More About Garden Discovery Day
This free event is packed with essential gardening tips to help you jump start the 2024 gardening season. Join in to glean some great garden inspiration and guidance with informative presentations, demonstrations, free soil pH testing and educational displays. Presentations begin at 9 a.m. but doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for early birds who wish to view educational displays and free handouts or visit with Master Gardeners at the “Let’s Talk Plants” table.
OSU Extension Service Master Gardeners are volunteer educators, neighbors, and on-the-ground researchers who serve their community with solid training in science-based, sustainable gardening and a love of lifelong learning. Each Garden Discovery Day class offers gardening know-how that is proven and practical. Participants can take home a handout which summarizes key points of the topic.
Enthusiasts of gardening will benefit from these three presentations:
9:00 am “Spring and Summer Containers”
This session will show this is a great time to experiment with texture and color in your container gardens. Think of grasses and conifers for texture. Try plants with great foliage color. And it is a terrific time to go crazy with flowering annuals. Learn how to apply the design formula of ‘thriller, filler, spiller’ in a container and see the numerous candidates that may play each role. It also covers practical considerations such as pot selection and preparation, and container media, watering and fertilizing. A demonstration building a beautiful, planted container will be raffled off to a lucky class attendee at the end of the class!
10:00 am “Growing Your Own Tomatoes”
This information packed presentation focuses on variety selection and seed starting, or choosing a plant to purchase and caring for it before the soil warms up. The focus continues with techniques for planting out in the garden or a container and ways to support your growing plant. Learn best cultural practices for correct watering, pruning, fertilizing and disease management. You can grow America’s favorite vegetable with your best crop ever!!
11:00 am “Composting with Garden Debris and with Worm Bins”
Composting with garden debris is easy and cheap, and you will have a strong and healthy garden when you add compost. Use compost to provide nutrients, to reduce your need for fertilizer and to improve the quality of clay or sandy soil. It also can be used as a mulch to control weeds and save water.
Free Soil pH Testing: Bring a soil sample and learn about soil pH. Winter rain tends to wash out soil minerals and turns it acidic. Soil pH affects the availability of nutrients to plants and is especially important to success in growing blueberries, rhododendrons, azaleas, and vegetables. To get accurate readings of your soil, collect separate samples from lawns, vegetable gardens, rose gardens, and perennial beds. This free service will test up to four samples per client and give advice on whether amendments are needed. Step-by-step instructions are in the “Testing Soil pH” handout at Click for Details under the “10-Minute University™” tab.
Let's Talk Plants! Throughout the morning, Master Gardener volunteers will be available offering one-on-one advice for all your gardening questions. . Bring plant specimens and/or photos that best illustrate your problem or question and put our ace diagnosticians to work.
Garden Discovery Day is a free event of the Clackamas County Master Gardener Association. This event is offered in collaboration with and in support of the Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener™ Program and through the support of the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District, and the Milwaukie Community Center.
OSU Extension Service Master Gardeners are volunteer educators, neighbors, and on-the-ground researchers who serve their community with solid training in science-based, sustainable gardening and a love of lifelong learning. Each Garden Discovery Day class offers gardening know-how that is proven and practical. Participants can take home a handout which summarizes key points of the topic.
Enthusiasts of gardening will benefit from these three presentations:
9:00 am “Spring and Summer Containers”
This session will show this is a great time to experiment with texture and color in your container gardens. Think of grasses and conifers for texture. Try plants with great foliage color. And it is a terrific time to go crazy with flowering annuals. Learn how to apply the design formula of ‘thriller, filler, spiller’ in a container and see the numerous candidates that may play each role. It also covers practical considerations such as pot selection and preparation, and container media, watering and fertilizing. A demonstration building a beautiful, planted container will be raffled off to a lucky class attendee at the end of the class!
10:00 am “Growing Your Own Tomatoes”
This information packed presentation focuses on variety selection and seed starting, or choosing a plant to purchase and caring for it before the soil warms up. The focus continues with techniques for planting out in the garden or a container and ways to support your growing plant. Learn best cultural practices for correct watering, pruning, fertilizing and disease management. You can grow America’s favorite vegetable with your best crop ever!!
11:00 am “Composting with Garden Debris and with Worm Bins”
Composting with garden debris is easy and cheap, and you will have a strong and healthy garden when you add compost. Use compost to provide nutrients, to reduce your need for fertilizer and to improve the quality of clay or sandy soil. It also can be used as a mulch to control weeds and save water.
Free Soil pH Testing: Bring a soil sample and learn about soil pH. Winter rain tends to wash out soil minerals and turns it acidic. Soil pH affects the availability of nutrients to plants and is especially important to success in growing blueberries, rhododendrons, azaleas, and vegetables. To get accurate readings of your soil, collect separate samples from lawns, vegetable gardens, rose gardens, and perennial beds. This free service will test up to four samples per client and give advice on whether amendments are needed. Step-by-step instructions are in the “Testing Soil pH” handout at Click for Details under the “10-Minute University™” tab.
Let's Talk Plants! Throughout the morning, Master Gardener volunteers will be available offering one-on-one advice for all your gardening questions. . Bring plant specimens and/or photos that best illustrate your problem or question and put our ace diagnosticians to work.
Garden Discovery Day is a free event of the Clackamas County Master Gardener Association. This event is offered in collaboration with and in support of the Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener™ Program and through the support of the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District, and the Milwaukie Community Center.
Date & Time
March 9, 2024
8:30am - 12:00pm
Location
Milwaukie Community Center
5440 SE Kellogg Creek Drive
Milwaukie, OR 97222
Contact Info
Sharon Andrews
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More About Clackamas County Master Gardener Association
OSU Extension Service Master Gardeners™ are volunteer educators, neighbors, and on-the-ground researchers who serve their community with solid training in science-based, sustainable gardening and a love of lifelong learning.
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