IMAGES COURTESY RICH LARSON

JUNE 2014

EDITOR: Vineetha Kartha

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Meg Paterson

COPY EDITORS: Jean Updike, Karen Sankman

WEBSITE QUESTIONS: Jo Cook, 602.827.8211 Roots & Shoots, published monthly by & for

Maricopa Co. Master Gardeners, is printed under the direction of:

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

MARICOPA COUNTY OFFICE

4341 E. BROADWAY RD. / PHOENIX, AZ 85040-8807

PHONE 602.827.8200 FAX 602.827.8292

HOURS: 8:00AM-5:00PM WEEKDAYS

www.maricopamastergardener.com

STAFF: Kelly Young, Assistant Agent, ANR/Urban Horticulture

602.827.8219, kyoung@cals.arizona.edu

Rebecca Senior, Assistant in Extension, Ornamental Horticulture

602.827.8276, rsenior@cals.arizona.edu

Jo Cook, Program Coordinator

602.827.8211/jocook@cals.arizona.edu

Sharon Dewey, Speakers Bureau

602.827.8209/sdewey@cals.arizona.edu

Marina Acosta, Program Coordinator, School & Community Gardens

602.827.8221, marinaa@cals.arizona.edu

Jesse Davenport, Instructional Specialist, Food Access

602.827.8212

Yvonne Cooper, Departmental Secretary, 602.827.8239

Roots & Shoots

Charretting

MG Update

Soil School

Traveling Gardener

And many more!!

Cover by Kristen Carter

in this issue >>>

MG CONTACT LIST: For a complete listing, see the organizational chart under MG Business on the MG Central website

Ambassadors: Paula Putao, 623.486.2356, woadyes@gmail.com Bonnie Newhoff, 602.943.1843, manxie@q.com

Technical Committee: Eileen Kane, 480.855.0990, eileen.marie.kane@gmail.com

Design Charrette: Beth Kirkpatrick 480.275.4833, bethalia@gmail.com Sue Lanker 480.947.0552, suelanker@msn.com

Matt Murman 602.863.9204, murmanator@yahoo.com

MG Update: Deb Sparrow , 480.968.790, inksparrow@usa.net

MG and Public Calendar: Karen Sankman Lee, 480.893.1066, jnjmom1@yahoo.com

OFFICES:

Main Office: 602.827.8200 NORTHEAST VALLEY: 480.312.5810 NORTHWEST VALLEY: 623.546.1672

University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Via Linda Senior Center PORA Office 4341 E Broadway Rd 10440 E Via Linda 13815 Camino del Sol Blvd

Phoenix, AZ 85040 Scottsdale, AZ 85258-6099 Sun City West, AZ 85375 Weekdays 8:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mon. 9 -12:30 p.m.; Thurs. 9 - 12:30 p.m. Weekdays 9:00a.m.-Noon

https://www.facebook.com/MaricopaCountyMasterGardeners

The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion,

sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities. Persons with a disability may request a reasona-ble accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by contacting Jo Cook, Program Coordinator, at jocook@cals.arizona.edu 602-827-

8211. Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange the accommodation. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Associate Dean & Director,

Economic Development & Extension, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona.

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Roots & Shoots

Charretting with MGs by Vineetha Kartha

You are having what? A charrette? What is a charrette? These were the questions my friends asked me when I told them I was hosting a design charrette with Master Gardeners. I proceeded to explain that a charrette is a brainstorming session that Master Gardeners use to initiate changes to a private garden or landscape. Then the questions evolved into whether Master Gardeners were landscape designers, arbor-ists, contractors, landscape architects or if they would start digging up my garden, etc.

The answer is Master Gardeners are a bit of all of that and more. They are landscape designers, land-scape architects, arborists, horticulturists, and, more than anything else, they are my friends, my com-munity. The design charrette held at my house on a warm May morning was one of the best things my garden and I had ever had. Right from the minute that all the Master Gardeners started walking in, they were already thinking about my garden. Every single person was invested and interested in every single plant I had and how I could make my garden better. First of all they made me realize that I had been growing some interesting plants. The “Moringa oleifera” (or drumstick plant as I know it) got the most attention, followed by the curry leaf plant and the eucalyptus variety (a curly mallee I think). After intro-ductions and a quick tour, MGs divided into groups and got to work. Now, a design charrette is radically different from being in a classroom lecture. It is interactive, wherein all the participants have the same goal, but hold different perspectives to the same design problem. As I walked around, I watched the MGs energetically interact with one another. Each individual brought his or her own expertise and view-point to the group discussion allowing a dynamic, fun environment. The plot plans were now filled with sketches and detailed notes, with attendees furiously scribbling down ideas, plants lists and solutions.

As the charrette ended, we all gathered under the mesquite tree for a presentation of what “can be.” I was pleasantly surprised at the details that had emerged in such a short span of time. I had available for the garden more than 5 different designs, both for my front yard and back yard, detailed plant lists, book references and an offer to answer any questions in the future if I had any. Garden ideas ranged from a butterfly garden, chalk art, outside seating area, techniques to add visual and architectural inter-est and many different tree options. We then discussed a variety of topics over a sumptuous lunch, top-ics that went from reuse, to cuisine to plant societies and to travels. Could I have had an experience like this with a professional landscaper? Absolutely not!

That design charrette made me feel a part of the community, a community that cared about each other, about plants and about the environment. It led to conversations, ideas and new ways of unraveling de-sign issues. I bid good bye to all the Master Gardeners with a full heart and stomach. All that is left now is for me to make my decision.

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Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

2

Summer Rose Care &Home Garden and Design Lessons Learned

MG Update By Deb Sparrow

WHO: Leroy Brady Leroy Brady is Chief Landscape Architect and Manager at Arizona’s Department of Transportation. He is one of the magicians of ADOT, planting in Southern Arizona’s very high reflected heat. Leroy is also an American Rose Society (ARS) Consulting Rosarian, an ARS Horticulture Judge for the Award of Excellence and an All American Rose Society (AARS) Selection Judge. Judges, like Leroy, select the best roses for the region at demonstration and testing gardens. The Mesa Community College Rose Garden is one of these 26 demonstration and testing gardens. This rose garden is the largest public rose garden in the en-tire southwestern region and has over 5,000 rose bushes in all kinds of colors and fragrances. And Leroy Brady designed this garden. There is a whole lot to be learned from the horticulturalist who helps plants sur-vive our hot freeways. WHAT: Summer Rose Care & Home Garden and Design Lessons Learned Leroy Brady will share landscape design insights gleaned over many years in his own gardens and others. This update will be something like a virtual tour of his yard, planting and landscaping experiments from aq-uaculture and alternative grasses for lawns to gardening under Texas ebony (too aggressive). He’s seen a lot of trees planted in the right places, as well as the wrong places, and observed which plants limit the ability of others to thrive. There are some that tend to monopolize available water. His favorite small tree, bay laurel, survives almost everything. Leroy’s swimming pool is now a water lily pond with koi. He hopes to add tilapia some day. He does lots of water harvesting and the earth works in his yard include an amphitheater. Our observations, trial runs and experiments are of value. Sharing the stories with each other, can help us avoid some of the rough spots and deepens gardening culture in our region. Oh, and yes, Leroy will review rose care for the season, too. If you’re wondering how to help your roses get through the summer’s challenges, come to this update. WHEN: June 11, Wednesday morning, 9:00 am WHERE: at the Extension office, 4341 E. Broadway Rd., Phoenix

Jo’s Corner Helpful Tips: Sign up for the Exchange Listserve which is for information of interest to Master Gardeners that is not specif-ically about the program. Subscribe here: http://calsmail.arizona.edu/mailman/listinfo/Maricopa-MG-Exchange Need Education Hours? Attend the plant clinics held the first Friday, the second Sunday, and the fourth Friday of every month. Check the June Master Gardener calendar of events to sign-up for June 6. Look for the June 8 and June 27 Sign-up Genius to come at a later date from Rebecca Senior. Thank you Orvalita Hopkins and Tina Box for spiffing up the Master Gardener exhibit case in the lobby at the Extension Office! Thank you to Yvonne Cooper and Leona Paetschow for their time volunteering as Room Monitors for the Spring 2014 Master Gardener Intern Class! If you would like to be a Room Monitor for the Summer Class, please contact Jo Cook.

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Roots & Shoots

Diggings By Pam Perry

The late winter to mid-spring season in the garden found interns mastering basics of composting, weeding, seed saving, harvesting fresh vegetables and even using some “new-to-them” crops! One trait vegetable gardeners have in common is they do like to eat, and many love to cook. Harvesting offers incentive to try new vegetables. Harvest and preparation tips are an ongoing experience in this garden!

Industrious volunteers got many crops planted this season! Winter was brief, and spring was long and mild making this the best year in the demo garden for bean germination in ages. Too bad bunnies and quail have found the demo garden… the bean seedlings and amaranth sprouts were bunny favorites. We got some pro-tection with nylon netting. Still… having learned a little from others afflicted with critter challenges, we will arrange some moveable fences and see how that works.

The unseasonably warm spring affected several crops. Fennel did not produce nice sized bulbs, cabbages did not form tight heads, kale bolted, or went to flower earlier than usual, as did the mustards and the peas gave up producing earlier than usual. For the onset of summer, cucumbers are producing, and the squash is on its way to productivity. The squash leaves are hiding a peanut sprout or two; may they live long and prosper…under the radar of the nibbling creatures and that squash! Interns prepared the asparagus and the artichoke for summer, applying fertilizer and a good blanket of compost as mulch. The asparagus produces fern-like greenery for the summer; the artichoke will bloom with the last small artichokes and then go dormant for the summer. Gourds were planted to grow and shade the artichoke crowns.

Technology in the garden! Visualize a conference of gardeners holding smart phones considering 7-10 day weather forecasts: this resulted in shade cloth being installed about 3 weeks earlier than usual this year and the tomatoes have appreciated it. We were also busy consulting those handy forecasts earlier in the season while considering jumping the frost date to plant those same tomatoes! An indication of how warm spring has been is the number of volunteer tomatoes in the garden. Some are determinant, others are sprawling all over. All have set and are ripening fruit! Mr. Stripey, an 80 day variety is ripening. When very ripe, the stripes all but disappear. These were ripe, past stripes, but oh so tasty! Okra, sweet potato volunteers, summer greens, various gourds are sprouting; harbingers of the summer garden. Speaking of gourds, I found loofa sponges about 3 feet long at a local market. Three feet! I shook and shook, and got some seeds; maybe one or two will be viable! Three foot loofas! I want one.

John Eisenhower blessed us with a lovely load of chipper chips. A dozen or so hardy souls made an after-noon’s work of that project, mulching the orchard and the vegetable garden. The agave garden is settling in well. Carol monitors how well the plants are doing while Ron Brennan pays close attention to the irrigation as an old, little used system is back on line. Sharon Dewey has prepared the turf plots for summer, offering us a chance to get pointers on how that is managed. Several master gardeners took advantage of this opportuni-ty, learning what is entailed. Gardening slows down some in summer but every week on Tuesday mornings we will meet in the vegetables to tend that area and other projects as time permits. We begin at 6 am and will finish by 10. Come for all or part as schedules allow, dress for gardening and the weather. Bring morning beverage of choice, and water! See you in the garden!

Help Needed Need Some Help! If clerical work is your thing, please contact Jo Cook to arrange to help out at the Extension Office. Technology Assistance If you breeze through entering your volunteer hours and can easily navigate MGCentral, you would make a great teacher! Technical expertise is needed to teach other Master Gardeners to use the technology to com-municate and report on what’s happening in the Master Gardener Program. We would like to offer one on one training in a variety of locations and times to suit the instructor and the Master Gardener. If you are in-terested, please contact Jo Cook.

Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

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Traveling Gardener

Wandering, Wondering, Noticing...

By Linda Larson

“70 Years a Gardener”

Cactus Garden, Lotusland, CA

When I first moved to Phoenix, AZ I purchased a package of saguaro cactus seeds from the gift shop at the Desert Botanical Garden. As a transplanted Midwesterner I was eager to grow these curious and fasci-nating plants. Reality gradually set in - the seedlings didn’t survive and I haven’t considered growing cactus from seeds again. This was not the case for Merritt “Sigs” Dunlap, also a transplant, from the Midwest to California. An engineer by training he clearly liked figuring things out, and his after work focus was growing cactus, especially from seed. His cactus garden began in 1929 and he acquired his last cactus in 1999. His goal was to acquire and grow the most unusual and rarest of cereoid cacti. (Paul Mills, Assistant Curator, Lotusland) Imagine the treasure of plants gathered by a passionate gardener for 70 years! This personal collection was gifted to Lotusland in 1999 and added to the property 20 years after Madame Walska’s death. She wanted it sooner, she wanted it in 1966, but she had to wait, since Dunlap was still enjoying his garden. But he promised her then that when he was no longer able to care for it himself it would come to Lo-tusland. Sigs Dunlap was particularly interested in the columnar (cylindrical and upright) cactus varieties. He sought out seeds from wherever cactus grew, specifically in Central and South America, New Mexico, and the Galapagos Islands. He was intent on growing rare species from seed regardless of how challenging it was to get them to sprout. He was obviously patient as he waited for the seedling to grow into the incredi-ble plants they are today. He documented his efforts in the Cactus and Succulent Society Journal, generously sharing his discoveries for both success and failure. At the time of his donation “520 individual plants of approximately 320 taxa” (P. Mills) were moved 200 miles north to Lotusland. Think for a moment about moving plants! Just the plants we buy at the nursery or take to a friend requires considerable effort. Now imagine moving 520 cacti, some as large as10 feet high and 5 feet wide, in all their prickly, spiky glory. First you need a flatbed truck, custom built frames to provide support for specific plants, digging, loading and unloading equipment and knowledgeable, caring plant people to do the work. The collection re-quired 12 trips to relocate the plants to their new home.

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Roots & Shoots

What a rare opportunity to create a new garden with such a vast and mature collection of plants! Yet what a challenge to organize, design, and site each of the cacti to provide the best viewing and growing conditions. Garden designer, Eric Nagelmann, took on the task. The garden is 3/4 of an acre in size, with the cactus arranged in nine geographical sections. Gray granite paths lead to a raised viewing platform allowing visitors to see the scope of the garden. Gray slate mulch surrounds the stems and tall chunks of basalt columns are mixed among the plants. The impact of such artfully placed and enormously varied cacti is simply breathtaking. The significance of such rare speci-mens, Cereeae, Trichocereeae, Pachycereeae and Brown-ingieae, is lost on most visitors (including me) but the oppor-tunity to see the variety of sizes, textures, spines, flowers and colors can be appreciated by everyone. The Cactus Garden opened in celebration of Sigs Dunlap’s 97th birthday,in August 2003 It was a gift for him to see his cactus collection in its new home. Back in 1941 Sigs Dunlap was eating alone in a restaurant in San Diego when Madam Ganna Walska entered with a small entourage. As she started to pass by he stood up and asked if she would like to join him for dinner. She was 54, he was 35. This chance encounter led to a gardening friendship of many years. The friendship led to the cactus garden now in Lotusland. Two prodigious gardeners assisted by many dedicated and knowledgeable horticultural professionals created a master-piece. What is the lesson from all of this? Don’t give up try-ing to sprout seeds and don’t hesitate to invite someone to join you for dinner. Who knows what might blossom?

Traveling Gardener continued...

Images courtesy Rich Larson

Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

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Do you love to plant new varieties, create different microclimates and experiment with grafting techniques? Or do you prefer to plant the same garden every season and enjoy the peaceful stability of the environment and know what to expect? Perhaps you would rather sit in a quiet grassy area on a stone bench overlooking a water feature. If not, then you may find excitement in planting a vegetable garden one year and a flower garden the next, and explaining your results to a master gardener group. And whether you have strong preferences or enjoy all of the above, read on to learn more about the temperament approach to personality and how it may affect your gardening style. You can discover your “real color” as a gardener.

Recently my employer provided our team with a training workshop on personality assessment using the “Real Colors” measurement tool. It was a fascinating exercise and reinforced the concept that our personality types and temperaments influence everything we do. I immediately thought of gardening styles! If you’re like me, you probably have a pretty good idea of your personality temperament already. But it is interesting to com-pare with others and understand it from a new viewpoint.

The assessment divides people into four basic types, color-coded as gold, blue, green and orange. None of course, is “better” – they are all just different. My daughter, a psychologist, told me that people are born with their temperament and it remains the same throughout life. The assessment is a series of multiple choice questions in which you rate each of four statements as being most to least like you. At first glance they seem deceptively simple, but are actually cleverly worded and difficult to decide on. However, if you take the test, your “first impression” is usually the best assessment and provides your most accurate answer. The four types and some of their main characteristics are below, as I have interpreted them related to gar-dening.

The Gold gardener

This gardener is sensible, practical and organized. Expect to see neat and well-weeded rows in this person’s garden. A formal garden with hedgerows or topiaries other well-maintained features would be typical. Golds are organized, stable and dependable. You can count on them to be well-prepared, take on a task and com-plete it successfully. Work comes before play. The gold gardener achieves his or her dream garden by plan-ning, writing lists, and completing tasks in a sequential, orderly way. This person is more likely to follow the scientific principles we learn in our classes and put them into practice with great results. No experimenting here! This gardener puts the principles into practice. They may have the showcase gardens that others love to visit.

The Blue gardener

The blue gardener would appreciate a Zen garden or quiet, serene spaces which follow the traditions of sim-plicity, “less is more,” or Feng Shui. They would enjoy a garden bench overlooking a serene pond where one can sit peacefully and meditate. Their gardens are poetic and spiritually nurturing. They are often created with a vivid imagination and may have beautiful and serene sculpture, special views or secluded spaces. These gardeners are true romantics who follow their hearts when gardening. In fact you may find heart-shaped sculptures or forms in their gardens. The feeling the garden creates is more important than experi-menting or following scientific principles. These gardeners may plant by the moon phases, use companion plantings, grow medicinal or culinary herbs. They sense that their gardens embody the significance of nature or spiritual principles. Their gardens communicate their feelings and values of harmony, beauty, unity and peace.

The Orange gardener

The orange gardener is enthusiastic, loves fun challenges and trying new things. These gardeners energize others with enthusiasm, and love to share their results. They enjoy a colorful, exciting and interesting gar-den. They may get easily bored with the mundane routines of garden maintenance and prefer the unex-pected. They like to try new techniques, do things spontaneously or work in a way that is enjoyable. This is a gardener who enjoys relationships with others where they share interests and explore new gardening ideas. Although they may not demonstrate obvious organization or planning in creating their gardens, they achieve results. They are flexible and adapt easily to change. This gardener may also “go for it,” be an entrepreneur or start a gardening business.

Your “Real Color” as a Gardener by Sheryl Stradling

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Roots & Shoots

Your “Real Color” continued...

The Green gardener

These gardeners want to know “why.” They are experimental gardeners. If they haven’t tried it yet, they will experiment just to see the results. This gardener is highly curious yet logical and analytical in thinking. This person is research-oriented so may have enjoyed a horticultural research career or simply do research on plants in their home laboratory – their yard. The gardens of these types are basically science labs where they can carry out experiments, so don’t expect to see the same thing year after year. It is always chang-ing. This gardener is independent and his or her garden reflects this. Once they have developed an idea into a working model, planted and harvested, they may take it all out and try something else. Problems to these gardeners are merely endless possibilities.

Statistics - our workshop trainers provided the color type statistics for the US population as shown below:

We all have some of each of these types within us. Typically, people are primarily one type although some-times can be very close in two categories. All have value! And all create different types of garden environ-ments that are enjoyable, beautiful and interesting.

More information – www.realcolors.org or info@ncti.org

Color % M/F

Gold 40-45 50/50

Blue 15-20 40/60

Orange 30-35 50/50

Green 5-10 60/40

AGAVE STALK BECOMES NURSERY

By Sue Hakala

Your most treasured agave has sent up its life-ending flower stalk, blooming with superb beauty. Don’t despair. You may be losing the agave as most species only bloom once and die, but keep the stalk as it can become a nursery and a

reminder of your special plant. Cut the stalk to an appealing size with a saw, and wedge it between heavy rocks or oth-

er items to keep it vertical in a protected and semi-shaded area. As the stalk dries out, it will become the perfect nurse-ry for carpenter bees. These handsome bees are hairy, bluish-black, about one-inch long, and as wide as your thumb.

They won’t sting you unless trapped or threatened, and do not form a hive as they live alone. They are excellent polli-nators, and important to have in your landscape.

Single female carpenter bees nest in wood. They will compete heavily for a chance to nest in your stalk. If you sit pa-

tiently, at a safe distance of about six feet, you can observe the females posturing with each other to see who will get

the prize usually for days at a time. The winning architect will then proceed to chew into the stalk, and begin to tunnel out an 8 to 9 inch section. You can see the telltale signs of sawdust collecting at the base of the stalk. If you listen

closely, you can hear the chewing and digging going on inside as she makes a tunnel ¾ of an inch in diameter. Some-where during this time, she mates. When finished with her tunnel, she will collect pollen, fertilizing your plants, return-

ing to the nest with it.

The pollen is then rolled into a ball, placed in the bottom of the tunnel. She then lays an egg on top of it. The pollen

becomes food for the developing bee. Chewing up the cellulose of the stalk, she forms a roof over this cell. She contin-ues this process until the tunnel is full. I’ve observed females returning to their tunnel at sunset for their night’s sleep.

Very early in the morning, she can be seen sleeping in the tunnel doorway guarding her brood. When the adult bees are ready, they emerge, each in turn, chewing out their roof.

Carpenter bees normally use dead tree limbs or other unfinished wood, like firewood, as nurseries. If they are tunnel-ing into wood of value, cover it, varnish or, paint it. They over winter in their tunnels or, in this case, your agave stalk.

I’ve had bees nesting in a cherished agave stalk for several years, providing great entertainment and valuable pollina-tion. This is a great natural history lesson for kids to observe as well.

Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

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Learn. Grow. Eat by Pam Perry

What plant volunteers in summer gardens, open fields, sidewalk cracks or bare soil, is higher in omega fatty acids than most plants, thrives in full sun, poor or wonderful soils, with little or lots of water, is a bit tangy in flavor, can be eaten cooked or raw, only requiring that we recognize and harvest this plant? Purslane. AKA Portulaca oleracea, verdolaga, weed.

Commonly consumed for eons throughout the old world, it was valued as a food and for medical properties. The Israelis, also desert dwellers, recognized its potential as a potted flowering plant suitable for summer annual collections. Careful plant selec-tion rewarded growers with cultivars sporting lovely jewel tone flowers. They are equally: pretty, tasty, and great container plants for our hot summer. They forgive conditions many plants fail. They bloom when the sun is out, and benefit from moderate ‘pinching’. Mine becomes plumper and more colorful as I harvest sprigs for salads, sandwiches and cold soups. Anyway, Purslane is nutrient dense, low in carbs and fat, and easy to integrate it into summer recipes. It now makes an appearance in specialty markets, in CSA food baskets and in some very fancy restau-rants!

When purslane volunteers pop up in your summer gardens do not despair. Allow them to become rosettes about 3-5 inches big and harvest. If it is truly a plant in the wrong place, harvest it by pulling. Remove the root before preparing it to eat. Alternative-ly, pinching stems near the crown will allow it to grow again for continued harvest. If you prefer a more upright plant, both yel-low and red stemmed varieites are available in seed packets lo-cally and on line. They may be a bit easier to harvest and you have the choice of where they germinate. Prepare it by washing it well as it can be a bit gritty; it grows close to the soil, after all. The bigger stems are a bit tough; tender stems, the leaves, flow-ers and even seed pods are good to eat. Harvesting plants when small eliminates most of the fussy cleaning of this vegetable.

Cucumber-Yogurt-Purslane Salad

5 large Cucumber, peeled, seeded

and cut into quarter-round slices

1/4 pound Purslane, large stems

removed, washed and drained well

2 tablespoons each, Fresh

chopped mint, cilantro and chervil

4 cups Whole milk yogurt

1/4 cup Virgin olive oil

3 cloves Garlic, puréed with the

blade of a knife

2 teaspoon ground Coriander

kosher Salt and ground Black

Pepper

Place the cucumber, purslane and herbs into a large bowl. In another bowl, stir together the yogurt, olive oil and garlic, coriander and season to taste with salt. Add the yogurt mixture to the vegetables and mix well. Add a pinch of ground black pepper. Taste the dressed cucum-ber-purslane salad for seasoning, adding a little more salt if needed. Serve chilled. This is an official recipe from Star Chefs that formalizes a salad I make with purslane. I like to add some finely minced I’itoi onions to this as well…and I use herbs available here in the summer .

We have a few other weeds that are succulent and grow as rosettes in the summer. Folks not familiar with purslane’s appearance may be confused. Taste just a bit of a leaf. It the leaf is nasty tasting: bitter, makes your mouth pucker, etc., relegate this plant to compost or the trash after a close inspection so you will recognize it again and not have to do another taste test! You are also welcome to bring samples to the new plant clinics for identification assistance! Should you have too much purslane to eat or share, compost it. Just pulling plants and leaving them on the soil may not kill them, they can root back in. They are quite successful at survival. However you elect to include purslane in your summer gardens and summer meals it is a plant worthy of a spot as it is so very easy to grow! It requires little more than an occasional irrigation and rewards us with great nutrition, mild flavors, even pretty flowers and a summer harvest!

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Roots & Shoots

Congratulations Class of Spring 2014

The Spring 2014 Intern Class ended with a big splash! 26 of 43 graduates earned over 50 volunteer hours during the 17-week class and were certified as Master Gardeners. Those with less than 50 hours are considered Associates and will be looking to finish up their 50 hours within one year of graduation. Way to go Spring Class of 2014!

Certifying as Master Gardeners:

Ana Morgan De Cota Heidi Maxson Paula Wolf

Anthony Kamson Jeannie Copple Permelia Lucia

Bill Guina Jeri Haklik Robert Kampfire

Bill McLain Joey Wilson Roger McArtor

Deina Burns Kenneth Smith Scott Pfister

Donald Meyer Mark Steven Hicks Susan Moore

Edward Fink Mary Miller Vonda Shumaker

Edward J. Fals Mike Martinez Zachary Richards

Emily Heller Nancy Greenberg

New Associates

Angela Brooks Karen Lovin Paul Kelley

Ariane Francis Lisa Maclsaac Powell Gammill

Deborah Monninger Lora Puglisi Rebecca Verdone

Eda Clarkson Lynn Wilkie Shelly Paliani

Graham Tinius Maria Anderson Susan Rubin

JoAnn Hayslip Melvin Taylor Warren Kotzmann

Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

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Soil School by Gail Cochrane

Healthy soils contain a kaleidoscope of life forms working together like citizens of a model city. Some provide food, some clean up waste and break down dead material, while others fight disease and keep the popula-tions healthy. Together these beings generate energy and contribute to the common good. This activity is hard for us to imagine because the organisms working in such harmony are too tiny for us to see, hear, smell or feel. Without sensory input, it’s easy to imagine soil as a nonliving entity, nothing but dirt.

The soil structure and overall environment for any given community of plants is established by the cascading food web centered on the plants’ root hairs, in the zone called the rhizosphere. Bacteria crowd up to plant roots like thirsty patrons in a bar. It’s no accident that the plants are making and emitting root exudates that feed and grow the bacteria. Rhizosphere bacteria thrive on sloughed off plant cells as well as soluble sugars, amino acids and other compounds secreted through the roots.

In return, the bacteria protect the plants from disease and attract a host of other helpful organisms. Fungi are microscopic cells that grow as long strands. Mycorrhizal fungi push their way between soil particles to colonize plant roots. Subsisting on carbohydrates from the plant, they feed the root zone with phosphorous, nitrogen and other micronutrients. Mycorrhizae spread in mats beneath the surface of the ground, forming networks that shuttle nutrients and water molecules through the soil.

Protozoa are single celled animals that come to the rhizosphere to feed on bacteria. Their digestion process releases nitrogen into the soil. Nematodes are also attracted by bacteria and fungi. The vast majority of nematodes are beneficial in soils. At the top of the food chain are the arthropods. A single yard of soil may have 500-200,000 arthropods, a number still dwarfed by the biomass of protozoa and nematodes. Yes, this bustling community is more than just dirt.

The earthworm is the emperor of the soil universe. He dines prodigiously on bacteria and fungi and is a ma-jor decomposer of decaying organic matter. Prolific throughout most temperate and many tropic soils, earth-worms generate literally tons of worm casts per acre per year, dramatically improving soil structure. Their tunnels allow for the movement of roots and water, and their ambulations slowly mix and aggregate the soil.

Ecosystems with a diversity of plants encourage more complex soil exchanges. This improves nutrient cy-cling, moderation of water flow, and pest control. Once all of the members of the community are adding their individual organic matter to the soil, the overall chemistry is perfectly aligned for those types of plants.

The various plants contributing to the co-op are known as a guild. Indigenous peoples of the Sonoran Desert developed guilds with the commonly grouped trio of corn, squash and beans. Other guilds include fruit trees and the perennials that thrive beneath their branches. Underground in the rhizosphere the intertwining roots send out the sugars and chemicals that attract the microorganisms that establish flourishing communities.

Sources:

April 9, 2014 Update: It’s All About Roots by Rebecca Senior, Assistant in Extension in Ornamental Horticulture

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services Soil Biology Primer at nrcs.usda.gov

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Roots & Shoots

Organic On A Budget

Two Book Reviews by Margaret Spence

The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather (Ten Speed Press, 2011)

Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson (Da Capo Press, 2011)

The peaches and apricots are falling off the tree. The arugula is peppery fresh and parsley has given way to summer-loving basil in the garden. Mint threatens to take over. I look out at the garden and automatically begin browsing recipes in my head to use this wonderful produce. I pinch myself because we live in a de-sert, and yet, thanks to training by the Master Gardener Program and the use of some permaculture princi-ples, I’m learning how to grow food in my backyard.

When I visited the Escalante Community Garden in Tempe, which was featured in the 2014 Real Gardens for Real People Tour, to describe the garden for Roots & Shoots (November 2013), I had the great pleasure of sitting in on Claudia Alvarez-Garcia’s class on cooking from the food pantry. The Tempe Community Action Agency provides food boxes to the needy, supplemented by fresh vegetables and fruits from the lush Es-calante Garden. Claudia, TCAA’s Nutrition Education Coordinator, teaches “Cooking On A Budget.”

Claudia and her class served up a great meal that evening. Having cooked on a budget for years when my kids were small, I was happy to demonstrate how you can get a second meal out of the first by simply sav-ing the chopped ends of carrots, celery, onions and whatever else you may be dicing that day, putting it all in a plastic baggie and freezing it. Add to the bag as the week goes by, and at the end of it you’ll have enough to make a stock or soup or even a full vegetable stew.

It seems these old domestic skills have been lost in our fast paced society, as marketers have persuaded people they don’t have time to cook from scratch. Convenience foods fill the supermarket aisles, but they are loaded with fat and sugar and ingredients that make your eyes glaze over trying to read the label. Now there is an increasing interest in growing fresh food and eating a more healthy diet. But some people be-lieve this option is only for the well-off. Really?

Food writer Robin Mather felt that the locavore food movement was perceived as being for the “foodie elite” when in truth it is how our ancestors always ate, and she wrote a book to prove how, out of necessity, she lived on a food budget of $40 a week. And that was in Michigan, surrounded by snow for five months a year. Mather, a food writer for the Chicago Tribune, found herself without an income when she simultane-ously lost her job and her husband. She retreated to live alone in a vacation cabin on Lake Michigan, and there began an experiment in frugal living. She chronicles this year long journey-in-place in a marvelous book, The Feast Nearby. She canned, froze, baked, and bartered to fill her larder.

I recently was intrigued by an article in the March/April issue of Mother Earth Living featuring excerpts from another book on inexpensive but nutritious food. I rushed to buy it. The title seems a contradiction in terms. Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson, sets out to show readers how to “Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy and Save the Planet All on $5 a Day or Less.”

“Food evangelist” Linda Watson believes in eating a vegetarian diet, based on plants that have been raised organically. Her book is not so much about eating locally as about eating well on an extremely limited budg-et. She decided to experiment for a year, buying and cooking on the monthly food stamp allowance of $1.53 a meal. She first bought at chain supermarkets and state farmers’ markets. She “scoured old cookbooks and

Maricopa County’s Master Gardener Newsletter

12

Organic on a Budget, Continued….

interviewed older cooks,” and changed her cooking style to make use of bulk and seasonal purchases. With her new shopping list she tested her budget at Whole Foods and found she could still cook at less than $2 a meal.

One has to admire Robin Mather’s fortitude as she faced financial misfortune, and the surprising richness of spirit she found within herself. She’s written a series of essays and recipes. Linda Watson’s book, quite dif-ferent in style, includes shopping lists and price comparisons. The result is a charming how-to-manual filled with satisfying recipes.

Each of these ways of living emphasize bulk buying of staples like flour and rice, reducing or eliminating the eating of meat, buying fresh fruit and vegetables in season and in bulk, and processing the excess by can-ning. Save on gas or electricity by using the oven to cook several things at once, cook more than you need and freeze extra. Make simple food elegant by the use of garnishes. Vary your diet by exchanges with oth-ers, as in the potluck party.

This is the way my grandmother used to cook. And planning menus for the week, cooking up batches on a Sunday, and putting a week’s worth of dinners in the freezer was how I used to cook when I was a young mother. I never thought of it as budgeting, but I see now that it saved time as well as money.

Now to my recommendation for those apricots: The best way to eat them is right off the tree. Second best is a light poaching. Bring 2 cups of water, a quarter to half cup of sugar to taste, a dash of vanilla, and sev-eral pieces of orange and/or lemon rind to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Then place 6 or 7 ripe stoned and halved apricots in the syrup or as many as can fit in a single layer and simmer till a knife slips easily into the fruit. Remove from syrup and cool. Syrup can be used as is or boiled down to make a thick sauce for ice cream or yogurt. Enjoy!