Learn to create a garden that fits you at San Juan County workshop

Submitted by San Juan County Master Gardeners

This fall, learn how to turn your garden into a reflection of who you are and what you care about, including supporting wildlife and creative exploration.

Join keynote speaker Lorene Forkner Edwards and the San Juan County Master Gardeners at their annual gardening workshop for inspiration and workable ideas to create a garden that fits you from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Oct. 20, at the Friday Harbor Middle School, at 85 Blair Ave.

Purchase tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3496411. Tickets are $40 online or $45 at the door. Advance purchase recommended.

Lorene Edwards Forkner is an author, editor and passionate self-proclaimed “horticolorist.” The author of five gardening titles including the bestselling “Handmade Garden Projects” and the “Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening: Pacific Northwest.” Forkner is the editor of Pacific Horticulture, a magazine that supports the power of gardens to enrich life and help heal the planet. Forkner will be a contributing author of a new weekly column for Pacific Northwest magazine called “Grow.” She is passionate about personality-infused garden spaces and the beautiful, fruitful and innovative landscapes of the region.

Follow Forkner at ahandmadegarden.com and on Instagram @gardenercook.

Returning to the event is Dr. Linda Gilkeson, last year’s highly regarded keynote speaker. Gilkeson will lead three, afternoon sessions: “Common Pests, Diseases and Disorders of Fruits,” “Of Cabbages and [January] Kings,” and “Do You Really Know what the Problem Is?” Gilkeson is the author of “Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest,” the best-selling guide to vegetable garden success.

The annual gardening workshop is a day-long event, with noted authorities speaking on a wide variety of topics of interest to PNW coastal gardeners. Multiple choices allow you to plan your day to attend sessions of interests.

This year topics include:

• Assessing and amending your garden soil.

• Common pests, diseases and fruit disorders.

• Pruning objectives and basic pruning skills.

• How to create a sustainable, aesthetically pleasing drought-tolerant landscape.

• How to grow cabbage and its relatives for a year-round harvest.

• Eating seasonally from your garden for nutrition and health.

• Magical ornamentals: roses, salvia and the drama of foliage.

• 25 tips to make you a better, smarter gardener.

• How to determine why your plant is unhappy.

Visit GardenWorkshop.org for complete descriptions of each session and the speakers’ biographies.

Are you interested in becoming a Master Gardener volunteer? The next training session begins Jan. 29, in Friday Harbor. Training occurs from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Tuesdays through March 26. Applications are due by Nov. 1.

For more information, contact Caitlin Blethen at mg.sanjuancounty@wsu.edu or 360-370-7663.

The annual gardening workshop is presented by the Master Gardener Foundation of San Juan County in Cooperation with the San Juan County Washington State University Extension.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities and special needs who contact the WSU San Juan County Extension office at 360-370-7663 or ma.sanjuancounty@wsu.edu at least two weeks prior to the event.