UH Master Gardener Program on O’ahu Class Projects Display ...UH Master Gardener Program on O’ahu Class Projects Display Gardens and Zero Waste Programs Jayme Grzebik, MG Coordinator,

UH Master Gardener Program on O’ahu Class ProjectsDisplay Gardens and Zero Waste Programs

Jayme Grzebik, MG Coordinator, Oʻahu MG Program

Project #1AAS and UH Seed Display GardenAll-America Selections (AAS) is a non-profit organization that con-ducts trials of new, never-before-sold flower and vegetable seed va-rieties throughout North America.

Each fall, they accept vegetable and flower entries that have not yet been introduced to the market. Then, entries are trialed in more than 50 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Currently available comparison varieties are grown side-by-side with the entries for a one-to-one comparison of garden performance, earliness, flower or fruit size or any other characteristic important to the home gardener.

Today there are 65+ Trial Judges who are horticulture professionals at universities, public gardens, ex-tension offices, seed companies, breeding companies, retailers and commercial growers.

Only the best trial performers, that are superior to their comparisons, are declared AAS Winners. You can look for this icon anywhere you buy plants to be assured you are getting a plant that has truly been trialed for garden performance.

O‘ahu has the first and only AAS Display Garden in Hawai‘i, located at UGC in Pearl City. There are over 300 AAS Display Gardens in North America. We do not trial plants, we only display them. We also evaluate the annual flower seeds with the Weed Risk Assessment https://sites.google.com/site/weedriskassessment/home and Plant Pono http://www.plantpono.org/invasive-plants.php prior to planting.

Project Objectives• Gain knowledge in propagation, planting and maintenance requirements of vegetables and annual

flowers

• Practice researching for vegetable or annual flower growing requirements

• Gain knowledge in pest identification and practice IPM skills

• Practice interpreting knowledge for the public

• Present and share what you’ve learned to class on May 26th

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To learn more:http://all-americaselections.org/https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/

✓ This project will be conducted at the Waimānalo Learning Center and Research Station. Some activities will take place during class time, but most will require 1-2 hours per week outside of class time.

✓ Presentation/Display to include:

• Display of researched information on your particular plant and vegetable (in the form of a flyer, a brochure, a tri-fold board, use QR codes, be creative)

• Alive or Dead? Be able to show why you had success or failure

• Production of Fruit or flowers?

• Any disease or insects observed?

• Any IPM methods practiced?

• Comments or observations about the plant variety?

Project #2 Windward Zero Waste Program

Mindy Jaffe, formerly of Waikiki Worms, is work-

ing her compost magic at local schools on O‘ahu. Our 2017 UH Master Gardener Interns on

O‘ahu have the chance to be learn and be in-volved in a zero waste program from the ground up located at 3 schools on the Windward side of

O‘ahu. Mindy and her crew of Kupu interns' ef-

forts have soared to compost all food waste at Lanikai Elementary in Kailua using the hot com-post method, vermicomposting and bokashi com-posting, awarded the status as #1 in the nation for the 2014-2015 school year by U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Challenge. 

Project Objectives• Learn about zero waste effort at Lanikai, Kaelepulu or Kainalu Elementary

• Gain knowledge in hot composting method

• Practice poking and soaking hot compost piles, time flexible, once a week

• Practice interpreting knowledge for the public• Present and share what you’ve learned to class on May 26th

✓ Volunteer once a week at the separation station at your chosen school

✓ Practice building hot compost piles

✓ Presentation/Display to include:

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• Display of knowledge gained on your choice of a particular topic (in the form of a flyer, a bro-chure, a tri-fold board, use QR codes, be creative)

• Examples of displays and topics- Good bugs Bad bugs- Poster on how to build a compost pile (Mindy Jaffe’s method)- Short imovie or youtube video on poking and soaking hot compost piles- Harvesting a hot compost pile- Separation Station - the truth is in the numbers! Show how much food is collected and

how much is saved from landfills and turned into premium compost used for school beautifi-cation projects.

Check out this video from her efforts at Lanikai Elementary:https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ymnjivrc2b7vam/ZeroWaste_FINAL3_3.mp4?dl=0

Want to learn more? Read this full description from Mindy Jaffe:Kainalu’s cafeteria generates an estimated 18 tons of food waste annually. With the cooperation of kitchen and custodial staff, this valuable organic matter is collected twice daily. Children quickly learn how to sort at the Separation Station; even the pint-sized preschoolers participate. Immediately follow-ing lunch, buckets of milk and plate scrapings are weighed and the data is logged. Bucket share trans-ported to our composting site. Layers of tree mulch donated by local tree trimmers is alternated with layers of food waste. The resulting thermal – or hot – compost pile is completed in approximately 10

days. Within 72 hours, the temperature in a new pile soars to 140º/160º, and stays in that range for eight to ten weeks. The sustained high temperature will kill any pathogens, seeds, or phytotoxins. Every week throughout the break-down process, the pile is “soaked and poked” with hose and pitchfork to continually penetrate the layered material with moisture and air, a method called static aeration. Six months after the last addition of food waste, the rich finished com-post is ready to harvest! Cafeteria-sourced compost has proven to be a superlative soil amendment high in nutrients and beneficial microbes. Whether for farm starts, potted plants, or a backyard garden, your plants will thrive when they get their roots into this fresh, living, lovingly-produced, hand-crafted soil.

UH Master Gardeners on Oahu shared the album Zero Waste Programs with you from the Flickr app! Check it out (No log-in required):

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147776225@N08/8E78t8

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