The Texas AgriLife Extension Service has a rich history of providing educational programs based on community needs in Travis County. In order to make sure that the programs being planned for the future are on target, we invite your participation in an Online Issue Forum to identify critical issues that Texas AgriLife Extension could address through educational programs.

If you would like to know more about our Extension program before taking the survey, check out our overview video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_ZK2_gNXQ

To participate in the online survey go to:

Electronic Issue Identification Forum

The online survey should take you no more that 10 minutes to complete, and will provide us with valuable insight into the issues facing Travis County residents. Your opinion is highly valued, so we truly hope you will take a few minutes to participate.

The online forum is currently open, and will remain open for input until midnight on May 4th. Should you have any problems with the online system, please contact the Extension office at 512-854-9600.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to help chart the course for your Travis County Extension programs.

Travis County Extension Office Temporarily Closed

On Tuesday of last week- June 29, 2010- the Travis County Extension office was damaged and flooded when a part of the roof collapsed during heavy rains. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but the office was flooded. Because of the damage, the office is closed until further notice.

People are working to get systems back into place for phone calls, emails and other sources of communication. Until then, please try to be patient. If you have a pressing bug question that needs to be answered you can leave a comment on this blog or you can contact a Texas AgriLife Extension Office in a different county.

If you are a Travis County Master Gardener and need more information on how the office closure affects you or for more information, please check the Central Texas Horticulture blog; Daphne was way better at explaining things more in depth.

Austin Garden Tour

Whew! It's Friday...it's been a very busy week! I checked my field plots in Georgetown on Monday and I'm doing another check this afternoon; I did a three hour CEU training for city employees; I took a great bead class the past two days with Andrea Guarino-Slemmons and tomorrow is the Master Gardener Home Tour. I get the pleasure of hanging in Patty Leander's yard to talk about bugs (pests, beneficials or whatever problems you're having in your yard). If y'all have the opportunity, attend the Garden Tour and you'll have the opportunity to see a variety of wonderful local gardens! I've been to Patty's before and I can tell you that it's the most amazing vegetable garden I've seen. I can only aspire to someday have a tenth of the vegetable garden she has....it's amazing...they have raised beds, make their own compost, test new varieties of veggies to see how they grow in Travis County.

The Garden Tour has 7 gardens to visit with people at each location to talk about a variety of topics ranging from rainwater collection to bulbs in Central Texas to installing drip irrigation. For more information, go here:
http://www.tcmastergardeners.org/what/gardentour.html

As for me....I'm off to kick some fire ant mounds!