This recipe is being shared from the Fairfield County SNAP Education Program  Celebrate Your Plate Series.   Preparation time 15 minutes

TURKEY CRANBERRY WRAP

1 large whole wheat tortilla

2 tablespoons reduced fat cream cheese

2 tablespoons reduced sugar dried cranberries

½ apple, cored and thinly sliced

2 oz. sliced oven-roasted turkey breast

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

½ cup fresh baby spinach

Place tortilla on a plate and spread with cream cheese.  Top with dried cranberries and sliced apple.  Layer turkey on top of fillings.  Sprinkle with chopped red onion. Top with spinach and any additional toppings.  Tightly roll by tucking 2 inches on each side inward toward the center.  Then grip the bottom, untucked side of the tortilla and roll forward.   Cut in half and serve.   Nutritional Information:  Calories 380,  Total Fat 11g, Sodium 920 mg Total Carbs 59g, Protein 16g

June-bearing strawberries should be renovated every year right after harvest if you’re hoping for excellent fruit production for more than one year.  For more details on starting a Strawberry patch and more check out the Ohioline Fact Sheet #1424 Growing Strawberries in the Home Garden https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/hyg-1424

OSU Extension, Carrie Brown

Yes…there really are good bugs and bad bugs in your garden!!…be sure to listen into this 88.9FM  Radio For Life Interview with  OSU Extension Educator, Carrie Brown  share insights for dealing with insects in your garden…

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Spring is a great time to divide many of our favorite herbaceous garden perennials. The plants are small, easy to handle and they have the entire growing season to get re-established in your garden. But how do you know how often to divide perennials.

The term “perennial” literally means to last or exist for a long time and to be enduring or continually recurring. A perennial plant re-grows year after year from the same root. Some perennial plants are very long-lived like an oak tree which others are short-lived like some of the newer coneflower cultivars.

Dividing perennials or “division” is a form of propagation: you are creating multiple plants from a single plant. Some plants like Heuchera, coral bells, are very easy to divide. The plant crowns are right at the surface of the soil and small plants, called ‘offsets’, develop from the larger main plant. Other plants like Hosta and ornamental grasses have dense roots that require a sharp knife, garden fork, or even an axe to cut apart.

Division also promotes plant health and can rejuvenate a plant. A perennial should be divided when it dies out in the middle (the oldest part) of the plant, produces smaller flowers or leaves, and blooms less.

Dividing perennials is also a good idea if plants have become crowded as it increases air and light around plants which can increase blooming as well as reduce disease and insect pests.

For a great guide to knowing when to divide those perennials check out this factsheet:  https://extension.psu.edu/dividing-perennials

Be sure to mark your calendar now to attend the Seeds of Change event at Rising Park..Listen in as our good friend Keri Murphy of the Lancaster Fairfield County Community Recycling Center shares all the details!!   Master Gardeners will be there with seeds and vegetable gardening information too!

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If you are thinking about starting a vegetable garden in 2024, here are some great tips from Master Gardener Keith Eichhorn to learn more about “Getting Ready to Garden!”

Great tips and information for all those new and seasoned gardeners!!  But first, we have to wait for the rain to stop and soil conditions need to improve!!

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It’s time once again to get your hands dirty and start growing! The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and Ohio State University Extension offices are kicking off the third year of the Ohio Victory Gardens program.  Seed sample kits with lettuce, carrots and  sunflowers  will be available for free to the public to get people planting.

Seeds packets are now available for pick up at OSU Extension in Fairfield County.  Just stop by the Fairfield County Agriculture Center located at 831 College Avenue in Lancaster to pick up your seed packet.  Each packet contains a sample packet of lettuce, carrots, cucumber and sunflower seeds.  OSU Extension in Fairfield County   is open M-F from 7:30am until 4 pm daily.  Be sure to pick up a Free OSU Garden calendar when picking up your seeds and maybe even consider purchasing a Soil Thermometer.  Soil thermometers are great tools to keep in your garden toolbox to get your garden off to a good start each year.  Vegetable seeds will have a better germination rate if you know the soil temperature.  For example, most of those cool season vegetables like spinach, lettuce, peas and onions, beet seeds will germinate at soil temperatures in the mid 40’s.  Those tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins prefer soil temperatures in the 58-60 degree soil temperature range.  The cost of the soil thermometer is $10.00 with all proceeds benefiting the Fairfield County Master Gardener Program. OSU Extension in Fairfield County is located in the Fairfield County Ag Center at 831 College Avenue, Suite D, Lancaster, Ohio.

Start your growing season off right.  Check soil temperatures before opening your first packet of seeds to plant in your garden.

Source:  Connie Smith, Program Assistant, Master Gardener Coordinator-Fairfield County

Spring has sprung and everyone is getting ready to start planting.

The past few weeks have no doubt brought lots of gardeners out into the sunshine.  The calendar tells us we could be planting early spring crops in the garden but what does the soil thermometer tell us.  If you have never thought about the use of the soil thermometer you should!  Have you ever had crops that you planted in garden that just “set” there and did not take off?  Perhaps you planted them in wet soils or perhaps you planted them when the soils were just too cold.

Soil temperature plays an important role in seed germination. Adequate soil temperatures for germination range widely for different crops.  For example, spinach needs a soil temperature of at least 38 degrees to germinate while lettuces, onions and peas like a 42-43-degree soil temperature.  Other  cool season crops like broccoli, cabbage, beets and carrots can germinate at 40 degree soil temperatures.     Potatoes do best at 45 degrees, even though legend suggests St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect day for planting potatoes.    And those tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins prefer soil temperatures in the 58-60 degree soil temperature range.

Need a soil thermometer?  Stop by OSU Extension in Fairfield County and pick up a soil thermometer from Garden Tool supplier, AM Leonard Company in Piqua, Ohio.  The cost of the soil thermometer is $10.00 with all proceeds benefiting the Fairfield County Master Gardener Program.  Soil thermometers are great tools to keep in your garden toolbox to get your garden off to a good start each year.  OSU Extension in Fairfield County is located in the Fairfield County Ag Center at 831 College Avenue, Suite D, Lancaster, Ohio .

Are you looking for ways to enhance your landscape by planting for pollinators?  Wanting to add more color into your landscape?  This is the last call for Dig into Gardening- A one day educational program for all interested gardeners!!  The event is slated from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at Christ United Methodist Church in Baltimore and all proceeds benefit the Fairfield County Master Gardener program.

We will also be discussing boxwood problems and offer up some other plant options for replacements.  This will be a good event to answer lots of plant questions and more.  Cost is for $40.00 for the entire day, which includes a light breakfast and lunch.  We will also have a sharpening truck on site to sharpen all of your garden tools, too!  And the Lancaster Greenhouse mobile Garden Center will be on site over the lunch hour.  For details, call OSU Extension in Fairfield County at 740-653-5419 ASAP.

Registration closes Tuesday, March 19.  Seats are limited!

Looking for some good information about gardening?  Check out OSU’s Buckeye Yard and Garden Line at https://bygl.osu.edu.   Be sure to check out the Seed Starting article published by Carrie Jagger, Extension Educator in Morrow County.  Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine provides timely information about Ohio growing conditions, pest, disease, and cultural problems. Articles and supporting photos are created by members of the Extension, Nursery, Landscape, Turf (ENLT) team to benefit those who are managing a commercial nursery, garden center, or landscape business or someone who just wants to keep their yard looking good all summer. Additional fact sheet information on any of these articles may be found through the OSU FactSheet database: plantfacts.osu.edu