Fannin County Master Gardener’s Garden, Lawn and Home Expo: Dr. Joseph Masabni to speak on raised-bed gardens and tomatoes
By Alice Mussett, Fannin County Master Gardeners
Mar 30, 2019
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Fannin County, Texas -- Dr. Joseph Masabni, Small-Acreage Vegetable Specialist, will be a featured speaker at the 15th Fannin County Master Gardener’s Garden, Lawn and Home Expo on Saturday, March 30, 2019 at the Bonham Civic Center at 1100 W. 5th Street. At 9:00 a.m. Dr. Masabni will speak on “Do’s and Don’ts in a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden” which will be based on his successes and mistakes growing vegetables in a raised bed.

At 1:00 p.m. his topic will be "Everything You Wanted to Know about Tomatoes." This program will cover the history, production practices, pest management and grafting of tomatoes.

Dr. Masabni’s area of expertise is vegetable production for small-acreage producers. His research interest is to develop production systems for high tunnel vegetables, aquaponics
production, and pesticide and variety trials. He has developed online and printed materials for vegetable organic and conventional producers and homeowners, hosted workshops and conferences, and assisted county extension agents service Texas clienteles. Dr. Masabni is the author of the book Easy Gardening in Texas. He will be available throughout the day at the Master Gardener booth to answer questions. His book will be available for purchase, and he will have some copies of extension publications related to vegetables available.

Dr. Masabni received his Bachelor’s of Science in Crop and Soil Sciences and his Master’s in Pomology from Michigan State University. He earned his PhD in Weed Science from Michigan State. He was Assistant Extension Professor at University of
Kentucky, and later Associate Extension Professor at the university. Since 2008 he has been Assistant Professor of Extension Small-Acreage Vegetable Specialist at Texas
A&M Extension Service in Overton. He has received numerous awards, the latest being 2016 AgriLIfe Extension Superior Service Award for “Texas Strawberry Project.”