Rescheduled: 'Insect pests of fruit trees' to be at the Heartwood Festival on June 2nd

The rain chased away the demonstration table about 'Insect pests of fruit trees' on Arbor Day 2012, but HMEG,  Extension Master Gardeners & the Local Food Resource Hub are bringing it back for the Midway's big to do, the Heartwood Festival on Saturday, June 2nd! Anyone who got a fruit tree last fall in the HMEG give-away, or is a part of the Midway Local Food Resource Hub, or just is an aspiring home fruit tree grower will find this demo a great resource.

Stop by to learn the fairly simple ways of detecting the presence of fruit tree insects to determine when, or if any treatment may be needed. Learn to identify the Curculio, Coddling Moth, Apple Maggot fly, various leafrollers, sawfly and more. Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the method stressing least harm to the environment and consumer will be the key approach taught at this demonstration to provide home growers with successful fruit crops. Various insect traps and bagging fruit methods will be demonstrated. Lots of chances to ask questions.

'Insect pests of fruit trees'  at Newell Park on Saturday, June 2nd. from 1-4pm

Find the demo at the HMEG table! 

About the instructor: Ann Aurelius has been a dedicated Ramsey County Master Gardener for 7 years. She specializes in urban food growing and has spent extensive time with the Gibbs Farm apple orchard trees--learning about the pests that love to snack on them!

This event is part of the 2012 Midway Local Food Resource Hub educational opportunities.

Urban fruit tree growers, learn more about the insect pests of fruit trees at Arbor Day 2012!

Plum curculio

Maybe you got a fruit tree last fall in the HMEG give-away?  Or maybe you are an aspiring home fruit tree grower?  Either way, HMEG has arranged a great drop-in event to learn more about care of your fruit trees. This demonstration will  be set-up at St. Paul's 2012 Arbor Day celebration. Stop by to learn the  fairly simple ways of detecting the presence of fruit tree insects to determine when, or if any treatment may be needed. Learn to identify the Curculio, Coddling Moth, Apple Maggot fly, various leafrollers, sawfly and more. Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the method stressing least harm to the environment and consumer will be the key approach taught at this demonstration to provide home growers with successful fruit crops. Various insect traps and bagging fruit methods will be demonstrated. Lots of chances to ask question.

Its all at Horton Park on April 28th for the city of St. Paul’s Arbor Day celebration at Horton Park from 10 am to 1 pm.


About the instructor: Ann Aurelius has been a dedicated Ramsey County Master Gardener for 7 years. She specializes in urban food growing and has spent extensive time with the Gibbs Farm apple orchard trees--learning about the pests that love to snack on them!

This event is part of the 2012 Midway Local Food Resource Hub educational opportunities.

Arbor Day Plant and Play at Horton Park

• Looking for a reason to spend some time at a Midway park with the family?
• Ever wanted to plant a tree in a local park?
• Want to learn more about what you can do with your outdoor space?

Come out to Horton Park on April 28th for the city of St. Paul’s Arbor Day celebration at Horton Park! With the guidance, volunteers will be planting over 70 trees in Horton Park. After the planting, the Midway Frogtown Arborators will share some brass tunes. Tours of the park’s trees will be offered periodically, as well as slack line and tree climbing opportunities for the kids. In addition, Friends of Horton Park will be opening the community gardens for the season and attendees can partake in that activity too. While at the park, you can get a tattoo, press plants for a City Herbarium with Works Progress, learn about fruit tree pests and diseases from Ramsey County Master Gardeners, make a stem-dwelling native bee nest with Befriending Bumble Bees, climb a tree, listen to the Midway Frogtown Arborators, and more! The planting will start at 9:00 a.m.(you can register on site beginning at 8:30), rain or shine, and run until 10:30. The rest of the day’s events will run 10 am until 1:00 p.m. There will light refreshments provided, but visitors who plan to be there for long are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch. This event is co-hosted by Friends of Horton Park, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) and St. Paul’s Natural Resources. Come anytime during the event! You can pre-register to help with the planting by heading to this registration link, or if needed by contacting Andy at 651-632-2411 or Andy.Rodriguez@ci.stpaul.mn.us. For other inquiries contact steph@hmeg.org.

Location:   Hamline and Minnehaha Aves in the St. Paul Midway
Date:         Saturday April 28th
Times:       Registration for planting: 8:30am
                  Planting: 9-10:30am
                  Activities, refreshments, demonstrations and community garden opening: 10am -1pm

HMEG night at the library: Seed swap, winter sowing, and screening of 'Taking Root'

Beat the winter blues and get inspired for a new growing season! Bring your seed collection and catalogs to share. Trade seeds for an exciting new specimen to grow, peer through seed catalogs, learn how you can plant those seeds in the winter (winter sowing) and then take in a film about how planting trees transformed a nation. TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy. Learn more about the film at: http://takingrootfilm.com/.

Wednesday February 22, 2011 at the Hamline Midway branch library auditorium

• 5:30-6:15 Seed exchange and winter sowing demo.
• 6:15-7:45 Film
• 7:45-8:00 Wrap-up/clean-up

Come to all or part of the evening! This event has free admission and will have light refreshments; Do bring your own covered beverage container and bowl to reduce waste. (However, if you plan to be there from seed time to film ending, you may want to bring along a bit more nourishment.)

A note for parents- This event is intended mostly for adults. This film may not be suitable for children (some violence, recounting history of Kenya). Please do your due diligence before bringing your kids.

This event is brought to you by the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (www.HMEG.org), Hamline Midway Library Association, U of MN Master Gardeners, Mississippi Market, and is part of the community events/education offered by Hamline Midway's new Local Food Resource Hub

The Green Alley work day pilot yields tremendous outcomes!

The thick of the alley work event

Over 30 volunteers turned out for our alley clean-up on Saturday Sept. 24th! The crew pulled weeds, pulled trees, disposed of garbage, mulched, and planted!  Many thank-you's go out to neighbors, Hamline-Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) members, Hamline Midway Coalition's Community Building Committee (CBC),  and our Master Gardener Diane Fraser.  The alley was transformed when trash-filled, overgrown, and untidy spaces were cleaned up and planted. Plus, some block residents connected for the first time while others strengthened their relationships throughout the process. Better neighbor connections and well-kept spaces can help prevent crime such as illegal dumping, graffiti, and residential burglaries. The vision of the project was to support residents who want to improve their alleys for water quality, safety, food production, and aesthetics. This block on Charles Ave between Griggs and Syndicate got 20 property owners on board with a green alley pilot project, and in exchange, received organizing help and volunteer assistance for a Green Alley Work Day from the CBC and HMEG. One alley resident and work day volunteer expounded on the benefits of the event:

"Many alley [spaces] that looked derelict now look clean and tended-to. I met neighbors I'd never spoken with before, and had great conversations with residents I almost never see. [Plus] I got to use a weed wrench!" Another volunteer said, "Extreme Alley Makeover should be the name of this program - beautiful transformations of neglected space!"

Dozens of block residents turned out only to be greeted by many volunteers from the greater neighborhood who were there just to lend a hand for the day. HMEG and the Southeast Como Improvement Association lent a large supply of tools that included a Weed Wrench.  There was a second, and larger, Weed Wrench provided by Midway neighbor Chad from the U of MN.   Our Master Gardener, Diane, was an inspiration and energetic leader that would not accept an unfinished job.  Further, she lent her truck that was used to rip out stumps of weed trees (this activity went on for about 5 solid hours).  The crew hauled 10 truckloads of weeds and brush to the compost site, and 1 truckload to the Ward 4 Clean-up day (concurrent timing was all part of the plan). Lots of transplant daylilies and hostas came from area yards, and a nice batch of natives plants came from Horton Park community gardeners and friends from the University of MN.  Short native plants will hopefully colonize some of the cleared spaces, and provide food for native pollinators.  

Once the majority of the hard work was done, the group came together for a chili feed potluck.  A perfect accent to the productive day.

See the photos of the work event here.
Some before & after shots are in this album.

Residents along the alley are saying that it looks great and they are very thankful. They recognize many benefits from this type of greening, including community building, crime prevention, and beautification.

Acknowledgment goes to Faith Krogstad for contributing to this article.

Ramsey County Master Gardeners supporting Midway and Frogtown neighborhoods

This is a moment to shout out to Ramsey County Master Gardeners (RCMG) in the Midway. So many Midway and Frogtown garden projects are nicely highlighted in the RCMG year end report from 2009. I particularly want to shine a light on Diane's work. She is successfully working hard within this organization to bring in intern Master Gardeners from diverse backgrounds. She also takes her Master Gardening service time to our urban neighborhoods, augmenting community efforts in growing their own food. She would want you to check out another organization she works for called "Growing Food and Justice for All".

Here is that Master Gardener 2009 report (pdf). In it you will find summaries of Hamline Midway and Frogtown community garden projects including Aurora-St. Anthony Peace Garden, Horton Park Community Garden, Snelling Avenue Planter Project, Frogtown Gardeners, Frogtown Orchard Project. Also supported and not mentioned are projects at Galtier Elementary, Hamline High Rise, LEAP Academy, HUMC Rain Gardens, and Midway Green Spirit Garden.

Master Gardeners are a well used resource in our St. Paul neighborhoods. Many thanks to their members!