MASTER GARDENERSJune 2019 Issue

In this issue Hours reported ......................................................... 1

Tomato Tasting July 20, 2019 ................................... 1

Dates for 2019 .......................................................... 2

Area Happenings ...................................................... 2

June 2019: ................................................................ 3

July Garden Tips ........................................................ 4

Propagation .............................................................. 5

Short Rows ................................................................ 6

Hours reported As of May 31, 2019 Total Volunteer Hours Reported: 142.05 Total Hours Value: $3,147.83 Based on values determined by Independent Sector. Website: https://www.independentsector.org/resource/the-value-of-volunteer-time/ Total Project Miles reported: 662 Total Miles Value: $304.52 Based on values determined by University of Tennessee mileage reimbursement. $0.47/mile Total Value: $3,452.35 Total Direct Contacts by Master Gardeners 559 More on page 2

Tomato Tasting July 20, 2019

Our Tomato Tasting and quarterly meeting is scheduled for July 20, 2019 at Mountain Valley Bank in Dunlap, TN. If you will have tomatoes for the tasting please email Sheldon Barker at sdbarker@utk.edu with varieties.

The tomatoes for the tasting need to be fresh and room temperature, so do not store them in the fridge. Also, please share any information you have about the tomato variety and your thoughts about growing it – disease problems, insects, etc.

2016 Tomato Tasting

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Dates for 2019 • Central Region Conference June 20, 2019 hosted by Sumner County in Gallatin, TN • Quarterly Meeting, July 20, 2019, Dunlap, Mountain Valley Bank Summit Room • Steak and Potato Field Day August 6, 2019, 8:00AM Crossville, Plateau Research & Education Center • 11th Annual Fall Gardeners' Festival August 27, 2019, UT Gardens Crossville, Plateau Research & Education

Center • Quarterly Meeting November 2, 2019, Pikeville • Western Region Conference October 11 and 12, 2019 hosted by Hardeman County at Lone Oaks in

Middleton, TN

Area Happenings Hamilton County MG 3rd Saturday Classes The Education Committee of the MGHC offers classes on varying topics on the third Saturday morning each month from February through November. These classes are open to the public and are generally free. Classes are at AG Center, 6183 Adamson Circle, Chattanooga, TN Upcoming classes:

• June 15, “Worm Composting” • July 20, “Camelias” • August 17, “History of Plant Names” • September 21, “Hosta and Other Shade Loving Plants • October 29, “Edible Landscaping” • November 16, “Wreath Making Class”

Visit http://mghc.org/education-committee-classes/ for more details and to register

Cumberland County Master Gardeners Association Crossville, TN The 2019 Classes in the Garden Series has 3 to 4 classes per month throughout the year. Check out the full list along with times and fees at: https://www.ccmga.org/ or for a program flyer https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/975cb3_864a7bb11e6242a191e552f9101a0006.pdf

Recording Hours Please continue to report your hours, especially as we near the mid-year mark. Your hours can be recorded at https://temg.tennessee.edu/, for interns that have not logged in for the first

time there are links at https://extension.tennessee.edu/MasterGardener/Pages/default.aspx under the May 2nd “Digital Networking Sessions from 2018” on the left side. Feel free to contact Sheldon if you have questions.

For those who had been using the old data base, please make sure you transition to the new, the old data base will not accept hours after June 30. The database will remain for information purposes, but will not actively accept new entries.

Since the program begin in 2004, 9,178 hours have been volunteered with a value of $203,383.82. The total value of the program is $219,485.22, an average of $14,632/year.

So, here is my thought, if all active members and interns records their hours, we could exceed our yearly average “total value” to the community. So please take time to record your volunteer hours and contacts.

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UT Gardens Plant of the Month

UT Gardens’ June 2019 Plant of the Month: Nuttal Oak Submitted by James Newburn, assistant director and curator of the UT

Gardens, Knoxville People can be such creatures of habit. That characteristic often eases our

lives by allowing us to take the guesswork out of our choices, but it can also stifle discovery of new things. We have meatloaf every Tuesday, take the same road to church every Sunday, and have had the same hairstyle for years. The same thing often happens in our landscapes. We want a tall, majestic shade tree. The obvious choice, easily available, and familiar to us because we see in city streetscapes, in parks, and in our neighbor’s yard is the pin oak, not to be confused with the willow oak, as these common names are often interchangeable. The pin oak in this discussion is Quercus palustris, and has a lobed leaf with sharp points, not the slender linear leaf of the “other” pin oak, also called willow oak Quercus phellos. The habit of going with the familiar, even in tree choice, can lead to a certain blandness that deprives us of discovering an unfamiliar gem.

Nuttall oak (Quercus texana, still sometimes still referred to as Q. nuttallii in the nursery trade) is an underused oak that has similar characteristics to the pin oak, but with a few bonus features. Named after the British-American botanist and ornithologist Thomas Nuttall, this oak is fast growing, with a strong central leader, with a pyramidal shape that ages to a more rounded form, making it an ideal shade tree. Native to lower Mississippi River bottomlands, this tree can tolerate poorly drained clay soils. Landscape height can reach 40 to 60 feet or more, with a spread of 25 to 40 feet —so give it plenty of room to grow in full sun. Rooting is deep, compared to shade trees like many maples, so surface roots that may damage sidewalks or water pipes are less of a problem.

Nuttalls are a superior choice to pin oaks in other ways too. They have not fallen victim to bacterial leaf scorch, a disease that has been decimating pin oaks. This disease causes early fall leaf browning, progressive defoliation and is ultimately fatal. Nuttall is a good choice as a replacement for trees that succumb to this disease.

Another endearing quality is that the lowest branches of Nuttalls stay perpendicular to the ground rather than drooping, so go ahead and put your picnic table under the branches because you’ll be able to walk (or mow) under them.

Leaf color is far more striking in Nuttall oak than many other oaks. Starting in the spring, new growth has a purple-copper color that matures to deep green. Its late fall color is yellow-orange to orange-red and may even turn brilliant red. As winter approaches it drops its leaves cleanly. Pin oak leaves are noted for their habit of hanging on, tattered and brown, well into the winter months.

Nuttall oaks may not be as widely known as pin oaks, but they are available commercially. More and more nurseries are carrying them because they are such relatively fast-growing trees. The straight species is available as well as cultivars like ‘Arcade’, ‘Esplanade’ and ‘Sangria’ that vary somewhat in fall color and growth habit.

So, try fish tacos next Tuesday, take the road less traveled on Sunday and dare to have a new ‘do. While you're at it diversify your plant palette like you diversify your financial portfolio. A good place to start might just be with a Nuttall oak.

This graceful Nuttall oak can be seen in the UT Gardens, Knoxville. Note the

perpendicular habit of the lowest branches. No limbs will droop to hinder mowing or disturb picnics. Photo by H.

Jones, courtesy UTIA.

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July Garden Tips The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recommends keeping up with the following chores to keep your garden in top shape this July.

Perennials, Annuals, & Bulbs • Remove dead flowers from various annuals and perennials to encourage profuse blooming. This practice is

also called deadheading. • Cut back tall, fall-flowering perennials such as swamp sunflower, joe-pye weed, iron weed, mums, and asters

by one-third to one-half to reduce their ultimate height and to prevent them from lodging (falling over). • Purchase fall-blooming perennials such as anemone and hardy sunflowers. Be sure to water these plants

until they become well established in your garden.

Shrubs & Trees • Prune hydrangeas right after they bloom if you want to cut them back. Since flower buds are formed in the

late summer and early fall, pruning later in the year will remove next year's flowers. • Prune Clematis and Wisteria when they are finished flowering.

Fruits & Veggies • Harvest vegetables regularly to keep your garden productive. • Plant green beans by July 10. • Cover fruit trees with netting to protect the fruit from birds. • Prune blackberries after harvest has ended. Remove the dying canes and tip back the vigorous, new

growth two or three times to form a dense hedge for greater fruit production. • Begin preparing your fall garden. To get plants started in time for harvest before the first freeze, set out

broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower transplants and sow lettuce, collards, kale, and spinach seeds in late July or early August.

Lawn Care It’s okay to stop watering your lawn and let it go dormant. As cooler weather and rainfall return, it will revive. If you prefer that your lawn be green and lush through summer, mow it at a higher height and water deeply. Applying water in the early morning is best.

“Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration.”

Lou Erickson

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Propagation Back in March, SVMG hosted a class on propagation. If

you are thinking about trying to propagate plants, summer is a great time for taking semi-hardwood cuttings from various shrubs.

According to Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings: Instructions for the Home Gardener a publication By North Carolina State Extension (link found in sources below), “Semi-hardwood cuttings are usually prepared from partially mature wood of the current season’s growth, just after a flush of growth. This type of cutting normally is made from mid-July to early fall. The wood is reasonably firm and the leaves of mature size. Many broadleaf evergreen shrubs and some conifers are propagated by this method.”

This publication has a long list of plants that can be propagated and the types of cuttings to take. There are several that can be propagated in the summer. The list of evergreens includes: abelia, rhododendron, barberries, boxwoods, hemlocks, hollies, and magnolias. Also, several deciduous trees and shrubs can be propagated in the summer: crabapples, crape myrtles, flowering cherries, dogwoods, forsythia, Chinese hibiscus, hydrangeas, and roses.

Sources Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings: Instructions for the Home Gardener North Carolina State Extension. NC

State Extension Publications https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/plant-propagation-by-stem-cuttings-instructions-for-the-home-gardener

North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook chapter 13 Propagation. NC State Extension Publications https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/13-propagation

Propagation by Cuttings, Layering and Division Virginia Cooperative Extension VCE Publications / 426 / 426-002 https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-002/426-002.html

Hydrangea Production: Cultivar Selection and General Practices to Consider When Propagating and Growing Hydrangea PB 1840-A UT Extension Publication https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1840-A.pdf

New Publications Sweetpotatoes for the Tennessee Vegetable Garden D 71 Learn to plant, grow, harvest, and store sweetpotatoes. Root Crops for the Tennessee Vegetable Garden D 70 Learn how to plant, grow, harvest, and store root crops such as beets, carrots, radishes, and turnips. Potatoes (Irish) for the Tennessee Vegetable Garden D 69 Learn how to plant, grow, harvest, and store Irish potatoes.

Picture source: pixabay.com

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The Extension Master Gardener Program is a programs of the University of Tennessee Extension

For more information contact: Sheldon Barker Extension Agent Sequatchie Co. 170 Church St

Dunlap, TN 37327 423-949-2611

Sequatchie.tennessee.edu facebook.com/UTExtension.Sequatchie

J. C. Rains

Extension Agent Bledsoe Co. PO Box 289

Pikeville, TN 37367 423-447-2451

Bledsoe.tennessee.edu facebook.com/utbledsoecounty

Useful links

Tennessee Extension Master Gardening Program https://extension.tennessee.edu/MasterGardener

Reporting hours On-line

https://temg.tennessee.edu

TMG Volunteer Handbook https://extension.tennessee.edu/MasterGardener/Documents/W099-%20Volunteer.%20November.pdf

Short Rows - Ticks Researchers with the University of Tennessee

Institute of Agriculture say there are steps you can take to minimize the risk of tick bites and tick-borne infections.

Graham Hickling, director of the UT Center for Wildlife Health, says if you’re concerned about ticks and heading outdoors, use insect repellant containing 20 to 30 percent DEET. Follow package instructions and do not apply under clothing or to children under two months of age.

If working regularly in the field, consider also applying permethrin to clothing. Permethrin will last through several washes, but must not be applied to skin — again, be sure to follow package instructions.

Wear light-colored clothing and tuck long pants into your socks to help keep ticks off of your skin. Wear close-toed shoes or, even better, boots sprayed with permethrin. Your children can be at particular risk. While ticks are unlikely to be encountered in open fields, children chasing balls or cutting through scrub or woods are entering high-risk tick areas.

Your best protection against a tick-borne infection, Hickling says, is a careful tick check.

“Check immediately after being outside and again in the evening while you are undressing. Do thorough checks of your children and pets. If you find an attached tick, simply use tweezers to remove them. Definitely avoid folk remedies such as hot matches, nail polish remover, petroleum jelly or other substances — these will not work if the tick is firmly attached. Grasp the tick mouthparts as close to the skin as possible and pull the tick straight out using steady pressure.”

Wash the area with soap and water, then dry and apply a topical antiseptic.

Mark the spot where the tick was removed and record the date on your calendar. Watch during the next two weeks for signs of illness (fever, headache or spreading rash.) Contact your physician if you feel you may be developing early symptoms of a tick-borne illness.

Consider keeping ticks that were firmly attached for a week or so, to be able to show to your doctor in the event that you start to become ill. Place the tick in rubbing alcohol or in the freezer.

But keep in mind that most tick bites in Tennessee will be harmless. So be sure to get outside and enjoy our state’s abundant natural beauty while keeping these sensible precautions in mind.