4-H members find success with garden
Jul. 27—Outside temperatures reached 90 degrees before Cherokee County 4-H students finished their last day of garden camp Monday, but their hard work paid off.
The campers reaped the fruits of their labors, as they harvested the crops they planted two months ago in the Cherokee County OSU Cooperative Extension Service garden. They also learned a thing or two about gardening and how to reduce the risk of pests wiping out their produce.
"You can't control the weather," said Garrett Ford, Cherokee County OSU Extension agriculture educator. "So we started out under the shade tree, but we migrated out into the sun for a little bit. That's where they were really dragging, so we got them back under the trees, but they got it done."
The campers didn't use conventional tillage to prepare their garden, but rather used a no-till method to leave soil in its place and organisms undisturbed. It helps improve date soil structure and prevent the garden from losing its moisture, reducing soil erosion. It was an experiment to see how well the crops would turn out, using a different method currently being researched in agriculture science.
"I think overall they did well," Ford said. "I expected the worst result with the squash, because if you disturb squash roots too much, sometimes that will just kill the plant. They're harder to transplant and the squash did great. I don't think we had any loss of the plants after the kids planted them, which means they were handling them really well and not damaging them."
It might not come as a surprise the crops turned out OK, as many of the students have experience in gardening. Miracle Munoz said they used integrated pest management, which is a decision process that combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools to keep critters out of the garden and minimize the economic, health and environmental risks.
"So we're not using one tool; we're using all four tools to keep pests away," said Miracle. "I like coming outside and gardening, getting to do stuff instead of being at home. I have a garden with cucumbers, watermelon, squash and tomatoes."
The students harvested the squash, tomatoes, and beans, and were then left to decide what they would do with it. The group decided they would sell them at the Extension Office, but first they had to separate them out by quality and determine a value for them based on how perfect or imperfect they were. Starting Monday, the crops will go on sale: tomatoes, $1.50; beans, $1; and squash, $2.
As with most crops, not all were grade A, so the less desirable tomatoes not meant for the shelves were picked and stored for later use. Heather Winn, family and consumer science educator, said she has a plan for the green bee tomatoes.
"They're green tomatoes that will stay green, even when they're ripe and mature," she said. "I'm going to use them to make salsa and I'll do a salsa workshop open to the public. If there's enough tomatoes that come up, we may do a tomato paste or sauce, too."
Check it out
Those interested in purchasing some of the students' produce or participating in a salsa workshop can call the Cherokee County OSU Extension Office for more details at 918-456-6163.
