Amid all the COVID-19 restrictions, the UCCE Master Gardeners of Stanislaus County have been hard at work bringing our ‘Learning Landscape' to life at the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center, located at 3800 Cornucopia Way in Modesto. This project is underway thanks to in-kind donations from Modesto Junior College, Grover Landscaping, and Hunter Industries. It's also thanks to community donations and the hard work of our Master Gardener volunteers.

The goal is to create a place to invite the community to visit and observe different types of gardens, learn from hands-on classes and workshops, or to simply come out to enjoy a beautiful space. We also envision school children coming to see examples of pollinator plants, vegetable gardens, and fruit trees, too.

The Learning Landscape can also be a place where Master Gardeners are trained. In May, a small group of us gathered for the first outdoor class by former Horticulture Advisor Ed Perry. He demonstrated how to properly stake a tree. We learned a lot more seeing a demonstration than we did learning from a PowerPoint presentation! This class was a success and will be followed by others in the future. 

We hope you will consider helping us expand our demonstration garden project. Big Dig Day is Friday, June 4 but you can join us Thursday night at midnight to begin donating. All donations will benefit our project. Click this link to donate to our campaign: https://ucanr.edu/sites/BigDig/ Navigate to Stanislaus County, and then choose "Master Gardener Fund" from the drop down menu.

Or, you can send a check made out to "UC Regents" to 3800 Cornucopia Way, Ste A, Modesto, CA 95358.