Putting up the fence

Last Thursday, many of our club members along with three Master Gardeners installed a fence around around our county fair exhibit. Still to be installed is the gate and an area with chicken wire to display how to discourage small creatures from entering the garden space.

Produce to the food shelf

Today we made our first delivery to the food shelf of 2.5 pounds of fresh picked vitamins in the bodies of peas, beans, broccoli and lettuce! Way to go gardeners!

Master Gardener Dick Raymond's Visit to Our Gardens

Submitted by Maggie

Dick Raymond, Crow Wing County Master Gardener, took time last night to visit the Great Green Gardener’s gardens at the CWC fairgrounds. Dick is a fascinating speaker with decades of knowledge – beginning with teaching from his mother when he was just a young boy.

Some things we learned last night are how to use Epsom Salts as a garden fertilizer, that Cilantro seeds are called Coriander (used in pickling – yum!), how to plant tomatoes to grow strong stalks – the horizontal planting method – and when and how to prune back plants.

Mr. Raymond stressed to us that the job of a plant is to return to seed. If you intend to harvest seeds from your plants, then let them grow until they flower and seeds form. If however you want fruit or just leaves from your plants, then prune them so more growth energy is put back into the plant and not into its seeding.

THANK YOU! Dick Raymond for all that you shared. We learned a lot from you. We hope you will come to visit us at the fair this year and see how our gardens have grown by then!

Garden Tour with Master Gardener

Submitted by Maggie

Our first garden tour with Crow Wing County Master Gardener Dick Raymond will be on July 6th at 7 p.m. at our gardens on the fairgrounds. Bring your plant diaries, plan to take notes and if you can, take photos to post on the blog. See you there!