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WaterSmart Workshops
Webinar Recording Now Available
Reusing the Rain: DIY Rain Barrel Systems Webinar
Click here to watch the 11/9/21 Reusing the Rain: DIY Rain Barrel Systems Webinar
Are you curious about how to capture the rain to save water and money? Do you know that rain barrel systems can be creative, sculptural, and beautiful too? Join the City of Santa Rosa and Daily Acts for a presentation by local rainwater harvesting expert Brianna Schaefer. During this virtual workshop, you’ll walk away with an understanding of how:
- Installing a rainwater harvesting system saves water and benefits the environment
- You can install small-scale DIY systems to fit any space
- Santa Rosa Water customers can offset project costs by taking advantage of the City’s Rainwater Harvesting Rebate
Webinar Recording Now Available
Greywater Webinar Series
Click here to view the three Greywater Webinars
Looking for ways to save water during this historic drought? Join the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership and Daily Acts for a deep dive into graywater systems. Graywater is gently used water from your bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, and washing machines, and is a valuable resource that can help your garden flourish. This 3-part webinar series will cover:
- Graywater basics
- Join us for an educational webinar on graywater basics. During this webinar, Laura Allen will walk us through the concepts of graywater, different systems and how they function, general costs, and how you can utilize graywater in your home and in your landscape. Through simple design and creativity, you can easily take advantage of graywater!
- Laundry-to-Landscape
- Join this webinar to learn more about the components of a laundry-to-landscape system, and how to best design for your space. We will be joined by graywater expert, Laura Allen, who will dive into design considerations, code requirements, and how to design your landscape to utilize every drop of graywater produced.
- Permitted Graywater Systems
- Join this webinar to take a deeper dive into graywater re-use and to learn about permitted systems that can help you take the next step to re-purposing water that is produced in your home. In this presentation, Laura Allen will discuss considerations for more advanced systems, water storage and filtering, and how you can use graywater for irrigation in the landscape.
Webinar Recording Now Available
Eco-Friendly Pest & Disease Management: Fall Home & Garden Workshop 
Click here to watch the 10/19/21 Eco-Friendly Pest & Disease Management Webinar
Suzanne Bontempo, OWOW Integrated Pest Management Specialist, will share advice on how to handle common fall and winter weeds, pests, and plant diseases using a wholistic, less toxic approach.
Learn to Manage:
- Ants
- Weeds
- Rats & Mice
- Common Plant Diseases
Webinar Recording Now Available
Lawn Gone: Sheet Mulching 101
Click here to watch the 9/7/21 Lawn Gone: Sheet Mulching 101 Webinar
Did you know that your thirsty lawn needs more than twice as much water as a water wise habitat garden? Leave your lawn behind through a fun and easy process called sheet mulching. Using a series of steps that allows you to compost your lawn in place, sheet mulching or “lasagna gardening” creates a blank slate and healthy soil conditions for your new water-wise landscape. Join us at this virtual workshop and:
- Learn about the water saving and environmental benefits of transforming your lawn to a water wise garden
- Have the confidence to sheet mulch your lawn or other areas of your garden
- Learn about the City of Santa Rosa’s Cash for Grass Rebate
- Be inspired to plant an ecologically resilient and beautiful landscape!
Webinar Recording Now Available
Drought-Proofing Your Garden
Click here to watch 6/12/21 Drought Proofing Your Garden Webinar
Passcode: 22+2W9m$
When drought conditions persist for long periods of time, it can significantly impact plant health in a number of ways. Lack of water limits a plant’s ability to produce food, and stressed plants are more likely to attract pests. Excessive heat can also accelerate the reproduction time of pests. But there are simple garden management strategies that can keep your garden gorgeous and healthy during dry times!
We welcome back Suzanne Bontempo from OWOW (Our Water Our World) to share water-wise gardening techniques that will protect plants during extensive drought.
Webinar Topics:
- Manage your garden during drought conditions
- Water efficiently & effectively
- Improve soil to hold more water
- Utilize alternative water resources
- Reduce summer pests
This webinar is a must for every gardener!
Webinar Recording Now Available
Let's Garden for the Good Bugs!
Click here to watch the 5/22/21 Let's Garden for the Good Bugs
Did you know that 90% of the bugs we see in our gardens are actually good bugs? Encouraging beneficial insects is one of the best ways to effectively reduce the number of pests in your garden.
Webinar Topics:
- Which insects are good for your garden
- How to attract and retain beneficial insects year-round
- Plant selection for good bugs
- Organic pest management strategies
Webinar Recording Now Available
Resilient Landscapes Coalition Workshop
Click here to watch the 3/10/20 Resilient Landscapes Coalition Workshop
Learn how to create and maintain a fire-wise, sustainable garden that supports biodiversity while meeting County and City code requirements. We recommend plant selection, placement and maintenance, to preserve and even add to wildlife habitat, while keeping your property and neighborhood fire-wise and sustainable.
Workshop Topics:
- Recommendations for fire-wise landscaping in the 0-5', 5-30' and 30-100' defensible space zones, with specific plant and design suggestions
- Practical ways to integrate sometimes conflicting guidelines, so you can have a biodiverse, energy-saving, water- and fire-wise landscape
- A practical understanding of what it means to be sustainable in an ever-changing California climate
- Resources for how to move forward with your landscape and community
- Q&A
Workshop Creators and Presenters Include:
- Mimi Enright: Program Manager, UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County
- April Owens: Executive Director of the Habitat Corridor Project; Horticulture Chairperson, California Native Plant Society - Milo Baker Chapter
- Ellie Insley: Landscape Architect, Natural Habitat Restoration Specialist, Board of Directors Sonoma Ecology Center”
Webinar Recording Now Available!
Planning and Designing a Low Water Use Garden Webinar
Learn how to use rain barrels and other creative techniques to collect and reuse your rainwater, and then select native plants and drought tolerant Mediterranean plants to create a climate appropriate and inviting landscape.
Click here to watch the 9/15/20 Planning and Designing a Low Water Use Garden Webinar
Passcode: !0wioZw@
Webinar Recording Now Available!
Low Water Use Plant Selection Webinar
This class is a great option for everyone interested in low water use plants. The UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County will speak about general design concepts and answer your specific questions about selecting low water-use plants for your property.
Click here to watch the 9/8/20 Low Water Use Plant Selection Webinar
Passcode: W+hB6N51
Webinar Recording Now Available!
Irrigation Strategies for Low Water Use Gardens
Do you want to use less water in your garden? This virtual workshop will outline simple steps you can take, including gardening in our climate and different ways to address irrigation needs. You will also learn about the free Garden Sense program, where Master Gardener Garden Sense Consultants visit your home and provide advice about irrigation, replacement of lawn with low water use plants, and other ways to use water efficiently in the landscape.
Click here to watch the 7/14/20 Irrigation Strategies for Low Water Use Gardens Webinar
Passcode: 6V!.VY39