12th Annual New Ventures Gardening Seminar

Good Morning  friends, I wanted to share this with you- I do apologize about the short notice. As part of my blog I like to share what is going on locally with my readers.  I think its worth knowing about what is going on in your local area so that you can support the local businesses and have fun in the processes!. Lets face it we all get our info in different ways and there are times you might not be able to read the local  paper, or sometimes the event is not in there. So I like to think that my blog has the job of informing/reminding you of things that you might want to know about. 

 

 The 12th annual New Ventures Gardening Seminar hosted by Northwood Community Ed, Spooner Garden Club, and the North Country Master Gardeners will inspire gardeners – and be a thought-provoker – on Saturday, March 17, at Northwood School, Minong.

Gardeners will be able to welcome spring with a day of camaraderie, shopping with garden-related vendors, great food, and four interesting, informative sessions:

• Decoding Gardening Advice by Meleah Maynard

Gardeners hear a lot of advice from all kinds of sources, but even the pros can be wrong. Frustrated by how confusing that must be for gardeners at all levels, Master Gardener Meleah Maynard and University of Minnesota Horticulture Professor Jeff Gillman (author of several books, including The Truth about Garden Remedies and The Truth about Organic Gardening) researched some of the most common recommendations and turned their findings into the book: Decoding Gardening Advice: The Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations, which was published in December.

Does overhead watering really contribute to more plant diseases? Can urine be used as fertilizer? Should trees be staked? You’ll find out those answers and more.

• 10 Mistakes Even Experienced Gardeners Make and How to Avoid Them by Meleah Maynard

Gardeners always make mistakes as they learn. But even experienced gardeners blunder now and again. This presentation is a cheat sheet for gardeners who want to avoid 10 top mistakes and save themselves time, money, and a whole lotta back pain.

Besides being a book author and knowledgeable gardener, Maynard is a journalist and blogger. Her articles, columns, and essays have been published in regional and national publications, and she blogs at www.everydaygardener.com.

• Succulent Succulents by Scott Wald- www.simplysucculents.com

With the possibility of a hot, dry summer ahead, what better plants to consider than the diverse range of succulents, with their fascinating shapes, textures, and colors? Learn about their traits, what soil and watering techniques help them thrive, how they can be used in the garden and containers, and how to create artistic projects with them.

Scott and Sue Wald founded and operate Big Brook Greenhouse and Simply Succulents in Cable, WI, and have specialized in succulents since 1985. In 2011 Garden Design magazine recognized Simply Succulents as one of the seven best mail-order sources of succulents. They grow their succulents, so they are all hardy to Zone 3.

• A Chemical Reaction

The New Ventures Garden Seminar is presenting a different venture this year: a showing of the award-winning, engaging film A Chemical Reaction, which was released in 2009 and has been screened at film festivals and other events in the United States, Canada, and around the world.

Almost 21 years ago, Hudson, Quebec, near Montreal, became the first North American municipality to ban using “cosmetic,” synthetic pesticides on public and private gardens and lawns, except golf courses. The challenge to that law went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, where it was upheld. Now 80 percent of Canada and an increasing number of municipalities in the United States have enacted similar bans of over 200 insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, including commonly used ones such as Round-Up.

The film has been called “fascinating,” “enlightening,” “inspiring.” It follows the movement from its beginnings when a dermatologist in Hudson began seeing in her patients health problems related to pesticide contact and she persistently lobbied her town board to ban the chemicals.

Paul Tukey, a resident of Maine, combined his years as a journalist and then landscaping contractor and speaker to star in and produce the documentary, spurred by a serious illness he developed from the products he applied to lawns.

He is the author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual, the companion DVD Making the Organic Lawn Care Transition that received the 2007 Garden Writers Award for Best Electronic Media, founder of safelawns.org, and host of the HGTV show People, Places & Plants which aired for two years beginning in 2002. He has won numerous awards, including the 2006 Horticultural Communicator of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society.

 

Seminar stats

The seminar will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with registration and vendor sales beginning at 8:30 a.m. Pre-registration is required by mailing in $14 (includes lunch and snacks) with name, phone number, and address. Registration by at least a week in advance is appreciated so enough food and handouts are available.

As is the tradition at the seminar, 4x6-inch photos of plants, area gardens, and visited gardens are welcome and will be displayed during the event. Photos that are 8x10 are also welcome for displaying. Attendees are invited to send photos with their registration (not e-mailed in), along with the photographer’s name and a description of the photo. The snapshots can be retrieved after the seminar if desired.

Vendors with any kind of garden-related products are invited, too.

The books Decoding Garden Advice, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and if published in time for the seminar, Tukey’s new book Tag, Toss and Run – 40 Classic Lawn Games will be sold at the seminar.

More information about the seminar is available from Julie Hustvet, gardenseminar@charter.net, or Northwood Community Ed Director Micki Brisky, 715-466-4692, ext. 331, or michela_brisky@northwood.k12.wi.us. Questions about vending can be directed to Hustvet.

Northwood School is four miles north of Minong on Hwy. 53. The New Ventures Garden Seminar is held annually on the third Saturday in March.

 

Northwood School Community Ed

N14463 Hwy 53

Minong, WI 54859

You can make the check out to Northwood School Community Ed.