Master Gardeners of Cherokee County

Are you planning to decorate your business for the fall? It's a great way to advertise your business and beautify our public spaces. The Cherokee County Master Gardeners group is running a fundraiser to benefit the Community Garden project:

Traditional fall decor delivered, set up, and hauled away.

Choose from the following packages:

Package #1 - $45
1 straw bale
2 bundles corn stalks
2 one-gallon mums
3 pumpkins (various sizes)

Package #2 - $90
3 straw bales
5 bundles corn stalks
4 one-gallon mums
5-7 pumpkins (various sizes)

Combine packages #1 and #2 for $125

*Add a 50+ pound pumpkin for $30*

Buy from us and save your time AND your back!

Delivery/Set Up will be between Monday, 9/14 and Friday, 9/25.
Tear Down/Haul Away will be during the month of November.

Master Gardener Volunteers will be contacting local businesses about this opportunity.
To order, call or visit the Cooperative Extension office in Murphy (837-2210) or download the brochure/order form.

You may also contact a Master Gardener Volunteer: Kim Delaney (837-9101) or Jen Stockbridge (835-3763)

In case anyone wants to get out of town this winter...

Join Zack Stockbridge's Biology students for outdoor work activities at the Tri County Early College High School on Friday, August 28 from 11:30am to 2pm. Come for the whole time or any part thereof, as you are available.

Master Gardeners will coordinate and encourage the students as they perform maintenance tasks on the greenhouse, flower bed, and worm bins. This will be "supervisory" rather than "sweaty" for MG volunteers.

TCEC is located next to the Telecenter on the campus of Tri County Community College. Park in the Telecenter parking lot and meet in the pavilion. Call Zack Stockbridge if you need more information...835-3763.

by Jen Stockbridge

The best way to prevent tick encounters is to stay out of their habitat; sitting indoors on the couch all the time is a sure-fire way to avoid Lyme disease. This strategy, however, encourages other problems, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. We gardeners spend significant time in the outdoors at all times of year--clearing, mowing, mulching, pruning, watering, harvesting, and enjoying our carefully-created surroundings.

Gardeners wouldn't think of pruning roses or weeding horsenettle without gloves. We know from science and experience that sun exposure causes damage to skin, so gardeners wear hats. Taking mosquitoes into consideration, it makes sense to wear long sleeves and even a head net. To prevent ticks from finding their blood meal we must again think prevention beginning with physical barriers. Clothing is our first defense. Tuck shirts into pants and pants into socks. Treating clothing with the insecticide permethrin will "knock down" a tick, not simply repel it. DEET applied to skin under clothing will repel any ticks who make it past the physical barrier.

If you've dressed for battle, you've no doubt dressed modestly. The final way of preventing tick bites is to not allow ticks to cross the threshold into YOUR environment. Keep ticks out of the house by being immodest once you've finished your day of gardening: strip to your birthday suit. Leave your muddy, sweat soaked clothing outdoors and get thee to the shower, where you can wash and check for ticks at the same time. Indoor-outdoor pets should be checked thoroughly before being allowed inside.

One "pet" who may actually help reduce the number of ticks in your garden is the guinea fowl. These funny-looking, vocal birds are worth consideration if you have a bad tick problem. Google guinea fowl ticks for a host of information.

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service fact sheet on ticks can be found here.

Cherokee County Extension Agent Keith Wood reported a late blight outbreak in Dillard, GA. Late blight is a serious fungal disease that affects the nightshade family of plants, especially potatoes and tomatoes. Foliage and fruits/tubers are all affected.

Gardeners should inspect their crops daily. Check out this Cornell University fact sheet for pictures of diseased foliage.