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Course: Part 1 - 2027 Orange County Master Gardener Training Course
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Welcome to the Master Gardener Volunteer Training
Master Gardener Volunteer Program Mission
We prepare volunteers to be peer educators who build relationships with community audiences to integrate local experience and research based knowledge in planning for and initiating steps to manage gardens, lawns, and landscapes with an emphasis on food security and environmental stewardship.
Master Gardener Volunteer Program Vision
Adults, youth, and families who engage in our garden-based educational programs expand their learning networks and ecological gardening skills towards greater resilience and connections. As a result, they experience enhanced health and wellness, food security, ecological literacy, environmental stewardship, and they embrace sustainable community practices.
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Final Project
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Please sign-up for your Final Presentation date and time slot. No worries if you haven't picked a topic yet, they are due at our May Class.
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Week 1 - Gardening & You and Cooperative Extension
Monday, January 2, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Gardening and You
- The Cooperative Extension System
- Cornell Cooperative Extension
- Orange County
- Cornell Cooperative Extension
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ForumMake forum posts: 1
- Click on the forum icon above.
- Once you've entered the forum, click on "Add discussion topic."
- Make the subject "My Garden - Your Name", then in the message area complete the sentence, "My garden is..."
- Add some pictures of your garden to your post by scrolling down to the attachment section and uploading some photos.
- Don't forget to take a look at other people's posts. Click 'Reply' at the bottom of the post to share your thoughts about their garden.
- Click on the forum icon above.
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- Click on the icon above for instructions on how to create your garden timeline.
- As part of introductions, you will be asked to share things from your timeline during our first class.
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Week 2 - Ecology and Biogeochemical Cycles
Monday, January 8, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Ecology
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Water
- Carbon
- Nitrogen
- Phosphorus
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Receive a grade Receive a passing grade
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Class #1 - Ecology and Taxonomy
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Introductions
- Ecology
- Taxonomy
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This is a recording of the lecture given during class.
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Week 3 - Soil and Soil Amendments
Monday, January 15, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Soil
- Soil Amendments
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This the guide we provide gardeners on how to take a proper soil sample.
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Web Soil Survey (WSS) provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. It is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world. NRCS has soil maps and data available online for more than 95 percent of the nation’s counties and anticipates having 100 percent in the near future.
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My Soil
Although how a piece of land is used affects the tilth or structure of the soil, the texture of the soil is determined largely by the bedrock, which acts as the soil's parental material. There are 561 named soils in New York State. What kind of soil do you have?
Use the USDA's Web Soil Survey to determine what type or types of soil you grow in. You can research the soil type(s) of your home garden, a community garden, or if you are currently not growing in the ground you can research the soil type(s) found at public garden like the Orange County Arboretum.
Once you have determined the type(s) of soil, read more about it. Is this type of soil commonly used for farming? Look at the soil profile. Does it change from one horizon to the next? What is the depth of a restrictive feature? What kind of drainage does it have? What are the minor components of your soil?
Find the Official Soil Series Description. This includes a description and map of other places with the same soil type. Where else can you find this type of soil. Look at the soil profile which shows the depth of the different soil horizons. If you want to go further, learn more about the minor components of your soil.
For this week post, tell us:
- the location of the soil type you researched (i.e. home, community garden, etc.)
- what type(s) of soil you found
- one interesting thing you learned about this soil type
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Receive a grade Receive a passing grade
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Week 4 - Composting
Monday, January 22, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Composting
- Vermicomposting
- Sheet Mulching / Lasagna Gardening
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These lecture slides go along with video on Home Composting.
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ViewThere a variety of compost bins varying in cost, space needed, set-up time, maintenance effort, and how long before you have finished compost. Check out plans on how to make eight different kinds of compost bins.
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Week 5 - Botany
Monday, January 29, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Botany
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- Photosynthesis
- Non-Vascular Plant Reproduction
- Plant Reproduction
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ForumView Start discussions: 1In this weeks forum, create a new discussion topic and tell us about your favorite tree.
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What is you favorite tree?
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What plant family is it in?
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What is its scientific name?
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Is it an
angiosperm or a gymnosperm?
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If it is an angiosperm, is it a monocot or a dicot?
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If it is an angiosperm, does it have perfect or imperfect flowers?
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Is it monoecios or dioecious? These terms can be used to describe angiosperms with imperfect flowers as well as gymnosperm.
- Share a picture if you want.
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Week 6 - Review
Monday, Febraury 5, 2024
Take some time to go through what you learned since our last class and come to this weeks class with any questions you have.
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Class #2 - Soil, Botany, Adult Learning, Reading a Seed Packet and Vegetable Gardening
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Week 7 - Growing Plants from Seed
Monday, February 12, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Starting Plants from Seed
- Growing Vegetables from Seed
- Growing Microgreens
- Seed Dormancy
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This planting guide includes a list of when to seed commonly grown vegetables inside. Although the guide was developed for Rockland County, it holds true for Orange County as well.
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Learn the difference between seed scarification and seed stratification.
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This a 15-minute video with step-by-step instructions on growing micorgreens by a Master Gardener Volunteer with the University of Illinois Extension.
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Preparation, storage, recipes, and more!
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This guide contains information stratification and propagation of native wildflowers, sedges & bulrushes, and grasses.
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View Start discussions: 1 Make forum posts: 1
For this weeks forum post you will share with the group how your microgreens grow.
You all received a microgreen growing kit in class on Saturday. Plant your basil or sunflower seeds and answer the following questions. As it will take sometime before your microgreens are ready to harvest, you may not have anything to post this week.
- Did you have any issues with the initial set-up?
- Where did you put the container once you seeded it?
- How many days did it take for your seeds to germinate?
- Did you have any issues (i.e. mold, damping off, etc.)?
- How many days after seeding did you harvest your microgreens?
- What did you do with your microgreens?
- Starting Plants from Seed
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Week 8 - Vegetable Gardening
Monday, February 19, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Vegetable Gardening
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A 48-page manual that includes the following sections:
- Plans and Preparations
- Planting
- Growing More with Less Space
- One Garden Plot: Three Garden Seasons
- Caring for Your Vegetables During the Growing Season
- Diseases, Insects and Weeds
- Storing Vegetables
- What You Should Know about Asparagus through Watermelons
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This planting guide includes a list of when to seed commonly grown vegetables inside. Although the guide was developed for Rockland County, it holds true for Orange County as well.
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This web forum provides an avenue for gardeners to share knowledge. Gardeners visit the site and report what vegetable varieties perform well – and not so well – in their gardens. Other gardeners visit to view the variety ratings and read the reviews to decide which might work well for them.
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Most of you have spent time toiling in a vegetable garden. Take a few minutes to think your experiences growing vegetables in conjunction with all of the information presented this week. Pick one concept that was presented that either surprised you or validated your own vegetable gardening experience.
- What concept did you pick?
- Why did this concept stand out?
- Did it challenge your understanding?
- Was it a completely new concept?
- Did it validate your experiences?
- How will this information impact your gardening in the future?
- How will you convey this gardening concept, idea or fact to others?
- Vegetable Gardening
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Week 9 - Herb Gardening
Monday, February 26, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Herb Gardening
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Although most herbs have few pest and/or disease issues, most basil varieties are susceptible to basil downy mildew.
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Receive a grade Receive a passing grade
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Week 10 - Review
Monday, March 4, 2024
Take some time to go through what you learned since our last class and come to this weeks class with any questions you have.
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Class #3 - Vermicomposting, GMOs, Final Presentations, & IPM
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This is where many MGVs source their Red Wiggler worms for vermicomposting.
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This publication contains articles on the following topics:
- GMO Basics
- GMOs and the Environment
- GMOs, Health Policy, and Culture
- Feeding the World
- The Future of GMO Technology
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This is a pro-GMO website run by CropLife International, an association that promotes agricultural technologies. Despite this slant, the website presents lots of good scientific information about GMO crops (i.e. history of GMOs, how they are made, where the genes come from, etc.).
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This a nonprofit organization that administers a certification program for non-GMO food.
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Week 11 - Cover Crops
Monday, March 11, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Cover Crops
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Seeding Rates and Reasons for Use
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- Cover Crops
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Week 12 - Growing Fruit
Monday, March 18, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Growing Fruit
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While you may choose to read thoroughly about a fruit crop that interests you, there is no need to read every bit of this resource or memorize all of its contents.
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North American Fruit Explorers connects people with a passion for fruit including backyard growers, orchardists, researchers, and people from all walks of life.
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- Growing Fruit
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Week 13 - Extended Time for Growing Fruit
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Week 14 - Pruning
Monday, April 1, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Pruning
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ForumView Start discussions: 1
- Pruning
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Week 15 - Review
Monday, April 8, 2024
Take some time to go through what you learned since our last class and come to this weeks class with any questions you have.
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Class #4 - Dividing Perennials & Pesticides
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Dividing Perennials
- Pesticides
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Week 16 - Annual & Perennials
Monday, April 15, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Annuals
- Herbaceous Perennials
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Classification of annuals — hardy, half-hardy, tender, tender perennials used as annuals (tropicals).
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Week 17 - Houseplants
Monday, April 22, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Houseplants
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Week 18 - Geophytes
Monday, April 29, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Geophytes
- Bulbs
- Corms
- Tubers
- Tuberous Toots
- Rhizomes
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This resource contains several articles on bulbs include:
- Dividing Bulbs
- Planting Depths for Popular Bulbs
- Companion Plants for your Bulbs
- Forcing Spring-Flowering Bulbs Indoors
- Bulb Buying Tips
- Battle of the Bulb
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Falling for Bulbs - The time to plant for spring is now!
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List and description of flowering geophytes by bloom color — white, yellow, red, purple, blue — and descriptions of plants in the genus Narcissus (Jonquil, Daffodil) and Tulipa (Tulip).
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- Geophytes
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Week 19 - Review
Monday, May 6, 2024
Take some time to go through what you learned since our last class and come to this weeks class with any questions you have.
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Class #5 - Woody Plants, Tree Walk, & Plant Morphology
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Topics of the Week:
- Pest Watch
- Spongy Moth
- Eastern Tent Caterpillar
- Woody Plants
- Tree Walk
- Plant Morphology
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- Pest Watch
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Time for MGV Training Course Part 2
You have completed part 1 of the MGV Training Course!!
You will continue to have access to this part of the Training Course, but the remainder of our weekly modules will be in Part 2!
To access Part 2, scroll up to the top of this page and click on 'Dashboard.'
Please email Susan (sgn32@cornell.edu) if you have any questions.
