Garden

Four times a year a dedicated group of University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener volunteers from across the state gather with Extension Master Gardener program leaders at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to make sure they are all serving the needs of volunteers and Minnesota communities.

Besides their natural beauty, trees provide clean air, filter our water and help save on home energy bills. It’s no wonder we dedicate the entire month of May as Arbor Month to celebrate the ways trees contribute to our lives and society.

Now that spring is here, homeowners may want to walk their property to look for winter damage to woody plants.

U of M Extension Master Gardeners train public housing residents to beautify their surroundings, grow their own food and make their high-rise apartments and town homes feel more like home. The residents do this by becoming Garden Mentors. They take on leadership and facilitation responsibilities in their neighborhood community garden. Garden Mentors currently work the gardens at six high-rises and one town home development.

Master Gardeners in Mower County planted and maintained a vegetable garden that served multiple purposes and benefited many county residents. Volunteers shared more than 1,000 pounds of fresh produce harvested from this vegetable garden in 2018.

Master Gardeners and Mendota Heights city staff have developed a trusting relationship that has resulted in gardening projects including a pollinator-friendly garden at City Hall.

By giving away the easy-care houseplants in pretty containers, along with written instructions for their care, Stevens County Master Gardeners have created awareness and grown interest in gardening with more than 150 college students this year. They also made them feel less lonely being away from home.

Realizing that not everyone has access to land to plant a large-scale vegetable garden, University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners in Hubbard County coordinated a “Patio Vegetable Gardening Program” to reduce that obstacle for food shelf clientele.

For the last six years, Susan Lick, University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener volunteer, has been preparing the soil at the Grand Rapids YMCA vegetable garden with the help of some unusual workers: Itasca County inmates.

“Plants are good for your mental state, even house plants,” says Scott Sindelar, who becomes a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener volunteer this winter after a year of interning in Scott and Carver Counties.