Entries sought for Yard/Garden of Month

As a way to reward the efforts of local gardeners and to make the community more beautiful the Valencia County Extension Master Gardeners and the Valencia County News-Bulletin are accepting nominations for Yard and Garden of the month for August until Aug. 14.

Nominations may be made of any yard or garden in Valencia County with the winner receiving a $100 prize and photos of the winning yard also will appear in the News-Bulletin.

The deadline for this month’s contest is Friday, Aug. 14, and the winner will be announced in the Aug. 20 News-Bulletin.

“Because we are at the height of the summer growing season, this month we are hoping to get nominations of vegetable gardens and the like,” said Merlinda Acevedo, president of the Valencia County Master Gardeners. “We, of course, will still accept entries of beautifully landscaped and maintained yards as we have in the past.”

Nominations must include:

• The name and telephone number of the yard/garden owner;

• The address of where the yard/garden is located (all nominated yards/gardens must be in Valencia County);

• A brief statement of why the yard/garden deserves the award;

• Nominations are due by noon, Friday, Aug. 14, and must be submitted via email to either Rigo Chavez at chavrf66@gmail.com or Merlinda Acevedo at mercruz_2000@yahoo.com;

• Nominators may also submit up to two photos of the nominated yard/garden via email.

• Judges from the Valencia County Master Gardeners will visit gardens/yards the weekend of Aug. 14.

The Valencia County Master Gardeners is a community service program of the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service and provides courses and information to help community members improve their gardening skills.