Patience in more ways than one right now. The weather will get better to some degree or another; it always seems to even itself out. Stearns County is also having its patience tested because they have now found Emerald Ash Borer there too. City workers in the area were cleaning up and noticed some of the signs of EAB infestation and called authorities. EAB was first found in Minnesota in 2009 and Stearns County is the 18th county in Minnesota to have found this pest. The nearest site to the Stearns County site that became infected was 50 miles away. EAB can only travel a mile or two on its own. So, the emerald insect found a way to get to Stearns County more than likely through infested wood.

There are three rules to follow in order to slow down the progression of EAB. The first is to never move wood from place to place. If you are out camping, make sure to burn the wood or leave it in the campground where you purchased it. Never move woodchips either if they are from an infested county. And, the last, is make sure you know what EAB looks like. The earlier it is detected the better it will be for our trees. There is a great video from the U of M at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTW_E_7a0ks&feature=youtu.be or please check out the EAB website at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for more information.

I don’t want to leave you with such sad news so here is some gardening news about some winners. Winners from the gardens of the Minnesota Master Gardeners and the seed trials that many Master Gardener’s performed last summer. If you are looking through the seed bins at your favorite store or looking through your favorite catalog, it is sometimes hard to know what to choose. The Minnesota Master Gardeners have been performing seed trials in their own gardens since 1982. The recommendations are based on: flavor, disease and insect tolerance, productivity and germination rate.

The 2018 winners are: Millienium Sweet Pea, Chiba Green Edamame, Victoria Blue Salvia, Nufar Large Leaf Basil, Gold Rush Yellow Bean, Valencia Yellow Tomato, Sweet Dumpling Small Yellow Squash and Feast Bunching Onions. If you want to see the rest of the past years that the testing, went on please go to https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/master-gardener-seed-trials.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Master Gardener or to “job shadow” a Master Gardener, please call myself or talk to one of the other Master Gardeners that are in Lyon County. We are happy to have anyone who is interested to join us to see what it is all about. Master Gardeners write columns like this one for their local newspapers, are on the radio, volunteer at a gardening booth, help you get the answers that you might need for those gardening questions and much more. We have an active group that is involved with many aspects of the Master Gardener program. For more information, email me at s.dejaeghere@me.com