By Donna Des Rochers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBugs, figs and garlic\u201d are three reasons retired biologist Holly Coccoli joined CGMGA this year.\u00a0 Her reasons also included finding new volunteer opportunities and wanting to learn how to grow healthy plants in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holly has always enjoyed her small, in-town and shady yard that is primarily landscaped with native plants. She is now \u201cediting\u201d her yard to address numerous gardening mistakes made in the past. This includes replacing the plants struggling in the shade or that have outgrown their space and digging out the Oregon Grape is taking over her front yard. For the last few years, she has started to grow figs in containers, and this year added garlic to her usual tomatoes, basil and other herbs, and. Providing bird and pollinator habitat has also been a focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holly credits her friend Tracy Willett for inspiring her to join CGMGA. Tracy has a wealth of gardening know-how, and Holly saw the group as an opportunity to interact with people \u201ctalking plants\u201d and sharing gardening tips. In addition, she has wanted to learn about the insects in her yard and what roles they play. As a Master Gardener trainee, she is learning so much from the excellent classes and resources that OSU Extension has made available. Megan Wickersham, Master Gardener Coordinator, has really made an impression. Holly says that Megan is incredibly patient, super knowledgeable, and fun to be around. Megan and everyone else are very friendly and helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a fisheries biologist, Holly worked many years for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe in the Tacoma-Seattle area, and locally for the Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District serving as the Watershed Group coordinator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She currently volunteers as a GED tutor at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, which has been both interesting and rewarding. In the past, Holly was an avid windsurfer and mountain biker. Nowadays, hiking trails along Mt Hood and Mt Adams, and swimming are favorite activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up, Holly found gardening boring and was more fascinated with the big green worms on her mother\u2019s tomato plants and catching bugs in the backyard. In truth, this was the start of her career in natural resources. She describes her gardening style as casual and focused more on food than flowers, which brings us back to figs and garlic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With three fig varieties in pots in her sunniest location, Holly is figuring out how to over-winter them in an uninsulated garage, and how to prune, fertilize and water them. Last year, her total harvest was only 7 figs, but hopes are high for this year\u2019s crop! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a Master Gardeners trainee, volunteering at plant clinics, the Seed to Supper program, FISH food garden, Greenhouse duties, along with classes, reading, and on-line tools have been tremendous opportunities to learn. Of course, entomology was her favorite class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holly plans to return as a Master Gardener next year and wishes she had joined 10 years earlier. In the next 5 years, she plans to see thriving fig trees and garlic, and overall improved cultural practices in her yard to keep insect pests to a tolerable level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Donna Des Rochers \u201cBugs, figs and garlic\u201d are three reasons retired biologist Holly Coccoli joined CGMGA this year.\u00a0 Her reasons also included finding new volunteer opportunities and wanting to learn how to grow healthy plants in general. Holly has always enjoyed her small, in-town and shady yard that is primarily landscaped with native plants. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralgorgemga.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}