A blooming beautification of Jefferson City

<p>Julie Smith/News Tribune</p><p>Several types of tomato plants will be for sale at the upcoming plant sale. Each plant contains a stick with a number, which cross references to a list, and information about the plant.</p>

Julie Smith/News Tribune

Several types of tomato plants will be for sale at the upcoming plant sale. Each plant contains a stick with a number, which cross references to a list, and information about the plant.

Clouds loomed overhead, looking like it could rain at any moment, and the air had a cold bite when the winds picked up. Yet, the sights, sounds and smells of spring on an early Friday morning in March inside the Central Missouri Master Gardener greenhouse by the Missouri River in north Jefferson City made it feel like spring had sprung.

The clock had just struck 9 a.m., and more than a handful of Master Gardener volunteers had been busy at work in the greenhouse. Some were filling varied sized pot packs with soil, others were hovered around a table placing plant plugs in the dirt and still others were helping transplant the growing flowers to the neighboring greenhouse next door, which opened up space for the newly potted plugs.

The soft smell of fresh dirt and plants filling the air and sounds of '70s pop and rock music streaming through the speakers encouraged the volunteers to steadily work and happily greet others as they filtered in and out until about noon that day. They got a lot done, but there was still much left to do before their largest fundraising event of the year.

Come May 4, at Jefferson City Jaycees Fairgrounds, months of hardwork in their greenhouse will be displayed and ready to sell 7 a.m.-noon, with thousands of dollars raised benefitting the chapter's scholarship program, community garden projects and its demonstration garden, River City Gardens, located near its greenhouse.

Planting the plugs and seeds

From soon after the start of the year through early May, the Central Missouri Master Gardener greenhouse is bustling with activity in preparation for their annual plant sale, which has been around for 10-plus years. This year, that work started last fall.

"We typically start prepping for the current year's plant sale and do maintenance in mid-January," said Deb Rademan, Central Missouri Master Gardener greenhouse manager and horticulture specialist. "This year, we did our rebuild of the greenhouse, so we did all that work in the fall. It was a big undertaking for part-timers."

The greenhouse maintenance crew installed new lumber and wood, new plastic was put over the roof, and water lines were replaced.

Around this time, Rademan also began ordering the plants they grow for their annual plant sale. She orders them through a greenhouse in Latham, who special orders his plants through Jolly Farmer products and other places to keep prices down.

"He orders them in, he sorts them out to who they go to (ordering for many other nurseries as well), and we picked them up from him," Rademan said.

Rademan orders about 7,000 plugs, making up a majority of the thousands of plants and flowers they sell each May. Beginning in early February, the volunteers start planting the plugs in a variety of containers and pots, ranging in size and quantity of holding spaces depending on the flower or plant.

"The orders come in two weeks apart (through late March). So two weeks ago (mid-February), we got in the plugs for the hanging baskets and all this stuff," Rademan said in early March while pointing to tables filled with a variety of flowers and plants already potted. "We got the plugs in earlier this year for the 250 hanging baskets and they will be full and robust really soon. Then the last order will be for petunias and things that grow fast and don't have to be in the greenhouse so long that everything gets all tangled up. The tomatoes and the peppers also come in during that last order."

While Rademan acts as the overall manager for the growth of all the plants, there are Central Missouri Master Gardeners who are chair of the hanging baskets, peppers and 3,048 tomato plants, and cold crops that specialize and help plant and grow those specific, popular items.

Growing in the greenhouse

The cold crops, which are a multitude of vegetables that grow better in colder weather and are grown in the greenhouse specifically for Central Missouri Master Gardener members, also start their process early.

"It begins in December, making sure we have enough seeds and the right seeds," said Bob Sims, a nine-year member of the Central Missouri Master Gardener chapter and cold crop chair.

Sims said a large portion of the cold crops are a variety of lettuce, including red romaine, regular romaine, Black-seeded Simpson, Grand Rapids and "everybody's favorite" buttercrunch.

"Everybody loves buttercrunch. It is the best tasting, so everybody wants it," Sims said, noting they also grow broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. "We brought in the Purple of Sicily cauliflower, which is very good and everybody seems to like it. I try to do something that is different and see what people like."

Sims said after they select the varieties they will grow this year, they set everything up, make sure they have the pots ready to go and start to seed. For the first two to three weeks they are in the provocation room, which is a heated room where all the seeds are, Sims said.

"Once they germinate, we make sure they continue to grow by watering them every day. After a couple of weeks, we transplant them into these four packs, continuing to water them every day," he said. "When we do the watering here (in the greenhouse), we put fertilizer in it. When it gets past three or four weeks, we determine when we are going to sell them. We sell those just to the members since they are grown by early spring."

However, those attending the annual plant sale also have their pick of vegetables, tomatoes and herbs such as rosemary, tarragon, fennel and basil to purchase, outside of a variety of natives, shrubs, trees and perennial and annual flowers and plants.

After each seed or plug is planted, the volunteers make sure they are properly labeled.

"We label with as much accuracy as we can because it is very important to know ourselves what they are and when the customers make their purchase at the plant sale," said Kathy Lynn Mills, who has been a Central Missouri Master Gardener since 2012.

Once everything is planted, the volunteers begin regular watering and maintaining them. Rademan uses a set of injectors that inject liquid fertilizer (which is available at the plant sale if attendees bring their own container) into the plant and is run through the greenhouse's watering system.

"We don't fertilize all the time and it can be turned off when we don't want to fertilize it. One other thing we have to inject into it is acid because of the water we have here. It is ground water and it has a lot of alkaline," she said. "We inject battery acid of all things into the water, but it is a minute amount."

Rademan said the injectors are set to 1:100, with one part acid per 100 parts of water. She said the acid is already diluted to one part to 200 parts before it is in the injectors.

"What that does is reduces the alkalinity in the water so the plants can take up the fertilizers better," she added.

All the plants also require different kinds of moisture levels. Rademan said plants like vinca and portulaca plants require low moisture levels, liking it hot and fairly dry, otherwise they will get a disease in them. She also uses heating pads underneath the vinca so it will be warmer and they will take off better because of their slower growth rate.

"Other things like lettuce and the early crops require a bit more moisture. . When you are watering, you are watering per kind of plant," she said.

Rademan and the volunteers will also clip the tomato plants and pinch the hanging basket flowers, for example, as part of the maintenance, ensuring they will branch out and be full when sale day arrives.

A community event and effort

The months of careful potting, watering, fertilizing, maintaining and simple love and care by the Central Missouri Master Gardeners comes to a close the Thursday before the annual plant sale.

Volunteers with the group begin hauling the thousands of plants to their space at the Jefferson City Jaycees Fairgrounds and set up about 150 tables for them to be displayed on for the sale. All day Friday, volunteers then organize the plants and prepare for opening the sale at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.

However, outside of the hard work going on at the greenhouse and in preparation for the event at the fairgrounds, there are other jobs Central Missouri Master Gardeners do for this event, which sees thousands of attendees.

"We get grocery carts. There are several businesses that repeatedly help us out because it is really important to have those carts," said Janet Lepper, Central Missouri Master Gardener and 2019 plant sale co-chair. "It allows the people to shop and get as much as they want. We also get a ton of boxes - like a shed full of boxes - that helps us increase the amount of plants the people can purchase."

Lepper encourages attendees to bring their own wagons or whatever they would like to haul plants as the carts and boxes do run out or are in use soon after the doors open.

"We also go to schools and organizations to ask for students and others to help. We usually have the ROTC and Blair Oaks (School District) will send their students from their FFA chapter every year. They are all mature, wonderful and have lots of energy. They really help us out, as do the Jaycees. The volunteerism from around the city is just great."

All the plants go fast and help create proceeds for multiple great causes that help educate and beautify Jefferson City and Central Missouri. Outside of giving out four $1,000 scholarships annually, the Central Missouri Master Gardener chapter also does a lot of beautification around the city, including at city parks, the Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City and Linn, the Rape and Abuse Crisis Service garden and their own River City Gardens, which also plays host the group's annual River City Fall Festival.

Mills said the group gives tours to students and JC Parks summer campers at the greenhouse and demonstration garden. There is also a crew that builds sheds for Habitat for Humanity home recipients and worked with Callaway Hills Elementary School in Holts Summit to construct and implant their own greenhouse that they have now used this last year.

"There are so many people in the community that are involved in this it really has become a community project," Lepper said. "That is wonderful to see all this come together because everyone wants it to be a good looking city."

The 23rd annual Central Missouri Master Gardener Plant Sale will be held rain or shine 7 a.m.-noon May 4 at the Jefferson City Jaycees Fairgrounds. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For more information, visit the organization on Facebook by searching "Central Missouri Master Gardener Plant Sale."