Greetings newsletter subscribers! Giving Tuesday is next week, Tuesday, November 28, 2022. It's an ideal time of year to support a local organization you care about. If we have answered a question for you, you've learned something new from us by attending a class, or you feel inspired by our work, we hope you'll consider donating to our program.

Currently, we are installing demonstration gardens to be used as outdoor classrooms that the public can visit anytime, and we need your help!

Pollinator Garden 

Our Pollinator Garden is in the installation stage, and we could not be more thrilled. Currently, the irrigation and native plants are going in. Our Master Gardener volunteers were hard at work leveling, raking, and planting just this week.

Thank you Local Donors!

A big “thank you” to the West Resource Conservation District that helped us prepare the garden site, and to our local North San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society https://nsj.cnps.org/ for purchasing and donating the native plants! Many of these species are unusual and not normally found in the landscape. Although newly planted, everyone is welcome to stop by and visit*.

Your Funds Help Make this Garden Happen

Help make this demonstration garden come to life! Funds will be used to purchase additional plants, tools, and educational signage. Our big funding goal is a decomposed granite walkway. This is a pricey item, which can cost several thousand dollars. The benefits are a pathway accessible to everyone that avoids runoff and allows good drainage.

How to Give

Visit this website https://donate.ucanr.edu/ and click on the Master Gardener icon. Then, from the drop down menu labeled “Choose a County,” select “Stanislaus County” to make your desired donation. We are a 501 c3 organization, so your donation is tax deductible. Also, donors will receive a packet of narrowleaf milkweed seeds as a special, “thank you!”

If you prefer to donate by check, please make it out to: UC Regents and send to:
UCC Stanislaus County Master Gardener Program
3800 Cornucopia Way, Ste A
Modesto, CA 95358

Thank you

We look forward to meeting you in the near future in our “outdoor classroom” aka Pollinator Garden for classes on pollinators, California native plants, and how you can support them in your backyard garden, patio, apartment, or classroom.

* Our gardens are located at the Ag Center complex on the corner of Crows Landing and Service Roads in Modesto at 3800 Cornucopia Way, 95358. The Pollinator Garden is on the east side of the Stanislaus building, while the Sensory Garden is on the west side.

Giving Tuesday is November 29, 2022! Please join us in this opportunity to give to your local UCCE Stanislaus County Master Gardener Program. Your dollars are used locally to make our county a better place.

Thanks to generous donations from individuals like you, as well as in-kind donations and funding from sponsors, our Sensory Garden has been installed! In fact, the last landscaping step, adding mulch, will be done by volunteers on Giving Tuesday!

We removed old landscaping and revamped the broken irrigation system for the Sensory Garden space. Grover Landscaping donated time to help with irrigation, and Master Gardener volunteers learned how to install drip irrigation.

These photos show our Master Gardeners installing drip irrigation donated by Hunter Industries, and plants donated by Frantz Nursery.

Where can I see the Sensory Garden?

This garden is located on the east side of the Stanislaus Building, at the main entryway. The garden will be used

to teach classes on drip irrigation and low water use landscaping. It will also be a place where employees and visitors can relax on benches we plan to install later.

The Pollinator Garden

Thanks to a generous donation from the West Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, we are starting our Pollinator Garden. The Great Valley Seed Company donated milkweed seeds which will be planted in the garden, too. Next week, volunteers will be installing irrigation and planting.

How You Can Help

Any amount you can donate helps us grow our gardens and our program! The purpose of the gardens is to showcase low-water use plants the public can see anytime. In addition, the areas will be used as outdoor classrooms to teach topics such as drip irrigation, pollinator gardening, plant identification, low water use gardening, and more!

We also plan to install a pollinator hedgerow to showcase plants farmers can use in rows along their property to provide food for pollinators, in addition to helping keep dust levels low and create privacy. The garden will also include plants for pollinators, especially the endangered monarch butterfly.

Our Goal

We are looking to raise $5,000 to help with irrigation installation, tools, seeds, and other needed materials. We are a 501 c (3), so your donation is tax-deductible. https://ucanr.edu/sites/givingtuesday/ This site allows you to give by credit card. (A fee is taken for the use of a credit card.) If you would prefer to give by check, make your check out to “UC Regents” and mail it to:

UCCE Master Gardener Program
3800 Cornucopia Way, Ste A
Modesto, CA 95358

Thanks for your support!

 

Today is the final push to promote our campaign to raise funds for the Learning Landscape! Last year we raised a little over $2,000 for the project thanks to our generous donors. Now we'd like to add to that amount to fund two specific gardens. 

Despite COVID-19, the Sensory and Pollinator Garden committee volunteers have been hard at work, drawing up their “wish list” of desired plants, path materials, benches, and other structures. Our goal today is to raise $3,000 more for the gardens.

We envision accessible gardens not only for employees of the Ag Center, but for anyone to visit and explore. Bring a picnic lunch, snap photos of plants (and their name tags) and get inspired by plant arrangements. 

Donate Now

Please make your gift for #BigDigDay https://ucanr.edu/sites/BigDig/ now to help us fund the Sensory and Pollinator Gardens! Navigate to Stanislaus County, and then using the drop-down menu, select “Master Gardener Fund.” Your donation will go directly to help fund the garden. You can also send a check made out to UC Regents to 3800 Cornucopia Way Ste A, Modesto, CA 95358.

We have just learned that thanks to matching gifts from UC ANR, $100 will go to the first 40 groups that raise $500 or more total, a $250 prize to the first 4 groups with the most NEW donors, and a $500 prize will go to the first 10 groups that secure a single $500 gift or sponsor. Please donate as soon as you can to help us match our funds, and thank you for considering our project!

As many readers know, University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Stanislaus County recently launched a Master Gardener Program.

This statewide program trains volunteers who then teach residents about composting, using less water in the landscape, growing fruits and vegetables, and how to safely and effectively manage pests in the home and landscape.

Our program is just getting started and it could use your help. We are asking for support on June 5, 2019 on Big Dig Day—a day to “dig in the soil, dig in your heart, and dig in your wallet to support a program you care about!” 

We hope you can help us with our mission to extend research-based knowledge and information on home horticulture, pest management, and sustainable landscaping practices to the community.

Our program needs funds to purchase supplies such as pop-up tents, tables, chairs, banners, and tablecloths for farmers markets and other events. We can also use funds to help provide partial scholarships for residents who might not be able to afford the fee to enroll in our program.

Please join anytime during the 24-hour giving day. If you make a donation, please share your excitement on social media using #BigDigDay and #DigDeep.

Visit the our #BigDigDay page and select “Master Gardener Program” and then “Stanislaus” from the drop-down menu anytime from now until June 5. 

 

UCCE is a division of Agricultural and Natural Resources (UCANR).