TLD Staging
Editor’s Note: Welcome, UC Master Gardeners, to the fall edition of The Latest Dirt. As the evenings in Richmond bring a hint of chill, we’re still holding out for a few more warm days to savor the garden’s final vibrant colors. Autumn is upon us, and with it comes a new set of garden chores: nurturing the soil, preparing for winter, and protecting the pollinators that keep our spaces buzzing. This summer, we were delighted by the many hummingbirds, butterflies, and big, fat bumblebees gracing our gardens, and we’re committed to ensuring they have a home year-round.
One of the key things we focus on during this season is helping our pollinators. While many prepare to hibernate, it’s essential to support their well-being. We do this by leaving parts of the garden undisturbed, providing bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects with safe places to rest and survive through the colder months. These small actions make a big difference, helping local pollinators return strong when spring’s bloom arrives. While autumn offers plenty of tasks for gardeners, prioritizing pollinator support fosters a healthier, more sustainable environment. It’s a simple yet impactful way to ensure nature thrives even as temperatures drop.
Our UC Master Gardener Project Leads are also hard at work this season. As we bid farewell to longtime Leads, we’re excited to welcome a new group of volunteers ready to take the reins. The need for members to step up in our many projects remains strong, and, in some cases critical. As you read through the articles below, we hope you find inspiration for a new way to get involved.
David George, a newly elected member of the Executive Leadership Team, starts us off with an article on the organization of our UC Master Gardener program. Community Gardens Co-Lead Meb Philips updates us on new leadership while celebrating outgoing Lead Karen Maggio’s tenure. Karen supported 16 community gardens, including two new demonstration gardens. Meb also highlights the new sign CoCoMG Fletcher Oakes created for use at Community Gardens events.
Vicki Lee updates us on Growing Gardeners and the program’s growth. Emma Connery remembers the Help Desk’s beginnings before computers or the Internet. Everything was on paper! Janet Miller updates us on what’s new at Our Garden and acknowledges longtime volunteer Steve Danzinger. Liz Rottger writes a heartfelt article about Matthew Dwinell and his Eagle Scout project building a new shed for the Water Conservation Garden in El Cerrito. This month, David George interviews Amanda Merrill, the new School Gardens Co-Lead in East County.
Hedwig Van Den Broeck and Andrea Salzman describe the success of the Speakers Bureau and how there is a great need for new leadership and other volunteers. Dawn Kooyumjian thanks Nanette Hefferman and Molly Wendt for their incredible work on this year’s reappointment process. Lori Palmquist describes the Herculean task of moving our website to a new platform called Drupal. Dorothy Abeyta and John Fike announce the New Volunteer Training class schedule and the process for visiting one of the classes. Finally, Susan Heckly shares her Help Desk reply concerning damage from Elm Leaf Beetles and ways to mitigate the damage through integrated pest management.
Simone Adair, Editor
The Latest Dirt - September 2024
-
A Big Thank You from Your Executive Leadership Team
by David George
I was honored in June to be elected to the Contra Costa UC Master Gardener Executive Leadership Team, “ELT” for short. As a Newbie, I was unsure about which roles and responsibilities lie with the ELT and which are the domain of the Executive Committee (EC). The ELT is a relatively new executive group formed in 2021 to replace the singular role of President. Each position is a 2-year commitment. The five, plus the Secretary and sometimes the Treasurer, meet once per month via Zoom, usually the week before the monthly Executive Committee meetings. The five members are each a liaison to 3-4 projects and their leads. Leads and Co-leads can elevate needs, problems, or opportunities concerning their projects by liaising with the ELT for discussion and/or direction. The ELT is also responsible for refreshing and publishing the program’s rolling 5-Year Strategic Plan – our organization’s overall goals and objectives.
-
Community Gardens Welcome New Leads
By Meb Phillips
The leaves on my red oak tree are already starting to turn, a sign that Fall will soon be here. It’s Nature’s reminder to let go and welcome change. Some things are also changing within the powerhouse group of CoCoMG Community Gardeners. Let’s celebrate the fantastic job that Karen Maggio has done heading up this project over the last four-plus years! Karen is leaving her leadership position in October. Anna Wendorf and Meb Phillips will Co-Lead the Community Gardens, and in a few more months, we hope to add Anne Sutherland to our three-legged stool. (Note: it takes three of us to do the job that Karen has done!)
-
Growing Gardeners See Significant Growth
By Vicki Lee
The CoCoMG Growing Gardeners Program has grown significantly in the last three years, registering 566 participants. This impressive number highlights the increasing interest in vegetable gardening across Contra Costa County. However, not everyone completes the entire four-class series, as some realize that successful gardening requires more effort and dedication than they initially expected. Despite this, many participants gain enough knowledge to become successful gardeners, with some even pursuing UC Master Gardener Training.
-
How did the Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk get started?
The Help Desk has changed over the years. Emma Connery wasn’t there at the beginning, but almost…
Emma’s recollections:
The UC Master Gardener program in Contra Costa started in 1983. The intent in starting any program was to have volunteers support the county farm advisor by interfacing with the public on home garden issues. The farm advisor who took on this program was Demetrios Kontaxis. He was the only UC interface to the program, so he was the equivalent of our coordinator, but he did that along with his farm advisor duties. Because of the program’s original intent, I assume the Help Desk began at the same time or a year later.
-
News From Our Garden
By Janet Miller
As the season turns from summer to fall, the work at Our Garden never ends. While we are still harvesting over 500 pounds of food each week, we are also, one by one, pulling summer crops from beds and replanting them with cool-weather veggies. Many beautiful seedlings are growing happily in the propagation area, ready to go in the ground. By the way, we are making many of those seedlings available for sale to Master Gardeners and our visitors. We also have a nice variety of cover crop seed bagged up and available for sale each Wednesday. We, of course, are still battling rodents, aphids and various mites – all of which seem to thrive in hot weather! Still, we are a happy and industrious group of volunteers, answering questions from our many visitors and demonstrating how to grow food and deal with challenges as they arise.
-
A Garden’s Bright Future
Article and Photos By Liz Rottger
Along with nurturing my soul, gardening always helps me straighten out my thoughts. Weeding a particularly bad patch in the garden makes me feel I can restore order in the world. Caring for a small plant struggling to establish itself in a sometimes-harsh environment strengthens my resolve. Summer pruning the water sprouts on my Flavor Queen Pluot, whose phenomenal growth amazes me, not only wears me out but also makes me believe that I still might be in charge of something!
-
New Co-Lead Amanda Merrill on School Gardens
by David George
Recent New Volunteer Training graduate Amanda Merrill has been busy in our program. In addition to sampling other projects, she volunteered last month to be our new School Gardens co-lead for East County schools. Why did she choose to help with our county school gardens, teachers, and students so soon? I interviewed her the other day, and here is what I learned.
-
Speakers Bureau needs your help!
by Hedwig Van Den Broeck under guidance of Andrea Salzman
It takes many of our talented hands to produce these wonderful programs. Unfortunately, we have no Speakers Bureau leadership, and only one webinar team volunteer (BIG thank you, Marissa Smithwick!!!) joined us this year. Therefore, we do not have the volunteer resources to carry on this project as we have done in the past four years. If we cannot find volunteers, the webinar programs will stop at the end of this year.
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME TOGETHER --- We have SO many talented Master Gardeners Volunteers in our midst. Speakers Bureau needs you to join this fabulous and important outreach project! Let us make sure we continue providing such valued education to our community.
-
Completed: Reappointment 2024!
By Dawn Kooyumjian
We have 236 UC Master Gardener volunteers who have completed reappointment for 2024-25. Thank you for supporting the program as we enter a new and exciting UC Master Gardener year. You are the ones who make all the excellent work happen!
-
Our Website in Transition
By Lori Palmquist
Our wonderful website, which has been the hub of extraordinarily useful garden wisdom, will change radically by the end of 2024. UCANR is updating its look and functionality and moving its 521 websites to a more modern, secure, and reliable platform called Drupal.
This move has the Communications project working hard to make the process go as smoothly as possible. On August 14th, I sent an email through VMS to all UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County asking for help with the many tasks we’re being asked to perform to prepare our site for the changeover. Close to 20 CoCoMGs responded by clicking some of the links in the email or by responding and offering their assistance. That was really wonderful.
-
New Volunteer Training Schedule Unveiled
By Dorothy Abeyta and John Fike
The New Volunteer Training team headed by John Fike and Dorothy Abeyta prepares to launch 17 weekly training sessions for the Class of 2025. The sessions occur Thursday afternoons from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the UCCE Bisso Lane Office in Concord. Thirty trainees selected by Janette Drew and the recruitment team will begin their UC Master Gardener journey starting September 26, 2024.
-
Elm Leaf Beetle Causes Considerable Damage
Client’s question
Hello, I was given a business card and told to contact you. I have attached photos of a bug that’s killing the leaves on my tree. What is it?Susan Heckly’s response
Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk. And thank you for sending the photo of the insect on your tree—it makes it easier to make recommendations with a positive identification of the problem.
