The Kandiyohi County Extension Master Gardeners’ plant donation project is in its third year. Our first year, we gave away 60 patio tomato plants, all potted up and ready to grow. In our second year, we supplied 85 families with tomato and green pepper plants to grow in their garden.
This year’s donation is slightly different. Our "Garden in a Bag" project will include a tomato, green pepper and basil plant. Additional tomato and pepper plants will be available. We will have approximately 314 plants in total.
The Master Gardeners are so excited to donate these plants to others. Growing instructions will also be included with the bag. We have gotten several wonderful compliments from those who have received them in the past two years.
This year we are asking for your email address so we can reach out to you to see how your plants are doing and answer any questions that may arise. Donation day is Wednesday, May 24, at the Hope for our City location at 1020 Hwy 71 N.E. in Willmar.
Extension Master Gardener Pat Evermann is spearheading the program again this year with the help of several other master gardeners. They got together in March to plant the seeds and then again on April 21 to transfer the seedlings into larger pots. These dedicated gardeners are taking turns watering the plants so they will be ready to be given out on May 24 — rain or shine. A very worthwhile project.
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Keep reading below the related content for more of this week's column from Master Gardener Sue Morris.
It is always interesting to hear what the Hosta of the Year is, especially if you are “into” hosta. This year the winner is Neptune. This is a blue hosta — which means it needs quite a bit of shade. In the spring the narrow wedge-shaped leaves are bright blue and they hold their color well.
As the season progresses, they turn more blue-green. It has heavily rippled leaves with a good substance, displaying some slug resistance. That is good news.
It has a cascading form which makes it a good hosta to be planted on a ledge or in a container. If planted in a container, you would need to bury the pot in the ground in order for the hosta to make it through the winter in our area.
Since losing some shade trees the last couple of years, I have less and less space for hosta. Previously I had been able to find space for each hosta of the year.
One of my favorites is Victory. This won the award for 2015. After a couple years it gets giant leaves and it really stands out in the flower bed. Up until then I hadn’t paid that much attention to it. The leaves are huge and has a distinctive variegation.
A close second in my flower bed is the 2012 winner — Liberty. I’m not alone in that pick, as the American Hosta Growers Association says it is the “best of the best”.
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Master Gardener Sue Morris has been writing this column since 1991 for Kandiyohi County newspapers. Morris has been certified through the University of Minnesota as a gardening and horticulture expert since 1983. She lives in Kandiyohi County.
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