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September 2018

Inside this issue: Page #:

Volunteer Project pictures 2-5

Meeting pictures 6 - 7

Wild Cucumber vine 8

Alternatives to Roundup 9

Okra 10

Upcoming events in the area 10

Reminder on MG time sheets 11

Educational Opportunities 11

Manitowoc Master Gardener Info 12

Meeting Minutes 13 - 18

Master Gardener Beds

Bed by Mary Bergner—veggie garden favorites

Bed by Carol Lallensack— Dusty Millers and Red Salvia show off the fair colors.

Bed by Mary Shimon and Eileen Kummer—lots of Cosmos!

Bed by Chris Boeder—sun loving plants

The gardens at the Expo for the Manitowoc County Fair were very

successful this year!

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Steve Strouf working at St Francis Church on Waldo

Doreen Strouf working at St Francis Church on Waldo

Sue Elliot’s garden on the Mariners Trail

Carol Lallensack working at Giving Garden for Headstart project

Volunteer Projects

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Rosie Bugs at MG plant clinic

Pat Hollen at Zoo Gazebo

Linda Brandel, Eileen Kummer & Mary Shimon for St Francis Church on the Mariners Trail.

Phyllis Long (Stitt), Sue Elliott and Chelle Blaszczyk doing downtown Manitowoc planters

Volunteer Projects continued

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Volunteer Projects continued

Working at Woodland Dunes during our June 25th Meeting

Working at Woodland Dunes during our June 25th Meeting

A visitor to the Expo gardens.

Working at Woodland Dunes during our June 25th Meeting

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Volunteer Projects continued

Linda Gratz's garden on Mariners Trail

Another view of Linda, Eileen and Mary’s garden on the Mariners Trail.

Mary Shimon working on the Expo Garden

Bernie Zimmer’s garden for Service League of Manitowoc County

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July 23rd MG Meeting at Chris Boeder’s

Chris Boeder hosted our July 23rd meeting at her home. We toured her amazing gardens. So many unique plants and garden art packed into one yard!

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August 27th MG Meeting at

Green Bay Botanical Garden Our August 27th meeting was a field trip to the Green Bay Botanical Garden. Members took a bus to the Botanical Garden, spent time wandering through the spectacular gardens and had a short meeting.

The only kind of rabbit I want to see in my

garden!

Idea for next year?

Beautiful pots!

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WILD CUCUMBER

Echinocystis lobata

Have you been noticing a bright green vine that has been climb-ing up trees and fence lines this summer? What you are seeing is wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata), a member of the Cucur-bitaceae family which includes cucumbers, squash, and melons. Wild cucumber is a native plant of Wisconsin and most of North America. As an annual, wild cucumber dies every winter, but can come back again in the spring since the plant is very good at re-seeding itself. Wild Cucumber is a rapid-growing plant that can achieve 25-30 feet of growth in a year! It is commonly present in road ditches, swamps, and other rural areas. Due to the aggres-sive growth and vining habit on trees or shrubs, wild cucumber is often considered a weed, however it is NOT an invasive species. You are likely seeing more wild cucumber this year due to last year’s drought. When a plant is stressed, it often produces more seeds to try to protect itself. This is then seen as an increase in the presence of the plant the following year, due to the larger number of seeds present in the soil.

What can you do to control wild cucumber? For homeowners, the good news is that it can be easily controlled in the spring with pulling or hoeing small plants. If you have plants larger than 2 feet tall, cutting the vines near the base can be effective, although you may have to repeat this treatment, as this is a persistent annual that can regrow. Herbicides can be effective in control-ling wild cucumber while the plant is relatively small and PRIOR to climbing on another plant. After wild cucumber starts climbing another plant, it becomes impractical to apply herbicide without causing damage to the underlying plant. Any control method is best done prior to plant flowering and fruiting to prevent production of viable seeds. Continual removal of wild cucumber plants in an area on a yearly basis will eventu-ally deplete the seed bank so that no more plants can sprout in the area.

For more information on the biology of wild cucumber, please visit:

http://wimastergardener.org/sites/wimastergardener.org/files/Echinocystis_lobata.pdf or go to http://wimastergardener.org and search “wild cucumber” to find the relevant information.

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Many gardeners, including me, were thrilled that RoundUp was recently the center of national at-tention. Monsanto (recently merged with Bayer), the company that manufactures this chemical herbicide, was slapped with a $289 million lawsuit after they were found liable in a lawsuit by a school groundskeeper who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using the weed killer product Roundup at his job. Below are some post-emergent weed killing alternatives to nasty Roundup: Avenger Weed Killer. Citrus oil. OMRI approved (Organic Material Review Institute)

ALLDown. 20% vinegar weed killer, plus citric acid. OMRI approved

Phydura. Clove oil and vinegar. OMRI approved Also:

Intense Heat. Weed Dragon is one popular tool for eliminating weeds. Learn more about this tool as well as safety tips at Gardening Products Review.com

Boiling water. Easy-peasy, but don't spill any on you!

Reprinted with permission from Perennially Yours newsletter by Kerry Ann Mendez

Note:

Avenger Weed Killer can be purchased from its website http://www.avengerorganics.com. It can also be ordered from Amazon.com Walmart.com and Homedepot.com.

AllDown can be purchased from its website https://summersetproducts.com.

Phydura can be purchased from its website http://www.americanatural.com.

Alternative Weed Killers to Roundup

Time for Fall!

Interested in finding the peak times for fall foliage? This link, https://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map/, will take you to an interactive map that will show you the peak times based on the date you pick. Looks like most of Wisconsin will be at peak between October 15th and 22nd.

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Last year I tried okra in my garden at the Expo. But due to problems with the beds, all I got was dead plants. I wasn't going to give up on trying okra so I planted it in my garden at home this sum-mer. I bought seeds from a local store and planted them in the first week of June.

Okra is a part of the family of plants which includes the rose of Sharon, hibiscus and hollyhock. The flower of the okra plant is quite pretty.

Okra likes warm weather and soil that drains well. The pods are ready to harvest in about 2 months.

Once the pods are between 2-3 inches long, you will want to harvest them otherwise they become woody. Okra is a “cut and come again” vegetable. Keep cutting the pods every couple of days and they will keep coming.

There are many good recipes to be found on the internet that contain okra. I made a shrimp and andouille sausage gumbo with my first cutting of okra.

Okra has many nutritional benefits—it contains potassium, vitamin B, vitamin C, folic acid, and calcium. It's low in calories and has a high dietary fiber content.

Okra can be frozen using either blanching and placing the whole pod in Ziploc bags or can be frozen without blanching by just cleaning and put-ting into freezer bags. I blanched mine so we’ll see what they taste like in a couple of months. Okra can also be canned.

Submitted by Mary Bergner

Okra in my garden

Upcoming events of interest: ORGANIZATION DATE EVENT FOR MORE INFORMATION

Wimga Sept 21st - 22nd Wisconsin Master Gardener Conference – Autumn at the River

https://wimastergardener.org/events/wisconsin-master-gardener-conference-autumn-at-the-river/

Dodge County Master Gardeners Nov 3rd, 2018 Gardening for Gold https://dodge.uwex.edu/files/2017/08/2018-Gardening-for-Gold.pdf

Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Nov15th, 2018 Birdscaping in the Midwest https://foxvalleyarea.wildones.org/

Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Jan19th, 2019 23rd Annual Toward Harmony with Nature Conference

https://foxvalleyarea.wildones.org/

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Get your continuing education with our new Level 2 Plants Plus Series – a remix of past training presentations, printed materials and other references focused on specific plants or topics to help you increase your knowledge so you can better answer homeowner questions. To get 2 hours of continuing education credit for watching and reading this package of information, just complete

http://fyi.uwex.edu/mastergardener/article/tree-roots/

https://wimastergardener.org/article/apples/

https://wimastergardener.org/article/root-crops/

https://wimastergardener.org/article/worms/

https://wimastergardener.org/article/invasive-plants/

https://wimastergardener.org/article/shade-and-light/

Reminder - MG hours due by October 1st, 2018 ! Time sheets for your hours are due by October 1st,2018. They can be handed in to Chelle Blaszcyk or Carol Lallensack at our next meeting on September 24th. They can be emailed to Chelle Blaszcyk at eggchelle@hotmail.com or snail mailed to Chelle at 1108 Creek Trails, Man-itowoc .

If you have questions on sending in your hours, you can call or text Chelle at 920-686-0213 or you can email her.

To be certified for 2018, you must have at least 24 hours of community service and 10 hours of continuing education. The “Criminal Background Check” and “Mandated Reporter Training” is also required to be certified. Chelle will contact members that still need this to be completed.

When compiling your hours, combine them by project. For example:

Garden Talk (1/8, 1/25, 2/13, 3/13) Total of 160 minutes

Girl Scout Presentation (2/14 prep and 3/15 event) Total of 195 minutes

Monthly Meetings Education (2/28, 3/31, 4/26, 8/25) Total of 480 minutes

Any of the Level 1 Training Class from 2017, you have until 10/1/2018 to put in your volunteer hours.

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Plant Clinic Hours

Tuesday & Friday from 10:00am till Noon.

May 1st through September 27

th

Upcoming Meetings

Date / Time Topic/Location Notes

September 24th Yardening - County office

October 22nd Invasive species—County office

November 26th D’s Custom Creations—County office

December ? Holiday Potluck at Linda Brandel’s house

January 2019 No meeting

Manitowoc Master Gardener Info

Master Gardener Board of Directors

President: Linda Brandel & Annette Paul (co-presidents)

Vice President: Linda Gratz

Secretary: Renee Lemberger

Treasurer: Marilyn Starzewski

Board Member: Carol Lallensack

Board Member: Judy Lango

Master Gardener Websites

https://wimastergardener.org/ https://www.wimga.org/

https://manitowoc.uwex.edu/horticulture/