Garden Festival and Plant Sale to benefit Extension Service
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 13, 2017 9:57 AM
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Master Gardener Linda McLendon, left, inspects the all-natural produce with Charles McLendon, president of the Wayne County Volunteer Master Gardeners Association, middle, and co-chair Bob Richards in the University of Mount Olive greenhouse. The plants in the greenhouse were all grown from seeds using natural processes and will be available for sale at the garden festival on Saturday, April 22, at the N.C. Cooperative Extension located at 208 W. Chestnut St.
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Charles McLendon, president of the Wayne County volunteer Master Gardeners Association, holds a lemon balm plant in the University of Mount Olive greenhouse.
Linda McLendon of Dudley enjoys watching the seeds she plants sprout.
As a Wayne County Extension Service Master Gardener volunteer since 1999, Mrs. McLendon also enjoys knowing that people who purchase plants grown by the volunteers are getting a quality product.
April is Gardening Month in Wayne County and the master gardener volunteers and Wayne County Cooperative Extension Service are sponsoring their annual Garden Festival and Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 22, at the Extension Office at 208 W. Chestnut St.
Admission is free.
"I am so excited," Mrs. McLendon said. "I just love seeing things grow. I really like for people to see what we do as a master gardener in Extension. When they come, they know they are going to get something of quality, not something that we plant in our backyard and forgot about -- all of this has love and patience.
"It just makes you feel so good when you see it start from a little seed and become a full plant. Everything has been handplanted and taken really good care of."
During the sale shoppers will be able to select from a large variety of plants including annuals, perennials, shrubs, house plants, vegetables, herbs, fruiting plants and hanging baskets.
Master Gardener volunteers will be on hand to answer gardening questions and there will be displays on plant propagation, selecting fertilizers and lawn care.
Wayne County Family Consumer Science Agent Michelle Estrada will have food demonstrations showing what can be done with plants such as tomatoes and herbs and how to cook them.
There will be raffle items as well.
Proceeds benefit Extension Service Master Gardener educational gardening programs.
The proceeds are also used to help people in the community, and the group is in the process of trying to establish a scholarship, Mrs. McLendon said.
"It helps us with speakers," Mrs. McLendon said. "We try to help with Extension things. We just do anything that we can to help."
The event has been held "off and on" since 2007, and in recent years, an effort has been made to expand it beyond just the plant sale part, Extension Agent Jessica Strickland said.
"We do it to celebrate Gardening Month in Wayne County," she said. "So we have a lot of information and activities for people to learn more about gardening and to get interested in gardening.
"But they also have their plant sale, and that helps the master gardeners to make some money that they use for their gardening program. They do a summer gardening camp for 4-H or they help maintain the plants at the Stoney Creek butterfly garden."
A lot of people ask about lawn care and want to have a better understanding of how or what fertilizers to purchase, she said.
There will be displays at the festival to help answer those questions.
"This year we are incorporating Beekeepers of the Neuse," Mrs. Strickland said. "So they will have some information on beekeeping and have honey for sale.
"Wayne County 4-H is going to have some children's activities like the vermicomposting where they have worms in the containers for composting."
For more information, contact the N.C. Cooperative Extension at 919-731-1520 or the Wayne County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Plant Clinic at 919-731-1433 or Master.Gardener@waynegov.com.
The clinic's hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, April through August.
It is located in room 100 at the Wayne Center.
The websites are wayne.ces.ncsu.edu and www.waynecountyag.com.
Follow the clinic on Facebook at Wayne County Gardening and Wayne County Agriculture.