Carlos Valdez is giving a mini-talk at the 2013 Fair. Photo by Bob WalkerLACMG News:
The Los Alamos County Master Gardeners will be hosting a Garden Fair, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, June 11, at the Demonstration Garden on Central Ave, across the street from the Mesa Public Library.
Tours of the garden, a plant sale, children’s activities, and information on four garden topics will be offered to the community. There is no cost for attending this event. Docents will be located throughout the garden to talk with visitors about the diverse garden designs and answer questions.
Three workshops and one clinic will be offered, also at no cost. At 9:15 a.m. WANTED – Dead or Alive – Common Los Alamos Insect Pests will be presented by Horticulturist and County Extension Agent Carlos Valdez. This will provide an opportunity for people to identify the insect that may be harming a garden as well as an opportunity to identify the good bugs. If you have an insect you want identified, bring it.
At 10 a.m., Master Gardener Kimberli Tanner will present Let ‘em Run, Let ‘em Ruin: Gophers – The Gardener’s Nemesis, providing information on gopher management.
At 10:45 a.m., Carlos Valdez will be back to conduct a clinic – Brown Thumbs Anonymous. Bring your questions and, if possible, your plants and Carlos will help you diagnosis your plant disorders.
The concluding workshop at 11:30 a.m. will be Making Every Drop Count in the Garden. Denise Matthews, Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC), sponsored by the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities, will present ways to make water count in the garden, starting with plant selection, soil
amendments, mulching and water conserving irrigation.
Perennial Mound, a section of the Demo Garden. Photo by Bob WalkerFun activities are planned for children to enjoy the Garden Fair and gardening. They can participate in the Butterfly Hunt to find butterflies in the garden and a Seed Planting activity where each child will take home a seed planted in a cup.
The Plant Sale will consist of plants grown by Master Gardeners. If you are looking for plants for inside your home, vegetable garden or landscape, the sale of outdoor and indoor plants starts at 9 a.m.
The Demonstration Garden is a Public Educational Garden started in 1990 by Solveig Palanek, Los Alamos County Cooperative Extension Service Horticultural Agent at that time and Tom Trujillo, PRIDE Committee. It was adopted by the Master Gardeners’ Association (LAMG) in 1995. LAMG maintains the Garden in conjunction with the Los Alamos County Parks Department and the New Mexico State University Los Alamos County Cooperative Extension Office along with additional financial support from donors and grants.
The guiding principles of the garden are:
- to be an educational and leisure resource for Los Alamos County,
- to be a model of conservation and sustainable practice,
- to communicate an attractive, enjoyable and memorable image and
- to respond to the natural site through design and utilizing compatible material and preserving undisturbed area and permanent plantings.
The LAMG is a community service organization whose members have successfully completed the NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service Master Gardener Volunteer training. The mission is to promote knowledgeable, effective, and safe horticultural practices consistent with the Cooperative Extension Service and to promote goodwill in the community. Locally, Master Gardener training began in the early 1980’s. The local association was formed in July 1994. Training is offered each year, comprised of twelve weeks of lectures covering a large variety of gardening topics.
For more information on the Fair, the Garden, the Master Gardeners program, and the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service call 662.2656 or visit the website.
At this same website, information on the Master Gardener program and the Demonstration Garden can also be found.
