Horticulture Highlights for 2019

Published: 2019
By Kaley Hensel

Horticulture Highlights for 2019 The MSU Missoula County Horticulture program provided education and outreach to support the growing horticultural community in Missoula County. Community partnerships have been valuable to our success. Benson Farm, Caras Nursery, Clark Fork Native Plant Society, Community Food & Agriculture Coalition (CFAC), Garden City Compost, Garden City Harvest, Marchie’s Nursery, Missoula Garden Club, Missoula Insectarium and Butterfly House, Montana State Arboretum, Pink Grizzly Nursery, Trees for Missoula, Western Montana Fair, and many local farms have been great supporters of MSU Extension horticulture programs in 2019. Some of our program highlights include: • Hosted Planning for On-Farm Success in partnership with CFAC in which 12 beginning farmers and ranchers learned about creating farm business plans in this eight-week program. • Fruit tree pruning workshop this spring in partnership with Ravalli County Extension taught 25 people about fruit tree health and pruning in a local Missoula orchard. • The Montana Berry Growers Conference took place in Missoula this spring and 40 people from around the state came for the one-day conference to learn about growing cold hardy berries in Montana. Presentations included berry orchard establishment, berry varieties, pest, insect, and disease challenges, and marketing opportunities for growers. • Both Master Gardener Level 1 and Level 2 were hosted this year and Missoula County Master Gardeners contributed 277 volunteer hours in our community and donated 576 lbs of homegrown produce to the Missoula County Food Bank. • Supported local food systems by creating a local foods map with the help of Master Gardener volunteers. This map highlights CSA’s, farm stands, farmer’s markets, and U-picks in Missoula County to guide shoppers to places they can purchase locally grown food. • In partnership with the Western Montana Fair, we kicked off the first annual hot pepper eating contest! We hosted a seed starting class in late winter to learn about growing hot chile peppers in Montana, and then held the contest at the fair in August. These efforts were to highlight the many locally grown options we have in Missoula County, including chile peppers!