RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

All events will be held at Rutherford County Extension/Lane Agri-Park 315 John R. Rice Blvd. Murfreesboro TN 37129 unless otherwise noted.

PH: 615-898-7710 Visit our website for more information http://rutherford.tennessee.edu

TO REGISTER FOR EVENTS AND CLASSES CALL 615-898-7710

April 2014

Saturday’s weather looks like it is going to be a

perfect day for a run. We would love to have you and

your family join us for the 2nd Annual Rutherford

County 4-H 4K. All the funds raised at this event will

benefit the local 4-H endowment fund to be used to

make a positive impact on the lives of Rutherford

County youth. By having a healthy endowment fund,

we will be able to continue to offer our 4-H

programming at little or no cost as well as being

abole to provide scholarships to the various camps

and leadership trainings that 4-H offers its

members.

We still have spots available for this unique 2.5 mile

road and cross-country course. You may still register

on Active.com (Click Here) for only

$25. or go to our website to download an

application to bring into the office.

4H 4K Run This Saturday!!

After the race, we invite you and

your family to stay with us for the

Adventures in Agriculture Day. This

free event will teach your family

about the agricultural industry in

Rutherford County and will include

games, hayrides, free give-a-ways

and more.

RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTEN-

For additional infor-

these or other related

topics, contact the Ex-

tension office at 898-

7710 from 8:00 a.m.-

Fri.

You can email Mitch-

April 2014, Page 2

4th, 5th, 6th Grade Junior Camp

SUMMER CAMP SIGN UP

APRIL 16TH 7:00AM

Registration forms and more camp information are on our website!

No early registrations.

Registration for these camps is now OPEN: Camp Name: Location: Dates Cost Grades* Deadline to register Jr. High Adventure Camp Crossville 5/26-5/30 $270 (6-8th) 5/9/2014 Electric Camp UT Knoxville 6/24-27 $235 (6-7th) 5/31/2014 Target Smart Camp Columbia 6/30-7/3 $240 (5th—12th) 5/31/2014 Rutherford County Discover Camp 7/14-18 $100 (4th—12th) till full

*Grade as of Jan 1, 2014

Sewing & Design Camp Registrations opens May 1 Check our website for more information

We appreciate

everyone who

came out to

support our 4H

Yard Sale and Pancake

Breakfast.

All the people who made

donations, shoppers, vendors,

diners and helpers—we thank

you all for making our event a

success!

The proceeds will be used to

help buy awards and supplies

for our 4H programs. We had

so much fun, we’re going to do it

again next year!

Save the date: March 4th 2015!

Thanks to all who have

supported 4-H by donating

toward 2014 Junior Camp

Scholarships.

This year over 20

Rutherford County children

applied for scholarships.

We will be able to help 6 of

them afford camp by

funding ½ of the $275.00 camp cost thru our scholarship

program.

Scholarships are entirely funded by donations made by civic

groups, individuals and local clubs.

Camp for 4th, 5th & 6th grade youth will be June 23-27 at the

Clyde M York Center in Crossville, TN.

If you are interested in helping send a child to camp, please

send your donation in any amount to:

Rutherford County Extension

Attn.: 4-H Camp Scholarship Fund

315 John R. Rice Blvd., Suite 101

Murfreesboro, TN 37129

2014 Season Starts May 9th! Get ready to enjoy the

seasons freshest, LOCALLY GROWN

produce and food items at Rutherford County's

ONLY “home-grown” farmers’ market !

April 2014, Page 3 RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

For additional infor-

these or other related

topics, contact the Ex-

tension office at 898-

7710 from 8:00 a.m.-

Fri.

You can email Mitch-

Living Well With

Chronic Conditions

If you or someone you care for has heart disease,

arthritis, COPD, diabetes, depression, or any other

chronic disease, this free 6 week workshop can help

you take charge of your life and learn to self-manage

your disease more effectively.

There is NO cost to attend and is open to anyone with

chronic condition and their family members.

Class is limited to 20 individuals.

Dates: 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13 and 5/20

2:00pm to 4:00pm

Call 615-898-7710 to register Call today—spaces are limited

FREE! 6 week workshop to help you learn

to enjoy life more while living with a

chronic disease

Farmers’ Market

Spring Vendor Meeting April 14th 8am—4pm

Get help to “Grow” your market business -

Farm Business Planning

Safe & Effective Pesticide use

Enhancing the Safety of Locally Grown Produce

2014 RCFM Updates

WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program Training

We will be drawing for season booth holders and have

updates on more Market programs.

NO COST to attend, but registration is required

Call Janie Becker at 615-898-7710 or email her at

jbecker8@utk.edu for more information

Rutherford County Farmer’s Market

Learn something new this year!

Our popular mini-classes will be back at

every market. Come learn something new….

We’ll cover lots of topics from cooking,

crafting, gardens, environmental issues,

Check out our lists of classes on our

website

http//Rutherford.tennessee.edu

Some common market questions...

Why aren’t we open every day ?

At the Rutherford County Farmers Market, all of our

vendors are the actual growers and/or makers of their

products. It's called a Producer-Only market for this

reason. There's got to be time to farm!

Technically, most other markets that are open every day

are retail produce markets, not farmers' markets. Using

our approach, when you shop at a producer-only/ grown by

the farmer that is selling the items market, you are giving

as much support as possible directly to local farms, local

agriculture as a whole, and your community.

Why aren’t we open on weekends?

Some of our producers may also sell their products at

other markets on Saturdays. As our primary mission is to

maximize the availability of locally produced agricultural

products, we would not want to limit their ability to get to

as many markets as their production allows by competing

with other markets in the area.

Hope you can make it to the RCFM in 2014.

We'll be open on Friday, May 9th!

faceook.com/RutherfordCountyFarmersMarket

Attention

Beef

Producers!!

Choose your night!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014 6:00PM or

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 6:00PM

$20 for Tn Cattlemen’s Assn. /

$40 non-member

Call 615-898-7710 to rvsp by 4/14/14

Basic Canning

April 24th 10am—noon

Learn all about the how & why of canning

at home. This workshop focuses on

canning safety, types of equipment and

proper canning methods for both water

bath and pressure canners.

Price includes Univ of TN Canning Book

and free pressure gauge testing.

Cost $10.00 Call 898-7710 to register

o r r e g i s t e r o n l i n e

http://rutherford.tennessee.edu

Upcoming classes:

Fermenting Foods $20

May 15th 10-12:30

Tomato Talk FREE Aug. 8th 9:30

April 2014, Page 4 RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

For additional infor-

these or other related

topics, contact the Ex-

tension office at 898-

7710 from 8:00 a.m.-

Fri.

You can email Mitch-

Lawn, Landscape and Garden Tips

By: Mitchell Mote, Extension Agent

Things are really starting to pop in the landscape

with the warmer temperatures. If you enjoy

working in the lawn and/or garden and can’t find

something to do there this time of you, I suspect

you’re not really looking!

Lawns:

Cool season turf lawns have really greened up and mowing

season has already entered the third week or more for

some of us. If you haven’t started mowing yet, take time

to tune-up the mower, trimmer and other powered tools

before you start using them full time. Sharpen blades,

change oil (and oil filters if equipped), change air filters,

and fuel filters (if equipped). Grease moving parts with

grease fittings. Use fresh gas. If you buy gas in large

cans that may be stored 30 days or so before being

completely used up, consider adding a fuel stabilizer to

the gas can.

Warm season turf will likely begin to show a lot of

green this month and the middle of April is often a

suggested time to make the first fertilizer application

for the year.

UT Extension’s recommendation for fertilizing cool

season turf is to avoid applying nitrogen fertilizers

past the 15th of April

If you haven’t made a preemergent herbicide application

to prevent crabgrass, do it soon. Crabgrass has started to

germinate, but you can still minimize populations with an

early April application as crabgrass doesn’t all germinate

at once

It’s getting very late to make post-emergent herbicide

applications on existing winter annual weeds. Most are

blooming and some are making seed; if you don’t treat

them pretty soon, you may as well skip it as they’ll die

anyway as spring progresses and their seed crop will

already be made

Remember the 1/3 rule when mowing: try to avoid

removing more than 1/3 of the leaf blade at a time.

Master Gardeners’ will

hold their annual plant

swap April 26th at the

Community Center .

Bring a plant—take a plant

to this FREE event.

If you are just getting started in gardening

& don’t have plants to share, bring a canned

vegetable for the food bank to swap for

plants

Plant Swap—Silent Auction—Garden Demos

Start dividing your plants to share now!

Check their website:

mastergardeners-rc.org

for more information

Healthy Vegetable

Gardens

Free Classes

Learn how to make your garden more production. These FREE classes will start at 9am and be over by noon. Call 898-7710 to register for one or both classes.

April 19

Warm Season Crops /

Irrigation & Mulches

June 14

Managing pests & diseases /

What to plant next

If you have questions about the course, call or

email: Janie Becker (jbecker8@utk.edu) or

Mitchell Mote (mmote1@utk.edu).

PLANT SWAP April 26

April 2014, Page 5 RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

Lawn, Landscape and Garden Tips

By: Mitchell Mote, Extension Agent Continued from Page 4

Landscapes:

It’s time to start planting summer flowering bulbs.

Many will plant summer annual flowers later this month;

be ready to protect them from late frosts that may

occur.

~ If cutting back tall ornamental grasses, cleanup can

be simpler if you’ll wrap a few rounds of twine or even

duct tape around the bundle above where you intend to

cut before you cut. After you cut, you only have a

bundle to pick up, not lots of individual stems.

~Applying a systemic insecticide containing imidacloprid to woody ornamental plants that are prone to attack

from scale insects, lace bugs, aphids, leaf hoppers and

other pesky critters will help minimize damage before

much of it occurs.

~Avoid spraying insecticides on plants while in bloom to

minimize potential damage to bees and other plant

pollinators.

~Before you add fresh mulch to beds, clean out

existing weeds and apply a preemergent herbicide to

help keep annual weed growth down throughout the

spring

~There’s still a lot of opportunity to plant shrubs and

trees while the soil is soft and moist and rain patterns

are more favorable for keeping plants watered.

Vegetable Gardens:

If you get anxious and set out tender warm season

plants such as tomatoes this month, be prepared to

provide frost protection.

Most all warm season vegetables can go out late

April-early May.

An April planting of sweet corn is often successful.

Mulches can really reduce the amount of weed

competition in your vegetable garden. Mulch can be

used in the middles and around plants in rows to

suppress weeds and conserve moisture.

Programs in agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, and resource development. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture and county governments cooperating.

UT Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment

UT-TSU EXTENSION—RUTHERFORD COUNTY @RUTHERFORDCOEXT

For additional information regarding any of

the events or programs contained in this

newsletter, please contact the Extension

office at 898-7710

from 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon-Fri.

Or visit our new website!

April 2014, Page 6 RUTHERFORD COUNTY EXTENSION NEWS

Our website has changed! Our brand new & improved website is now open for business!

Thanks for your patience while we have gone thru this process to better serve our

If you would like to receive texts about our programs and events but don’t have a twitter account, please

send text to 40404 with the message follow@rutherfordcoext.

You will be notified of event changes, additions, 4H club cancellations and get news about Extension as it

happens

Time to get your soil tested!! Don’t waste time, effort and money on applying the wrong

soil amendments to your lawn or garden.

Submitting a soil sample is simple.

Collect small portions of soil from approximately 10 random locations

that represent the average soil in the area to be tested.

Samples should be collected at a depth of about 6inches. No rocks, roots or plant parts, please) Mix the small portions together to form a composite sample. If the soil is wet,

allow it to dry (do not heat to dry).

Bring enough of the resulting mixture to fill a quart baggie to the extension office.

There is a fee to cover the cost of the testing, the cost depends on which test you are

having done. It takes 1-2 weeks to get your results back by mail.

Why soil test? Healthier lawns, fewer weeds, improved vegetable yields and flowers!