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MASTER GARDENER, Donna Noyes, puts her creativity and gardening know-how to good use all over her yard, including this beautiful garden.
This is the first in a series of interviews so that those of us who live in this area can get to know just who our Master Gardeners are. One of the main reasons South Dakota has MGs is to provide home gardeners who need advice with a ‘go to’ person in their own community to help answer gardening questions. Having to learn through our mistakes, and years of trial and error, is a sometimes discouraging route to take in becoming a gardener who is not only successful but who eagerly looks forward to each new growing season. In this column I’d like to introduce you to Donna Noyes. id="0">
Donna lives in Rose Hill Township in southeast Hand County. She took her MG training in 2006 in Huron, where she spent one day a week learning all the areas of gardening that SDSU included in the MG curriculum. When she completed the course, she was one of seven newly minted MGs from Hand County who began the id="1">Dakota Prairieid="2"> MG group in Miller. When Donna took the course she was working full time but was fortunately able to arrange time off to take the classes. Because she felt many working people were kept from becoming MGs because classes were only held during the workweek, she began urging SDSU to offer the course online, which they finally did in 2013. id="3">
Donna grew up gardening. As a child she always had her own area in her mother’s garden. Her mother’s garden was a necessity and she canned what she grew in order to provide food for her family. Donna also recalls her Aunt Mable who grew what Donna thought as a child were ‘acres of flowers’ which always fascinated her. Even though Donna cannot remember a time when she did not garden she says her training in the MG course was very valuable and fit her desire to always learn more. She initially took the course because she wanted to find out more about landscaping but she developed a strong interest in learning more about trees, an interest that is still strong today. id="4">
Even though she completed the course and is an ‘official’ Master Gardener she continues to further her knowledge of gardening by taking advantage of continuing education SDSU makes available to MGs through workshops, seminars, and webinars. She feels she now knows a lot more than she did, makes fewer mistakes, and is constantly exposed to new ideas. One of her favorite things about being an MG is being able to have opportunities to teach what she has learned to others. id="5">
I met Donna for the first time long before I even knew about the MG program when I attended a workshop she and Gloria Keck put on at the Hand County Library. She does workshops for adults and also for children, participates in the id="6">Dakota Prairie id="7">activities such as the Farm and Home Show, the annual plant sale, and at the museum yard clean up each year. According to Donna, the thing she enjoys most is just getting together with other gardeners. I asked her if she had a garden hint for this time of year since many, myself included, are dreaming of the day they can get out and start on this year’s gardens. Her advice: id="8">“The thermometer reads 60 degrees today and every good gardener has Spring Fever! I’d like to stress that the most important factor to consider when planting is the ground temperature. Seed germination occurs within very specific limits and you will be disappointed with the results if you plant too early. Here is a link to a simple chart of optimal ground temps: http://www.newdimensionseed.com/planting_guide.html. I also have a more complete chart that I will be happy to mail to you.”id="9">
If you have gardening questions or want to request the more complete ground temp chart, you can e-mail Donna at buzzword@venturecomm.net. Remember, Master Gardeners are a resource for the whole community. If a MG doesn’t know the answer right away, they know how they can get the information for you. id="11">
When I successfully completed the online Master Gardener course last year, Donna encouraged me to join the id="12">Dakota Prairie Master Gardenersid="13"> group that meets the second Saturday of each month in Miller. A primary purpose of the group is to provide educational opportunities to area gardeners, whether beginners or those with years of experience. One way they do that is their annual Spring Fling Gardening Workshop, which will be held Saturday, March 29 at the High School Commons from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. The event starts with registration at 9:15 a.m. and the program begins at 9:30 a.m. The day includes three workshops, noon lunch, and snacks during the day. id="14">
This year’s program features Jill Wallace from id="15">Nature Boundid="16"> in Miller. She will help attendees learn about id="17">House Plant Do’s and Don’tsid="18"> (which I certainly would have benefited from when I was beginning my gardening journey learning by trial and error how to keep house plants alive…many a poor plant met it’s sad end under my inexperienced care!) The other two workshops are id="19">Propagation and Air Layering id="20">which will feature Pat Drake an MG from Mitchell, and id="21">Taking Care of Trees and Shrubsid="22"> by Rich Abrahamson who is a landscape design teacher from SE Tech. Rich will also have a Question and Answer period at the end of his workshop. Spring Fling will also have a Silent Auction and a chance to win John Ball’s just released book id="23">Trees! An illustrated field guide for the Northern Plains. id="24">Anyone who is interested in knowing more about gardening is welcome.id="25">