Boston Flora

Tag: Growing Vegetables

  • Saturday, April 5, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Ready, Set, Grow! An Expert’s Guide to Growing Vegetables and Annuals

    On Saturday, April 5, from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm at Left Field Farm, 20 Root Road in Middlefield, Massachusetts, learn from experts how to start seedlings, both vegetables and annual flowers, indoors for the coming growing season. Expert growers Maureen Sullivan and Mitch Feldmesser will lead a tour of their growing operations and explain how they select ornamental varieties for their plant vigor, flower form, fragrance and color. They also do extensive growing of herb and vegetable plants, selecting for flavor as well as garden performance and productiveness. Learn about growing techniques necessary to give garden plants a good start, and garner growing tips from these professionals. In addition to the tour, practice sowing and transplanting, and take home a few special plants to grow on.

    Maureen Sullivan and Mitch Feldmesser own Left Field Farm, a certified organic farm located in Middlefield. They grow hundreds of carefully selected varieties of heirloom and hybrid ornamental, herb and vegetable plants from their certified organic greenhouses. The field trip is sponsored by the Berkshire Botanical Garden, and the cost is $30 for BBG members, $35 for non-members. Participants can choose to carpool or drive separately. Those joining the carpool should meet in the parking lot at Berkshire Botanical Garden for a 9 am departure. Carpool will return at approximately 2 pm. Directions may be found at www.berkshirebotanical.org. Sign up on line or call 413-298-3926, x 15.

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  • Thursday and Friday, April 7 & 8, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm, and Saturday, April 9, 8:45 am – 12:00 noon – Gardening Study School

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts will hold its Gardening Study School, Course II, Series 9, on Thursday and Friday, April 7 and 8, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts. The exam will be given Saturday, April 9, from 8:45 am – 12 noon. Subjects covered will include Container Gardening, Growing Vegetables, Understanding Plant Diseases and Garden Pests, Tough Plants for Tough Places, How New Plants are Developed and Evaluated, and Techniques for Growing Lawns and/or Lawn Alternatives. Required text is Living with Plants by Donna Schumann, 2nd edition. You must have a subscription to the National Gardener to register. Contact Lillian Cohen at 781-721-2888, or email her at lilandbud@verizon.net, if you need to subscribe – the subscription cost is only $18 for 3 years. For further information about the course, contact Caroline Nijenberg at 781-862-4465 or email carolinen@rcn.com. Course fees are $110 for Federated Garden Club members, $100 for refresher course, and $140 for non-member of Federated Garden Club. Deadline for registration is March 31.

  • Tuesdays, April 6 – 27, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Growing Vegetables in the City

    Abby Hird, Putnam Fellow at the Arnold Arboretum, will give a three session class in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesdays, April 6, 13 and 27, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.   Learn the where, what, and why of urban vegetable gardening with horticulturist Abby Hird. Raised on a Nebraska farm, educated in horticulture, and now living here in Boston, Abby Hird will talk about her gardening adaptations in the city environment. She will guide you through site evaluation, plant selection, and common problems and possible solutions in raising home-grown food. She’ll also talk about community resources for gardening, ideas for maximizing yield from a small plot, as well as ways to grow food more sustainably. This class is for nascent gardeners and those who have been frustrated by previous run-ins with vegetables.  Fee $60 Arnold Arboretum member, $72 nonmember. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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  • Monday, March 29, 10:00 am – Growing Organic Vegetables and Herbs

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts presents a Horticulture Morning on Monday, March 29, beginning at 10 a.m. at The Espousal Center, 554 Lexington Street, North Waltham, Massachusetts (off Route I-95/128, Exit 27A Totten Pond Road).  Rita Wollmering, organic gardener and owner of The Herb Farmacy, will speak on Growing Organic Vegetables and Herbs: Great Growing Ideas from a Professional.  A donation of $5, payable at the door, is suggested.  To call for information on cancellations due to snow or storm, call 781-391-0261.  You may also contact Betsy Williams (betsy@betsywilliams.com) or Rita DeLollis (rdelollis@aol.com) for more information on Horticulture Mornings.

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  • Saturday, February 6, 10:00 – 11:00 am – Introduction to Hydroponics

    After last year’s excessive rain and crop failures caused by the pathogen late blight, it makes sense to grow vegetables in a more controlled environment. This class will cover the basics of growing vegetables using hydroponics, which is simply growing plants in a non-soil growing medium. This can be a very simple and effective way to grow vegetables which can yield amazing results.  Instructor Tom Dzaugis of Green Path Garden Supply in Northboro will cover the different growing mediums available, why pH is in important in hydroponics, the difference between fertilizers for soil and hydroponics, and lighting. We will conclude with a Q&A discussion on how to put all this information together and have success growing plants hydroponically.  The class will take place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Massachusetts, costs $6 for member of THBG, $8 for non-members, and you may register on line at www.towerhillbg.org.

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