The Kenai Peninsula District area includes 21 diverse communities with a total population of just over 60,000. The district serves communities from across Cook Inlet in Tyonek and throughout the peninsula, which is just south of Anchorage. Larger communities include Kenai, Soldotna, Homer and Seward.
Many of the communities are accessible by road, but others can only be reached by air or boat. Oil, tourism and fisheries drive the economy, and the Kenai Peninsula is also the fastest-growing agricultural region in Alaska, with the number of farms increasing at almost three times the rate of the rest of the state.
Outreach includes agriculture and horticulture; home, health and family development; integrated pest management; nutrition; and 4-H and youth development.
Spring Gardening Webinars
Grow your gardening knowledge. University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service agent Casey Matney will teach a series of 11 gardening webinars to help you get your garden ready for the upcoming growing season.
The free classes will be held online via Zoom at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, from March 19 to May 28. Topics include seed starting, soil testing, raised beds, planting potatoes, hardening off seedlings and transplanting them, as well as composting.
Click on each Zoom link to register for that class.
- March 19 — Seed Starting from Scratch
- March 26 — Large Seed Starts: Corn, Pumpkins and Potting Soil
- April 2 — Soil Testing and Interpretation for Garden and Farms
- April 9 — Working with Fertilizers and Compost
- April 16 — Warming Things up with Plastic, Glass and Plastic Mulch
- April 23 — Raised Rows, Raised Beds, and How to Make Them
- April 30 — Herb Gardening: Inside and Out
- May 7 — Seeding Directly into the Garden
- May 14 — Planting Potatoes
- May 21 — Hardening Plants and Transplanting into the Garden
- May 28 — Composting: No Time to Waste
Can’t make the class when it’s live? Preregister and you will be sent a link to watch the video later.
For more information, visit https://www.uaf.edu/ces/garden/webinars/index.php or contact Matney at camatney@alaska.edu or 907-262-3443.
Accommodation requests related to a disability may be made five business days in advance to Alicia Glessing, akglessing@alaska.edu, 907-262-3442.
Soil Testing and Interpretation
Visit our soil testing page for all the information you need to test your soil and interpret how much fertilizer you need (plus free online calculators).
Spruce Bark Beetles: What you need to know
Spruce Bark Beetles are making an impact on spruce trees across the Kenai Peninsula. Visit the Alaska Spruce Beetle website then type "bark beetle" in the search box in order to:
- learn what bark beetles are and how they damage trees.
- learn bark beetle groups in Alaska.
- learn signs and symptoms of bark beetle activity.
- learn potential bark beetle threats to Alaska.
- become familiar with the vocabulary of bark beetles.
For even more information, view this Spruce Beetle publication.
Events
Monday - Thur., 9 am - 2 pm
Phone: 907-262-5824
Email: soldotna.ces@alaka.edu