You are viewing 12 events for 2020

The Winter Garden

The Winter Garden is full of wild beauty!  Learn about how beneficial insects overwinter in the garden and go on a nature hike to look for signs of insect life.  This hike starts indoors with a 45-minute presentation, while we enjoy a cup of custom blended wildflower tea, please come dressed to hike outdoors also. Appropriate for gardeners and nature enthusiasts. Presentation and Hike by Parks Naturalist Shawn Severance.  In partnership with Project Grow.  
 
The class is free, but please still register here
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Tips 1: Planning Your Vegetable Garden

 Taught remotely

This is the first of two classes planned by Project Grow to help gardeners with the problems that are typically encountered throughout the growing season. 

This class is designed with the novice gardener in mind, though experienced gardeners may gain (and share) some ideas that will promote success in the season to come. Topics to be covered include, among others, factors to consider when designing its layout, selecting the vegetables to grow, deciding where and how you will plant them, managing weeds, and choosing materials and products to support and protect your plantings. Experienced Project Grow gardeners Joet Reoma and Royer Held are the instructors.

Future classes include information on: Dealing with Heat, Weeds, Watering and Pests

Registration is required 

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Fundamentals of Successful Organic Gardening

Get your garden growing this spring, with help from Project Grow and this virtual class! Learn how to develop and maintain a healthy organic soil, the key to successful organic gardening. Understand the role that microorganisms play in building soil and promoting plant health. Discover how to employ composting, mulching and cover crops to build soil productivity, increase microbial activity and provide timely release of plant nutrients. Gain an understanding about what vegetable varieties work best in an organic garden and how to plant, cultivate, support and manage their harvest as well as the basic principles of integrated pest management. There will be opportunities to ask your questions in real time and handouts will be emailed to you to help you on your growing journey this spring! Instructor: Royer Held, Project Grow.

Register with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed here

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Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management. How do you protect your crops from all creatures large and small that want to share in your harvest and how can you do this without using pesticides? Learn how a healthy soil ecology keeps pests in check and helps plants resist disease and predators in this virtual class. Proper gardening practices not only assist plants in their efforts to defend themselves, but can reduce the incidence of disease and pest outbreaks. Integrated Pest Management helps you learn how to get along with rabbits, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, voles and groundhogs. Handouts will be provided and there will be an opportunity to ask the instructor questions in real time. Instructor: Royer Held, Project Grow. 

Register with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed here

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Tips 2: Planting Your Vegetable Garden

 Taught remotely

 If you are a novice gardener, or even an experienced one, attend this class to learn how to garden more effectively and efficiently in 2020. Experienced Project Grow gardeners, Joet Reoma and Royer Held, will share tips and techniques that have helped them to garden successfully.

Topics will range widely, to cover problems often encountered by gardeners at the start of the season, and will include, but are not limited to, the following: preparing beds for planting, choosing the right tool for the task at hand, amending the soil, decoding seeding and planting instructions, selecting appropriate staking methods and materials, using row covers effectively, watering wisely, preventing weeds, and the like. Class will be open to questions and individual problems.

Registration is required.
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Plant Breeding and the Organic Garden

 In this virtual class, learn about plant breeding techniques that foster broad disease and pest resistance in organically grown crops and why every organic gardener should be involved with plant breeding. Understand basic genetic principles as they apply to breeding vegetable varieties and learn what it takes to create and maintain your own vegetable varieties. Walk away with resources on how to get involved in on-line communities that are developing new vegetable varieties for organic gardeners. Instructor: Royer Held, Project Grow. 

Register with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed here

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Global Warming and the Organic Garden

In this virtual class, learn how global warming and the resulting changes in climate affect organic gardening. Are you ready to deal with longer growing seasons, heavy rainfall followed by periods of drought and the emergence of new pests and diseases? Organic gardening methods can help you face the effects of climate change in your garden. Can widespread application of organic gardening principles affect the climate? Explore how organic gardening, promotion of soil health and greater reliance on local food production can help with the challenges presented by global warming and climate change. Handouts will be emailed for reference after the class. Instructor: Royer Held, Project Grow.

Register with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed here

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The Small Scale Organic Orchard

  Learn about the challenges and rewards of growing your own orchard crops, including fruits, nuts, and berries in your home landscape in this virtual class. Learn about the varieties that are suited to organic cultivation in Michigan, and which native fruit varieties make good subjects for the home orchard. Gain an understanding of the technical aspects of growing including how to situate, plant, and train different kinds of trees and other perennial crop and how to grow high quality fruit without using insecticides and fungicides. Handouts will be emailed to you for reference. Instructor: Royer Held, Project Grow.

Register with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed here.

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Sustainable Beekeeping: The Importance of Becoming an Educated Beekeeper

Dave Pearce will highlight the importance of a thorough and well-rounded beekeeping education in order to achieve a successful and sustainable apiary. Dave will discuss some specifics of the curriculum offered annually by the A2B2 Beekeeping School.  He will highlight the knowledge and skills that make beekeeping an art, an enjoyable hobby and how one may generate an income through beekeeping as well.

This talk is sponsored by the Education Committee of Project Grow Community Gardens.  Participants must register here to receive information to access Zoom.  Event Contact: joet@projectgrowgardens.org, 734-972-8875.

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About MSU Extension's Michigan Pollinator Initiative (MPI) and Its Relevance to Community Gardens

by Ana Heck of MSU Extension.  Ana, MSU Apiculture Extension Educator, will highlight the Michigan Pollinator Initiative (MPI) and relate it to the development of community gardens like Project Grow. She will share information and resources about pollinator planting, citizen science projects, and pollinator education. Before working with MSU's Michigan Pollinator Initiative, Ana managed pollinator outreach programs at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab and spent 2 years working with local beekeeping initiatives in Nicaragua.  This talk is sponsored by the Education Committee of Project Grow Community Gardens.  Participants must register here to receive information to access Zoom.  Event Contact:  joet@projectgrowgardens.org, 734-972-8875.

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Applying Permaculture Principles in Community Gardening and in Building Food Forests, and Lessons Learned

In this talk, Jesse Tack will introduce Permaculture Principles and their application in Community Gardening and in establishing Food Forest. Jesse is the current President of the Cooperative at Dawn Farm. This Cooperative has planted an 8 acre food forest in the Oak-Savanna/’Restoration Agriculture model, using the ‘STUN’ approach to grow a food based perennial ecosystem. This talk is jointly sponsored by the Education Committee of Project Grow Community Gardens and Sustainable ENergy Distribution (SEND) cooperative. This webinar is free but must register here to receive a Zoom confirmation email how to join online or by phone.  Program Contact: joet@projectgrowgardens.org, 734-972-8875.

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The Startup Cost of Beekeeping

Instructor Joet Reoma will highlight the many sources of cost in beekeeping startups.  The startup cost of beekeeping can be a barrier but there are ways to minimize the high cost of starting beekeeping. Joet Reoma has 8 years of beekeeping as a hobby.  He started learning about bees from Dr. Meghan Milbrath when Project Grow invited Meghan to hold a series of beekeeping workshops in 2011 at the Leslie Discovery Garden in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is interested in forming a beekeeping guild or coop for new beekeepers as a way to spread the startup cost of beekeeping. Participants must register here for the Zoom meeting. Event Contact: joet@projectgrowgardens.org, 734-972-8875.

Tags: classes