Join us on Thursday, April 13th at 6:00 pm via Zoom for the next installment of our Conservation Talk Series! We will be joined by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture.
Using Landscape Soil Tests to Improve and Protect Soil Health
Increasingly we recognize the importance of soil testing before prescribing use of fertilizers, but all soil tests are not created equally: agricultural soil test results are not appropriate for use in landscapes. Moreover, we can correlate relevant soil test data with careful site observations to learn more about what constitutes sustainable levels of organic matter and nutrients. Learning how to interpret soil tests by ground-truthing with site conditions allows gardeners to understand how their living soils are currently functioning and what, if anything, should be added.
Twenty-five soil testing kits will be distributed free of charge to the first workshop participants to sign up. You must indicate on the registration form whether you are interested in a kit. Those who qualify for a kit will be contacted after the workshop about picking up their kit from the Palouse CD office in Pullman. You must attend the workshop to qualify. One kit per household. (Please note: If you received a kit through our irrigation or container gardening workshops, other participants will be prioritized to receive a kit first.)
Unable to join us for this presentation? The recording will be posted here the next day.
About Our Speaker
Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. She is currently the editor for WCISA’s Western Arborist magazine, the Journal of NACAA, and Editor-in-Chief for Compost Science and Utilization.
Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest book is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019), which has won several national awards since its publication.
"The Informed Gardener" webpage: www.theinformedgardener.com
"The Garden Professors" blog: www.gardenprofessors.com
"The Garden Professors" Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors
"The Garden Professors" Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors
Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com