The merry month of May brings a wide variety of volunteer service and continuing education opportunities for Metro-area Master Gardeners. Both Farmers Markets and Master Gardener hotlines are starting to buzz with lots of activity and questions from the gardening public. There are still openings for a few of the Hands-on Workshops, and many more volunteer opportunities abound with our “partner” community demonstration gardens.
Dig-in as a garden educator volunteer, it’s the season!
Farmer’s Markets are sprouting up around the tri-county area. Master Gardeners are hosting clinic tables at the following markets this month.
Beaverton – Gresham – Hillsdale – King – Lake Oswego
Milwaukie – Oregon City – Sherwood – Tigard
Sign up for a shift on CERVIS or contact the clinic coordinator, Jordis, or Marcia for assistance signing up.
Master Gardener Hotlines It’s amazing what you can learn educating others and that opportunity is there for all who volunteer at the Master Gardener phone clinics! Research and collaborate with fellow MGs while educating the gardening public. Sign-up on CERVIS or contact a phone coordinator.
Clackamas County, Janet Hohman, 503-655-8631 janet.hohman@oregonstate.edu
Multnomah County, Susan Marcus, 503-703-4937 susanmultphones@gmail.com
Washington County, David Butt, 503-645-5769 dandubutt@gmail.com
Keep an eye out! Special Volunteer Events. Special volunteer events arise throughout the season so be sure to watch for email announcements from MG program staff or postings on CERVIS to snag a slot at one of the many special volunteer opportunities.
Get Volunteering! CERVIS will get you there!
All of the OSU Sponsored volunteer activities are available for sign-up on CERVIS, our online volunteer registration system. Look for the “CERVIS volunteer event registration” link on the right side of our main website: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/metro/ .
When logging into CERVIS for the first time, enter your email and click on “Don’t Know password/ Reset password” to get a temporary password.
Please only sign up for events that you know you can attend. If you need to cancel an event, please contact the clinic coordinator for a list of other volunteers interested in a particular activity. It is your responsibility to find a backup!
Remember “Partner” activities and some “Program” activities added at the last minute are not listed on CERVIS. So be sure to keep an eye out for special email and newsletter announcements.
Photo courtesy of Sharon Andrews
Lending a Hand and Learning at a Demonstration Garden!
Hands-on learning in any of our ‘Partner’ demonstration gardens is rewarding. Each garden offers unique active, relevant, learning opportunities. Contact a coordinator and dig in!
Clackamas County has the following hands-on volunteer opportunities:
- End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center – Check in to see how you can join the fun!
Sharon Andrews 503-577-7493 sharonandrews402@gmail.com
- Hopkins Demonstration Forest – Tend native plantscapes – in a beautiful forest setting!
Frank Wille 503-342-6699, franklyna@comcast.net
- ‘Grow-An-Extra-Row and Learning Garden’ Project at Clackamas Community College –
Help to grow food for those experiencing food insecurity.
Nancy Muir ccmgextrarow@gmail.com 503-789-6970
Multnomah County Master Gardeners Community Demonstration Garden in Southeast Portland. Join them as they expand into a new Annex garden!
Contact: Heidi Nichols at heidinichols@comcast.net or
Nancy Fine soul_77777@yahoo.com or mcmgdemogarden@gmail.com
Washington County Master Gardeners have two wonderful demonstration garden locations and they are breaking ground at their new PCC Rock Creek Education Garden on June 6th! See details for the special PCC Rock Creek Garden Ground Breaking Ceremony on our Partner Events page.
- Washington County Fairplex Join in the fun tending this great garden!
Bill Klug billklug@frontier.com 503-681-0143
- Learning Garden at Jenkins Estate – Lend a hand in this beautiful landscape.
Sandy Japely at sjapely@gmail.com 503-531-8482.
- PCC Rock Creek – be part of the exciting beginnings of a fabulous community garden partnership!
Sue Ryburn at sueryburn@comcast.net
Hands-on Workshops a few slots remain for our 2018 training workshops. Use the links you were sent earlier in the year to sign-up for the workshops. The following workshops still have openings as of the composition of this newsletter.
- June 2 – Summer Fruit Tree Care
- July 27 – Advanced Vegetable Gardening
A big shout out of thanks to our workshop instructors for their time and inspiration!
Jen Aron
Margaret Bayne
Jane Collier
Monica Maggio
Multnomah Co. MG Propagation Team:
Judy Battles
Gloria Bennett
Sally Campbell
June Davidek
Marilyn Frankel
Linda Goldser
Pete Jacobsen
Heidi Nichols
Washington Co. MG Propagation Team:
Helen Dorbolo
Marian Ewell
Jackie Lindquist
Sally McCulloch
Jim Kronenberg
Ardis Schroeder
Marilynn Turner
Advanced Training Webinars Updates
There are some great additions to the online Advanced Training Webinar series brought to you by Brooke Edmunds, Oregon State Extension and the OSU Master Gardener Program. These webinars each count for 1 hour continuing garden education/recertification credit. A wonderful way to expand your gardening knowledge in the comfort of your own home or sitting in a lovely garden watching on the electronic device of your choice.
Upcoming Live Webinars
5/31 at 11am PST Dealing with Darling Dastardly Deer presented by Dr. Dana Sanchez
6/28 at 11am PST Practical Food Safety in the Garden presented by Sara Runkel
7/26 at 11am PST Meet the New Neighbors: Emerging Pest Issues in Oregon presented by Robin Rosetta
8/30 at 11am PST The Latest Research on Bees in the Garden: Results from the OSU Garden Ecology Lab presented by Dr. Gail Langellotto
For more information and to view recordings of past webinars go to:
http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/ediblegardens/2018/04/24/2018-webinars-master-gardeners-updated/
POPULAR QUERIES
How do I log my volunteer hours?
To maintain an ‘active’ Master Gardener status or to complete your Master Gardener training you need to log your volunteer and education hours on a 2018 Volunteer log sheet and submit them to the MG program office by September 30, 2018.
You can download the log sheets at the Metro MG Program Volunteer Portal. Just click the ‘Volunteer hour reporting and forms’ link. There you can choose between a Word Doc or Excel sheet.
Does CERVIS track my hours? Yes, CERVIS does track your volunteer hours, BUT you need to transfer those hours onto your Volunteer Log sheet and submit them along with your other volunteer hours. To access your history log into CERVIS and go to “Report Management”, then click “View or Print Volunteer Activity History” and transfer those hours to your log sheet.
What hours do I log?
- Interns – log your volunteer hours and the Hands-on workshops that you attended
- Veterans – log your volunteer hours and the continuing garden education/recertification hours you attended
Then simply submit all volunteer and education hours to the MG program office by September 30, 2018.
Plant Sale Nirvana!
The Clackamas Co. and Multnomah Co. Master Gardeners provide plant sale ‘Nirvana’ for all garden enthusiasts the first weekend in May.
May 5th and 6th the iconic Spring Garden Fair will satisfy anyone’s plant lust! Perennials, annuals, natives, ornamentals, veggie, fruit, herbs, and more! Clackamas County Event Center, Clackamas
May 5th the Incredible Edibles Plant Sale a community celebration for home-grown goodness – organic veggie, fruit and herb starts will get you growing! 1624 NE Hancock Street, Portland
With a little judicious planning you can shop for plants all weekend!
Mulch – What, Why and Wherefore?
Have you ever been confused about using mulch in your garden or advising clients? Master Gardener Chip Greening made a great presentation to the MG Study Group last month where he laid out the nitty-gritty research on mulch. Chip is kindly sharing his presentation handout outlining what mulch is, how using mulch effects the garden and how to choose the appropriate type of mulch. Check out his ‘Mulch – What, Why and Wherefore’
Did You Hear the Exciting News?
The Clackamas County commissioners voted unanimously to approve plans for a new OSU Extension Education Center! Woo-hoo! This new home for the Master Gardener program will support our outreach and service to the citizens of Clackamas County and beyond! Read all about the exciting news!
