New River Valley Master Gardeners

Sharing Knowledge, Empowering Communities

Happenings in the New River Valley

Friends of Peak Creek

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The New River Valley Master Gardeners were treated to a very informative talk about the important work of the Friends of Peak Creek (FOPC).  Cathy Hanks, President of FOPC, described the efforts that this nonprofit organization has taken to improve water quality and ecological habitat of the creek which has a drainage area of over 60 square miles and meanders over 26 miles from its source in Jefferson National Forest to Claytor Lake. The work of FOPC also fosters environmental awareness and provides education.

One of their ongoing projects includes planting live stakes to stabilize stream beds in an effort to repair and prevent bank erosion.  Stakes planted in 2016 had a successful survival rate of 80%. In December 2017,  16 volunteers came together to plant an additional 1200 live stakes of Silky Dogwood, Elderberry, Nine Bark and Silky Willow plants. By April 2018, buds on the stakes were evident.

A recent project of the FOPC is the establishment of a Pollinator Garden at Heritage Park in Pulaski for the purpose of habitat enhancement and public education. In January, the FOPC was awarded a Master Gardener Association (MGA) 2018 Community Grant for the purpose of establishing a fence around the new garden. By May 18, 2018, the fence was up and planting had begun. The MGA also awarded a 2018 mini-grant to the FOPC for the purchase of native plants for the garden. The installation of interpretive signage is planned for the near future.

Members of FOPC are also thoughtful to our feathered friends.  Through the help of FOPC, twelve nesting boxes are in place along the Dora Bluebird Trail which runs along Peak Creek. By May 20, 2018 all the nesting boxes were occupied. Occasionally, the bluebirds had to share when the boxes became home to tree swallows, chickadees or wrens.  In an effort to save ducks at the Creek from developing “angel wing syndrome,” duck food dispensers offering nutritious duck food have been installed. The goal is to protect the ducks from becoming malnourished because of the ingestion of too much bread and snack food.  Consumption of large amounts of carbohydrate and sugar is what causes angel wind syndrome which prevents the ducks from being able to fly and protect themselves from predators.

Additional projects undertaken by FOPC include keeping the creek free of litter, monitoring water quality, marking storm drains and installing pet waste stations. In the fall of 2016, Dora Trail which runs along Peak Creek was designated as a Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail (SBWT) by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The FOPC works with the town of Pulaski’s Department of Parks and Facilities to enhance the trail along Peak Creek. Officially, Dora Trail is part of the “Lower New River Loop” in the Mountain section of the VBWT. See https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/vbwt/sites/dora-trail/

Lavender

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Lavender:  Relax … Stop and Smell the Flowers

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By Susan Perry, NRV Master Gardener

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Ask yourself, “Is there anything better than lavender?”  Imagine the scent, the color … simply perfection.  Lavender is romantic, it looks and smells beautiful, and it’s healing.  Lavender is a good choice for perennial gardens in Virginia, and under the right conditions, can be quite easy to grow.   And we have a fabulous local grower nearby who I recently had the opportunity to visit.  You can learn a lot about lavender by visiting Mystic River Lavender in Riner.   A handful of NRV Master Gardeners recently visited and although I didn’t count, owners Janice and Keith Mileski easily have more than 1000 plants growing there.

 

Besides producing beautiful, fragrant flowers, lavender can be dried in bunches or used to make various products by extracting essential oils or using dried blossoms.  Annual maintenance of established lavender is average and lavender has few pest or disease problems.   An added benefit for Janice is that deer seem uninterested in lavender.  Once established, lavender is extremely drought tolerant.  According to Janice, she only waters lavender plants during the first year, and then sparingly.

 

Lavender flourishes in Mediterranean climates, so any attempts to grow lavender in SW Virginia should attempt to replicate that climate.  When selecting a location, think “Mediterranean climate” because that is where the lavender plant first came from.  Other places lavender grows well are Colorado, Texas, the Pacific NW, and New Mexico.  Lavender thrives in hot, sunny locations in a variety of soils, as long as they are well drained.   You can amend clay soils by creating a mounded 6” deep layer of “dirty rock”.  Avoid using sand or gravel as an amendment because they can actually cause drainage problems.

 

Two kinds of lavender that are grown at Mystic River Lavender are lavandula angustifolia (commonly known as English lavender) and lavandula x intermedia (known as lavandin), a hybrid of lavandula angustifolia and lavandula latifolia.   Lavandins are usually larger plants that bloom only once in the late summer.  Different cultivars of English lavender and lavandins produce flowers ranging from light blue to dark purple, as well as pink and white.  If you visit Mystic River Lavender, you will see multiple varieties of blue/purple lavender, along with several varieties of white lavender.

 

Choose English lavender plants that have been propagated from cuttings, rather than from seed, in order to insure consistent size and color, bloom time, and other characteristics. Typically, English lavender cultivars range from 12 – 30” tall and 18 – 24” wide.   Since lavandins are sterile, they can only be propagated from cuttings and are often much taller than English lavender.   They are usually 18 – 36” tall and 24 – 36” side.   When planting lavender, space plants far enough apart to allow good air circulation, based on the mature size of the cultivar.

 

When growing lavender plants in SW Virginia, be sure to use stone mulch – wood mulch will cause the plants to remain too moist to survive.  Just be sure to keep mulch away from the crown of the plant.  Too much moisture will result in plant decline and may make the plant succumb to soil disease or root rot.

 

The best time to harvest lavender is between 9am – noon (early morning after the dew has dried), once a few of the flower buds have opened.  For drying, try to cut stems as long as possible, bundling 50 – 75 stems with rubber bands so that you can hang them to dry in a cool, dark place with good airflow.  Janice and Keith dry their lavender in their garage, with the windows covered, and fans and a de-humidifier running.  Larger bundles may mold, so you can always carefully combine smaller dried bundles to make one larger dried bundle.  Or, simply enjoy a bouquet of fresh lavender.

 

After your primary harvest, there may be a second, smaller late summer flowering in some varieties.  A second harvest can be combined with annual pruning, once plants are established.  Removing any flowers that occur during this time will help insure more prolific flowering next year.  Because lavender flowers on new growth, Janice prefers pruning at the end of August or early September.  She recommends pruning approximately one third of the top of the plant, never below 1” above old wood.  This will stimulate growth, keep the plant from becoming too open and woody, and will help insure more prolific flowering next year.

 

With a little effort, in a few years you’ll be able to enjoy the scent of your own, home-grown lavender.

 

Selu Garden and Service Club

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Posted by Sharon Eifried, MG.

 

On April 1, 2017, New River Valley Master Gardeners were treated to an afternoon learning about the Selu Garden and Service Club. Master gardeners also toured the garden which is located on a 6,000 square foot piece of property located at Radford University’s Selu Conservancy. The gathering was hosted by Ryley Harris, a senior RU student majoring in environmental biology and Kaylee Caroline, a student at Tidewater Community College. Kaylee is an aspiring organic farmer and a permaculture expert who works on New Earth Farm in Pungo, Virginia.

The club began in April 2014 when club members and volunteers built an eight foot tall deer fence, established a garden and began producing and donating fresh food to local outreach centers. As an example, the Radford-Fairlawn Daily Bread has received approximately 400 pounds of produce from the club over the last several years. The club members are students from many different academic backgrounds working together to grow food efficiently using a few different intensive gardening methods.

Ryley states that the Club’s current project involves “integrating sustainable gardening approaches into our 6,000 square foot garden. Among these methods includes the practice of intensive agriculture, which has an end goal to maximize crop yield per unit area per unit of time. We also utilize swale-contour gardening in order to maximize the amount of water available to our crops.”

Kaylee shared her passion for the practice of permaculture. She explained the process of creating swales that can reduce soil erosion and enrich the soil. At the Selu garden, swales have been created following the contour lines of the land. The swale is a ditch that gathers water from rain. The water then seeps into the soil for the benefit of surrounding plants.

About thirty-five students belong to the Selu Garden and Service Club with about seven students participating regularly. Ryley sees the club as a way for RU students to give back to their community and to learn new skills.

If you would like to visit the Garden and see the swales, contact Ryley at Rharris13@radford.edu. He would welcome your visit, questions, and comments.

 

4-H Garden Club

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Post submitted by Sharon Eifried, MG

One way to experience a connection to community is to dwell with children in the garden. Chris Lichty, a Pulaski County Senior Extension Agent who specializes in 4-H Youth Development, describes his work with students, teachers and master gardener volunteers as a “connection to community.” He recommends this “connection” as a valuable goal for all.

In March 2017 at Riverlawn Elementary School, nineteen master gardeners, three teacher volunteers, six students and several parents heard Chris explain how the 4-H program is designed to engage members in “hands-on inquiry” gardening and horticulture projects in their school and in their community. The garden becomes a living laboratory for collecting data and reporting results. Chris stated that the whole experience nurtures the children’s appreciation for gardening and the environment.

Chris explained that the objectives of the 4-H garden project are to teach students:

  • To apply mathematics, science, language arts and technology skills to maintain the greenhouse environment suitable to growing annuals and perennials
  • About plants they can grow that are fit for their consumption and plants that will provide food for wildlife
  • About a variety of annuals and perennials that can be planted in the greenhouse and later in the gardens
  • To observe, identify and record observations on plant growth and yield and on wildlife attracted to their gardens.

The children who attended the presentation are enrolled in third, fourth and fifth grades. They created a beautiful and colorful banner to welcome Master Gardeners to their world and listened intently as Chris shared their story. At the conclusion of Chris’s presentation, the students shared about their desire to learn about gardening and also talked about gardening with their families at home.  The students were excited to lead us all to their 14 foot by 14 foot greenhouse to see the plugs that they had just planted. The students and teachers laughed about the need for some math skills to figure out the best planting patterns for their new plugs! They also were growing plants from seeds and were enjoying the taste of their lettuce crop. Some of the crops the children plan to grow include lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers.

In addition to the 4-H Garden Club at Riverlawn Elementary School, there is a Garden Club at Pulaski Elementary School. Other 4-H projects in Pulaski County include the Critzer Elementary 4-H Junior Master Gardeners Club, 4-H Adopt-A-Spot (landscaped median), 4-H Community Garden in Pulaski and a Horticulture Workshop at 5th Grade Ag Day. For the past several years, Chris has applied for and received a grant from the New River Valley Master Gardener Association. The funds allow for purchase of seeds and bedding plants for use in the schools’ gardens, for plant sales and for the 4-H’ers planting at their homes. Gardening workshops are conducted with youth and parents for the purpose of instilling a family love of gardening and a sense of accomplishment.

Through Pulaski County 4-H programs, Chris strives to foster the love for the outdoors through gardening and horticulture. Chris states that Pulaski County 4-H is alive with learning experiences where young people partner with caring adults and volunteers in a fellowship unlike any other program available to youth today.

Community Food Forests

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Presentation by Cathie Bukowski.

Post written by Carol Cox, Master Gardener.

Thirty-five people came to hear the NRV Master Gardeners’ first educational speaker for 2017, Cathie Bukowski, who shared with us her Food Forest initiative at the Hale-YMCA Community Garden in Blacksburg.  Ms. Bukowski, a PhD Graduate Teaching Assistant with the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech, works with the Peace Corps and has written a book about her experiences with food forests.

 

Food forests integrate fruit and nut trees making up the upper canopy, berries, shrubs, edible perennials and annuals making up the lower levels. The aim is a low-maintenance, sustainable, natural landscape that is also a plant-based food production/agroforestry system allowing nearby residents to consume the produce.  A food forest can also fulfill a need for a riparian buffer to help shade and partially protect a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses, playing a key role in increasing water quality providing environmental benefits.

 

Ms. Bukowski has visited 24 installations from upstate New York, Southern California, Washington, and cities around the country.  She shared many “before” and “after” pictures of sites that were converted from eye sores to beautiful, oases for all to share.  Ms. Bukowski described using polyculture (the technique of using multiple crops in the same space) and perennial layers with a mixture of plants producing food to share.  When planning a food forest, Ms. Bukowski, reminded us to consider factors including plant hardiness, climate, and “forest users.”  For best results, Ms. Bukowski recommends spending the first year planning, tilling, removing grass and debris, laying down layers of cardboard and mulch.  The first plantings would be the canopy of fruit/nut trees.  Gradually the understory is added and groundcovers are added.

Possible plants: (There are many more…too many to list)

Herbs    (ie. Thyme, Lemon Grass), Asparagus, Rhubarb, Strawberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Currents, Elderberry, Gooseberry, Blackberry (remember thornless as an option), Nasturtiums, Pansies, Wood Sorrel, Chinquapin, Hazel Nuts, and Persimmon

Nice additions to consider:  bee boxes, bat boxes, bird houses, signage, seating areas, an herb spiral (herbs that need less moisture at top & more moisture at the bottom)

 

Check out Ms. Bukowski’s website for more info – www.communityfoodforests.com.  It includes maps, resources, and pictures of food forests from across the U.S.  She hopes the NRV Master Gardeners will become involved in the next phase of the Blacksburg Food Forest at 215 Maywood St.  This young garden is already thriving.  Our organization can help them and will benefit by thinning out the abundant strawberry ground cover that can then be sold at the plant sale in May.   Wendy Silverman and Gwen Douglas have already volunteered to help prune fruit trees, and there will surely be more that we can do to become involved.  Her enthusiasm was contagious, so if you’re inclined, start your new year of community service ideas by contacting Cathy and spending some time at the YMCA Food Forest in Blacksburg!