Can a garden grow online?
Maybe not, but park district lecture series aims to help
Certain jobs require that people get their hands a little dirty to do them right. And when it comes to gardening, that idiom can be taken literally.
But adapting as many have through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oak Lawn Park District has found a way to bring gardening into the comfort of residents’ homes this fall. It launched a series of gardening lectures recently via Zoom, with two more to come.
Staff horticulturalist Dolly Foster is leading sessions, each of which is scheduled to run for two hours. She said the fall gardening courses lend themselves to the digital realm a bit more, because they are not as hands-on as the work to be done with spring planting.
“It’s mostly about what you’re going to do to plan to have a garden for next year,” Foster said. “It’s very convenient for all the participants, because they don’t have to leave home.”
The first lecture in September taught participants how to keep gardens safe by attracting “good” bugs and warding off the “bad” ones. The second — slated for 6:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 13— is to cover planting pollinator habitats in small suburban places. And the final fall lecture, scheduled for Nov. 5, is to cover planning a vegetable garden for the spring.
Foster said she has done some digital classes outside of the Park District, too. And while they present their challenges, they are a goodway to educate people about gardening without the risks of contact, she said.
“It’s not as easy as doing it in-person, but so far so good,” Foster said. “I think the biggest difference for me— usually I have a lot of handouts. I find people ask
questions more in person.”
Denise Iwinski, the Park District’s marketing and public relations supervisor, noted the majority of Oak Lawn parks programming has remained in-person but adapted to follow safety guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a “handful” of programs have been offered virtually and have been “fairly successful,” she said.
“We are happy that we have been able to adjust our programming both inperson and virtually to offer a variety of recreation and leisure opportunities for our patrons,” Iwinski said.
All of Foster’s online lectures in the series are free, but registration is required at olparks.com or at a Park District facility. For more information, call 708857-2201.