CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Sky Nursery seminars are free and require no pre-registration unless otherwise noted.

Did you miss the seminar on Fruit Tree Selection and Care with Dan Vorhis on January 14? You have a second chance: it will be repeated on Saturday, February 4.

Gardening with Hooplas
Alex Ekins of Scratch & Peck
Saturday, February 4, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Hoopla! Greenhouse, shade house, bird deterrent, insect barrier, as you need through the seasons…. The Hoopla’s design makes it easy to install and use on either raised bed systems or in-ground gardens. Plant and harvest earlier, harvest longer, grow greens into the winter, using Hoopla as a greenhouse; protect succulent veggies from insects and birds, using it as a pest barrier; shade tender greens through both weeks of summer this year! Find out why and how to use this system to improve your harvest.

Fruit Tree Selection and Care, or Everything the Beginning Home Orchardist Needs to Know: with Dan Vorhis, B.S. Agriculture, Ohio State University; Sky Nursery; Muscle and Arm Farm
Saturday, February 4, 1:30 P.M. – 4 P.M.

• How to assess and modify your site, what types of fruit will grow best there.
• Cultivar Selection for Western WA: disease resistance, pollination, and productivity.
• Pests (animals, insects, and diseases) and how to deal with them.
• Fruit tree pruning and training.
• Thinning, fertilizing, and other care tips.
• After the presentation, Dan will be available to answer your specific fruit-related questions.

Dan has 35 years of horticultural experience, specializing in fruit trees and vines. He lives with his wife and son on a small farm on Whidbey Island, where he grows a wide variety of fruits, nuts, veggies, flowers and eggs.

Terrarium Design
Mary Ann Greco
Saturday, February 11, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Terrariums can be as small as a salt shaker or as large as you’re willing to maintain (a conservatory can be thought of as a mega-terrarium). The only limit is your imagination! Create a mini desert with cacti and succulents—or a temperate landscape—or a slice of rainforest…. Mary Ann will talk about how to choose complementary plants, how to keep your plants to scale, and how to put it all together.

Fruit Tree Grafting- Theory
Bill Davis, Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation, and Dan Vorhis
Saturday, February 18, 10 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.
Learn the theory of fruit tree grafting! Why do we graft, how do we graft, what are the different types of grafts and why use one rather than another…? How do you pick the perfect rootstock and scionwood? (Er—what’s rootstock and scionwood?) What tools and materials do you need? How do you care for your newly-grafted tree?

Fruit Tree Grafting Lab with Bill Davis and Dan Vorhis
Saturday, February 18, 11:30 A.M. – 1 P.M.
Now that you’re an expert on the theory, here’s your chance to apply your new knowledge under the tutelage of experts. You can purchase grafting supplies on site, as well as rootstock and scionwood for a variety of fruit trees. Take home your own baby fruit tree! Each year Bill and Dan try to bring in interesting heritage apple and other scion wood for grafting that are not typically available in commercially-grown trees. You’ll be hooked!

If you plan to participate in (not just watch) the lab portion, please preregister by emailing sky@skynursery.com or by calling 206-546-4851. We need to order supplies for the hands-on participants.

Rose Selection, Planting, and Health
Debo Boyer
Sunday, February 19, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Join Debo Boyer, Sky Nursery’s rose buyer, for an afternoon of “Roses 101.” She will be covering this year’s new introductions, her favorites among the returning roses, how Sky rates our roses on disease resistance, fragrance, etc…. in short, everything you need to know to choose the perfect rose for you. She’ll also cover planting your roses and keeping diseases and insects at bay.

PRUNE-A-THON, A PLANT AMNESTY BENEFIT
Saturday, February 25, 9 A.M. – 4 P.M.
Join Plant Amnesty and Sky Nursery for a full day of free pruning demonstrations, slideshows, seminars, and fun. Confess your gardening sins to Father Weedo Sarducci! Get a free 15-minute gardening consultation…. Come to learn and stay to buy—a portion of the day’s sales are donated to Plant Amnesty to support their educational programs.

Download the schedule for the day (PDF)!

All about Edibles: Exclusive Tips from Local Growers
Sunday, February 26, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Join local professional vegetable and herb growers with over sixty years combined experience growing starter plants and vegetables, berries, and herbs for market. Rent’s Due Ranch has been providing PCC with some of their finest local organic produce — luscious strawberries, broccoli, onions, squash — since 1990 — and has been providing Sky’s tables with organic veggie starts for half a decade. White Picket Gardens grows common and unusual herbs as starter plants and for the fresh market, including 40 varieties of lavender. Windy Meadows Nursery pioneered the use of coco-coir based, sustainable, organic potting media, and grows organic vegetable starts, annuals, and perennials. This is your chance to grill JoanE of Rent’s Due, Kristi of White Picket, and Dr. Scott of Windy Meadows to find their organic and sustainable solutions for maximizing edible production. Bring your questions about heirloom varieties, sustainable growing, and biodynamic and organic growing tips!

City Chickens 101
Diana Ambauen-Meade of Scratch & Peck
Saturday, March 3, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Scratch and Peck, makers of locally produced non-GMO chicken feed, tells you everything you need to know about raising chickens in your own back yard. What you’ll need to get started, how to pick a breed suitable for your situation (is a people-friendly disposition or high egg production your biggest concern?), what to expect of your birds, what to feed them in different life stages…. Bring your questions!

Berry Selection and Care
Dan Vorhis
Saturday, March 3, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
We in the Pacific Northwest are privileged to be able to grow a huge range of berries, from conventional strawberries and blueberries to native huckleberries to exotic goji. Many can be grown in containers on patios or decks; many are beautiful as well as productive and can grace any ornamental planting. Selecting the right variety for your location can maximize your production and minimize your problems. Which berries will tolerate partial shade? What’s the best raspberry for a heavier soil? How should you fertilize, prune, and care for your berries? Join Dan to learn more about selecting, planting, and caring for berries.

Rose Pruning and Feeding
Debo Boyer
Sunday, March 4, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Debo Boyer, Sky Nursery’s rose buyer, returns to cover the essentials of rose pruning. She’ll demonstrate proper pruning techniques for hybrid tea, shrub, and climbing roses and show you the proper tools for the job. She will also talk about fertilizing, mulching, and everything else you need to know to keep your roses happy and healthy. Bring questions, concerns, and pictures of unpruned roses you need help with!

Indoor Seed Starting
Emily Wilkins
Saturday, March 10, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Whether you want to start a few marigolds on your windowsill or a hothouse full of tomatoes, learn how at this informative seminar. Save money, choose from more varieties, and have your plants ready exactly when you need them. Emily will cover when, how, and why to start your own transplants. A full line of seed starting supplies, from peat pots to heating mats to mini greenhouses, will be available for purchase.

Bulbs for Summer Beauty
Molly Malecki
Sunday, March 11, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Swooningly fragrant lilies… hummingbird-magnet crocosmias in shades of red, orange, and yellow that burn the eyes in the summer sunlight… dahlias from miniature to dinnerplate…. Some of our favorite summer and fall blooming flowers are most economically purchased now as bulbs and planted. Molly will go over when to buy, when to plant, and how to plant our favorite summer-blooming bulbs. For those of you who forgot to purchase spring-flowering bulbs last fall, Molly will also talk about planting “bulb packs” for immediate gratification!

Vermiculture! Composting with Worms
Emily Wilkins
Saturday, March 17, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Remember your mom telling you to clean your plate and not waste food? Well, you shouldn’t waste your food scraps either! If you have banana peels and coffee grounds, you can set up a worm bin to turn food waste into rich worm castings, a.k.a. vermicompost. Known as one of the richest types of compost, worm castings help plants grow bigger, healthier, and sweeter. Treat your plants while reducing your waste stream! Emily Wilkins will tell you everything you need to know to get started.

Natural Lawn Care: In-Store Q&A
Cyndi Stuart of Dr. Earth
Saturday, March 17, 11 A.M. – 2 P.M.
Healthy, vigorously-growing plants are less troubled by pests and disease, and healthy plants start with healthy soil. Cyndi Stuart has years of experience with plant health, working as a field biologist, a landscaper, and an organic farmer before joining the staff of Dr. Earth (the company that pioneered the development of probiotic organic products for home use). She will be available in Sky’s lawn care section to answer your questions about natural lawn care practices, talking about how to maximize your soil health to stop problems before they start, and how to solve problems that you may currently have.

Edible Garden Design
Brad Halm and Colin McCrate of the Seattle Urban Farm Company
Sunday, March 18, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Want to grow food in your yard this season? Join the owners of the Seattle Urban Farm Company as they guide you through designing your own "backyard farm". They'll discuss how to find the best spot on your property for a vegetable garden, how to lay out the space for maximum production and ease of use, the best materials to build your garden from, and how to get your soil into condition to grow top quality organic vegetables. This is a repeat of the January 29 seminar.

Seattle Tree Fruit Society Spring Fruit Show
Saturday, March 24, 10 A.M. – 3 P.M.
Join the Seattle Tree Fruit Society and Sky Nursery for a full day of free grafting demonstrations, tool sharpening, and fruit tree selection and care information from the local tree fruit fanatics. You can learn how to graft a tree or have someone graft one for you (donations requested to cover supplies), learn about unusual tree fruit, find out the best apple varieties for fresh eating, for cider, or for pies (last fall’s fruit show and sale featured a comprehensive test of the latter, with multiple pies brought in for taste-testing)…. The event is free, but donations to the Society are welcome.

Drip Irrigation
Charlie Shull
Saturday, March 31, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Save water — save money — save time! A properly designed drip irrigation system allows you to deliver water directly to your plants’ root zones with the turn of a switch or a timer. Plus it can help protect your plants from leaf splashes, over & under-watering, and some diseases! Let Charlie show you how to design and install a system that meets your needs and budget.

Hardscaping 101
Charlie Shull
Saturday, April 7, 11 P.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Okay, maybe the pathways you walk on through your garden, the retaining walls, the patios, and the raised vegetable bed frames, do not inspire the romantic devotion of one’s favorite rose or tomato. But these structural elements are arguably the most important parts of your garden. Let Charlie walk you through how to design and install some of the basic hardscaping features homeowners can easily do for themselves.

Seattle Orchid Society Show and Sale
Saturday, April 14, Noon - 4 P.M.
Sunday, April 15, 10 A.M. - 4 P.M.
Saturday morning the judges will be determining the winners among the orchids submitted for competition. At noon Saturday the display doors will open to the general public. This is your chance to admire a knock-out selection of prize orchids, to ask the experts your questions, and to shop for orchid varieties that are not commonly available.

Vegetables 101 and Direct Seed Sowing for Edibles and Flowers
Emily Wilkins
Sunday, April 22, 1 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Sky’s vegetable guru Emily will be presenting the basics of vegetable gardening together with a “get your hands dirty” seminar on direct seed sowing. There are plants like tomatoes and marigolds that flourish on being started indoors and transplanted, others like radishes that fiercely resent being transplanted, and some that are happy either way—so long as you do it right. Emily will first discuss how to choose vegetable varieties for the Northwest and for your situation and give you pointers on planning, timing, preparing your soil, fertilizing, and watering. Then she’ll branch out to cover annual flowers as well and demonstrate (and let you experience) how to plant different types of seeds. She’ll discuss which plants you may or must direct sow and initiate you into such mysteries as furrows versus scattering, how deeply to cover (and with what), watering while seeds are sprouting, et cetera.

Gorgeous Containers: the Principles of Design
Megan Bonner
Saturday, April 28, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Join Sky’s own Megan Bonner for an intro to the principles of container design. It all starts with choosing a great container… then balancing heights, foliage textures, and shapes; matching and contrasting colors; choosing plants that are right for your sun exposure… in short, designing a miniature garden! Megan will also go over how to design your own great hanging basket.

Gorgeous Containers: the Principles of Design
Megan Bonner
Saturday, May 5, 11 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
Join Sky’s own Megan Bonner for an intro to the principles of container design. It all starts with choosing a great container… then balancing heights, foliage textures, and shapes; matching and contrasting colors; choosing plants that are right for your sun exposure… in short, designing a miniature garden! Megan will also go over how to design your own great hanging basket. This is a repeat of the April 28 seminar.