Spring is still a couple months away, but it’s not too early to talk about gardening, landscapes, turf, trees, shrubs, and other horticulture topics.
The 2018 Nebraska Extension Master Gardener training will begin in late January, with weekly training classes running into mid-March for volunteers who want to add to their own knowledge and share what they know with others in their communities.
Results of the 2017 variety trials for dry edible beans conducted by the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center have been posted on the Nebraska Extension CropWatch website.
The direct link for variety trial results for both peas and beans is http://cropwatch.unl.edu/varietytest/othercrops. Or, navigate to the Other Crops Variety Trials page from the main Cropwatch page (http://cropwatch.unl.edu ) by clicking on these links: management > variety testing > other crops.
Farmers in western Nebraska grow a number of pulse crops, grains that are harvested for their dry seed. Dry edible beans is the common example, which has long been a part of the crop rotation under irrigation.
In recent years farmers have been planting increasing acres of other pulses such as field peas, chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), black-eyed peas (cowpeas), and soybeans.
Growing and marketing these alternative pulse crops is the focus of a Pulse Crop Workshop scheduled for Jan. 17, 2018, at Prairie Winds Community Center in Bridgeport. The workshop will cover field pea, black-eyed pea, chickpea, soybean and fenugreek.
Same building, but different door – and parking lot.
The Scotts Bluff County Extension office has moved from one side of the building to the other in the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center at 4502 Avenue I on the northwest side of Scottsbluff.
The Extension office had been on the east side of the building, just inside the main entrance, for the past 20 years or so. The office is now on the west side, where it will have additional space to accommodate the growth in programs that serve Scotts Bluff county residents.
The peppers were harvested weeks ago from a small research plot at the Panhandle Center where a type of fabric mulch is being tested for potential use in USDA certified organic produce fields.
During the off season, researchers are checking to see what becomes of the biodegradable mulch, an experimental product from 3M that is being tested to see if it is suitable for USDA-certified organic vegetable production.
Last spring, six rows of peppers were planted through 3-foot-wide strips of mulch. Two different types of mulch, one black and the other white, are being tested. Recently, workers were busy in the plot setting up six different treatment regimens for the harvested plots, to see if the fabric mulch will disintegrate differently under different conditions.
Lincoln, Neb. —The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has received a grant that could help rural Nebraska communities retain their grocery stores.
The award, one of 17 Heartland Challenge Grants awarded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, will support a team of Nebraska Extension educators to address rural business transfer opportunities of local grocery stores by providing education on models of shared business ownership, including business cooperatives.
