Touring Tulip Festival at American Village

Posted on February 28, 2020February 28, 2020 by audrey

Several Master Gardeners and Intern Class members enjoyed a trip today to the Tulip Festival at the American Village in Montevallo . The weather was perfect! Everyone also toured the American Village and stepped back to colonial days. Great reminder as to how thankful we should be to our forefathers for our independence! Thanks so much to our V. President and Program Chairperson, Charla Doucet for arranging this trip. If you’ve never been, plan now to go!
Photos by Susan Cleckler and Charla Doucet.

Front row, , L to R MGs Harriett Jackson, Susan Cleckler, Wally Walters, Joan Barber, Intern Ruby Moberg and daughter
Back row, L to R – MGs Rick Miller, Charla Doucet, Interns Peggy McGraw, Patty Frye, Kathryn Martin, Julie Garris, MG Lee Walters, Intern Patricia Agee.

Growing Tomato Plants From Seeds

Posted on February 27, 2020March 7, 2020 by audrey

Master Gardener Lanell Baker did a short program February 26 on starting plants from seeds at the 2020 Intern Class. She did a hands on demonstration of transplanting tomato plants grown from seeds. She explained how to get them ready to plant outdoors. ‘Hardening off‘ is the process of gradually acclimatizing indoor-sown plants to outdoor conditions. For most plants, begin hardening off a week before the final frost date for your area. Water plants before they go outside.

Bethany O’Rear was the main speaker, teaching “Plant Care and Management Pruning.

Thanks, Gay West for these photos.

Bethany O’Rear teaches Plant Care and Management Pruning

Tree Giveaway

Posted on February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 by audrey

Brian Smith with the National Forestry Commission and members of the Chilton Natural Resources Council held the annual tree giveaway Tuesday in the City Hall parking lot. There to help and provide information on planting the trees was Chilton County Master Gardener Lamar Giles. Retired Director of Chilton Research and Extension Center Jim Pitts was also there. This event is one of the ways that Clanton keeps its certification as a Tree City USA.
Photos by Gay West.

Soils and Plant Nutrition

Posted on February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by audrey

Our Feb. 19th speaker was Dr. Charles Mitchell, retired Ph.D., CCA, Professor Emeritus, Dep. Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University. Dr. Mitchell taught “Soils and Plant Nutrition” to our Master Gardener interns. His program is always very interesting and most informative. Thanks, Dr. Mitchell!!

Home Lawns, Ornamentals, and Invasive Plants

Posted on February 5, 2020February 9, 2020 by audrey

Our Master Gardener class on January 29 was a good one, with the morning session by Taylor Hatchett of Boozer Farms in Thorsby on “Home Lawns” and the afternoon session by Extension Agent Sallie Lee from Jefferson County on “Woody Ornamentals and Invasive Plants”. Thanks to both of these ladies for two very interesting classes!

Taylor Hatchett teaches Home Lawns — Taylor Hatchett from Boozer Farms teaching “Home Lawns”

Sallie Lee, Regional Extension Agent, Jefferson County, teaches “Woody Ornamentals and Invasive Plants”. Photo by Gay West.

Meet our Octogenarians

Posted on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by audrey

We’re so lucky to have TWELVE Octogenarians (80 & above) in our Association! Meet them today!

Announcement

Posted on January 28, 2020February 20, 2020 by audrey

Our meeting for February should be a good one, so make every effort to be there!

Meet Our 2020 MG Class

Posted on January 23, 2020February 20, 2020 by audrey

Our 2020 MG Class got started yesterday with 20 enrollees! We are so excited about the vitality and interest of this group. I’m sure we will learn as much from them as they do from us. Stay tuned!

Mother-Daughter Interns from Wilsonville and Mountain Brook areas.

Intern Gail Brooks has been attending meetings and waiting on a MG Class since last year.

President’s Letter

Posted on January 19, 2020February 20, 2020 by audrey

Well…We made it through another year! Before getting into 2020, I would like to thank the 2019 Officers and the Board for their service, you are very much appreciated!

As we start this new year, let’s not forget who we are… As it states in our MG Handbook, we are trained volunteers serving as educators in our communities. Ask yourself “where can I be of service?” So, let’s look around and see what community projects we can find. That will be our challenge for the year.

So…moving forward we have a lot to be excited about. Now that we have established a relationship with Thorsby Elementary School we will continue participating in a Spring and Fall planting with the 3rd grade classes. As with any new relationship there have been growing pains, but with each year that relationship will grow stronger.
We will be having our plant sale in April, and plan on this being an annual fundraiser for us. With any new event it will take time to establish in the community and, again, we will feel some growing pains but I’m sure in no time Chilton County will look forward to this event every year. Once again, it will take all of us to participate and make this a success. I want to thank you now for your help, your patience and your plants that you have donated to make this happen.

I will end by saying we may not all agree all the time, but one thing we can agree on, we are all dedicated to the success of CCMGA, and it takes ALL of us to make this Association successful.

Susan M Cleckler
President
Chilton County Master Gardeners

2019 Christmas Luncheon and Dirty Santa

Posted on December 29, 2019January 28, 2020 by audrey

Our December meeting was held at the Barn at Petals from the Past. We had a short business meeting, presented Golda Thomas with her MG certificate, enjoyed a delicious Pot Luck Christmas Luncheon, then concluded with many of us playing Dirty Santa. There was a lot of stealing going on as you can tell from the photos in this slideshow . We look forward every year to this get together and just relaxing and having fun!