Twitter worked wonders for Extension in Chicago. It was through Ron Wolford's twittering that Mr. Brown Thumb put Ron in touch with Renee Shepherd of Renee's Seeds, Felton CA. Renee kindly donated a tremendous variety of seed packets for our various gardening programs.

You will see these seeds sprouting in two of our major gardening projects: Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home Garden and Cook County Sheriff's Garden at DCSI. You can follow the progress of these gardens at the blog links above.

Renee Shepherd offers the finest seeds of heirloom and cottage garden flowers, aromatic herbs, and gourmet vegetables from around the world. Learn more at http://www.reneesgarden.com/. Renee is looking to showcase her seeds in local garden centers around Chicago.

Thank you for your generosity Renee!!

Sincerely,

U of I Extension Chicago Horticulture Staff

Great News: The Smart Home will continue for a third season and that means we need talented Master Gardeners such as yourself.

I need a count, could you respond to this email by Friday, January 15, 2010, if you intend to volunteer at the Smart Home Garden in 2010? Please email madiem.kawa@gmail.com.

Tentatively, the orientation will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 10-Noon -- mark your calendars.

Happy New Year!

Warm Regards,

Madiem Kawa
Environmental Program Organizer
University of Illinois Extension
madiem.kawa@gmail.com
office: 773.233.0476

On Saturday, March 21 our first orientation program for new Master Gardeners interested in volunteering at the 2009 Smart Home Vegetable Garden will be held at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Master Gardeners will be volunteering as Garden Docents, Garden Groomers and Garden Historian/Photographers.

On April 22, Earth Day, Master Gardener volunteers will be working with local school children to begin planting 80 earthboxes with vegetables next to the Smart Home. Cool season vegetables will be planted in the garden in late April.

Tuesday was a really exciting day at the garden. We saw a beautiful hummingbird and a gigantic praying mantis. Master gardeners replanted some of the larger containers with mums, flowering kale, violas and pansies. We removed the edging of parsley and alyssum along the south bed and replanted that area with pansies and violas. Master Gardeners also pulled out some peppers from a couple of squares in the square foot garden and replanted those spots with flowering kale, pansies and violas.

This was the day after violent storms struck Chicagoland and knocked out power for over 400,000 residents. The garden survived the driving rain and high winds fairly well. The eggplant was knocked around a little bit and the newly planted sweet corn was flattened.

One thing the groomers didn't have to do today was water the garden. Our rain gage indicated we had received over 2 inches of rain. The groomers weeded, applied a new layer of mulch and deadheaded the flowers.

We harvested peppers, squash, eggplant and cherry tomatoes today for the local food bank.

Please check the up-to-date schedule and please sign up for shift openings for the rest of the year:

Up-to-Date Schedule

Shift Openings

It has been a while, and I have been missing you and the Smart Garden. I was away on academic vacation studying landscapes in Italy. Very impressive and inspirational, but most of all - eye opening. It feels great to be a part of the greening world. All of you should feel the same.

Thank you for your patience while I was gone. I had a chance to visit MSI on Saturday and the garden is looking fabulous. A few parts are struggling where the soil is poor, but overall it looks great. You are all doing a fine job!

Please be informed that our Secretary, Julie Perteet, will be taking over the scheduling for Smart Garden shifts. She can be reach at 773-233-0476 or by email at <perteet@sbcglobal.net>. Please make note of Julie's email address. Please inform her if you need to cancel a shift. She has also been notifying you of your upcoming shifts a week in advance. This seems to be working out well.

Groomers:

Lately, the major duties for groomers has been watering (deeply) and weeding. These will continue to be the top two duties for the next two months (due to hot weather and poor soil). Please water the EarthBoxes during every shift - they are designed to keep rainwater out and dry quickly when producing fruit. We will also need to stake tomatoes and lay down a fresh layer of wheat straw mulch over the next two weeks.

Docents:

You are doing a fine job! Keep those visitors engaged. The script remains the same. If you have suggestions please email them to me. Remember to leave demographic records on clipboard. I collect them every other week.

EMERGENCY CREW - OPENINGS OVER NEXT WEEK:

As always, we appreciate what you do for Extension!

UPDATES ALWAYS LISTED ON BLOG AT:

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cook/blogs/eb150/index.html

Thanks,

--
Nancy Kreith
Extension Program Coordinator
University of Illinois Extension
3807 W. 111th Street
Chicago, IL. 60655
office: 773.233.0476
fax: 773.233.0910
cell: 708.567.6101

Saturday representatives of companies and organizations supporting the Smart Home including the University of Illinois Extension had informational displays and exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The University of Illinois Extension brought its popular "Bug Bash" to the event. Stations included Sort a Bug, Wormania, the Insect Petting Zoo, the Monarch Butterfly and Butterfly Crafts, Insect Face Painting and Ask a Master Gardener.

Nancy Pollard, Extension Educator Horticulture developed the Sort a Bug Activity which teaches kids: What is an Insect? Susan Grupp, Extension Specialist Environmental Science developed the Monarch butterfly display with specimens of the different stages of the Monarch's life cycle.

The Insect Petting Zoo was very popular with giant millipedes, tarantulas and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

Chicago Master Gardeners also manned an Ask a Master Gardener table with gardening publications and the latest information on the Emerald Ash Borer.