Officers,2010

President: Jennifer CorzineVice President: Donna HebertTreasurer: Fred VespermanSecretary: Helen Quinn

Committee ChairsGo Texan Beds: Kathy Dennning & Linda JollyExt. Office Beds: Julia Cosgrove Communications: Helen QuinnChildren’s: Linda Jolly Scholarship: Sandra StuckeyAdmin: Rosella Presswood & Emily PridgeonClass: Jennifer CorzinePainting Texas w/wildflowers: Edmond McGee Co-op: Fred Vesperman

Texas AgriLife Extension: Shane Jennings: MG CoordinatorSandra Cook:: Secretary*****************************

Newsletter Editor:Helen QuinnArticles, photos and other Information due by 27th of each month. Send to:

hortiq@gmail.com

Website:www.grimesmastergardeners.org

HOE! HOE! HOE!Grimes County Master Gardeners Newsletter

Winner of the Texas Master Gardener Association 2nd Place Newsletter Award 2006

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 4, April 2010~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ongoing Projects: *Rose beds and landscaping at Go TexanBuilding, Fairgrounds. *Landscaping at Texas Agri-Life ExtensionOffice.*Painting Texas with Wildflowers

New Project:Helping Ext./EYC with Beautification of Old Carver School – more details inside..

We also participate in once-a-year activitiessuch as Farm Bureau Ag Day, Senior Day and horticulture judging at the County Fair, Boy Scout programs, Courthouse rose beds. Suggestions for new projects are always welcomefor consideration by the Board.

WE ARE NOW ON FACEBOOK –JOIN US!

Other gardening related Facebook sites includeNeil Sperry, Aggie Horticulture and Junior Master Gardeners (JMG)

Green Beans 3/10-5/5Lima Beans 3/10-4/10Pinto Beans 3/10-5/5Sweet Corn 3/5-5/5Cucumber 3/20-6/15Eggplant 3/25-6/10Greens: Celery 3/20-4/30 Swiss Chard 2/1-4/20 Lettuce, Romaine 3/25-5/31Mustard 1/20-4/15Turnips 1/15-4/20Peas: Southern 4/5-6/15 Peppers 4/5-6/15 Radish 1/25-5/5Squash, S & W 3/15-6/15Tomatoes 3/5-4/20

The Herb Garden

It “should” be safe to plant out your tender herbs now. We did have thunder in February, so we could easily see a frost in April, so be prepared to covertender and tropical herbs.

There are many ways to incorporate herbs into the landscape, such as scattering them throughout the vegetable and flower beds, in urns, planters and hanging baskets, in a Native American Indian Medicine Wheel, a Parterre Garden, or a classical Knot Garden, as was made popular in Europe in the 15th Century. A classic design can fill the whole garden, or become a feature that is part of a larger area. The herb foliage is as important to the design as are the flowers. . Above is a traditional design. Try grouping herbs that serve particular purposes, such as Medicinal, Dye, Fragrance, and Culinary. Group plants that like similar growing situations , and plant invasive perennials like mint in buried containers like clay drainage pipes or bottomless large cans that are at least 10” deep. Or, select herbs that flower at the same time or share the same color. Lavenderand blue themes are easy to create with herbs. Or focus on foliage, and plant blue-green or silvery herbs mixed with darker green for contrast. Above all, use your herbs in cooking,, and salads. Enjoy the scent as you brush against them in the garden, and watch the bees and butterflies as they enjoy them too. Herbs Rock!!!

VEGETABLE PLANTING GUIDE APRIL

I

ON THE CALENDAR : APRIL/MAY

Apr 6 – Class –8.30 – 12.30 - Stuckeys' House – Rainwater HarvestingApr 13 – Class – 8.30-12.30 – Lawns & Turfgrass

Apr 15--- Field Trip to Brookwood - meet 7.45am Walmart Parking Lot to car pool. Contact Donna for further information.

Apr 16 – 12.00 pm-3.30pm A&M Garden Club Annual Flower Show, Senior Circle room, 1651 Rock Prairie, CS.

Apr 20 – 8.30-12.30 – Ext. Office tour, wrap-up and lunch at Go TexanApr 8-9-10 TMGA Annual Conference, Dallas/Las Colinas

Apr 24 – Work day at Carver School May 6 Farm Bureau AG Day

May 11 – GCMG Regular meeting9.30 am Go Texan building

If you know of something coming up, please let me know!!

We enjoyed an interesting program in March about beekeeping,, by Jim Kelling , President of Central Texas Beekeepers Association, who brought a demo hive with him. We in Grimes County are proud to claim ownership of the Weaver Apiaries, one section of which raises and ships Queens all over the world. We in Texas do not appear to have been as badly affected by the Colony Collapse Disease experience in other parts of the country. European Honeybees must like it here!Speaker at Class was Tom LeRoy of Montgomery Countyon Fruit and Nut Production for the home garden.

Regular meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each monthat the Go Texan Building, Grimes Co. Fairgrounds, 9.00 am.,

except as noted below. Two evening meetings held atmembers' homes, and two Saturday field trips, enable

members who work to participate.

Recipe from Veria.com

Sunny's Texas Cactus Breakfast

• Prove you're at home on the range with this egg dish prepared with freshly cleaned cactus pads. Pass the hot sauce!

• Submitted by: Sunny Savage • Level: Intermediate • Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings • Total Time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

2 or 3 prickly pear pads, cleaned to yield 2 cups 1 cup sliced onions

1 tablespoon southwestern seasoning 4 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons cilantro 4 eggs

toasted corn tortillas

PREPARATION

• Singe cactus pads over an open flame, and put them in a bucket of clean sand. While wearing rubber gloves, rub cactus between hands to loosen spines, then rinse in wat er.

Cut off base of cactus pad and trim edges on all sides. Cut pad in half and cut down the middle into strips.

Cook onions in a skillet over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, add the prepared cactus and sauté another 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, seasoning a nd cilantro.

In a small bowl, scramble eggs, then add to cactus mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until eggs have set up.

Serve on toasted corn tortillas.

“Common Name: Great leopard moth Scientific Name: Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll) Order: Lepidoptera

Description: The great leopard moth, Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), with a 3 -inch wingspan, is white with black open -circular spots on the forewings and a metallic blue abdomen with orange mar kings. Caterpillars grow to about 2 inches. The caterpillars are fuzzy black caterpillars with the underlying body color of red to orange.

Life Cycle: Caterpillars can be abundant in the spring time. They can sometimes be seen crossing roads so commonly t hat motorists notice them. The adult moths are common under lights at night later in the season to mid summer. There may be a second generation later in the year.

Habitat and Food Source(s): Caterpillars feed on a variety of broad leaved plants that seem to be mostly weeds.

Pest Status, Damage: They are not considered pests except a bit in pastures. They are abundant enough for many people to notice them.”

For additional information, contact your local Texas AgriLife Extension agent or search for other state Extension offices.

Literature: Metcalf, Flint and Metcalf. 1962. Swan and Papp 1978.

Great leopard moth, Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), adult. Photo by Drees.

Giant leopard moth Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), la rva. Photo by Jackman.

From the book: Field Guide to Texas Insects , Drees, B.M. and John Jackman Copyright 1999 Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas

I found this moth caterpillar on my sidewalk today and researched it in Dr. Drees book. What a great resource for identifying insects. Kathy Laughlin (my photo)

Arbor Day

Arbor Day is a celebration of a future filled with trees. It celebrates the planting and nurturing of trees as well as all the ways trees enrich our lives and stabilize our environment. Arbor Day’s origins have been traced back to the fifth ce ntury when Swiss villagers gathered to plant groves of oak trees. The event was turned into a festival enjoyed by all. The first appearance of Arbor Day in the United States was in 1872 when J. Sterling Morton guided the first Arbor Day resolution throug h the Nebraska state legislature. During the 20 th century, it became clear that the nation’s forest were being exhausted through timber harvesting and wildfires. This got the government moving to suppress wildfires and to plant trees. As the science of forest management was emerging, President Theodore Roosevelt , a strong supporter of Arbor Day sent a letter to the children of the United States in which he wrote, “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almo st as hopeless.” In Texas, Arbor Day first appeared in Temple on February 22, 1889. Since then Arbor Day has been celebrated on many dates. Today Arbor Day is celebrated in Texas anytime from November through April. The governor of Texas has made a pro clamation declaring the last Friday in April the official state Arbor Day. This year the Grimes County Master Gardeners are going to celebrate Arbor Day on April 30 th at the Grimes County Fair Grounds flagpole flowerbed. Our celebration will include th e planting of a tree in that flowerbed as a memory of Tom Sloan, who passed away in December 2009. Tom was the husband of Master Gardener Peggy Sloan. Tom helped the Master Gardeners in many ways so we want to remember and honor him with a tree planted i n his name. Please make plans to come out and join us. By: Sandra Stuckey Reference: http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/main/popup.aspx?id=1291

Beautificaton of Carver School

We will be helping Leticia in a beautification project at the old Carver School in Navasota. This is a five-year project, and on April 24th we will be starting to make planting beds alongthe sidewalk. And hopefully start planting the many plants that have already been purchased. We will know more details nearer to the time, but keep April 24 clear on yourcalendars!!

REMINDER TO EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN USING MULCH AND OTHER GARDEN PRODUCTS

Contributed by Carol Garnett (edited)

It has recently been reported that dogs and cats ingesting cocoa bean mulch can become very sick, and even suffer death. The mulch is available from major retailers in their garden departments, and carries no warnings. It smells like chocolate, which is particularly appealing to some dogs, and contains a potentially lethal ingredient called theobromine. Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate, which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline.

Not all dogs/cats will eat the stuff, and of those who do, not all will die. However, if you choose to use the product be aware of what could happen. For more information on the validity of this warning, visit http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

Another item for your calendar

Based on the results of the “survey” regarding seminars, it was decided'to go ahead with plans for a fall seminar similar to the one we held last year. Itwill be on either 1st, 2nd or 3rd Saturday of September, and the topics are expectedto be: Integrated Pest Management (for applicator license CEUsFruit & Nuts for Grimes CountyWildflowers – selection and planting how-to

There will be much more information coming during the following months, And opportunities to earn volunteer hours.

Leroy Collins, Landscape Architect, teaches class starting at Martha's Bloomers