PRINCESS ANNE — Get ready for spring planting and pollinating at UMES Extension workshops offered this month. Explore the basics and benefits of alley cropping, the practice of alternating rows of vegetables with rows of fruit shrubs or trees, on Friday, March 27. Then on Saturday, March 28, build your own birdhouse or bee box and learn how birds reduce garden pests and bees are nature’s pollinators.

Alley cropping can be a solution for weather variability to help farmers improve their profitability, said Dr. Lila Karki. The associate professor of agricultural economics will moderate panel discussions by agricultural experts and farmers practicing the agroforestry system. Discussion includes cultivation, cover crops and soil health, integrated pest management, lavender, plasticulture and marketing weather-variable produce.

The alley-cropping event will take place from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the Richard A. Henson Center at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Pre-registration is free and required by March 25.

The hands-on workshop for building birdhouses and bee boxes is for adult participation. It will take place from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. at UMES’ Research, Extension and Teaching Farm on Stewart Neck Road in Princess Anne, Maryland. The cost is $20 per person and includes lunch.

Participants can learn which type of houses are best suited for specific bird species and get tips on maintaining them across multiple seasons, said Stephen Goewey, manager of UMES Extension’s Apiary.

“You’ll leave with practical knowledge, printed plans for multiple birdhouses and your own handmade habitat for your backyard,” Goewey said.

Registration for each of the individual spring events is available at www.umes.edu/extension/events.

— Gail Stephens is the agricultural communications and media associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension.