Garden Time is here
It is that time of the year again TO PLANT Here are some tip‘s to help out.
Information from the President…
Please be sure to note the following on your calendars:

Garden Tours: Saturday, May 3, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Special thanks to Keith Billings, Kathy Moak and David Daniel for sharing your talents in preparation for the upcoming Association events!
We will need at least a dozen volunteers to man the four homes on the tour. Please consider lending your time for this great cause.
Thanks to everyone for all you do to make our Association a success!

If you have any questions, please call us.
Steve and Helen Keller
903-586-9881

Dirt-Cheap Landscaping
Tips and tricks to make your gardening dollars stretch
Thrifty garden aficionado and conscientious shopper Marianne Binetti offers these tips, tricks and innovative ideas to make your gardening dollars stretch.
1) Instead of buying pricey topiary forms, use inexpensive tomato cages. Simply tie the legs together by using a plastic-coated wire or twist-tie.
2) Make your own compost by collecting fallen leaves in a large plastic bag. Poke holes in the bag to allow air flow and store the bag where it won’t freeze over the winter. By spring you’ll have a bag full of rich soil conditioner
3) When planting large containers, fill the bottom with crushed aluminum cans before adding potting soil. Most plants’ roots won’t reach to the bottom of large containers, and using cans as filler will make pots lighter
4) Use recycled pipe or conduit piping from surplus stores to create sturdy custom stakes for your garden plants. Even better? Try an inexpensive expandable curtain rod – it will grow as your plants grow!
Glossary of Color Terms To help get your layout in order in your garden
analogous - colors such as orange and yellow that are adjacent or near each other on the color wheel. Analogous colors are considered pleasing and harmonious and help lend a blended, unified look to the garden.complementary - a color that's opposite another on the color wheel. Red and green are complementary; so are blue and orange. Complementary colors intensify each other, making each other "pop." Use them to create focal points, to highlight a particular area of the garden.cool - a color that's in the blue-purple range of the color wheel. Exception: cool colors such as blue can appear warmer if they contain some yellow. Cool colors such as blue, lavender and violet can make a small garden appear larger.monochromatic - a color scheme that uses different shades of the same basic color. Using monochromatic colors in the garden lets other factors such as texture and form become more important.polychromatic - a color scheme that uses a lot of different colors. Gardeners who want a little bit of everything in a spontaneous sort of assortment may not want to position colors in any certain way. Others may want to put analogous colors together, then systemically create a flow of color that makes easy transitions between the color groupings.value - the relative luminosity--or lightness--of a color based on how much white it contains. Yellow has the highest value, followed by orange, green, red, blue and violet.warm - a color that's in the red-orange-yellow range of the color wheel. Exception: warm colors such as red can appear cool if they contain some blue. Warm colors appear closer in the garden.




Letter from Keith Update on the new class
Where has the time gone, here it is April and my planting beds still need weeding and the vegetables still need planting. I think Erma Bombeck had a quote about that! 2008 has started off with a bang for Cherokee County Master Gardeners. The new officers are off and running and our association is growing. Five new master gardeners form the 2007 Master Gardeners Class has joined the association; Claude Menard, Emma Hill, Bettye & Nate Grimes, and Keith Billings. Two new members joined in March having moved form West Texas to Beautiful East Texas; Michele Melton and Nedra Turner. We welcome them all and wish good gardening to each.
We have had three regular monthly meetings and each has been packed with business and interesting presentations. Committees have been busy with reviewing and proposing changes in the Bylaws, potting plants and planning for the April 19th Plant Sale, planning field trips, organizing the May 3rd Garden Tour, and participating in the Texas Trash Off, designing a newsletter; just to mention a few of things going on. Several members have already got a head start on their education hours by attending the East Texas Spring Landscape and Garden Conference and several members have plans to attend the Henderson County Spring Conference in Athens. Now, don’t tell me we haven’t been busy! Can I use this as an excuse for not having my tomatoes in the ground?


THE NEW CLASS INFO
The 2008 Master Gardeners Class is small with five members, but they are a very active group. They began class on January 10th and are about half way through the course. The class planted the HOPE Garden with lots of beautiful tomatoes, three varieties of squash, two varieties of bell peppers, jalapenos, and collard greens. (Collards with jalapeno and country ham, brings back lots of fond memories). They participated in the Texas Trash Off and at least one trainee has taken on a design project for a community butterfly garden, (ambitious for a trainee). I’d encourage each of you to drop by any of their meetings and share your experiences and knowledge (gardening that is) with them. I have found them to be the most inquisitive group!!
Three members have invited us to have a meeting at their gardens or at least to come by for a visit with show and tell after the regular business meeting. This should be lots of fun and a good opportunity to share battle scars and TALL or short garden stories. We’ll schedule these visits during the cooler months of the year and the tomatoes will already be harvested.
Well, I planned to get the tomatoes in the ground this afternoon since they are begging for some room for the roots and the class had a few left over and generously offered them to me. But guess what! It thundering!! I think I’ll try to beat the rain and the newly planted tomatoes will enjoy a nice drink or I’ll have frizzy hair.

.Volunteer Opportunity
Garden Tours: Saturday, May 3, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Notify Keith Billings or Steve Keller if interested in Helping for MG hours


Guide to Selecting a Garden Mulch
How Much Mulch?
Mulch is usually sold by the cubic yard, and that can leave gardeners scratching their head when trying to figure out how much to buy.

Here’s the easiest way:
1. First, find out the size of the area you want to cover in square feet. This is easy; just multiply the length of your garden by the width.
2. Next, decide how deep you want your mulch to be, in inches. A couple of inches is usually sufficient.
3. Now multiply the size of your garden in square feet (#1) by the depth of your mulch in inches (#2).
4. Divide the number you get in #3 by 324. This is the number of cubic yards of mulch you will need to cover your garden.
If you're looking for a way to save lots of time in the garden, look no further. Mulching your flower and vegetable beds will drastically reduce the amount of time spent weeding, watering and fighting pests. Mulch also improves the appearance of your garden, and keeps dirt from splashing up on your flowers and vegetables when it rains.
If possible, consider using an organic mulch. Organic mulches are those that used to be living material, such as bark, straw, leaves, grass clippings and pine needles. These organic mulches improve the soil by adding nutrients as they decompose and encourage earthworm activity. Organic mulches aren't perfect, though. If you have problems with rodents, you may want to choose an inorganic mulch. In very moist climates, organic mulches may hold too much moisture. The excessive moisture will encourage slugs and snails, and may even cause the stems of your plants that come in contact with the mulch to rot.

Q. What is Organic Gardening?
From Marie Iannotti,Organic Gardening Basics - Getting Started with an Organic Garden
A. The short answer is that organic gardening means not using synthetic products, including pesticides and fertilizers. Ideally, organic gardening replenishes the resources as it makes use of them. Like feeding depleted soil with composted plants, or planting legumes to add nitrogen to an area that had been planted with heavy feeder. The bigger picture involves working in cooperation with nature, viewing your garden as a small part of all the natural system.
Here are some basics to get you started with organic gardening:
What is Meant by Organic Matter?
Organic matter is decaying plant and animal waste. It includes everything from compost, grass clipping, dried leaves and kitchen scraps to manures and fish heads. Organic matter is used as a soil amendment or conditioner. It can be worked into the soil of a new garden or used as a top dressing or mulch in an existing garden.
If interested in Organic Gardening , Read the next issue for more information on the subject.