URBANA, Ill. — Imagine picking fresh fruit off a tree in your backyard. Or snipping fresh herbs from a potted plant growing on your windowsill for a family meal. Gardening is an adventure, and each spring is a new opportunity to grow.

Whether your garden is a few houseplants by a window or an acre in your backyard, or you are an experienced grower or still watering your green thumb, a gardener is always learning. Explore new gardening ideas and connect with fellow gardening enthusiasts at any of the two dozen upcoming University of Illinois Extension garden days and plant sales offered across the state. A list of Illinois Extension gardening days and plant sales is available in the 2024 Garden Days newsletter.

For decades, Illinois Extension has provided immersive learning garden days and plant sales to share research-based horticulture expertise and hands-on experiences with home gardeners in the communities they serve. The topics the events explore are as diverse as Illinois landscapes and the plants that grow in them. Each garden day is focused on providing topics that meet local needs, but many provide sessions on fruit and vegetable gardening, native plants for the home landscape, soil care, weed and pest management, garden tool care, supporting pollinators, plant identification, saving seeds and starting plants from seed, tree care, and themes such as shaded areas, small spaces, containers, and sensory gardening.

For more information on home gardening, connect with the experts at your local county Illinois Extension office. Many have help desks to answer specific gardening questions. Extension also has a wide variety of online gardening topic resources, including Home Vegetable Gardening, Herbs, Fruit Trees for Home Gardens, Small Fruits for Home Gardens, Mushrooms, Lawncare, Plants, Houseplants, Container Gardens, Youth Gardening, Flowers, Roses, Illinois Pollinators, Insects, Composting, Soil, Plant Problems, and Invasives.

For updates on gardening programs, subscribe to the Illinois Extension monthly gardening newsletter. Plant lovers are also welcome to join the Illinois Extension Horticulture Group on Facebook to share ideas and information.