Gardens of the Wild Wild West

Check this out: it’s an excellent workshop on fruit growing.

University of Idaho, College of Agricultural and Life Science, Parma Research and Extension Center

Pomology Program Annual Fruit Field Day

The University of Idaho Annual Fruit Field Day will be held on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 8:30 am to 1:00 pm at the U of I Parma Research and Extension Center Pomology Orchard and Vineyard site, about 4 miles north of Parma, Idaho, USA.  The registration will start at 8:30 am and program will start at 9:00 am (sharp).  Several cultivars of new table grapes, peaches, nectarines, apples, quince, Asian pears, and other alternative fruits will be presented during the tour.  Participants can taste many of these fruits. Highlights of this event will be:

1)     The field day will start at the U of I Pomology Orchard Site with discussion on fruit research and production, visiting several fruit-industry commercial booths, and the opportunity to taste several types and cultivars of fruits.

2)     Tour of the U of I comprehensive research projects on ‘Fuji’ apple irrigation, fruit nutrition, chemical thinning, and pesticides uses.

3)     Tour of the modern super high density orchard with different canopy architectures and rootstocks.

4)     Mechanization for spraying, harvest, thinning, stress evaluation, and tree/vine training to reduce labor.

5)     Tour of the stone fruit selection research orchard.

6)     Tour of the alternative fruit crops, including quince, Asian pears, persimmons, Jujube, Haskaps, etc.

7)     Tour of the national apple rootstock selection research.

8)     Tour of the peach and pluot research.

9)     Tour of the table grape vineyards, new grape canopy research.

Note: All tours include discussion/questions/answers on various cultural practices of fruit crops, including planting, growth regulators, pruning, thinning, girdling, irrigation, pest and disease control, safety in chemical application.

Directions:

Electronic/GPS/Google Map Users: Use the following address: 31727 Parma Rd, Parma, Idaho 83660

From Ontario: Take I-84 East about 4 mi.  Take Exit 3 toward Payette/Parma.  Turn right onto US95 toward Parma and continue for 9.7 mi.  Turn left onto Pearl Road continue 1 mi.  Turn right on Parma Road approx. 0.2 mi to orchards/vineyards on right.

From Boise/Caldwell:  Take I-84 West.  Take US20/26 Exit 26 toward Notus/Parma.  Turn left onto Hwy 20/26 and continue for 18.0 mi.  Turn right onto Pearl Rd and go 1 mi.   Turn right on Parma Rd and go approx.0.2 mi.  Orchards and vineyards will be on the right.

From Parma R&E Center: North on U of I Lane 0.4 mi.  Turn right onto Klahr and continue for 0.4 mi.  Turn left onto Parma Road and continue for 1.8 mi.  Orchard/vineyards will be on the left

When: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 8:30 am till 1:00 pm

Cost:  The Event will be Free of Charge. Lunch can be purchased in the orchard at your own expense.

Who Can Participate? Open to the Public.  Those interested in fruit production, including commercial growers, small farm growers, alternative fruit growers, home gardeners, Master gardeners, horticultural professionals and graduate students, extension and research faculty/staff, horticultural hobbyist, and fruit industry representatives are welcome. Two Pesticide Credits will be offered to those who attend the entire field day. Please Call 208-722-6701 ext 228 Or Professor Essie Fallahi at 208-722-6701 Ext. 225 if you have questions.  OR send an email to maurineb@uidaho.edu

University of Idaho, College of Agricultural and Life Science, Parma Research and Extension Center

It was two weeks ago tomorrow the fabulous premier issue of Leaf Magazine hit the wired desktops of garden lovers/design lovers everywhere.

My thanks to the inimitable Topher Delaney and her staff of SEAM STUDIO for their help with this project. Ms. Delaney spent a considerable amount of time with me on the phone. Her gorgeous garden design is featured on the cover.

Quite possibly one of the most ingenious raised bed ideas I’ve EVER seen! For a Zone 5 garden, these mammoth truck tires are brilliant. They absorb heat and bring the soil temp up early in the season, they hold moisture (critical when Indy hasn’t had any rain for a month), and make it easy to lean over and maintain the bed. Wow. And fun for the kids.

Go right ahead, try this at home!

Cha cha cha! Enter your salsa sample by 11 am next Saturday! Judging is at 1 pm sharp. Tamales. Pinatas. Prizes. OLE~!

courtesty wiki commons

Two contests, actually: Homemade salsa. You can win in the Judges’ Favorite, Hottest, or Fan Fave. Two age groups can enter: Under 16 and 16Plus.

Aha! And there is a tomato contest with two categories: BIGGEST AND THE UGLIEST.

5728 W State Street
Boise, ID
853-4000

Touring Indy gardens today.

I have a weak spot for the humble hollyhock. As a little girl, I made dolls with the blossoms. Today, I admire them in every shape, form, color or place I find them. Often in alleys-forgotten and unwatered just self-seeding their little hearts out. Here’s my homage to Hollyhocks.

Homage to the Hollyhocks

If you have trouble growing hollyhocks -they are so often plagued by rust – be brave, very very brave, and whack them all the way back (the stalk) and let them grow back. When they come back the second time, the rust is usually gone. Clever, eh?

. To lodge a concern over United Water’s 20% proposed rate hike, call the commission at 208.334-0338. Ask them how to sign up to testify at the hearing.

The Idaho Statesman ran a front page article the other day re: United Water (owned by Suez, a French company, read: greedy, world wide water monopoly), wants to increase our water rates by 20% . What the hell? Oh, consumption has decreased since 2003. Really? REALLY? Isn’t that the desired outcome of their annual Waterwise classes? Why the demonstration gardens showcasing Waterwise plantings?

Let’s get this straight: so, for YEARS we have been asked to to CONSERVE WATER. So we did. I’ve taught dozens of classes on this very subject. And now, the company that asked us to conserve, that asked us to do the right thing, wants to add 20% to our monthly bills to make up for the decrease in water usage.

Who exactly do we have to thank for this damn mess? The city leaders who entered into the agreements with these huge corporations. When something as basic and necessary as water is exploited for financial gain, you can expect the worst.

Here’s United/Suez’s “do gooder” list. I suggest they drop the pretense of caring about about conservation.

And for a little history on Suez/United Water’s track record, read about their Atlanta GA debacle. And ask yourself, are we next?

In January 2003, after ongoing contention between
the city of Atlanta and United Water, city officials
decided to terminate the largest water privatization
contract in the USA. In 1998, the city of Atlanta
signed a 20-year, $428 million contract with United
Water, a subsidiary of the French corporate conglomerate,
Suez. The industry held great expectations that
Atlanta would serve as the “model” for other communities
and open the door for private water companies
to do business in other major U.S. cities. Instead,
the fiasco in Atlanta serves as a model for what to
avoid.

United Water vastly overstated the amount of money
that it could save the city and vastly underestimated
the amount of work needed to maintain and operate
the system. Almost immediately after signing the
contract, United Water started hitting up the city for
more money, and tried to add $80 million to the
contract. The city refused. United Water came back
with charges of $80 million for additional expenditures.
Atlanta’s Water Commissioner refused to
approve the payments, but in a bizarre twist, letters
authorizing the payments showed up with the signature
of former Mayor Bill Campbell. Campbell
denied he had ever signed the documents. The city
attorney ruled the authorizations invalid, and United
Water eventually backed away from pressing the
claim.

United Water was also improperly billing the city for
work it didn’t do. The company billed an extra $37.6
million for additional service authorizations, capital
repair and maintenance costs, and the city paid nearly
$16 million of those costs. Pay was withheld for
the rest because the work either wasn’t complete or
hadn’t even been started. Routine maintenance was
billed as “capital repairs” and much-needed infrastructure
rehabilitation was neglected.

Desperate to cut costs, United Water more than
halved the number of employees, from more than
700 to just over 300. Still the much-vaunted savings
from privatization didn’t materialize, and the promise
that a consumer rate hike could be averted through
savings turned out to be empty. Sewer bill rates went
up every year that United Water had the contract –
rising, on average, about 12% annually. Chris New,
the Deputy Water Commissioner in Atlanta said,
“My biggest concern is a lot of people have lost confidence
in the water itself. Over the past year, we’ve
had so many boil water advisories and discolored
water around the system.”iv

Very soon trust in the company eroded to the point
that the city spent $1 million to hire inspectors to
verify United Water’s reports. City officials concluded
it was time to end the relationship. Now Atlanta
faces the daunting task of taking back its water system
and performing the needed upgrades that were
neglected during United Water’s tenure.

And there’s lots more bad news where that came from, the Food and Water Watch website.

The Emerald City may never be the same. We went, we shopped, we ate, we drank, we saw gardens, we saw sculpture, we gabbed, we ate and drank some more…
By the time I finished the 9 hour drive back to Boise, full of Starbucks, I was flippin’ vibrating. I have about a year to recuperate before we do it all over again.

Some highlights:

Fabulous luminous Jenny K from Horticulture

Just two of the Awesome Austin gals, Pam and Diana

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Headed for the freeway.

And yes, some folks, the whippersnappers, knew not what that “thing” was.

Stone sculptures at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens

The coolth of the water from the house at Bloedel Reserve

Orb-a-lishus at Dragonfly Farms

Blackberry desserts to celebrate

...and a little sip of Blackberry Punch to celebrate Proven Winners!

And a grand time was had by all. Thanks to Lorene, Debra, Marty, and David for hosting us in Seattle.