I received a fax last week from our local Natural Resources Conservation Service office, indicating its annual tree giveaway is coming up Friday. I have been contemplating making a list of the number of phone calls we receive at the Extension office as the calendar nears Arbor Day from people wanting to know when we are “giving the trees away.”

I don’t mind the calls at all. However, I do have to inform the would-be tree planters that we are not the organization who does that. Granted, we do have information on how to plant, prune and fertilize. However, it is the NRCS and our local soil and water conservation district that so graciously organize the annual giveaway.

John C. Coccaro is county Extension director. Write to him at 1100-C Grove St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or call 601-636-5442. E-mail him at jcoccaro@ext.msstate.edu.

The tree giveaway will be Friday at the NRCS office on Sherman Avenue across from the Culkin Water District office.  A crew will distribute trees from 8 a.m. until the trees are gone. Offerings include American plum, bald cypress, crepe myrtle, magnolia, red maple, saw tooth oak and loblolly pine. These are great for establishing a new landscape or sprucing up an old one.

Keep in mind that these trees are bare-root plants — not in pots. Therefore, they will either need to be planted soon or one will need to make arrangements to keep them alive. This is important. 

Let me urge anyone needing some great-looking trees to go by the NRCS office this Friday morning and pick up a pack. If you need tips on caring for them after they are planted, give us a call at the Extension office.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service and the NRCS are also working together on another event in March that might interest fruit-, vegetable- and flower-growers. We will host a high-tunnel field day at our Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs on March 11 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

High tunnels are all the rage with people interesed in extending their growing season through the use of these structures that look somewhat like greenhouses. MSU is conducting research on ways to benefit from growing in high tunnels, (sometimes called hoop houses) and the NRCS is assisting with financing the structures and helping people get started. Other sponsors are the Mississippi Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce.

Field day participants may tour high tunnels, visit with exhibitors and learn more about the cost-share program available through the NRCS.

Registration for the field day is required, and there is a $15 per person fee before March 1. Contact the Extension office for other details, registration forms and directions.