Master Gardeners set free workshops at garden

For anyone interested in growing a thriving garden in a small, easy-to-maintain space, the Faulkner County Master Gardeners are ready to show how it can be done.

The Faulkner County Master Gardeners have a teaching garden at Freyaldenhoven Greenhouse, 1305 E. Siebenmorgen Road in Conway, and free workshops are conducted there from 9:30-11:30 a.m. the third Saturday of each month.

“It’s awesome,” said Kami Marsh, agriculture agent for the Faulkner County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture. “It’s literally topic-based, seasonally, what you need to do.”

On Saturday, the topics will include irrigation, as well as how to preserve fruits and vegetables and how to identify and treat pests and disease.

Randall Davis of Mayflower, who has been a Master Gardener for 17 years, oversees the teaching program.

“We’ve been working with Kami and guys at the Extension Office on that garden for the last five years,” he said. The garden previously was used for demonstrations for 4-H and other programs, he said.

The Faulkner County Master Gardeners took on the project and, in 2015, opened the garden to the public, Davis said. He said 21 Master Gardeners are involved in the teaching.

“We use a raised-bed system,” he said. “It’s a real efficient method, especially for homeowners in town who don’t have a big yard. It’s a very productive system; you get a lot of volume from it. It’s really easy to maintain.”

Marsh said a variety of raised beds have been planted as examples.

“We have handicapped-accessible beds out there; recycled material beds,” she said.

Davis said the Master Gardeners start the workshops in February from the ground up, literally.

“We talk about how to build a raised bed, the different materials you can use to do it with and pointers of mistakes not to make,” he said. For example, they suggest using a weed barrier when planting, especially if concrete blocks are used to build the bed.

“We recommend a mixture of compost and peat moss and a little bit of soil — you don’t need a lot of dirt,” Davis said.

“We talk about soils, cool-season vegetables, how much room they take, and we have all that stuff growing. I try to stay a month ahead of them. When they show up in March ready to plant kale, … we have a couple of beds that will be ready to pick,” he said. “Then we let them plant whatever’s in season. If they want to, they’re free to put plants in the beds themselves.”

The workshops continue to cover the topics pertinent to that season. In April, the Master Gardeners plant warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers, he said.

“We talk about irrigation — we did that in May, and we’ll do it again [Saturday],” he said. The irrigation can be set with a timer, “simple things, so you don’t have to mess with it.”

He said the easier the process is, the more likely homeowners will stick with gardening.

Last week, the beds in the teaching garden were full of kale, two kinds of squash, corn, green beans, okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, flowers and more.

“We try to keep some empty so if we have new people they can get their hands dirty,” he said. Davis also showed a powdery mildew on a squash leaf, which he said will be used for teaching purposes.

In July and August, “we will hopefully this year have some sort of canning demonstrations,” he said.

Marsh said more participants are needed, and it is a “family-friendly” event. The Master Gardeners, some of them retired teachers, always have a children’s activity, she said.

Davis said the gardens are open for the public to view all the time.

“We may not have but 10 to 15 on a Saturday, and some days we won’t have that many. In August, they’re not going to come stand out in the heat if it’s too hot. This garden is open to them anytime they want to come in — come in and look at it and check how your stuff at home is doing versus this,” he said.

“There isn’t a day goes by that there isn’t one to 10 people out in that garden looking at it,” he said.

He said Freyaldenhoven employees will answer questions about the gardens, and the owners allow the Master Gardeners to come inside if it’s cold or raining. Also, the nursery has Master Gardener fact sheets available on how to build a raised bed.

David Freyaldenhoven, who co-owns the nursery with his brother Larry, said the nursery provides the dirt and sometimes the seeds and plants for the teaching garden. Freyaldenhoven said staff members have known Marsh for a long time and consult with her they have problems with their own plants.

Davis said the Freyaldenhoven brothers get first pick for the vegetables to thank them for their sponsorship of the garden.

Workshop participants often benefit from the bounty, too.

“When we meet on the 18th, if there’s ripe tomatoes on the vines, will let those participants pick one and take it home,” Davis said.

No registration for the workshops is required, but for more information, call the Faulkner County Cooperative Extension Office at (501) 329-8344.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.