Category: Newsletters and Member Articles

The full pdf copy of this edition is available here. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – by John Atkinson ADVANCED MASTER GARDENER TRAINING There is so much to learn and so little time. Marco Fonseca, State MG Coordinator, and others at the University of Georgia have put together the Advanced Master Gardener Training Program to provide continuing education for the Georgia Master Gardener. Participants in the program found it a rewarding experience and well worth the effort. UGA recognizes your participation with a certificate that can be placed in a prominent location at your home or office. What’s an advanced class like? It is more than a refresher of the training you have already experienced as an intern. It has much greater depth and specificity. The instructors are highly qualified in their field and the presentations are designed to be of timely interest and educational importance to the Master Gardener. There is a…

The full pdf copy of this edition is available here. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By John Atkinson Y’ALL COME OUT TO McDANIEL FARM! The Master Gardener Program is about learning and giving back to our community and this is a fun way to get involved. Most of our planting, cultivating, and harvesting times are Wednesday mornings. Watch for Kathy Parent’s weekly announcement about working as a volunteer at the  park. We usually have a halfdozen Master Gardeners (McDaniel Mulchers) turn out which helps make the project work less strenuous. It’s easy to find McDaniel Farm Park. Go to Old Norcross Road and Pleasant Hill and turn left at the second intersection on Old Norcross Road  (McDaniel Road). Proceed about a half a mile to the Farm. The address is 3251 McDaniel Road, Duluth. It is behind the Gwinnett Place Mall. We planted row crops to demonstrate a garden from the 1930’s. Last…

For many years I have had fun surprising my gardening friends by inter-planting my shrubs and flowers with vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and others. That is until I moved to a house located in a heavily wooded area where sun was a valuable commodity. That’s when I discovered that many wild edible plants, like mayapples and fiddlehead ferns, happily grow in partial shade. Since some “noxious weeds” also like the same habitat, I thought it might be interesting to attempt growing some edible “weeds” in my garden. My maternal grandmother would always gather wild greens in the spring from farm fields and woodlots. She made them into a “spring tonic” and, as I recall, they had the same effect as a good dose of castor oil. She did teach me, however, to appreciate the value of these wayside plants both from an edibility and medicinal…