Jeff has been with the UCCE San Bernardino County Master Gardener program since 2019, and he has always been great at brainstorming outreach, but it was the “worm window” where I first became aware of his genius!  Through our planning meetings for an upcoming Master Gardener event in the high desert Jeff had an idea for how we could share the world of the vermicomposting worms with the public and this is when I knew that Jeff really had a unique and wonderful way at looking at education! I don't want to give away all the details since I think you should see it for yourself to get the full effect, but basically, he set up a viewing window in a small container to be able to see the worm up close in its semi natural habitat.

 

When it comes to sharing Master Gardeners' love of gardening with an eye on a scientific message, there are often a lot of logistics that need to be sorted through, and Jeff has a great capacity and interest in doing just that. He is wonderful at working through the details of how to create interesting displays and sharing information that really speaks to the topic, but is also fun and exciting. I can see the engagement and wonder on people's faces when he works Master Gardener information tables and makes presentations because he always includes that fun and hands on element!

 

Jeff is also a strong advocate for small space gardening and does some amazing things himself at home in his growing space that he is able to share with people and let them know that they can do it too.  Jeff has been invaluable at planning meetings bringing many new ideas to the program on outreach and ways to share our gardening information with all of you. I look forward to all the innovations that Jeff will continue to bring to our program!  Here is a little more on Jeff that he has shared with us.         

 

Thank you, Jeff, for all you do as a UCCE Master Gardener in the high desert and beyond!

 

                                                            -Maggie O'Neill, Master Gardener Program Coordinator

 

Tell us a little about yourself.

 

I live in Apple Valley which is in the Mojave Desert, I work in education, and I have been a UCCE Master Gardener since 2019. I find it challenging to garden not only in the desert, but also in a small space.

 

 

Why did you decide to be a UCCE Master Gardener?

 

I became a Master Gardener volunteer to improve my gardening skills through the training program. I also wanted to inspire people to grow vegetables or other plants wherever they live. For instance, someone without a yard may still be able to grow some herbs, succulents, or possibly even small vegetables if they have a window that gets a lot of sun. 

 

 

What are your gardening passions?

 

I like to grow edible plants, such as vegetables and herbs, along with a few native or water-wise plants to keep the pollinators happy. In addition, I have been growing houseplants for many years. I grow most of my plants in containers and some in the windows.

 

 

What is a tidbit or two you've learned as a UCCE Master Gardener that the public reading our newsletter could gain from?

 

If you are having a garden challenge, someone else has probably had the same issue and it is good to know that you are not alone. Also, if you have pests in the garden, it is important to correctly identify them. Then, the proper control methods can be used at the correct time to manage the pests.

 

 

What advice would you give someone considering becoming a UCCE Master Gardener?

 

Anyone that is considering becoming a UCCE Master Gardener should be aware that there is a volunteer component to the program. After completing the required training, UCCE Master Gardeners are required to complete a certain number of volunteer and continuing education hours annually to maintain their certifications. Volunteering with the public allows a Master Gardener to not only provide information to the public, but also to meet and learn from others who are gardening in their county.

 

 Note:  The attached garden photos are another one of Jeff's talents! They are taken by Jeff of his garden, and showcases another talent of his, photography!

 

You may have heard us say at our information tables, workshops or on social media that “UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners are here to help!”  So to bring in the new year I wanted to talk about all the ways we are here to help you in your gardening adventures and with your community gardening efforts.

Master Gardener Helpline (Free!): You can find us at many events and workshops throughout the county, but we are just a phone call or email away, as well!  If you have questions about what's bugging your garden, or why your tree is looking unhealthy, what tree would be good to plant in your area, or what you should plant this time of year, Master Gardeners are here to help answer those questions.  No question is too small, silly, or unimportant.  Our volunteers go through dozens of hours of training and the volunteers who address your questions through our helpline love to be detectives and help you solve your plant mysteries and provide you with the tools to keep your garden and landscape healthy in the future, so don't be shy!  We love that you can email us photos too, since a picture speaks a thousand words. Give our free helpline a try! Call us at: 909-387-2182 or Email us at:  mgsanbern@ucanr.edu

Newsletter: You already have access to our monthly newsletter since you are reading this but if it's a shared copy and you'd like your own newsletter emailed to you directly, sign up on this link: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=35784  Our newsletter includes our calendar of upcoming free educational events, where you can find us each month, links to some great blog posts and more! Please feel free to share it with friends, family, and colleagues.

Online classes:  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we took our educational classes online on topics ranging from growing food at home to how you can keep your trees alive during a drought.  As the pandemic restrictions began to lighten up and we could go back to being in person we decided to keep doing some of our classes online for a few reasons. One, San Bernardino County is the largest geographical county in the U.S. so it allows people from all over to conveniently and safely attend, and also saves time for residents of the valley due to traffic. We will keep offering classes online for those that like to attend that way, while also (as safe) continue to return to in-person face-to-face events as safe to do so.!  Check out our list of classes at: https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/

In person classes: Ready to go back to being in person for our classes?  We are doing that too!! Visit our website and find out where we will be in person teaching classes and workshops. https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/Calendar_of_Events/

YouTube channel: Did you know we have a YouTube channel now too?  We are posting some of our classes that we have done online there if you missed them or want to go back and review them.  We are also always adding short videos on a variety of topics. We encourage you to go to YouTube and subscribe!  You can go to our website for a list of our videos: https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/Recent_Presentations/Videos/ or go directly to our YouTube channel to check them out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfbx0-Jvr1_PfZp8j1KHzA

Online and In Person “Ask a Master Gardener” time:  Once a month we answer gardening questions from the public online.  Consider it like a live helpline!  We have had people walk us virtually around their gardens and landscapes asking “What is wrong with this plant?” “Why won't this broccoli grow?” or “What should I plant here?”  It is lots of fun for us, too, and we learn so much talking with all of you. Please join us the 2^nd Sunday of each month online from 11am to 1pm with your gardening and landscaping questions!  You can drop in any time during the two hour session:  https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/?calitem=519362&g=61974

Want to bring your plant problems to us in person? Check out our in person “Ask a Master Gardener” time at the Sam J. Racadio Library in Highland (7863 Central Avenue) the 2^nd Sat of each month from 11am to 1pm, as well, where the Master Gardeners are always ready to answer all of your gardening questions, too!

Website: Look around our website for helpful resources and more, that's another way we are here to help! 

Social Media: Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too, to find out what were up to and more @mgpsanbern

You can also find us at Farmer's Market's throughout the county where we have information tables to answer your gardening questions and share about upcoming events.  We are working with local community gardens to provide support and also at many we teach classes each month.  Currently we are teaching monthly classes at the Chino and Rialto community gardens, the Seeds of Joy community garden in Ontario and are going to start working with the new Fontana community garden and a few more so check here to see where you can find us at a community garden each month: https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/Calendar_of_Events/

Want us to teach at your community garden, club, or local nonprofit?   Or help with your local school or community garden? We can do that too!  Just send an email to our helpline and we can set something up!  Call us at: 909-387-2182 or Email us at:  mgsanbern@ucanr.edu

Become a Master Gardener to you can help your community too!!  We are currently accepting applications for our Class of 2022 Master Gardener training course and we would love to have you join our team!  Go to our website to learn more: https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/Become_a_Master_Gardener_2/

So as we look forward to 2022 and all the gardening potential it has know that we are here to support you in many ways through your gardening adventure, and supporting you is something that Master Gardeners are trained and love to do so don't be shy and give “Asking a Master Gardener” a try today!!

As a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener and UC ANR employee, I am fortunate to have many opportunities to partner with amazing farmers, gardeners, and educators. I am particularly in awe of educators who fully integrate outdoor spaces into their teaching. One of these educators is Jackie Lacey, the Environmental Education Resource Teacher at Kimbark Elementary School. She teaches a combination of Next Generation Science Standards and environmental concepts to all classes from TK (transitional kindergarten) through sixth grade. Jackie has been in her current position for 12 years and teaching at Kimbark for 26 years. Even after all this time, she maintains her enthusiasm for creating engaging, hands-on projects for her students.

Kimbark Elementary is a Technology and Environmental Science Magnet School in the rural community of Devore, about 12 miles northwest of downtown San Bernardino. When I visited the school in early November, the expansive grounds were still green and shaded by a variety of mature trees. The school has drought-tolerant, vegetable, and native plant gardens, and Jackie's classroom is home to a menagerie of animals including fish, snakes, a rabbit, and a tortoise. No wonder the students think Jackie's the “fun teacher”!

When I asked Jackie how she approaches environmental education, she said she uses a conservationist approach. She wants students to go out and experience nature while remembering to conserve resources for future generations. To inspire a love for nature, Jackie takes her students outside as much as possible. She summed it up this way: “I feel like the best way for kids to learn about the environment is by getting out there and getting dirty.”

At Halloween time, her students created “trash-o-lanterns” by filling pumpkins grown in the vegetable garden with trash and burying them in the ground. Around Earth Day in April, they'll dig them up to see what happens. Pumpkins and other organic materials will decompose while plastics and inorganic materials will remain intact. Jackie believes this type of experiential learning will help her students understand the importance of recycling. She wants kids to know they have the power to make changes and choices every day.

Continuing the recycling theme, Jackie created a “trash graph” with the kindergarten classes. She gave the students gloves and helped them pick up all the trash on the playground. Back in the classroom, they dumped the trash on the floor and sorted it into categories including masks, plastic bottles, food wrappers, and pencils. Then they tallied the number of items in each category and made a bar graph. The students discovered that the categories with the largest number of items were wrappers and masks. Jackie used this as a teachable moment to discuss how waste is damaging the environment and how it can be recycled.

Jackie loves using the garden to teach. It's not just about planting, maintaining, pulling weeds, and watering. It's about becoming an investigator. When Jackie and her students go out in the garden, they look for signs of animal habitat and talk about life cycles and food chains. The pumpkin patch is a great place to observe the life cycle of a plant from seed to vine to blossom to pumpkin and back to seed. The students even found a black widow spider living in a pumpkin and preying on insects—an example of a food chain.

Jackie uses produce grown in the garden as the basis for nutrition and cooking lessons, such as making bread from zucchini or salsa from tomatoes and peppers. These lessons give her students the chance to try new foods, and they are more likely to eat foods they've helped grow.

When I asked Jackie how she includes the animals in her classroom in her teaching, she replied that she uses them to talk about the different types of animals and their adaptations. She noted, “There's nothing better to teach about reptiles than to bring out one of the snakes or to go hang out in the back area with our tortoise.” The students examine the underside of a snake and learn how its scales help it slither along the ground. They discuss the functions of the fur and claws of a rabbit and the fins and gills of a fish. Many students have never had pets at home; so caring for animals in the classroom teaches them responsibility and respect for living creatures.

What Jackie likes most about her job is working with all students in the school continually over the years. She says that every day is completely different, and she never knows what's going to happen. While she has set lesson plans, she's always willing to change them to accommodate the students and the circumstances. In the time of COVID-19, Jackie especially enjoys spending time outdoors with the kids, watching them run around and have fun.

The San Bernardino Master Gardeners are collaborating with Jackie and Kimbark Elementary to design a portion of the native plant garden and rehabilitate the vegetable garden beds with gopher-proofing, soil, and compost. By partnering with UCCE San Bernardino, Jackie hopes to gain knowledge and improve her program by asking questions, sharing ideas, and watching Master Gardeners at work.

To learn more about the Kimbark's Environmental Education Program, I invite you to attend the upcoming virtual School and Community Garden Collaborative Workshop on Saturday, January 29, from 9 to 11:30 am. Jackie will give a presentation about “Engaging 21st Century Students with Environmental Education”. We will have a great lineup of speakers followed by a breakout session to share feedback and resources. Register on the Master Gardener website using this link. Start the new year with fresh ideas and inspiration from your fellow gardeners!

Here are a few planting tips for your “cool season” veggies:

1)      Selecting varieties: There are lots of things to think about when it comes to selecting which type of veggies you will grow.  Keep in mind things like disease resistance qualities, flavor, size, quality, pollination needs, and if they are open pollinated rather than hybrid if you are seed saving.  If you are shopping at local garden centers rather than through catalogs then that often narrows down the choices you have and can sometimes make it easier to choose.  Smaller garden centers should sell fruits and veggies that are appropriate for your area, but it's always good to ask!  Larger garden centers that are part of chain stores don't always have seasonally appropriate veggies and often have sales to move plants that did not sell at the end of the season, so keep that in mind when shopping.  If shopping through a catalog then be sure the plants you select are appropriate for your area as well since these companies are located all over the county, and sell all over the country and world!

2)      Soil quality matters for fruits and veggies! Most veggies and fruits do best in soil that is well draining and rich in organic matter.  If you have sandy soil, or heavy clay soil, you can amend your planting area with compost to improve water holding capacity and improve drainage respectively.  Adding compost is a great way to increase the organic matter in your soil.  Compost is relatively low in nutrients, so it's not a replacement for fertilizer, but it adds to the overall soil and microbe health so it's great stuff!!

3)      Fertilizing your veggies: If you are planting transplants that you grew yourself or that you bought at the store you can add fertilizer to the soil when planting and then fertilize approx. every 4 to 6 weeks.  If you are planting seeds directly into the soil (which is the preferred method for root veggies like carrots and radishes) no need to fertilize when planting but you can begin fertilizing about when the plant is about 4 to 6 inches tall.

4)      Mulch is for veggies too!  Adding mulch to your cool season veggies will keep weeds down and help keep moisture in the soil, which is especially important if we have a long dry winter.

5)      Keep your plants from getting overwatered! While rain may seem like a distant memory …….sometimes we get too much at one time in the winter and spring.  Keep an eye on your veggies and fruits when we get a lot of rain to try to avoid having them sit in soggy or standing water.  Make sure if you are planting in pots that they have adequate drainage holes.  If you are planting in a low spot of your yard, consider planting on berms or mounds or in a raised bed.  For your larger plants and fruit trees that have troughs around them to hold water you may need to open the ring to allow excess water to flow out.

6)      Protecting your plants from cold snaps! Having a plan in place to protect cool season veggies from cold snaps will help you be prepared for the handful of days that we have below freezing.  You can buy frost cloth from your local garden center, or use sheets to protect your plants.  If you use plastic to keep your plants warm be sure the plastic is not touching the plants to avoid frost damage and when the temperature warms a bit in the day it's important that there is some air circulation given to the plants.  Leaving the plants fully covered can lead to pathogens that damage your plants.

7)      Water born plant diseases, like mildews and molds, can be a problem when we have a wet, humid winters.  While we can't control what nature has to offer, we can take steps to make sure we reduce the amount of moisture that sits on our plants.  If we haven't had any rain but it's cool and humid in the mornings avoid getting any water on your veggies leaves.  In the summer that moisture will usually evaporate off, but in the winter that moisture sits on the leaves longer and is a great environment for molds and fungus.  You can also plant varieties of plants that are more resistant to these airborne, moisture facilitated diseases.

8)      Pest management in your cool season garden.  Common cool season pests are slugs and snails, gophers, caterpillars and aphids to name a few.  To learn more about what's “bugging” your garden check out our UC Integrated Pest Management website (UC IPM http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html ) or contact our Master Gardener Helpline for help at mgsanbern@ucanr.edu.  The most important thing to remember when dealing with garden pests is to use best management practices to keep your plants healthy, to properly ID your pests so that you are treating the right pest in the right way, and lastly to use least toxic methods possible. 

9)      Looking to bring more pollinators into your yard?  Cool season veggies are often overlooked as a source of nectar for pollinators since we usually eat the leaves, immature flowers, stalks and roots of the plants, but they flower too!! If your crops “blot” (send out a flower stalk too soon) due to late season heat then consider not pulling them out, but instead letting them go to flower for the pollinators (they also make some really pretty flowers) and then maybe you can save seeds from them too!

Hopefully with these tips and list of cool season veggies you are excited to grow a little or grow a lot in your cool season

garden!!  Cool season veggies can be some of the most nutritious things we can grow in our garden and with a little practice can be a lot easier to grow since we are not dealing with 110 degree days!!  For a few suggestions on what to grow in the winter check out last month's blog: https://ucanr.edu/b/~mAD Check out our free online and in person classes that will cover different aspects of cool season plant care, pest management, and sustainable landscaping at https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/.  Or join us at our info tables located throughout the county to ask us questions in person (locations can be found on our website under “Classes and Events” tab)!!