classes
Do Plants Talk?
Instructor: Dr. David Crowder, Associate Professor, WSU Dept of Entomology
Plants face constant attack from pests like herbivores and pathogens. Plants are not undefended, however, and have a variety of chemical and physical defenses to repel attackers. This course will discuss the ways in which plants defend themselves and how growers may be able to promote healthy plants that can protect themselves from stressors.
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Planning a Water-Wise Garden: Design Principles for Everyone
Instructor: Everett Chu , CPH, ECO-Pro
In our climate with increasingly bone-dry summers, a practical answer is Xeriscape, an ecological approach for dry, water-wise gardening. Learn how to be successful incorporating key design principles, selecting plants with drought-tolerant characteristics, and constructing the garden for long-term sustainability.
Garden Lessons in a Box
Instructor: Tim Kohlhauff, Urban Horticulture-WSU Extension
“Garden Lessons in a Box”, are effective research-based lessons for younger gardeners that can be easily carried to remote sites, and include supplies, resources and curriculum outline that any Master Gardener can use.
Mixed Vegetable Crop Planning
Instructor: Carlene Boxman, WSU Master Gardener
Learn how to time your crops within each season to ensure you have food to harvest all year around. This class will focus on the basic principles and practices of crop planning including: crop rotation, timing, succession planting techniques, and how to grow successfully in the fall and winter months. (Note: Focus is Western Washington.)
If Bugs Could Talk …Gardening in Tune with Insect Lifecycles
Panelists: Sharon Collman, Professor Emeritus, WSU Extension
If bugs could talk they’d be shaking their antennae and stridulating in disbelief at our efforts to control them. Sharon will take a merry look at the insects and how their life cycles should influence your actions. It’s really not that hard.
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Deer Resistant Garden Design
Instructor: Karen Chapman, CPH
What deer-challenged homeowners need from master gardeners are tried and true strategies and design tricks that will enable them to have the garden of their dreams without resorting to fences or constant spraying. This class illustrates key design steps and abundant examples.
A Convenient Truth - Composting for the Home Gardener
Instructor: Don Krafft, WSU Master Gardener and Master Composter
Learn how to teach the basics of composting through this primer on waste management, reasons to compost and the basics of the process and material. Enhance your understanding of the benefits and ways to promote it to the home and community gardener.
Citizen Science - Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills
Instructor: Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D Horticulture
The increase in unfiltered information available on the web has created a need for university Extension programs to assist citizens in developing critical evaluation skills .This presentation will provide Master Gardeners with guidelines for evaluating articles, books, and electronic resources objectively.
Growing Degree Days: Plant Phenology
Instructor: Paula Dinius, WSU Urban Horticulturist
The accumulation of daily heat values can be used to predict plant phases and insect activity…a much better predictor of life cycle stage than calendar timings. Pest control is most effective in an integrated pest management plan when growing degree days are used together with plant phenology, the visual phase of a plant.
The Importance of Trees to Our Lives and Landscapes
Instructor: Ben Thompson, Department of Natural Resources, Urban Forestry Specialist
Trees are the longest-lived plants in our gardens and landscapes, bearing witness to changes between seasons and years, and evolving to those changes. Today we find ourselves also needing to adapt. Explore the value and relevance of trees to the planet and our daily lives today and into the future.
Creating Garden Beauty All Year with Native Plants
Instructor: Mary Foster, WSU Master Gardener
This class features Northwest native plants used to highlight beauty and color throughout the year, including attractive native flowers. Learn how berries, colorful leaves, and interesting texture can also add depth, variety and attractive features to your garden.
Ten Things an MG should Know about Lawn Care
Instructor: Dr. Gwen K. Stahnke, Professor Emeritus-WSU Puyallup
Lawn care practices are involved either directly or indirectly in many of the questions that MGs are asked to answer in clinic. Our goal is to reduce the potential for negative impacts such as damage to adjacent plantings and the pollution of surface runoff. Here’s a list of the most important issues to know about.
Uprooting Racism in the Garden: A Contemporary View Toward Making Public Gardens Diverse & Equitable
Instructor: Eve Rickenbaker
The staff and visitors of many public gardens are less diverse than the communities they serve due to historical events and policies that created long-standing barriers and exclusionary practices. In this talk, I will discuss these events, along with the results of interviews with African Americans in public gardens in Seattle, Washington who have described current barriers and offer solutions to opening the garden gate to all. Participants will depart with knowledge about the history of exclusion along with contemporary views to apply in developing new approaches that will include everyone.
Community Gardens and Food Banks
Panelists: Beth Chisholm, WSU Master Gardener Program Community Gardens Project; Jeannine Polaski, former WSU Master Gardener Program Coordinator - Mason County; Jennifer Marquis, WSU Master Gardener Program Statewide Coordinator
Community Gardens and Food Banks can fulfill a need in our WSU Master Gardener educational mission, provided they meet program requirements. Join in the discussion as our panelists share their experiences-both good and bad and explain the roles that community gardens and food banks can play in fulfilling WSU Extension’s mission. Bring your questions & experiences to share and learn how you can enrich your local WSU Master Gardener program!
Glyphosate Resistance and Cancer...What’s the Latest News?
Instructor: Dale Whaley, Coordinator Integrated Weed Control Project-WSU Extension
Learn about “Glyphosate Resistance”, the timeline of events that led the International Agency for Research on Cancer to declare Glyphosate (aka Roundup) a “Group 2A Carcinogen”, and what this potentially means for you today.
Not in My Back Yard!
Instructor: Bonnie Orr, WSU Master Gardener
Learn how to analyze the health of your garden’s plants, control weeds, outsmart insect predators, deal with critters and avoid thugs and heartaches. Mastering garden dilemmas in your own backyard will make you more knowledgeable and effective as a master gardener in your community.
Creating Pollinator Friendly Gardens
Instructor: Mary Dessel, WSU Master Gardener, Masters in Forestry
Bumblebees and other pollinators are declining due to multiple threats such as habitat loss. Learn how insect pollinators benefit us and what you can do to protect them…and improve habitat in your own gardens.
Pesticides: WSU Master Gardener Policies and the Law
Instructor: Wendy Sue Wheeler
Pesticide laws are critical to protect human health and the environment. It is important to understand how pesticide use is regulated. Federal, state, county, and local laws can impact pesticide applications. This class will cover labels, formulations, personal safety, and environmental safety topics and the laws that govern them.
Developing and Growing the Perfect Tomato
Instructor: Sam Maupin
Tomatoes are the most popular plant to grow by home gardeners and for good reason. There are so many different varieties and production methods they can fit into almost any garden. With so much variability, perfecting the tomato should become a personal endeavor. At the Brothers Greenhouses, we have been conducting trials to determine which varieties are the most productive and tasty. We would like to share the results of our experiences to help the community find the best plants for their gardens and the best flavor to their plates. Join this class to learn about possibilities and empower you gardener's intuition. 1.5 CE available.
Sustainable Stormwater Management and the Role that MGs Can Play
Instructor: Dr. Ani Jayakaran, Associate Professor-WSU Extension
Learn the current state of the science related to green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), how it can be used as a means to sustainably manage stormwater, impact Puget Sound communities, and the role that Master Gardeners can play.