The Franklin County Master Gardener Advisory Committee toured the new Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, on June 10th.  The 4-H Center is a "green building" focused on site sustainability, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and the quality of the indoor environment. The Center is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building on the OSU campus.

Three months of hard research, creative writing and a break in the rainy weather paid off for the Warren County Master Gardeners, who were able to meet more than 200 visitors to the Fort Ancient State Memorial's prehistoric gardens during the 'Fort Ancient Celebration" on June 7-8. The Master Gardeners have been developing a demonstration garden adjoining the museum for four years. This garden displays the types of crops grown by Ohio's First Gardeners, the Adena and Hopewell people, thousands of years ago. Individual sections of amaranth, sunflowers, tobacco, gourds and the Three Sisters crops (corn, beans and squash) are tended by Warren County Master Gardeners from April planting through September harvest.

Fifty-four avid gardeners from around Ohio attended a day-long Plant Health Care Workshop hosted by the Greene County Master Gardeners at the Greene County OSU Extension Office on June 5, 2008.

Dr. Roger Funk, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Davey Tree Expert Company and an internationally recognized authority on tree, lawn and landscape care, presented his holistic approach to plant selection, planting and maintenance.

Dr. Funk began with a discussion of the soil-air-continuum, explaining, "insects and disease are often not the problem, but can be indicative of another problem--often soil."  As to air, he pointed out that our atmosphere's levels of carbon dioxide are increasing and impacting plant growth rates.  "As carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, we can expect to see changes in our ecosystem, including increases in some pest populations," he noted.

Trumbull County Master Gardener Volunteers are sowing seeds of change by teaching local food bank participants how to grow their own food.

MGV Glen Smith, Interns Diana Isenberg and Donna Hall recently helped County Coordinator Steve Hudkins teach 20 people how to grow vegetables in containers.

With Burpee-donated seeds, soil from Warren City's Nature Blend plant, containers donated by Trumbull MGVs and starter plants provided by St. Mark's Lutheran Church (home of the food bank), Hudkins and his MGVs demonstrated the proper way to plant and care for seeds and transplants.