Sprouting interest
Growing interest in gardening sprouts programs to aid producersBy JILL SCHRAMM, Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
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Fact Box
Education is focus of horticulture group
By JILL SCHRAMM
Staff Writer
jschramm@minotdailynews.com
Long-time gardener Ken Eraas comes from a family of gardeners. But a desire to learn even more about gardening is one of the reasons he is a member of the Northwest Association of Horticulture.
Eraas said he enjoys experimenting with unusual plants and new ways to garden so having an association that focuses on education and networking is valuable to him.
"If people are new to gardening it's a good place to come because there's a lot of good experience," he said, noting that people are willing to share, whether it's their expertise, plants from their gardens or the good eating from their gardens and kitchens.
The association meets the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. in Vincent United Methodist Church, unless a program is scheduled for another location. The $10 annual membership entitles members to discounts at local nurseries and greenhouses.
The Nov. 12 meeting will feature wreath-making at Lowe's Garden Center, and the Dec. 10 meeting will be the Christmas potluck party.
Marilyn Undhjem, association president, said summer meetings often are held at members' homes to include garden tours. The group has taken trips to visit wineries, nurseries and conservatories in Minnesota and Canada.
"We are a pretty laid-back group. We like to have fun," Undhjem said.
Because members come to learn, each meeting includes an educational program. Some members are able to share their knowledge as graduates of the Extension Service's Master Gardener program. A group of Master Gardeners started the association in 1985.
Members come from all walks of life and vary from those with many acres of garden to small plots, said Marlene Erdman, a charter member. They have used their gardening knowledge to benefit the community, she said.
Over the years, the association has gone into school classrooms to teach children about growing plants. They set up the Dr. Charles and Ruth Hoffman Scholarship Fund at Minot State University to benefit life science students. They have awarded scholarships to horticulture students at Dakota College at Bottineau and have conducted community service projects. For example, members planted and maintained flowers at the train depot and worked with Habitat for Humanity, YWCA, State Fair and the Scandinavian Heritage Park on landscaping or plantings. The association donates to the Minot Public and Ward County libraries to buy gardening books and videos and has donated to Minot High School FFA.
To raise money, members hold a plant exchange each spring and fall, with proceeds from sales among the members going toward the association.
Nancy Rakness joined the association recently because she wanted to make improvements to her yard and needed advice in going about it. She said she needed more help than she could get from just reading gardening books so turned to the association.
"You always learn a lot when you are networking," Rakness said.
Alma Lee returned to floral gardening after moving from a condo into a home with a yard. Insights gained since joining the association last spring have been a good refresher, she said.
"I have learned a lot from this group," she said. "It's been very educational."
Judy Klein, a member for five years, said she is beginning to see the results of all that she's been learning and putting into practice. She finds gardening relieves stress and creates adventure as she experiments with different plants.
"I like to see what comes up. It gets exciting," Klein said.
The gardening season has come to an end in North Dakota, but next spring is bound to sprout another bumper crop of folks eager to dig in the dirt.
"There's growing interest in horticulture," said Tom Kalb, horticulture specialist with the Extension Service in Bismarck.
"We have seen a surge in interest in particularly vegetable gardening," Kalb said. "This is a result of the slowdown in the economy. More and more people are anxious to grow their own food. Studies have shown that there's been a 40 to 50 percent increase in the people who grow vegetable gardens over the last couple of years."
The Minot area is sharing in some of that growing interest.
"A lot of our educational programs that we do in horticulture, we are devoting a portion of that time to educational programs on vegetable products," said Mike Rose, Ward County Extension agent. "A high percent of our gardening calls now are also on vegetables and how to raise them and problems associated with specific vegetables."
The Northwest Association of Horticulture saw its membership increase this year to 111, a record number.
The Extension Service's Master Gardeners Program in Minot had 17 people enroll this fall, also a record.
Minot leads the state in the number of its trained Master Gardeners, Kalb said.
"Our objective in this training is to develop a team of volunteers that can help in our outreach efforts to satisfy this increased demand by consumers for gardening information," he said.
Another source of assistance to budding gardeners is the North Central Research Extension Center, which started a research garden last year. This year the garden had about 130 varieties of flowers and 30 varieties of vegetables. The gardens are open for public viewing during the growing season.
In addition, the Extension Service has a program that works with gardeners across North Dakota to identify the best varieties for backyard gardens.
"We have a team of about 375 gardeners across the state, including many in Minot, that are testing vegetables as well as growing flower varieties for us," Kalb said. "That program has come to be the largest of its kind in the United States. The whole key to that particular program is that we feel that the best way to determine what is a good variety for a home garden is to test it in home gardens under the management of home gardeners as opposed to a research station."
Yet another effort of North Dakota State University and the Extension Service is to identify new enterprises for farm families. For example, the Extension research centers have been experimenting with different varieties of grapes to find the ones best suited to North Dakota.
In the Minot area, a local food initiative is investigating the potential for garden producers to supply certain local market needs. The North Dakota Department of Agriculture is working with 11 communities, including Minot, to survey producers, processing facilities and end users from restaurants and food pantries to schools and hospitals to gather data related to interest in and feasibility of a local food initiative.
The goal of a local food initiative is to provide more markets and a more consistent markets to producers whose main outlet now is a farmers market, Rose said. North Dakota has one of the highest rates of farmers markets per person in the United States, with 7.5 farmers markets per 100,000 people, according to the North Dakota Agriculture Department.
Elizabeth Eckert is heading Minot's local food initiave.
"We are trying to encourage people to be mindful of where their food comes from and to encourage people to make local choices when they can, whether that means growing it in their own backyard garden or shopping at the farmers market," Eckert said.
Mass producing for a grocery or institution raises challenges, though, she added. There is the issue of storage when the harvest comes in. Smaller producers might have difficulty producing the quantity a buyer might desire but could service a restaurant offering a seasonal special. That's why the surveys are an important first step in moving toward more local marketing, Eckert said.
If successful in opening more local markets, she said, the result could be more gardeners extending their seasons with high tunnels, a type of warming tent, or with cool-weather crops.
Meanwhile, a number of cities are showing interest in starting community gardens, Kalb said. Minot is ahead in that area in having a community garden at Rainbow Gardens for many years. In January, the Extension Service will announce a $30,000 grant program for local communities to use toward garden projects. The Extension Service also is looking to expand youth education and Junior Master Gardener programs.
More information for gardeners is available from NDSU at (www.dakotagardener.com). People can sign up to receive a monthly newsletter with gardening tips and feature articles about things that are happening in North Dakota related to gardening.
