[Ben E Lou]

EXTENSION SERVICE CLASSES TAKEN TO DATE

As I mentioned earlier, the NC Extension service has been an outstanding resource for me. Besides just their web site--which gives a ton of detail regarding climate, terrain, and soil not just for the state, but is county-specific (which matters here...we've got mountains, piedmont, and coastal plains here, and even though, say, Charlotte is only 90 minutes away and both are piedmont, there are still some fairly significant differences between here and there)--they offer free classes several times per week on various aspects of agriculture. I've attended two of these classes so far, and both were gold mines of information, though one turned out to be more specific to my needs than the other.



CLASS 1--"Grow Your Best Vegetable Garden"--April 18th
From the synopsis

Learning and following best practices will lead to best results in your vegetable garden. Topics will include how to prepare the soil, the selection and timing of vegetable varieties, good upkeep, and using integrated pest management techniques to control insects and diseases organically. Growing your own food can be economical, educational, and fun.

This course ended up being a near bulls-eye. In fact, in pulling up my notes from that class to write this entry, my only regret is that I didn't refer to those notes more frequently as I did my garden this year. I specifically recall when I came home and my wife asked how useful the class was, and my response was "it was overwhelmingly excellent," in the sense that there was a ton of outstanding info--enough to overwhelm me. Some key notes from that class boldfaced, and some comments today on those.


Indigenous soil here tends to be low ph and clay... ideal ph is 6.2 to 6.7 for most vegetables....our indigenous soil typically runs from 5 to 5.5.--Why on EARTH didn't I put down lime, then? It's a cheap and easy solution to this. The only reason I can think of that this didn't happen is that because I was drinking from a fire hose of information at that class, it just slipped my mind how important this was.


crysanthemums and marigolds for bug prevention--Totally missed/forgot about mums. I did put a fair number of marigolds throughout the garden.


don't guess - soil test--Didn't do this, even though they provided packets to collect soil and send. (The extension service does this at no cost from 4/1-11/30, $4.00 in peak season of 12/1-3/31.) Pretty sure I didn't simply because the class was on April 18th and I was planting on April 21st. I do intend to do this soon for next spring. The testing gives recomme Andations for amending soil for ideal ph. I may need that.


Hitting more on ph, here's a pic I took of one of the slides in the presentation:

Dropbox - slide.jpg


Yeah, sounds like ph matters, eh?


I have pics of 48 powerpoint slides from this class. What's the easiest way to share all of them? I don't want to have to link to each of them individually. I'm sure there's a free service somewhere where folks could scroll through them if so desired.


The only "quarrel" I had with this class is that the leader focused heavily on 4x4 raised-bed/square-foot gardening, which seems to be a superior method for those who have limited space (and if they want a larger space, are willing to drop significant cash on wood and spend a good bit of time building.) However, with space not being a limitation for me, I can do rows.

CLASS 2--"Fall Is For Gardening"--September 23rd

Spring and summer gardens are wonderful, but fall is a special season for gardening in the Piedmont! This is the perfect time for planting, transplanting, and starting fall-flowering containers - after the long hot summer, cooler temperatures make it easier on the plants and on the gardener too. Simple seasonal chores like winterizing tools are also on the list, to help you be prepared for future gardening seasons.

This one was useful, but not the near bulls-eye that the first one was. It wasn't that the information given wasn't as excellent as the vegetable gardening class; it was just that they covered some things (like planting trees, shrubs, and bulbs) that hold little/no interest for me. Still, it was worth my time to attend this class, as there were definitely some vegetable garden takeaways--not to mention the fact that they gave out soil testing kits, which I intend to use this time. Finally, there was good information on maintaining fescue lawns, and I've got ~5,000 square feet of fescue in the front of my house.