LSU AgCenter assistant director Bobby Fletcher and LSU AgCenter extension plant pathologist Melanie Lewis Ivey do a drench fungicide treatment on tomatoes at the urban tomato research plot at the New Orleans Convention Center. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the location is scheduled for April 23 at 11 a.m. Photo by Johnny Morgan

News Release Distributed 04/10/14

NEW ORLEANS – Residents in the Crescent Region interested in urban gardening are invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new LSU AgCenter vegetable plot next door to the New Orleans Convention Center on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Henderson St. on April 23 at 11 a.m.

For the next two years tomato research will be conducted on the one-quarter acre plot to evaluate commercial fertilizers over organic types in vegetable gardening, said LSU AgCenter assistant director Bobby Fletcher.

Fletcher will evaluate the effectiveness and economics of organic fertilizer and monitor disease.

Fletcher said he will be hosting a field day at the plot sometime in June and presenting a preliminary report of his findings at the 2nd Annual Farm to Table International Symposium at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Aug. 2-4.

Fletcher said the food produced from the project will be donated to Café Hope and Café Reconcile, two local nonprofit restaurants, whose goal is to teach culinary skills to at-risk youth, and to the culinary program at St. Michael’s Catholic School for children with special needs.

The garden project is co-sponsored by the New Orleans Convention Center along with the Southern Food and Beverage Institute of New Orleans.

Johnny Morgan