{"id":1447,"date":"2010-04-17T15:21:48","date_gmt":"2010-04-17T15:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2012-09-27T15:24:21","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T15:24:21","slug":"first-lady-katie-omalley-plants-kitchen-garden-and-announces-gardening-lecture-series-to-encourage-more-marylanders-to-plant-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2010\/04\/17\/first-lady-katie-omalley-plants-kitchen-garden-and-announces-gardening-lecture-series-to-encourage-more-marylanders-to-plant-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"FIRST LADY KATIE O&#8217;MALLEY PLANTS KITCHEN GARDEN AND ANNOUNCES GARDENING LECTURE SERIES TO ENCOURAGE MORE MARYLANDERS TO PLANT GARDENS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><em>Master and Apprentice Gardeners Join First Lady&#8217;s Planting Day<\/em> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 17, 2010) \u2013 First Lady Katie O\u2019Malley today celebrated National Gardening Month and Maryland Grow it Eat it Month by planting a food garden at Government House for the second consecutive year.\u00a0 Master Gardeners and youth apprentice gardeners and their families from Kinder Farm Park in Anne Arundel County joined the First Lady to plant the garden. First Lady O\u2019Malley also announced the first ever Master Gardener\/Government House Gardening Lecture Series to teach more Marylanders how to create their own backyard garden and grow their own food.\u00a0 The lecture series, held outside at the Government House garden, will begin in May and will be held once a month through October.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only is April \u2018National Gardening Month\u2019 and \u2018Earth Month,\u2019 but Governor O\u2019Malley has also declared April to be \u2018Maryland Grow It Eat It Month,\u2019 in which we\u2019re encouraging Marylanders to plant food gardens at home, drawing attention to the importance of healthy diets and protecting our environment \u2013 even in these tough economic times,\u201d said First Lady Katie O\u2019Malley.\u00a0 \u201cWe are continuing our garden this year and have planned a monthly lecture series in the garden so that residents can more easily tap into the Master Gardeners\u2019 expertise, learn from the Government House garden and hopefully have successful gardens of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First Lady O\u2019Malley has partnered with the University of Maryland Extension to promote its \u201cGrow It Eat It\u201d campaign, which encourages Maryland families to improve health and save money by growing fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs using sustainable practices.\u00a0 This year, the Government House, the University of Maryland Extension\u2019s Master Gardeners and the Maryland Department of Agriculture are teaming up to present a lecture series one day per month through October in the Government House garden.\u00a0 Marylanders can register for the classes on the First Lady\u2019s <a title=\"website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.firstlady.maryland.gov\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The following sessions will include an on line component posted after the events take place:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>May 22 \u2013 Container Gardening \u2013 Learn what fruits and vegetables grow best in containers and some tips for containers.<\/li>\n<li>June 19 \u2013 Growing Great Tomatoes \u2013 The name says it all!<\/li>\n<li>July 17 \u2013 Pollinators \u2013 Witness a hive inspection and honey demo and learn the importance of allowing pollinators in your garden.<\/li>\n<li>August 21 \u2013 Meet the Chef \u2013 Meet one of the chefs in the garden and learn how to harvest and prepare what you grow.<\/li>\n<li>September 18 \u2013 Soil Conditioning \u2013 Learn how to best condition your soil to prepare your garden for next year.<\/li>\n<li>October 16 \u2013 Companion Planting \u2013 Plan ahead for next year and learn how to grow more in less space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThis garden is a wonderful opportunity for the Master Gardeners to teach Maryland residents gardening skills and share their excitement about growing food,\u201d said University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Cheng-i Wei. \u201cIt\u2019s a great partnership that we hope will increase the number of people who garden for their health, the environment and for their enjoyment. The vegetable garden is a realistic example of what Maryland families can do in their own backyards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast year, the Master Gardeners and the First Family grew a wide variety of herbs and vegetables including mint, basil, rosemary, thyme, lettuce, salad greens, cucumbers, chard, kale, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers,\u201d said Anne Arundel County Master Gardener Grow It Eat it coordinator, Lisa Winters.\u00a0 \u201cIt takes a while to get to know the soil, moisture, and lighting conditions in a new garden. We will raise similar plants this year, with some changes based on our experiences with moisture, soil and lighting. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many good things about having a vegetable garden,\u201d said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Mary Ellen Setting who attended the event and enjoys gardening in her backyard. \u201cGardening can help introduce families to the outdoors and can encourage more exercise as well as the understanding of the source of their food.\u00a0 In addition to the health and educational benefits, food gardening boosts Maryland\u2019s nurseries and garden centers through seed and plant sales. Gardeners also are generally known to shop at farmers\u2019 markets more often to supplement the fresh produce that they don\u2019t grow themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Maryland Master Gardener Program began in 1978 and is a principal outreach education unit of the University of Maryland that serves most Maryland counties and Baltimore City. Through the Home and Garden Information Center \u2013 a valuable informational resource for home gardeners \u2013 the University of Maryland staff and Master Gardeners staff answer questions about plant health, insect problems and other gardening dilemmas.\u00a0 To tap into this resource, visit <a title=\"www.hgic.umd.edu\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hgic.umd.edu\">www.hgic.umd.edu<\/a> or call 1-800-342-2507. Since last year\u2019s Grow it Eat it launch, more than 5,000 people have signed up as food gardeners on <a title=\"www.growit.umd.edu\" href=\"http:\/\/www.growit.umd.edu\">www.growit.umd.edu<\/a>. The campaign hopes to encourage one million Marylanders to produce their own affordable, healthy food.<\/p>\n<p>According to the National Gardening Association, a well-maintained food garden yields a $500 return when considering a typical gardener\u2019s investment and the market price of produce.\u00a0 It was estimated that 37 percent of all U.S. households, or about 43 million families, planned to grow vegetables, fruit, berries or herbs in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>To sign up for any of the Master Gardener\/Government House gardening lectures and to follow the garden over the course of the summer, log onto <a title=\"www.firstlady.maryland.gov\" href=\"http:\/\/www.firstlady.maryland.gov\">www.firstlady.maryland.gov<\/a> and click on the \u201cGarden Lecture Series\u201d icon.\u00a0 Spaces for the lecture series are limited and on a first come first serve basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Master and Apprentice Gardeners Join First Lady&#8217;s Planting Day ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 17, 2010) \u2013 First Lady Katie O\u2019Malley today celebrated National Gardening Month and Maryland Grow it Eat it Month by planting a food garden at Government House for the second consecutive year.\u00a0 Master Gardeners and youth apprentice gardeners and their families from Kinder<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2010\/04\/17\/first-lady-katie-omalley-plants-kitchen-garden-and-announces-gardening-lecture-series-to-encourage-more-marylanders-to-plant-gardens\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1450,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions\/1450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}