News Stories - Page 425

In the shadow of a rundown block building in Los Palis, Haiti, children wearing tattered clothes bit into half-ripened mangoes they picked from the ground and wondered about the strange men toiling around in the field.

Have you ever noticed flies buzzing around your favorite restaurant? No big deal, right? Wrong. “People view flies as a nuisance, but the evidence shows they are much more than that,” said Ludek Zurek, faculty member with the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Agriculture. “House flies may be the link of bacteria between food animals and residential areas.”

Food science and food safety have become hot topics in recent years. David Lineback, a food scientist and carbohydrate chemist at the University of Maryland, will speak on both at the annual J.G. Woodruff Lecture on April 8 in Athens.

Home gardeners who want to try their hand at growing organic vegetables should lower their expectations just a little and be prepared to put in more “sweat equity.”

University of Georgia research isn’t done just by professors in laboratories in Athens, Ga. It’s also conducted in fields, orchards and gardens statewide by UGA Cooperative Extension agents, who look to solve problems for the people in their counties.

On April 3, southern gardeners will have a new tool to help them in the garden. “Your Southern Garden” with Walter Reeves, a new educational television show, will premiere to help gardeners of all levels learn new tips, get fresh ideas and visit interesting sites. The show will air weekly on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. and repeat at 6:30 p.m. on Georgia Public Broadcasting stations and select northern and central Florida public television stations.

A University of Georgia horticulture expert will teach Gardening 101 on April 5 at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens, Ga.

Homeowners may know to inspect potted plants for diseases, insects and other signs of an unhealthy plant before buying them. But University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialists say sod should be inspected, too, before it’s rolled out and installed.

With shovels in tow, Master Gardeners across Georgia help their communities by conducting special gardening programs, writing news stories and lending their expertise wherever needed.