Gardening techniques

Growing Your Own

Learn about composting, container gardens, fall/winter gardens, fertilizing, insect pests, plant diseases, planting guidelines, raised beds, site selection, slugs, soil improvement, tilling, warm-season crops, watering, and weeds. This publication includes regional tips for various parts of Oregon.

Growing Your Own is now available as a bilingual publication in Spanish and English!

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Photo Credit: Patrick Daxenbichler - Adobe Stock (Cropped from original)

Featured Resources

Fall yardwork tips?

P: Hello! I live in Redmond, Oregon. As fall approaches, I was wondering: Should I fertilize the garden in the fall? I usually use liquid fertilizer that I spray on. Is this too much stress for the plants in fall? How ...

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Now’s the time to plant winter cover crops to prepare soil for next year’s vegetable garden

These hardworking plants can add organic matter and aerate the soil, protect it from compaction caused by rain, suppress weeds and reduce erosion.

Kym Pokorny | Sep 9, 2022 | News story

Dodge the raindrops and finish fall garden tasks

Gardeners tend to think of fall as the time to put bulbs in the ground, but the warm soil and increasing moisture make it a great time to plant most anything.

Kym Pokorny | Nov 5, 2021 | News story

Give plants a head start by planting in fall

As more people push to plant in autumn, garden stores are stocking more at the end of summer.

Kym Pokorny | Sep 17, 2021 | News story

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Become a Master Gardener!

The Master Gardener™ program educates Oregonians about the art and science of growing and caring for plants. This program also facilitates the training of a highly educated group of volunteers, who extend sustainable gardening information to their communities through education and outreach programs.

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Latest Resources

Five easy houseplants worth trying

For those not able, interested, or willing to start garden seedlings indoors or in protected settings, it’s still going to be a while before much gardening happens. When the ground is covered with snow, some with the ...

Nicole Sanchez | Feb 2019 | Article

Five considerations for selecting garden seeds

January, for gardeners, is a kind of second Christmas: mailboxes overflowing with seed catalogs, gardeners’ imaginations filled with visions of new varieties, bountiful flowers, and tasty produce. There’s a long road between the ...

Nicole Sanchez | Jan 2019 | Article

Five annuals for cool spring nights

Abundant warm, sunny days in the Klamath Basin may be luring uninitiated Klamath Gardeners into a trap that more seasoned area gardeners avoid: planting without a protection plan. Days growing consistently warmer and longer are ...

Nicole Sanchez | May 2020 | Article

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Best Tools to Use in your Garden with Mike Peters

This talk will show examples of some of the best garden tools to help make landscaping projects easier and tips for keeping the tools sharp and clean.

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Photo Credit: Crystal Jo - Unsplash.com (Cropped from original)

Latest News

No-till gardening keeps soil – and plants – healthy

No-till gardening minimizes soil disruption, which compacts the soil and destroys the pathways that channel air and water through the soil.

Kym Pokorny | Sep 5, 2023 | News story

Five Oregon gardeners recognized with statewide awards

The honorees received their awards at the Joy of Gardening conference, an annual event sponsored by the Oregon Master Gardener Association.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 27, 2023 | News story

Joy of Gardening conference draws enthusiastic crowd to OSU

Sponsored by the Oregon Master Gardener Association, which supports the Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener program, the two-day conference drew 150 to the CH2M Hill Alumni Center on the Oregon State campus in Corvallis.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 24, 2023 | News story

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Berries and fruit

Flowers, shrubs and trees

Garden soil and compost

Garden vegetables and herbs

Lawn and turfgrass

Nuisance wildlife

Upcoming Events

Oct 5

Gardening in the PNW brown bag talks

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Tangent, OR

Oct 7

Divide and conquer plant propagation * *

10:00 am - 12:00 pm Beaverton, OR

Oct 14

Digging and storing dahlia tubers

10:00 am - 12:00 pm Portland, OR

Oct 14

"Fruit Trees: Soil Prep to Fruiting" - Sustainable Gardening Speaker Series

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Grants Pass, OR

Meet Our Experts

Cindy Brown

4-H Youth Development

Contact me for questions on 4-H youth development programming in Sherman County as well as healthy living topics such as MyPlate, gardening, food preservation and food storage!

Signe Danler

Home Horticulture Online Program Instructor

Contact for questions about Home Horticulture online. Submit other questions to Ask Extension, link below.

Amy Jo Detweiler

Horticulture

Brooke Edmunds

Community Horticulture, Master Gardeners

Contact me about the Master Gardener Program or gardening questions from Marion or Polk counties

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“Pregúntale a Extensión” es una forma de obtener respuestas del Servicio de Extensión de Oregon State University. Contamos con expertos en familia y salud, desarrollo comunitario, alimentación y agricultura, temas costeros, silvicultura, programas para jóvenes y jardinería.

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What can I plant in my garden for fall and winter harvest?

P: I would like to plant some fall and winter crops from seed in my garden. Do you have any recommendations for what will grow best on our area?

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