Ideas needed for webinar

I’m doing a webinar for WSU Extension folks next week with the decidedly unsexy title of "How to run literature searches when writing extension publications and how to develop client material using the information from the lit search." In reality, it’s how to research gardening topics, identify the myths (those practices and products with no basis in science), and then write up the valid scientific parts for use by gardeners.  I’d hoped to get some ideas from this group on specific topics to demonstrate the process, but have gotten nothing.  And I’m doing this a week from tomorrow.

So…how about you all? What practices or products that we’ve covered on this blog (or haven’t) that you’d like to see put through my sorting process?  I don’t think people outside the WSU system can watch the webinar, but I’d be willing to post something on the blog about it later.

Feel free to comment below – the earlier the better, as I have to have this done by the end of the week so I can develop the presentation. And thanks in advance for your ideas!

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Linda Chalker-Scott

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, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. 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 effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

16 thoughts on “Ideas needed for webinar”

  1. Mowing leaves into turf versus municipal collection; bare root versus container or B&B planting; organic versus synthetic fertilizers

  2. Another vote for mower mulching leaves, esp. with cost savings for communities, this seems to be a place where “green” goes out the window. Heirlooms vs. Hybrids is always interesting(George Ball has a great piece on this).

  3. Yes to mower-mulching leaves, with perhaps a discussion about using municipal compost, or compost from grass clippings that may have been treated with herbicides.
    And any discussion on the use of mycorrhizae (or not) in tree planting could be useful.

  4. What is the status of pollinators for our gardens? We know that we have fewer honeybees and more bumblebees than we used to. Should this be a concern? What is behind the changes?

  5. I second the suggestion about pollinators. Also the one about organic vs synthetic fertilizers. As a newcomer I’ve really enjoyed your posts.

  6. One of the simplest techniques I teach Master Gardeners training to man the hotline, is the use of the “site:*.edu” directive to Google to limit searches to sites with a .edu domain name. The ‘*’ is a universal match. You can repeat the searches with “site:*.gov”, or “site:*.us” to get additional, reputable sites, as well.
    The topics to demonstrate the process, with and without the directive, because it would highlight the bad vs. good information out there:
    “sheet mulching” or “Lasagna Gardening”
    “Compost Tea”
    “organic pesticides”
    “vinegar as herbicide”
    Or any of your topics in your Horticultural Myths series.

  7. I’d also like to see discussions on tools or machinery that suck up leaves and mulch them. I’d really like to know if there is some type of a vaccum type of reverve blower which would suck up with a large tubular hose and grind them to bits while spitting them out or into a bag to be emptied. Okay just my two Kronor.

  8. Oh and let’s don’t forget H2O2 or Hydrogen Peroxide as a soil prep for the prevention of Damping Off. I’m sure folks use it for other purposes, but I continue to use it this way with success.

  9. I’m wondering about those SuperTree air-pots? There’s all sorts of literature that claims things like eliminates root circling in pots, extends the amount of times between potting up, and that growing in the pots increases transplanting success. Big promises and as a #1 gallon pot costs $4 a shot retail, I’m curious as to whether these are worth the money.

  10. Companion planting.
    Biochar.
    Hugelkultur.
    Cross-pollination myths – what does and does not cross and when you see the signs.
    Hybrid = GMO myth. (I heard this one a lot.)

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