04/07/11

Alaska Master Gardening Conference
March 25 & 26, 2011

March 25-26, 2011 Master Gardener Conference will be held at the Wedgewood Resort Fairbanks Alaska with speakers, workshops, and vendors. Conference begins each day at 8 a.m. Get all the latest on perennials, dirt, and using what we have for our gardens and landscaping. Open to interested gardeners, and Master Gardeners statewide. The handouts that speakers provided have been uploaded as PDF files - link at end of each description. Tips and recipes were also collected from attendees, click here for them.

•  Agenda  as a Microsoft Word Document

•  Agenda as a PDF file

•  Registration form as a Microsoft Word Document

•  Link to PDF Registration form.

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Bob Bors - New research on hardy fruit trees:

                   (handouts) Popular Varieties, Prairie Fruit Summary

•  Gathering & propagating wild and orchard fruits.
• Hardy fruits; and tricks to make semi- hardy fruits survive.

Charles Knight  - (Friday, topic to be announced)

Les Brake & Teena Garay - Focus on a Few Favorite Plants.

In this, their first talk together in over seven years, Les Brake (Willow) and his soil mate Teena Garay, from Homer, will share some of their favorite garden plants, including annuals, biennials, perennials, shrubs, grasses, and vines. With more than forty-six years’ worth of Alaska gardening experience between them, they’ve killed enough plants to fill the downtown Anchorage cemetery. Enough have survived, though, to make two gardens of note, each in a uniquely challenging climate, and in this talk Brake and Garay will offer tips for growing plants well, suggestions for companion plants, propagation techniques, and sources for some of their favorites. Please, no squirt guns, rotten eggs, or cream pies allowed. Handout

Carolyn Parker - Research Professional, botanist, University of Alaska Museum of the North - Bringing Alaska's Native Flora into Your Garden

This workshop is planned to begin with a bit on the origin of our flora and the huge diversity of habitats here to which plants have adapted. Included will be a discussion of the pros and cons of bringing native plants into our yards, things to consider before trying to move native plants home, and care in transplantation or seed gathering. Carolyn will address the concern of the 'weed warriors' and the ethics of digging up transplants (where? how? etc.) as well as sources of 'native plants' that do not require digging. She will also discuss how different populations (native or cultivated) of a single species may have different ecological demands. Her handout if of handy references for Alaska Native Flora.  Handout

Dr. Danny Barney - USDA-ARS Arctic & Subarctic Plant Gene Bank, Palmer – Plant Resources for Alaska Horticulture

Dr Danny Barney, new USDA curator for the Arctic and Subarctic Gene Bank, Palmer, has got lots of good things to share, and is interested in meeting people who can help with his research. He is a superb "catch" for Alaska! Handout

CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Friday

Bonsai Planting, Paul Marmora. We will take a look at some of the styles of bonsai, talk about root prep, postioning and securing the plant into the pot, prune the trees, discuss options for keeping the bonsai alive and the care and fertilizing it prefers. We will also discuss the history of bonsai, talk about pots in detail, discuss digging up trees and care for native trees in pots in AK as well as for tropical trees in the house.

We will then bare root the trees, position them in the pots, wire them in for security and if necessary, for shape. We will then work with each individual to get their tree planted successfully. We will plan to get a bit dirty, so dress accordingly. Naturally, each person will have a tree to take home at the end of our session.We will have a few trees for display as well.

Compost Tea, Michele Hebert: Learn about making compost tea with a 5-gallon bucket and aquarium parts. Written instructions included in class. Compost tea is an aerated solution that is teeming with bilions of beneficial microorganisms that can be applied directly to the leaf surface of a plant as a foliar spray or used as a soil drench to improve root systems. It is made by extracting and replicating the beneficial biology and diversity in the compost into a liquid form. Compost tea works by putting the aerobic beneficical biological diversity that your plant needs onto the leaf surface of the plant or the soil. You can enjoy the proven benefits of compost now in a liquid form. Many home gardeners and farmers use compost tea as a orgainc fertilizer to restore a much needed diversity and population of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and portozoa back in to the soil foodweb. Others use compost tea as a foliar spray to reduce disease. Whatever your particular needs, compost tea will help you on the parth towards a healthier, natural, organic garden! http://www.simplici-tea.com/  Handout

Sun sensitive Fabric, Margaret Wiedeman. Learn how to use sun sensitive fabric to immortalize your garden plants and flowers. You are welcome to bring a piece of an actual plant or flower that you have, or you can just practice using plastic or dried samples provided by the instructor. The workshop will be a hands-on experience, and you'll leave with a fabric image suitable for framing or incorporating into a pillow, wallhanging, or another type of fabric art. Bring your coat and boots as we'll be dashing outside for a bit to expose our work, a dark bag to transport the finished product home as we won't have time to dry it, and pray for bright sun! Handout

Winter Sowing, Holly Buzby: Winter Sowing is a creative and easy germination method - you will be able to start hardy and vigorous seedlings for pennies. Winter Sowing is done outdoors during Winter using mini-greenhouses made from recyclables; there are no heating devices, no energy wasting light set-ups or expensive seed starting devices. Bring 1 gallon milk jugs, 1 pound plastic lettuce containers with lids and any comparable size containers. http://wintersown.org

Landscaping & Design, Andrew Glasgow

Ponds, Marjorie Illingworth: Water Gardens are fun, easy to care for and the whole family can enjoy them. This class is designed to introduce or expand your interest in Water Gardens as a hobby, a family activity or just as part of your interior design or exterior landscaping.  You will receive information on how to start, maintain or expand a Water Garden, where to find supplies locally and what mail order catalogs offer products most likely to thrive in Interior Alaska. Class includes a June tour of the instructor's Water Garden. Handout

Tomato Grafting, Mike Emers: Why graft? The idea behind grafting is to take a variety with desirable above-ground horticultural characteristics (like fruit size, flavor, ect.) and connect it to the roots of a variety with desirable under-ground characteristics (like resistance to soil-borne diseases and vigorous root growth.) Grafting vegetables follows the same principle as grafting fruit trees, which has been done for a long time. In both cases the crop-producing shoot is called the scion, which is removed from its original roots and placed onto a new plant, called the rootstock.

Saturday:

Intro to Hydroponics, Emily Reiter: Discussion of how to get started in hydroponics, emphasizing "easy" crops like herbs and greens. Hands-on demonstration of how to build an inexpensive floating raft hydroponic system, and a look at how some other off-the-shelf systems work.

Perennial Bloom timing, Cyndie Warbelow: This class will give you lists of perennials that bloom at different times of the summer so you can have blooms all summer long. Possible planting designs. Handout  Sample Plan (jpg)

Medicinal Garden Herbs, Jen Landry: Herbs such as garlic, sage, peppermint and even thyme can be use to help you gain better health.  This class will help you understand the many uses for herbs that can be grown here in Fairbanks, Alaska. Handout

Retro Fitting for Solar Greenhouse, Marjorie Illingworth: This class will show you how to design a new greenhouse or retro fit your existing greenhouse using a "river rock heat retention box," resulting in more growing days. Handout

Houseplant Care & Propagation, Deborah Koons: A self-professed “plant-a-holic,” Deborah has been growing tropical plants since she was 9 years old. Here in the Interior, tropical and sub-tropical plants are grown indoors, either in your house or in an office setting. This workshop will be strictly “hands-on”, and there will be something of interest for everyone – from learning how to grow a plant you don’t know the name of – to figuring out if the problem plant has pests, a virus, over-watered, or lacking nutrients. Learn how to make your own soil-less potting mix, what a polymer is and why it should be added to your potting mix, when to use fertilizer, and how much!! Learn the different techniques of plant propagation, from stem cuttings, to air layering. Gloves will be provided.Feel free to bring in your own ‘problem plant’ to get diagnosed, or learn about the problem plants that will be at the workshop. Everyone will be able to take home a rooted cutting from some unique plant to add to their ‘plant family’.

Rose & Geranium Care, Allen Cronk

Cut flower care, Becky Hassebroek: "We’ve all had training, in one form or another, on how to grow nice flowers – but how do we extend their lives when we bring them inside to enjoy or share them with a friend? We will cover these “tricks of the trade” in this 60 minute workshop, your questions will be answered, and you’ll come away with an informative handout covering what you’ve learned. Should have some fun, too!" Cutting Chart   Conditioning Handout

 Garden Tool Care, George Wilson: This class is to help you use tools safely and maintain them for longer use. Class will cover Chosing tools, Purchasing, Safety, Preventive Maintenance, Repair, Sharpening of tools, and How to get the most out of your tools.

Bugs-Good or Bad, Taylor Maida Handout (PMC-10075)

Irrigation, Calypso Farms: Ever wondered what all those irrigation pieces are, and how they all go together? This class will give hands-on opportunity to learn. Garden designs to fit your garden. Handout

Registration form (PDF)