horticulture

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Charles Mann, agriscience educator at Carson High School, recently attended an 8-day professional development institute at the University of Nevada, Reno to teach the Introduction to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) course in the CHS Career and Technical Education agriculture program during this school year.

Hot sun, low humidity and drying winds create a hospitable environment for tiny pests called spider mites.

With eight legs, these arachnids are related to spiders and scorpions.

In the ideal horticulture world, a healthy soil provides all the nutrients that plants need to grow.

Unfortunately, Nevada rarely has soils that optimize plant growth because they contain little organic matter and few nutrients.

It is time to get vegetable gardens going. In Northern Nevada, there are three seasons during which we can grow food: early spring, summer and early fall.

Carson High School’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) students will present a three-dimensional replica of the Carson City Mint, Liberty Bell and coin press to the Nevada State Museum in a deed of gift signing ceremony inside the museum's south gallery located at 600 N. Carson Street on Tuesday, April 25 at 9 a.m.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping. Swing on by if you have questions about any insects, bugs or plants.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Carson High School’s Career and Technical Education program is presenting its Career Expo Wednesday, March 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the high school. The Expo is open to the general public as well as all Carson High School and Carson City middle school students.

Bringing an American reality television series to CHS Business Students is another reason why Carson High School is a cutting edge high school. Thanks to teachers Billy McHenry and Angila Golik as well as Carson City community professionals, students are offered real life experiences.

Organizers of the Carson City Fair are looking for volunteers and donors to help with this year’s event.

Organizers of the inaugural Carson City Fair are reaching out to the community for sponsors and donors of the mid-summer event making its debut at Fuji Park in July.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping. Swing on by if you have questions about any insects, bugs or plants.

If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples she will be in the Carson City Office this Friday January 6th and Friday January 20th.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping. Swing on by if you have questions about any insects, bugs or plants.

If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples she will be in the Carson City Office this Friday December 30th.

About 25 years ago, I purchased a 1933 three-volume set of The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture by L. H. Bailey, also known as Liberty Hyde Bailey. First published in 1914, the set was “a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States and Canada for ornament, for fancy, for fruit and for vegetables: with keys to the natural families and genera, descriptions of the horticultural capabilities of the States and Provinces and dependent islands, and sketches of eminent horticulturists.”

I’m often asked when the best time to prune fruit trees is. I pruned my crabapple and apple trees last week. I chose this time of year to prune them, not because it was optimum season for pruning, but because I couldn’t stand looking at all the ugly water sprouts (vertically growing small branches) sticking up haphazardly throughout the framework of the main branches. I see these trees from my kitchen window every day.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping.

If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples she will be in the Carson City Office two days per month. In October it will be today and Friday October 14th.

Wendy will be in the Carson City Cooperative Extension office on Friday September 1st and Monday September 19th for this month. Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening. If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples please stop by on either of these two dates.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Office is located 2621 Northgate Lane #15, Carson City, 775-887-2252. Hours for Wendy will be 9am to 4:30pm.

The first ever Carson Valley Ag Day will be held Saturday at Lampe Park in Gardnerville. This free, family friendly event celebrates the region’s rich agricultural history and provides the community a good understanding of where food, fuel and fiber comes from, how it’s grown and who the local people are making it happen.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping. Some of the recent popular questions have been related to bugs and infestations.

If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples she will be in the Carson City Office two days per month. In August it will be this Friday the 5th and August 19th.

RENO, Nev. – University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s fall “Grow Your Own, Nevada!” program presents eight classes statewide to help Nevadans get on the path to more sustainable, local, healthy living by growing and preserving more of their own food.

Wendy Hanson Mazet, whose expertise is in horticulture, arboriculture, noxious weeds, vegetable gardening, and low water use gardening offers her expertise if you have any questions about your garden or landscaping.

If you would like to visit with Wendy or drop off samples she will be in the Carson City Office two days per month. In July it will be July 1 and July 15.

“Although it has taken longer than anticipated, new and exciting things are starting to happen at the UNR Cooperative Extension Office,” says Lindsay Chichester, Extension Educator.

Bianca Galeano, office manager, was recently hired and comes to the job with a wealth of information, great people skills, and a great can-do attitude.

For some gardeners, a green velvety expanse of lawn is their horticulture motivation. To achieve a healthy lawn, a gardener should know how to reduce thatch through core aerification, how to fertilize and mow properly and how to irrigate efficiently.

The Bureau of Land Management and Nevada Department of Corrections have partnered with ecologists from the Institute for Applied Ecology, a non-profit in Corvallis, Oregon, to utilize inmates in the effort to restore Greater sage-grouse habitat.

As the planning season for gardening begins, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and their Certified Master Gardeners offer a chance to help you get the most out of your garden.

Cooperative Extension has teamed up with Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space to offer “Gardening in Nevada: The Bartley Ranch Series.” Classes are free and run 6–8 p.m. every Tuesday through March 29, at Bartley Ranch Regional Park, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road in Reno.

Carson High School’s Career and Technical Education program is presenting its Career Expo Thursday, Feb. 18 from 4:30-7 p.m. at the high school in Senator Square. The Expo is open to the general public as well as all Carson High School students.

Carson High School Career and Technical Education agriculture program lead teacher, Charlie Mann, donned his dress, braided his beard and welcomed his Agriculture 1 students to the Hunger Games.

The Carson City students have been studying world hunger, commodities, production and trade throughout the semester, and the Hunger Games simulation gave them an opportunity to examine trade and barter with their peers while relating to popular culture.

Carson High School’s Career and Technical Education program is presenting its Career Expo Thursday, Feb. 18 from 4:30-7 p.m. The Expo is open to the general public as well as all Carson High School students.

Northern Nevada’s high elevation means Nevada has a short growing season, which makes gardening more of a challenge. So as the planning season begins, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and their Certified Master Gardeners offer a chance to help you get the most out of your garden.

Last week I spoke with Cory, The Greenhouse Project manager about aging apple trees at his house that an arborist suggested he cut down and replace with dwarf varieties.

Although the apples have always been fruitful, the arborist thinks these trees are almost at the end of their productive years. Cutting down these old, yet healthy, trees may be acceptable from the standpoint of apple production, but since they also serve as shade trees, they would be a great loss in the overall landscape.

In the 1990s, I was the coordinator of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program for four counties. Volunteers signed up for 45 hours of horticulture classes in exchange for a fee and 45 hours of volunteering.

I had one very dedicated volunteer, Michael Janik, now of Michaels Apples, who went on to become a leader in Northern Nevada in raising, training and pruning apples and other fruits.