Friday Sept. 22
4:00-5:30PM
Dan Jason
https://www.saltspringseeds.com/
Medicinal Perennials to Know and Grow
Dan has owned and operated Salt Spring Seeds since 1986 and has written many bestselling books on organic gardening and agriculture. He has given dozens of talks over the years, but this will be the first presentation on medicinal perennials, which will focus on his personal experiences with them. He will be bringing his latest book: Medicinal Perennials to Know and Grow, and will be open to answering any gardening questions. He will also have garlic bulbs for planting, a selection of seeds, and some of the other books he's written available for sale.
Saturday Sept. 23
11:00AM-12:30PM
Bob Duncan
https://www.fruittreesandmore.com/
Growing Citrus & Sub-tropical Fruit Trees in South Coastal BC
Bob and his wife Verna own Fruit Trees & More, a nursery in North Saanich specializing in warm temperate, citrus, Mediterranean, and hardy subtropical fruit trees. Their demonstration orchard includes many varieties of tree fruits and is used as a teaching tool to demonstrate various training systems and cultural techniques. Bob is trained as a Botanist and Entomologist and worked for Canadian Forestry Service as an Entomologist for over 35 years.
This presentation will provide information on training systems, pruning techniques, variety selection and suitable sites to successfully grow citrus and sub-tropical fruits on the south coast of British Columbia. Although some of these tree fruits have specialized cultural requirements, it is possible to successfully produce heavy crops of high quality fruit here on the south coast
1:00-2:00PM
Ben Litzcke
Restorative Pruning of Fruit Trees
Ben Litzcke has been working with fruit trees and growing vegetables since he was a teenager. He currently prunes fruit trees for clients all over Pender and Greater Victoria and specializes in restoring overgrown trees that haven't been pruned in a long time - the messier, the better! In his own garden, Ben grows as many different varieties of vegetables as he can find space for, with a particular interest in unusual tomatoes and beautiful dry beans.
Do you have an old fruit tree with declining health? Don't give up on it yet - many types of fruit trees can live for over 100 years and respond incredibly well to pruning! This workshop will give you some tools to tackle old and neglected trees, including:
- judging whether a tree is salvageable
- attributes of a healthy tree
- general pruning principles
- how to create a multi-year pruning plan for restoring your tree to a healthy, fruitful state
2:15-3:15PM
Matthew Vasilev
https://www.twinislandcider.com/
Propagating Fruit Trees by Grafting
Matthew and his partner Katie have been grafting apple trees since 2014. They got to practice the craft in earnest when they started Twin Island Cider in 2016 and grafted 1300 trees. Since then, Matthew has been experimenting with top grafting older dwarf trees, an ancient transparent apple tree, and several hawthorn/quince crossovers. In this presentation, Matthew will demonstrate the basics of "bench-grafting" and top grafting mature trees.
4:00-5:00PM
Ben Litzcke
What else could you be growing?
This workshop is about growing as much of your food as possible in your own garden. Are you overloaded with kale and zucchini but still buying all your proteins and carbs? Giving away produce in the late summer and fall but buying it the rest of the year? Let's share ideas about making your garden meet more of your nutritional and culinary needs, spreading your harvest out across the whole year, and adding interest and variety to what you grow, all while making the most of your space!