As printed in The Oklahoman, September 18, 2008.

Farmers and gardeners will learn about growing garden transplants, installing a drip irrigation system and growing cover crops at a daylong workshop Saturday at Connors State College in Warner.

The registration deadline is today.

Dr. Debbie Golden, head of the horticulture department at Connors, will explain how to grow transplants, and Doug Walton, a Muskogee market gardener/manager, will discuss cover crops. Cover crops have many benefits such as helping maintain soil fertility in organic farming.

Steve Upson, a Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation horticulture consultant, will lead a session on hoop houses. The unheated greenhouses can stretch the growing season.

Learn about drip irrigation with a demonstration by Alan Ware, head of producer outreach at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Drip irrigation is a way to meet the needs of a crop while saving water and money.

A Cherokee County couple will talk about how they sell produce from their 5-acre organic farm at farmers markets, and through CSA, a subscription service in which customers pay a fixed price and get assorted seasonal produce each week.

Register at www.kerrcenter.com or call (918) 647-9123. The cost is $45, and includes lunch.

This article appeared in The Oklahoman, www.newsok.com, on September 18, 2008.