The Great Georgia Pollinator Census By James T. Murphy, ANR Agent The Great Georgia Pollinator Census is just around the corner! Com- ing up on Friday August 23 rd and Saturday August 24 th . This project is co- ordinated by a UGA specialist Becky Griffin and is meant to allow citizens across the great state of Georgia to have the opportunity to participate in a large-scale citizen science program. Why should you bother? How can you be a part of it? What good will it do? I’ll try to answer all your questions (and maybe more!). Pollinators are insects that occupy the crucial role of serving as Mother Nature’s match makers. That is to say that they facilitate the combination of plant reproductive material and by extension keep everything we know looking verdant, lush, and lovely. Typically most people assume that pollinators fall into two broad categories: bees and not bees. While this is true to an extent: the fact is that all manner of insects can help along plant romance, but bees just happen to be particularly good at it be- cause of specialized hairs and structures on their bodies. Other insects like butterflies, wasps, flies, and even beetles play their part. If you want to be a part of it the process is really quite simple. Using a computer or any inter- net connected device navigate to https://ggapc.org to begin. From there you can navigate to any of the number of resources to get started. I would suggest checking out the guides linked on the bottom of the page as well as reading through the FAQ. Becky has poured a lot of time and effort into this, and even if you’re not a bug nut like me, you should be able to get a grasp on the types of insects around a typical pollinator garden as well as how to accurately count them. From there you can down- load and print the attached census form and choose a place to do your survey. This survey isn’t de- signed like a scientific experiment meaning that we don’t expect folks to take a random sample or to worry too much about conflicting variables. What is most important is that we get as many eyeballs as possible on this project to get a solid sample size. So what gives? What does it matter? Why does James work insects into every conversation even when it’s wildly inappropriate? I’m not sure about the last one, but the take-home here is that by gathering up this information we can have a better sense of pollinator distribution throughout the state and get a sense of general trends for more directed work in the future. Say we find a severely de- creased butterfly population around urbanized areas, it might help to push funding towards maintain- ing green spaces. Or perhaps we find unexpected results like higher than expected native bee popula- tions that will show us we may have found an area worth protecting and studying. All this to say: this project will live or die on the efforts of regular every day folks. I know y’all are so much more than regular—you’re Master Gardeners! So if you’ve got the time, the willingness, and the gumption please consider giving this a go. It’s a simple thing that can go a long way, and through all our combined effort we may just end up with something really cool. 3rd Quarter 2019
Transcript
The Great Georgia Pollinator Census By James T. Murphy, ANR Agent
The Great Georgia Pollinator Census is just around the corner! Com-ing up on Friday August 23rd and Saturday August 24th. This project is co-ordinated by a UGA specialist Becky Griffin and is meant to allow citizens across the great state of Georgia to have the opportunity to participate in a large-scale citizen science program. Why should you bother? How can you be a part of it? What good will it do? I’ll try to answer all your questions (and maybe more!).
Pollinators are insects that occupy the crucial role of serving as Mother Nature’s match makers. That is to say that they facilitate the combination of plant reproductive material and by extension keep everything we know looking verdant, lush, and lovely. Typically most people assume that pollinators fall into two broad categories: bees and not bees. While this is true to an extent: the fact is that all manner of insects can help along plant romance, but bees just happen to be particularly good at it be-cause of specialized hairs and structures on their bodies. Other insects like butterflies, wasps, flies, and even beetles play their part.
If you want to be a part of it the process is really quite simple. Using a computer or any inter-net connected device navigate to https://ggapc.org to begin. From there you can navigate to any of the number of resources to get started. I would suggest checking out the guides linked on the bottom of the page as well as reading through the FAQ. Becky has poured a lot of time and effort into this, and even if you’re not a bug nut like me, you should be able to get a grasp on the types of insects around a typical pollinator garden as well as how to accurately count them. From there you can down-load and print the attached census form and choose a place to do your survey. This survey isn’t de-signed like a scientific experiment meaning that we don’t expect folks to take a random sample or to worry too much about conflicting variables. What is most important is that we get as many eyeballs as possible on this project to get a solid sample size.
So what gives? What does it matter? Why does James work insects into every conversation even when it’s wildly inappropriate? I’m not sure about the last one, but the take-home here is that by gathering up this information we can have a better sense of pollinator distribution throughout the state and get a sense of general trends for more directed work in the future. Say we find a severely de-creased butterfly population around urbanized areas, it might help to push funding towards maintain-ing green spaces. Or perhaps we find unexpected results like higher than expected native bee popula-tions that will show us we may have found an area worth protecting and studying.
All this to say: this project will live or die on the efforts of regular every day folks. I know y’all are so much more than regular—you’re Master Gardeners! So if you’ve got the time, the willingness, and the gumption please consider giving this a go. It’s a simple thing that can go a long way, and through all our combined effort we may just end up with something really cool.
3rd Quarter 2019
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019
Message from the President: "The Joy of Watching the Pollinators at Work!”
by Donna Powell
Fall is around the corner and plants are beginning to finish blooming. The garden and fields should be full of pollinators, bad bugs and the good bugs. Our focus now is on the pollinators for without them we would not have the beautiful flow-ers, whispering grasses and food to put on our tables. The most common insects that we think of as pollinators are butterflies, bees, wasps and flies of all types. But, even plant eating bugs and the beneficial bugs can pollinate plants. So we must keep that in mind when we are thinking of using pesticides.
Different factors determine the variety of pollinators in your garden, plant height, flower color, shape and type. Did you know that bumble bees prefer purple flow-ers? Many insects prefer flatter flowers such as Black Eyed Susans and Tickseed.
Even plants that provide for insects when they are in the larva stage are important. The key is to have a diverse selection of flowers and plants to feed a diverse selection of pollinators. Then our food pro-ducing plants will benefit as well.
Our pollinator garden next to the PAR garden is very important in its pollinating capabilities as well as creating beauty for all to see. I think the comment that struck me the most about the pollinator garden was a comment Dick Chenoweth made at our last meeting. “The joy of just setting in the garden and watching all of the pollinators at work!” So many times my husband has pleaded with me to not focus on the weeds that need pulling but just sit for a while, enjoy the beauty and the bugs. That is our true reward for our accomplishments in helping nature to do her work.
Memorial Arboretum
By Cesare Matrundola, Project Manager
Mary, Frank Karen and Cesare hiding under the Buttonbush
Page 2
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 3
St. Pius Community Vegetable Garden
By Barbara Painter
The community vegetable garden at St. Pius Catholic Church was established about 6 years ago by Mimi Soileau to provide fresh produce for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank. Several men in the Parrish built the 15 raised beds and fenced in the area. We have a sprinkler system which is maintained by another member of the church.
When Mimi stepped down, I started coordinating efforts at the garden along with assistance from several church members. The volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul estimat-ed that the garden produced approximately 500 lbs. last year. We try to keep things simple and raise vegetables that people are familiar with and enjoy. We primarily raise tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, green beans and sweet potatoes. We have a few eggplants and pepper plants as well.
We planted Zinnias 3 years ago as pollinators and they have been coming back ever since. As well as being beautiful, the butterflies and bees love them. We use or-ganic sprays as needed but the basil and rosemary help to control the destructive insects too.
We try to have a survivalist of the fittest philosophy, so if a plant starts to give us problems, we pull it and replace it so we have a continuous volume of product into the fall. Red Clover is planted after the plants are pulled in Octo-ber and in the spring it is turned under, and more soil and horse manure are added to prepare the beds for planting.
St. Vincent de Pal offices are open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00 am – 12:00 pm to assist the needy in our area. We start picking at
9:00 am and are usually finished by 10:00 am. If anyone wants to help, you are more than welcome to join us.
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 4
Annual Picnic in Pics
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 5
Fall Plant Sale
By Debbie Altman & Pat Roling
This year’s Fall Plant Sale will be held on Satur-day, September 28 from 9 am to 2 pm at our PARH Garden. We will set up tents around the outside of the fence and arrange the plants so visitors can stroll around and select their new plants.
We will offering a small selection of plants for pre-order again this year. An area will be set up for people to pick them up during the plant sale. The pre-order form was emailed to all Rockdale Master Gardeners. Please email to your friends, family, anyone who might be in-terested in ordering, etc. If you need printed copies, please ask in the office. Besides cash or check, we are planning on accepting credit card payments in the office or over the phone for the pre-orders. Only for pre-orders. Not the day of the Fall Plant Sale.
We are not planning on having any paid vendors this year. However, we would like to have some groups set up space to share information about their organizations and any services they offer.
We are planning on having a Silent Auction. If you have new items that you could donate that would be appreciated. We are looking for money donations for purchasing a tablet like we have done the last cou-ple years. That is an item we can advertise to draw people to the Plant Sale. We need to approach busi-nesses in the community for items to donate for our the Silent Auction.
An email has already been sent about sending a list of your plants to Vivian so we know what plants will be coming. All plants need to be labeled. Instructions were provided in the email.
During the plant sale, we will be offering tours of our PARH Garden. This is an opportunity for us to share our hard work with the community. In addition, we can offer some instruction on different gardening skills and answer questions.
Pictures of some of the plants available for pre-order are shown below.
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 6
PARH Garden
By Ronnie Peden, Project Manager
Pictures of the hard working PARH Garden staff.
Today’s Garden Quote:
“Where you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Staying close to the soil is good for the soul."
~ Spencer W. Kimball
MG Sprouts
by Karen Fitzpatrick, MG Intern
Oh what a day! Not sure who had more fun with this year’s Sprouts program – the children or the Master Gardeners! A special thanks to Amy Smith for her coordination of the event and for the initial set-up. When the children walked into the program room, they were able to sit down to tables filled with crayons, markers, and stickers to dec-orate their take-home bag for the day’s activities. Maria VonDicker-sohn introduced the first activity by reading Jack Plants a Garden. She engaged the children in such a way that they each wanted to tell their own experiences and stories, and Maria was prepared to sit there and listen all day. However, Judy Skillern was anxiously waiting in the background to introduce her activity about seeds and sprouting, so Maria begrudgingly let the children scoot onto the activity. Judy had the children place a bean seed in a plastic bag of wet cotton balls, and then encouraged the kids to take the bag home and tape it to a win-dow. Judy showed the children a sample of a sprouting bean which she had prepared, and assured them that it wouldn’t be too long before their bean would sprout too. Jane Smith continued on with the sprout-ing theme by introducing the children to a seed tape made with paper and glue. Each child then created their own sunflower seed tape which they were encouraged to plant when they got home.
After a short break, Judy then prepared the kids for the second activity by reading a book called Compost Stew. Judy engaged the children in the story with a short rhyming song – “put it the pot, let it all rot, to make compost stew!” Soon the children were creating a “compost lasa-gna” by layering soil, greens (flowers and grass), and brown leaves in-to a big pan. Once they finished, the children were introduced to pans of some perfectly composted “stew” (thanks to Jane Mitchell). The com-posted matter was loaded with some great bugs! So James came in and did what he loves best – talked to the children about insects/bugs. He began pulling out various bugs while explaining their contribution to making compost. The children were then encouraged to search for some “critters” in the compost. Although there was some initial hesitancy about this, it didn’t take long to hear shrieks and shrills as the children began digging into the compost - pulling out worms, centipedes, bee-tles, and roly poly bugs. It was definitely a highlight of the day!!
After lunch Vivian Cheatham entertained the children with her reading of The Ugly Vegetable. Judy then walked up with bags of vegetables,
and talked to the kids about her experience going to a Chinese market to find the vegetables. The chil-dren were quite intrigued with the unfamiliar veggies, and surprisingly several wanted to try them. Each child was given a bag of these vegetables to take home, but not before planting their own veggie. In the final activi-ty of the day, the children created a soil mixture which they excitedly mixed and shook up in a plastic bag. The soil mixture was then poured into a plastic container, and each child placed a few garlic cloves into the con-tainer. Their make-shift “planter” with vegetable was ready to go!
By the end of the program, the colorful take-home bags were overflowing with materials and projects. Through-out the day the children were inquisitive, enthusiastic, polite, and just simply adorable! As each child walked out the door chanting the compost rhyme, there was no doubt that future Master Gardeners were in the making!
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 7
The Rock Garden is a bi-monthly publication of the Rockdale County Master Gardener Association distributed quarterly.
Articles are encouraged and can be submitted to Pat Roling at [email protected] or through the Extension Office. Articles received within two weeks of publication may not appear until the following issue.
The Rockdale County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers are an organization of the Rockdale County Extension Office located at 1261 Commercial Drive, Suite A, Conyers, GA 30094.
Rockdale County UGA Extension Office 1261 Commercial Dr. , Suite A ▪ Conyers, GA 30094
(770) 278-7373
THE ROCK GARDEN
Get Involved … Stay Involved! Contact one of these Rockdale MGEVs to find out how!
RCMGEVA Officers:
President ............................................. Donna Powell
Vice Presidents .................... Marjean Levy & Gail Ward
Treasurer ............................................... Linda Nixon
Day/time: Schedule varies with time of year and weather
Project Leader: Ronnie Peden
Address: 1400 Parker Rd., Conyers, GA 30094
Garden is behind building next to tennis courts. Tools available.
Memorial Arboretum (Georgia Intl. Horse Park)
Day/time: Last Saturday of month 8 am
Project Leaders: Cesare Matrundola & Mary Carter
Address: 1996 Centennial Olympic Pkwy, Conyers, GA 30013
If possible, enter through Gate A on Gee Mills Rd. Take a right, go about a ¼ of a mile and park car near Memorial Arboretum sign. Bring your own tools.
Nancy Guinn Library
Day/time: 2nd & 4th Thursdays 8:30 am - 10:30 am
Project Leader: Judy Abell
Address: 864 Green St. SW, Conyers, GA 30012
Bring your own tools.
Walk of Heroes (Clarence Vaughn Memorial)
Day/time: flexible, Check Park for hours park is open.
Project Leader: Buddy Roebuck
Address: 3001 Black Shoals Rd. NE Conyers, GA 30012
There is a guard shack at entrance. After the guard, take an immediate RT. Go through the gate, take another right. Then park by the Helicopter. Bring your own tools.
An Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, Veteran, Disability Institution
RCMGEVA Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2019 Page 8
Rockdale Master Gardener
Monthly Meetings
2nd Tuesday of the month at 10:00 am at the Extension Office
