Learn about growing vegetables, fruits in your yard
Interest in growing vegetables in your own garden as opposed to purchasing them during the summer continues. Backyard vegetable gardens don’t have to be huge, they can be as small as a few containers around the patio.
Learn more about growing vegetables for your family at our annual Backyard Vegetable Garden Workshop on Saturday, March 21, in Springfield. We have a lineup of great speakers with timely topics.
New this year, we are expanding this workshop to include fruits. Interest in growing fruits is increasing as well.
Brad Bergefurd, from the Ohio State University Extension Piketon Research Center and an expert on a variety of vegetables, will be teaching “Garden Season Extension Techniques.” He will share tips on how to keep growing fresh vegetables long after a hard frost has killed most of our annuals. Bergefurd has done research on growing strawberries and also will be talking about “Extending Strawberry Harvest from 5 Weeks to 5 Months.” If you love strawberries and wish they were available longer throughout the season, this session might be for you.
Bergefurd is a 30-year veteran of OSU Extension and is a horticulture research assistant for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. He lectures throughout the United States and has presented programs throughout Senegal West Africa.
He is also working with an OSU researcher on extending the season even more! Can you imagine fresh, homegrown strawberries year-round?
I am really excited to have an herbalist on the program this year. Susan Leichty has been invited to speak on herbs. Her talk “Savor the Summer” will provide information on herbs and how to grow them successfully. She will also do another talk on “Harvesting Herbs,” where she will guide us on the best methods for harvesting, using and storing herbs.
Leichty is a founding member of the Delaware (Ohio) Unit of The Herb Society of America and is the past president of The National Herb Society of America. She has lectured extensively around the northeast and Midwest over the past 25 years.
Our final speaker, Rich Pearson, OSU Extension program assistant, will present “There is Always Room for a Vegetable Garden.” Pearson will share ideas on how you can grow vegetables just about anywhere, as long as you provide the right environment. Pearson has had a lifelong interest in nature, plants, and gardening and has worked in several public gardens. He is currently helping to develop Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum.
The workshop will be held at The Derby at Windy Knoll in Springfield. Class starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 3:30 p.m.
The cost for the day is $40, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Learn more about the program and speakers by visiting: go.osu.edu/clarkgardenworkshops. You can also learn about other upcoming programs at this link.
Registration and payment with credit card online can be found at: go.osu. edu/2020clarkvegetablegarden. Deadline for registration is this coming Friday and class size is limited.