Love gardening? Can't wait to get your hands dirty? The 26th Annual Gardener's Day on April 6, 2024 provides you an opportunity to get excited about the year's growing season with experts and other gardeners, just like you.
Check-in begins at 8 a.m. with our first sessions beginning at 9 a.m.
LOCATION:
Spoon River College Outreach Center
COST:
$35 - Early-bird Registration - register by March 8th - lunch included
$40 - Registration Fee- register after March 8th - lunch included
$25 - Half-day Registration - attend 2 sessions in AM OR 2 sessions in PM - lunch NOT included
REGISTRATION INCLUDES:
Attendance at educational sessions, lunch, access to vendor displays, and a chance to win a door prize.
LUNCH:
Lunch will be a soup and sandwich bar.
Seating is limited and will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. Registration deadline is March 29th.
Late Registration - register after March 29th; accepted only on a space-available basis - lunch NOT included
Contact Kate Budde at 309-342-5108 or kbudde@illinois.edu for space availability.
EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS
SESSION ONE - 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Irrigation: Drip by Drip Installation
Jeff Vancil
Smart watering not only saves water, but your valuable time as well! Learn how to optimize plant health and save water by setting up and using drip and micro spray irrigation systems. Using a very simple list on inexpensive parts, and common household tools, one can easily water: gardens, landscapes, and containers! Prize winning garden produce and bushel busting yields, plus waves of flower blooms await anyone who waters by this method. This time saving installation is easy for anyone to do, and your plants will thank you!
ReTHINK, ReIMAGINE, ReCREATE Your Landscape
Carey Boehm-Corrie
Perspective has the power to change everything. Carey, owner of Boehm's Garden Center, will analyze past and current landscape styles and address a few landscape problems, and look at sustainable, ecologically friendly, and environmentally focused perspectives that may just create the future of your landscape.
Nature Impression Tile Workshop
Natalie Shelly
Make your love of nature permanent during this fun hands-on clay workshop! Naturalist educator, Natalie Shelly, guides you through the design process by selecting natural items to arrange and impress into your clay tile. Participants are highly encouraged to bring a small collection of found natural items (glasses, nuts, twigs) from their own garden to make the piece more meaningful. A $15 fee for this session will be charged to cover the cost of materials.
SESSION TWO - 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
New Plants for the 2024 Growing Season
Jeff Johnson
Join the Owner and Head Grower at Sunnyfield Greenhouse and Garden Center, Jeff Johnson, as he covers cultural information on new annuals, perennials, and nursery stock for the 2024 growing season.
The Other Pollinators: Flies, Beetles, and Bugs
Angella Moorehouse
Bees and butterflies have long received the most attention as pollinators; however, there are many other types of insects that contribute to the transfer of pollen. For the past 6 years Angella Moosehouse has conducted photographic surveys of hundreds of flower-visiting insects in west-central Illinois. She will share her photos and describe some of the critical interactions between lesser- known insects and native flowers.
Nature Impression Tile Workshop
Natalie Shelly
Make your love of nature permanent during this fun hands-on clay workshop! Naturalist educator, Natalie Shelly, guides you through the design process by selecting natural items to arrange and impress into your clay tile. Participants are highly encouraged to bring a small collection of found natural items (glasses, nuts, twigs) from their own garden to make the piece more meaningful. A $15 fee for this session will be charged to cover the cost of materials.
LUNCH - 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
SESSION THREE - 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Garden Tools and Care
Ken Johnson
In this class, you'll learn about the different types of gardening tools and how to select the right ones for your needs. You'll also learn how to care for your tools to ensure they last longer and perform better. The class will cover topics such as cleaning, sharpening, and lubricating your tools, as well as how to store them properly. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this class will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to take your gardening to the next level.
Creating Captivating Containers
Eva Galbraith
From start to finish, find the inspiration to design and grow planters that pop and window boxes that wow. Eva, owner of Sweet Briar Corner Market, covers it all; the science behind the soil, sun, and care requirements of container gardening to the selection of a mesmerizing mix of plants to give you the expertise of a successful container gardener!
How to Grow Mushrooms at Home
Dan Baird
Join Dan, owner of Great River Mushrooms and Herbal, as he teaches us how to grow mushrooms at thome. This will be an educational course into mycology, and a step-by-step process for growing mushrooms at home using two ingredients and a mushroom bag! Mushroom hunters, chefs, fellow mushroom mycologists, and fans of fungi will enjoy this dive into the world of edible fungus!
SESSION FOUR - 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Composting Dos and Don'ts
Chris Enroth
Learn the best practices for backyard and indoor composting. You'll learn about the benefits of composting, how to choose the right compost bin, and how to maintain it. Join us to learn how to turn your kitchen scraps and yard waste into black gold!
Empowering Curiosity through Seek by iNaturalist
Natalie Shelly
Learn to identify the natural world through Seek by iNaturalist, a free and easy to use mobile app! Seek allows naturalists of all ages to observe their world, get real-time identification with internet, and collect badges through biodiversity exploration. Together, we'll explore the basics of this app and then enjoy an indoor scavenger hunt to help us practice our identification skills. Let's get curious and Seek! *Participants will need to download and install the Seek by iNaturalist app onto their smartphone prior to the start of the session.
How to Cook Mushrooms at Home
Dan Baird
Dan, owner of Great River Mushrooms and Herbal, follows up on his first class about growing mushrooms with how to cook mushrooms. This will be an educational course with detailed step by step process using seven different approaches to cooking mushrooms. We'll be cooking some real mushrooms, so bring an appetite!
AND DON'T FORGET TO VISIT OUR VENDORS DURING BREAK!