St. Croix Valley Master Gardeners

St. Croix Valley Master Gardeners Association (SCVMGA) was founded to provide community service through education, environmental stewardship, and information on horticulture to the residents of the St. Croix Valley. 

Click here to learn more about volunteer opportunities

Yearly dues for members are $15 for a single member and $20 per household. Benefits to you as a member of the Association include a monthly Association newsletter, monthly meetings featuring guest speakers on a variety of gardening topics, membership in the Wisconsin Master Gardener Association, up-to-date information about the Master Gardener certification, opportunities for continuing education and volunteer activities and interaction with other Master Gardeners.

We have 2 newsletters:	Sprinklings, produced by the SCVMGA Read the current issue of Sprinklings	and The Trellis that Diana Alfuth, UWEX Horticulture Educator writes. Read the current issue of The Trellis
	See the newsletter archives

Click here to learn more about grants for community service projects in Pierce and St. Croix Counties.

All who have taken the Master Gardener classes are encouraged to join the SCVMGA and come to our meetings.   Email stcroixvlymga@pressenter.com for further info.

Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be held on the 4^th Thursday of the month at the River Falls Library, on the corner of Union & Main.  Business meeting starts at 6:45, speaker begins at 7:15, unless otherwise noted.

The final meeting for 2008 is Nov 20: Annual meeting – Diana Alfuth – recap of the year, working with volunteers, what’s new in MG – Exchange garden tips for next year.

Scheduled meetings and events in 2008 are:                 PRINTABLE schedule

January 24 6:00 PM Roberts Park Building	Heidi Doering –  New Plants for 2008 – Roberts Park Building Heidi is the product manager of S&G Flowers Division of Syngenta, a global agribusiness corporation. Heidi travels to Canada and Europe to see and evaluate new varieties.  She’ll share the best of what’s new in 2008 as well as discuss the 2007 products that were outstanding. Open House and new member meal.  10th Anniversary celebration of SCVMGA
February 28	Veronica Justen – A Love Affair with Root Vegetables Veronica’s degree in Hort from UW Madison concentrated on beets.  Now she’s into turnips.  Let her tell us fascinating facts about the root vegetables we can grow in our gardens.
March 15 Valley House Hwy 35	Garden U – Susan Mahr, UW-Madison, MG Program Coordintor  – Insect identification Jim Erickson, Gibbs Family Farm  - Antique Gardens  Lise Wolff – Herbalist, Medicinal Weeds in your Yard
March 27	Terry Yockey – Fragrance Gardens A Master Gardener for ten years, Terry writes for both the Northern Gardener – “Gardening Basics” – and the Red Wing paper. A Red Wing resident, she comes from a gardening family, and speaks and writes on a number of gardening subjects.
April 24	J. Drake Hamilton – Fresh Energy Hamilton addressed MNLA last year on the implications of climate change (global warming) and its effect on plant material.
May 22	Jon Behling – Vegetable Gardening Behling was instrumental in the initial success of our Community Garden.  A UW-Stout professor, he also has a CSA in Chippewa Co, and served as St Croix Co. Hort Educator.  He has experience in vegetable raising on both coasts and has a wealth of useful vegetable information.
June 7 3rd and Myrtle in Hudson	Octagon House Plant  Sale Divide  your plants for sale or come to buy new ones – Don’t miss this annual MG sale!   3rd and Myrtle in Hudson
June 26	Mike Deneen –The Balance in Your Soil and  How to Improve It Mike is a Master Gardener and owner of Deneen Seed and Sod in Hudson.  He has a new concept of an environmentally friendly fertilizer system that will grow healthy and nutritionally balanced plants and improve your soil.
July 24 St Croix Co Fair July 17-20	Community Garden Tour – The vegetables may be reaching their peak and the produce in abundance.  In  past years  the garden has produced over  3500 pounds of produce which has gone for food shelves, Share the Bounty, seniors programs, WIC programs,  and Grace Place.   Tour to see what’s involved in this important and worthwhile MG project.
August 28 Pierce Co Fair Aug 7-10	Tomato Tasting at the Barron’s – back by popular demand What new varieties does Jim have this year???? Meeting may be held August 21.  It will be at Barron’s, N7348 Co Rd QQ, between River Falls and Prescott.
September 25	Ernie Betker – Making Wine from Your Grapes The Betkers  have been making wine for 21 years the way the old timers did with the natural yeast on the skin of the grapes and no additives. They rely on three rackings over a period of about three years to clear the wine ‘but of course you drink some of it in the meantime,’ he says.  Come find out how to make wine at home.
October 23	C.R. Stephens – Still H2O – Homebrewing, Hydroponics and Organic Gardening Grow  your own vegetables organically and hydroponically in a matter of weeks, just feed your plants safely with good products and monitor the light schedule.  CR will tell us how – (he also does home brew beer and wine)
November 20	Annual meeting – Diana Alfuth Recap of the year, working with volunteers, what’s new in MG. Exchange garden tips for next year. Election of officers, final reports.
December	No meeting.  Have a great holiday.

Contacts:

Return to Local Associations Page