Donna Arnold, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Gadsden County
Donna Arnold is the Small Farm and Residential Horticultural Agent for the Gadsden County since January, 2022. Her main role as an agent is to provide educational programs, related to sustainable agriculture to farmers in Gadsden County north Florida. These programs in small farms and residential horticulture include: best management practices, production, harvesting, marketing, and sustainability issues. In addition, she will provide direction and leadership for the Master Gardener Program also in the County.
Donna holds a Master of Science Degree in Entomology form Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). In her research she examined the prevalence of Solenopsis invicta virus 3 (SINV-3) in fire ant alates collected in north and central Florida. Previously, she was employed to the Oberlin High School Kingston via Ministry of Education Youth and Culture in Jamaica for over 20 years where she was an Agricultural Sciences teacher and the Head of the Agriculture Department. Her job duties involved managing the school tutorial farm and supervision of members in the agriculture department. She also participated in many on the job trainings and earned certificates in the field of Agriculture and was a part of the National 4-H clubs.
Donna Arnold in Beekeeper Jacket
Her experience in Agriculture began at an early age; she was raised in a small farming community in East Rural St Andrew, nestled in the blue mountain regions of Jamaica. Farming was the main source of income there – Coffee and vegetable crops predominately grown. Since agriculture was embedded in her from a tender age, this act as a catalyst to propelled her to learn more about the pedagogical aspects. Donna’s formal agricultural experience began at Elim Agricultural School, now known as Sydney Pagan Agricultural School, where she was awarded a certificate in General Agriculture.
She later worked in extension with Rural Agricultural Development Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture. During her tenure she saw the need to upgrade educationally to better served her farmers in rural communities, therefore, she pursued an Associate of Science degree in Agriculture (ASc.), and a Bachelor of Technology in Food System Management and Agriculture Production (BTECH) respectively, at the College of Agricultural Science and Education (CASE). After which, she pursued a Diploma in Teacher Education at the Short wood Teachers College.
With the knowledge and skills garnered this led to her understanding that agriculture plays a vital role in food security because she believes a country is not independent until it can feed itself. It was always Donna’s intention to continue working in Agricultural extension, there she believes she can make a positive impact on farmers lives since they are the drivers of food production.
During her spear time one can find Donna tending plants, working with honey bee research and, watching home and garden television series. Her motto is “attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” by Winston Churchill
Join us via Zoom on Saturday, February 12, for our Leon County Seed Library Virtual Workshop. Graphic by Molly Jameson.
Believe it or not, spring is right around the corner! For gardeners, this is the time to start thinking about our spring season garden plan and starting seeds. Many spring vegetables, such as tomatoes, benefit from an early start indoors or in a greenhouse, planted in containers. This gives them a greater chance to avoid the intense heat of summer and beat many insect and disease life cycles.
Need seeds to start your garden? Well, if you live in Leon County, you are in luck. Starting Saturday, February 12, 2022, residents of Leon County can “check out” up to three sample seed packets per month with their library card as part of Leon County’s Seed Library Program. The vegetable seeds can be checked out from any of the seven library branch locations. Leon County residents can apply for a library card online at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library online card application page (https://lcpl.ent.sirsi.net/custom/web/registration/).
Here are the vegetable seed varieties that will be available starting February 12:
Mammolo Basil. Mammolo basil has an Italian aroma and a bushy, compact growth habit that is great for containers.
Maxibel Haricot Vert Beans. Maxibel Haricot Vert produces prolific beans with long, slender pods and tender texture.
Natsu Fushinari Cucumbers. Natsu Fushinari is a deep green Japanese-type of cucumber with eight-inch fruit and glossy skin. It has resistance to diseases in high heat.
Little Fingers Eggplant. Little Fingers eggplant produces clusters of tender, long, deep purple fruit that can be harvested small or large.
Pinkeye Purple Hull Southern Peas. Pinkeye Purple Hull Southern is a semi-bushy, early-season pea that produces prolific dark purple pods. It has resistance to many diseases.
Bull Nose Peppers. Bull Nose is an old pepper variety, dating back to the mid-to-late 1800s, and has medium to large, sweet fruit that is great for cooking or salads.
New Zealand Spinach-like Greens. New Zealand spinach is not a true spinach, but it loves the heat and produces succulent leaves that are excellent cooked or fresh in sandwiches.
White Scallop Squash. White Scallop is a high-yielding Native American heirloom that produces scallop-shaped fruit great for frying or baking.
Homestead 24 Tomatoes. Homestead 24 is a semi-determinate tomato that has medium to large red fruit developed for hot, humid climates, making it great for Florida gardens.
Amy’s Sugar Gem Tomatoes. Amy’s Sugar Gem grows tall, vigorous vines and produces sweet, large red cherry tomatoes.
Moon and Stars Watermelon. Resembling the night’s sky, Moon and Stars watermelon has a dark green rind with bright yellow spots. It has speckled yellow leaves and seedy, but very sweet, bright red flesh.
Whether you are located in Leon County or not, everyone is welcome to join us Saturday, February 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., for our Leon County Seed Library Virtual Workshop. Via Zoom, agents with UF/IFAS Extension Leon County will discuss spring vegetable gardening techniques and healthy eating. There will also be a live cooking demonstration showing how to prepare healthy meals and snacks at home, featuring vegetables available in the Spring 2022 Seed Library Program.
For more information about the Leon County Seed Library Virtual Workshop, please visit our Eventbrite page: https://seedlibraryworkshop2022.eventbrite.com. There is no cost to attend the workshop, but registration is required.
For being in a place known as the Sunshine State, the Panhandle has been mighty cold and dreary to start 2022! With all the recent bitterly cold weather that’s rolled through our neck of the woods over the last month or so, you may be asking yourself “Is this just a typical Panhandle winter or has it been colder than normal and what is the impact of freezing weather on my fruit trees?” The answer might surprise you!
The easiest way to measure cold and its impact on plants is through a unit of measurement known as a “chill hour”. In its simplest iteration, a chill hour is an hour of time during which the thermometer dips below 45 degrees F. These “chilling hours” are vital to agriculture and our native ecosystems because many plants, especially those that produce fruit like pears, blueberries, peaches, and even citrus, require a certain amount of chill to enter dormancy and develop flower buds for the following spring. All fruit trees have a minimum chilling requirement to initiate flowering depending on variety and too few chilling hours equals poor to no fruit the following year. Too little cold can be just as harmful as too much!
Blueberry beginning to flower after receiving adequate chill hours. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
Now that we know about chilling hours, the question remains, is this a normal winter or has it been colder than normal? The answer is neither. Based on historical average data from the UF/IFAS weather station in Marianna (a central location in the Panhandle and a good proxy for your local temperatures), as cold as we’ve been in January and early February, we’re still lagging the historical average with respect to chilling hours, and therefore to total cold temperatures. As of February 6th, 512 chill hours had been recorded this winter. This seems like a lot until you check and see that we had 554 chill hours on the same day last year and the historic average is more than 750! Though January and February have indeed been cold this year, the chill hour graph indicates that over the last few years it’s taken longer into the calendar to achieve our first chill hour and that cold weather isn’t pushing as far into spring as it historically has.
There are many potential explanations for the warming trend in the Panhandle but regardless of your preferred theory, backyard fruit growers need to adapt to deal with the change in chill. The primary way to combat fewer chill hours is to evaluate your current fruiting plants and think about replacing high-chill varieties that no longer produce well with lower-chill varieties. If you know the variety you have, look up the number of chill hours that variety requires. If it’s an older variety that requires near the historical chill average or more, you may consider replacing it with a newer variety that requires fewer chilling hours. For example, the popular old blueberry variety ‘TifBlue’ requires 600-700 chilling hours. For most of the previous decade, we have either just barely or not reached that many chill hours, leading to a low fruit set. Replacing ‘TifBlue’ with a newer, lower chill variety like ‘Powderblue’ will probably increase your blueberry production. If you don’t know what variety of fruit tree or shrub you have, just observe the flowering period over the next spring or two. If it doesn’t flower at all or flowers sporadically and you don’t make a good fruit yield, a high chill requirement very likely could be to blame and replacing it could enhance production!
Though we’ve had an intensely cold start to 2022, if current trends continue, this wintry weather will most likely play out before we reach historic averages. That doesn’t mean you can’t grow plenty of backyard fruit, it just requires adapting to the times with lower chill varieties! To keep up with chill hour accumulation, visit http://agroclimate.org/tools/chill-hours-calculator and if you have any questions about fruiting plant variety selection, chilling hours and their effect on plants, or any other horticultural topic, contact your local UF/IFAS County Extension office! Stay warm and happy gardening!
February can be a confusing month for North Florida gardeners. Winter isn’t over. So, don’t let spring fever cause you to make some gardening mistakes. Let’s take a look at some dos and don’ts of February gardening.
Despite colder temperatures that we can experience this month, it’s still okay to plant trees and shrubs from containers. The roots are better protected in the ground and will quickly grow outward to establish as compared to being exposed to cold temperatures above ground, confined in a container. But be cautious about planting cold sensitive tropical plants too soon while freezing weather is likely. Bare-root trees and shrubs should be in the ground promptly. This includes bare-root nut and fruit trees, pine and hardwood tree seedlings and bare-root roses. Dormant season planting allows time for establishment before hot weather arrives.
February is a good time to transplant or move trees and shrubs that are in the wrong place. Consider moving plants that require pruning to force them to “fit” into small or confined spaces. Move them to an appropriate location where they can grow to full size. Then you can plant something new and appropriately sized for replacement. Of course, they need to be reasonable in size to move.
Bush rose plant correctly pruned. Photo credit: Matt Orwat
Late February is a good time to prune overgrown shrubs such as ligustrum and holly. These plants usually respond well to severe pruning, if necessary. But remember, they will eventually regrow to their larger size. Prune to shape and thin broadleaf evergreens and deciduous flowering trees such as oleander, crape myrtle and vitex. Avoid severely pruning narrow leaf evergreens such as junipers because they have few buds on old wood from which to form new growth. Mid-February is a good time to prune bush roses, removing dead or weak canes. Leave several healthy canes and cut these back to about eighteen inches. Delay doing much pruning on early spring flowering shrubs such as azalea until shortly after they flower. Pruning these plants now will remove present flower buds before they can open. Prune deciduous fruit trees such as peach, plum and apple. Now is also the time to prune ornamental grasses such as muhly grass.
If your lawn has a history of problems with summer annual weeds such as crabgrass, apply a preemergence herbicide. This should be done February 15 to March 1 when day temperatures reach 65° to 70°F for 4 or 5 consecutive days. A second application may be needed eight weeks later. Many people fertilize their lawns too early. Wait until mid-April to fertilize to prevent lawn injury and for the most efficient use of the fertilizer.
At one time or another, we have all added rocks or broken pieces of clay pots to the bottom of a container to improve drainage. This practice can actually have the opposite effect, causing the potting soil to stay too moist. Since many container-grown plants like good drainage, we end up with plant issues. Learn the method for potting up a plant that allows your soil to have good drainage with UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
