in full bloom, or perhaps they're heavy with water from
rains or overhead sprinkling and can't stand up straight. For
now, stake the stems to help hold them upright. Next time you
fertilize, try a 5-10-10 fertilizer, which has less nitrogen in relation
to phosphorus and potassium. There are also fertilizer brands
that are formulated especially for flowers.

GARDENING FYI -- From the NGA Research Department
=================================================
Mail-order gardening outlets took 8% of the gardening product
market in 1998, up 1% (14 million households) from 1997.

REGIONAL TIPS OF THE WEEK
============================
CARING FOR DROUGHT STRESSED PLANTS -- All Regions
If summer drought has turned your landscape brown, here are
some tips to make sure the plants and lawn survive. Don't fertilize
during drought, since the concentrated salts in fertilizers draw
moisture from roots, causing tissue damage; this is also known
as "burning the roots". Prune trees and shrubs only if you're sure
the branches are dead. Pruning live branches can stimulate new
growth, which draws energy from an already stressed plant,
and new growth is likely to be killed as winter cold sets in.
Focus watering efforts on new flowers, trees, and shrubs, and
leave the lawns to recover with fall rains.

RIPENING MELONS -- Midwest, Northeast, Northwest
If your cantaloupes and other melons are slow to ripen, try this tip.
Add 3 quarts of hot water to a one gallon plastic milk jug, indent
the side into the shape of your melon, top off the water in the jug,
and screw the cap tight. Place the jug under the melon. The water
stores heat during the day, and radiates it back to the melon at
night, which helps hasten ripening. It also keeps the fruits off the
ground, preventing rot.

JUNIPER ROOT ROT -- Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast
If individual branches of your junipers are turning brown and dying
despite attentive care, then they may have root rot. The moisture-
loving fungal disease clogs the water and nutrient passageways
in the shrubs tissues. Branches will first have an off-colored
appearance and eventually turn brown and die. Unless stopped,
more and more branches will die, eventually disfiguring or killing
the shrub. If your soil drainage is appropriate for junipers,
overwatering has probably invited the disease. Removed severely
damaged shrubs, and improve soil drainage if necessary.

PEONY FERTILIZER -- Midwest, Northeast, Northwest
Fall is the time to plant or relocate peonies. Be sure to apply the
proper fertilizer for root growth -- compost mixed with a handful of
high phosphate fertilizer such as super phosphate or bone meal
helps the roots get established in their new location. Add a handful
of wood ashes to increase the potassium and pH in the soil if needed.
Keep the transplants well watered, which will help make the fertilizer
available to the plant.

CONTROLLING CEDAR-APPLE RUST -- Northeast, Midwest, Southeast,
Northwest
If you notice bright orange spots on your apple or crabapple tree
leaves, and you have junipers growing nearby, then your trees may be
infected with cedar-apple rust. This fungal disease spreads by spores,
and needs to infect both apples and certain junipers to complete its life
cycle. Look for pea-sized, orange to brown-colored galls on juniper twigs,
and destroy them to reduce the amount of spore in the air. Also, plant
apple and juniper varieties that resist this disease.

PLANTING KOHLRABI -- Southeast, Southwest
How about something different in the fall garden this year? Kohlrabi is a
cabbage-family crop that forms a baseball-sized growth on its stem near
the soil line. The swollen stem is harvested at any size, peeled, chopped,
and eaten raw in salads or sauteed in stir fries. Some say it makes a mean
potato pancake. Sow seeds now, and care for the plants as you would
cabbage.

FEED THE ROOTS -- Northwest, Southeast, Southwest
Roots grow actively during the fall and winter months, so fertilize
shrubs, trees, ground covers, citrus, and deciduous fruit trees by
Labor Day. Fruit trees will absorb the nutrients before leaf fall and
be ready for rapid growth in the spring. Choose a fertilizer low in
nitrogen, but high in phosphorous and potassium.
For more regional tips and gardening columns, visit our website at
http://www.garden.org/

UPCOMING GoGARDEN! CALENDAR EVENTS
==================================
Summer is ripening, and a cornucopia of GoGarden! Calendar events
awaits you! Visit http://www.garden.org for full details of these and many
other festivals, plant sales, workshops, tours, etc.
Please post your gardening events, too -- it's FREE!

Wednesday, September 8:
Horticultural Safari at the Zoo, Buffalo, NY

Saturday, September 11
Intervale Festival, Burlington, VT
Third Annual Plant Swap, Milford, DE
Water Garden Tour '99, Tucson, AZ
Symposium: "Conserving Plants from the Past, Saving Seeds for the Future",
Boylston and Sturbridge, MA

Sunday, September 12:
Best of the Midwest Market, Glencoe, IL
Fall Containers and Plant Sale, SeaTac, WA
Orchid Plant Sale, Hadley, MA

Wednesday, September 15:
Prospective Docent Coffee, Tucson, AZ

================================================

Barbara Richardson
Horticulture Staff
National Gardening Associa
tion
http://www.garden.org
The place on the web where gardeners exchange seeds:
http://www.garden.org/swaps/seedswap.asp

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To be removed from this mailing list, send an email
message to listserv@dispatch.garden.org with the text
"signoff Gardenwire" in the body. (no quotes)

Or you may unsubscribe by completing the short
form at this web address:
http://www.garden.org/mail/unsubscribe.html

_______________________________________________
School_garden maillist  -  School_garden@mallorn.com
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/school_garden