The Roots and Shoots Newsletters are emailed to the Master Gardener membership each month.
Be sure to read this month’s President’s message.
If you need a copy of the current issue, you can email Kathy Rostand.
If you are looking for a previous issue of Roots and Shoots, please see Jason Kirby in The Library at Birmingham Botanical Gardens when it is open again or email Jason.
Below are some of the September highlights:
Bethany's Extension Extras
BETHANY’S EXTRAS
I know we’re all ready for some cooler weather. Don’t forget that there’s still time to plant a fall vegetable garden. Go to www.aces.edu for Extension’s publication “The Basics of Fall Vegetable Gardening”. Many plants which stop producing because of prolonged heat in the summer can be resown or replanted successfully. For frost sensitive plants, count “time to harvest” backwards from Jefferson County’s “average” last frost date of November 6th. And remember, many plants like carrots, kale, parsnips, and turnips actually improve with a taste of frost.
Now is also the time to make sure that you accumulate and record your 25 volunteer hours and 10 Continuing Education hours required to keep your Master Gardener certification current. Accumulating CEU hours doesn’t have to be expensive. After every JCMGA meeting which has an educational component, we publish the CEU credits granted. In addition, educational articles and videos on www.aces.edu note the amount of CEU credit you can record. While some articles may only take a minute to digest, in-depth articles can give you 15-30 minutes of credit for free.
Around this time of year, we start to get a lot of inquiries about the next Master Gardener class. If you get questions about the Master Gardener program, you may want to help by sharing the official description, including a brief history, with prospective interns:
The Alabama Master Gardener Volunteer Program is an
educational volunteer recruitment program offered through the
Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Volunteers work with
Extension to bring the latest horticultural information to their
communities. The concept of Master Gardener volunteer training
began at Washington State University. In Alabama, the program
began in 1981 with Extension agent Gary Murray and an energetic
Cornell Extension Master Gardener, Mary Lou McNabb, who had
moved to Huntsville.
The online application for next year’s class, which starts the first week of
February 2023, should be available soon. Prospective interns can email me at
bethany@aces.edu with questions in the interim. The class typically fills up in
early December.
Master Gardener Library
Check out the Alabama Master Gardener Library
PowerPoint Presentations, created by Alabama Advanced Master Gardeners, extension agents, and university instructors, represent varied areas of expertise and interest. In keeping with our mission of outreach and continuing education, library presentations have been chosen for length and topic as suitable for a “Lunch & Learn”, a membership meeting, a community program, or interesting browsing for Master Gardeners.
Sign into the Reports link and choose the "MG Library" link at the top.
