Margaret Murphy

Growing up, I remember we always had a very large vegetable garden in the backyard. Mom was a marvel in the garden. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have fresh vegetables to eat throughout the summer.

Over the years, the popularity of growing one’s own food has waxed and waned, but in recent times, the trend is once again to have edibles in the home landscape. However, not everyone has the room or time (or mobility) to keep a large garden. Small gardens are easier to manage and keeping your garden size small doesn’t mean you have to forfeit a bountiful harvest.

There are several techniques that can help gardeners get maximum productivity from a small space. The first is to interplant. With this technique you can grow two or more vegetables in one area by planting slow maturing (long season) and fast maturing (short season) crops. The fast-maturing vegetables are harvested first leaving space available for the slower crop to mature. An example of this is planting radish, a fast-maturing crop with carrots, a slow-maturing crop. Another method is to alternate rows of fast and slow maturing vegetables such as planting leaf lettuce between two rows of tomatoes. When interplanting crops, remember to take into consideration the growing needs such as soil moisture of each of the crops planted together.

Lyssa Seefeldt

This article originally appeared in the January 2024 issue of the Midwest Forage Association’s newsletter, “Clippings.”

“You cannot manage what you do not measure.” Forage testing is a part of the gold standard of consistently achieving good production/performance levels using the forage that you have available. While you can formulate a ration based on expected performance and assumed values, you are relying on averages to help you achieve herd performance goals. This method relies on the fact that you are assuming your forage is achieving at least the average values based on whichever laboratory averages, research reference, etc. that you or your nutritionist are relying on. The result may be a ration that is missing the mark, leaving pounds of milk on the table, or paying for ingredients that may not have been necessary.

Lactating dairy cows have been shown to eat more dry matter and produce more milk when consuming forages with higher neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility. The NDF digestibility is an estimate of the amount of total NDF that the cow and microbes in the digestive tract can utilize before the forage material is expelled from the cow as manure. Since NDF digestibility decreases as forages mature, this is one reason that we have seen high-producing herds shift to a less mature crop for ensiling compared to what the normal may have been 30 years ago. 

UW-Madison Division of Extension will be hosting a virtual meeting featuring Leonard Polzin, Extension Dairy Markets and Policy Outreach Specialist.  Polzin will cover what a producer needs to know for the 2024 DMC sign-up.  He will walk-through changes to the DMC program that could affect current and previous years’ coverage from the program.  Polzin will discuss the DMC decision tool that was developed to help producers decide on the level of coverage necessary, with a variety of conditions, to help determine the strongest financial safety net for their farm.

The UW-Madison Division of Extension Dairy program is seeking participants for two nutrition surveys they are conducting. 

The first survey is aiming to gain a better understanding of what the most common feeding practices of Wisconsin high production Holstein herds are.

The second survey focuses on robotic milking herds nutritional management.

The results of these surveys will be used for educational purposes. If you would like a local dairy educator to reach out to you and help fill out the survey, please email us.

Participate in the TMR Survey:  https://bit.ly/24TMR

Participate in the Robotic Survey: https://bit.ly/24Robotic

Training manuals are only available for purchase through the University of Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training state office in Madison. Local county extension offices do not have manuals for sale for any training category. You need to purchase your training manual from the state office https://patstore.wisc.edu/secure/collection/private/17 and scroll down to the Private Applicator Training section and then “General Farming”, “Fruit Crops”, or “Greenhouse and Nursery. If you need to order via a paper form to order your manual, please contact the Extension Office.

Cost is $43.00 for the training manual. When you receive your training manual, you will also be provided more information about training options. These training options are also listed below. You must purchase the manual before taking any training or testing options.

1. Online Video Training. These online videos can take the place of in-person or ZOOM training for the General Farm category. They will cover the same material as the in-person sessions. You will need to have a computer, a good internet connection, email, and audio capabilities. You will be sent a link to the training. Once started you have 14 days to complete the training. You will receive one completion certificate that must be shown to the test proctor to be graded at 50%. You will need to take the Exam in person at a participating County Extension Office or online with Pearson VUE (see item 4.). You can register at here and need to have purchased the manual https://uwmadison.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d4DVfjmVBmP1ZRA You have 14 days to complete the training once you start the training.

2. A self-study option, is also available. For this option, you need to order the manual and when ready to take the test, contact a county extension office to set up an appointment to take the certification test. This option requires a passing score of 70%.

3. If interested in taking the test online, an option exists with a private company. Pearson Vue provides your results immediately and you get your credentials within 3 business days. Tests with Pearson Vue are $45.00 per test. https://patstore.wisc.edu/secure/collection/private/17

Looking for more gardening information? Or want to ask a gardening question?

Visit Wisconsin Horticulture – Division of Extension website at https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/ or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinGarden.

An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title VI, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements.