The Aitkin County Master Gardeners, from the University of Minnesota Extension Service, will be offering free gardening classes at the Aitkin Public Library this spring.
This is the third year of free gardening classes, in conjunction with the Friends of the Library. This series is being offered a month later in the winter/spring season, than we have offered in the past as more interest is generated in gardening and in attending garden classes especially as we get closer to spring. It is hard to wrap your mind around the possibility of spring while watching the swirling, blowing, cold snow of winter.
Mark these dates on your calendar and come along and learn while enjoying a cup of coffee from the Friends of the Library. Classes start at 5:30 p.m., lasting an hour with time allowed for discussion afterward.
• Tuesday, April 8 – 5:30 p.m. – Straw Bale Gardening – Presenter, Janice Hasselius. Learn about the hottest new rage in vegetable gardening; planting your vegetable garden in straw bales. The hardest thing about straw bale gardening is getting the straw. Once it has been conditioned it is a lot less weeding, a lot less watering, and a lot more veggies. Try something new and fun. Come to learn something new about something old.
• Tuesday, April 15 – 5:30 p.m., Prairie Flowers. Presenter, Jim Ravis. Native Upland Wildflowers: The discussion will cover native upland wildflowers that are hardy in the Aitkin area, the characteristics of each flower and the appropriate soil conditions for them. Information will be provided on which wildflowers might be appropriate for a small prairie or your garden and how to obtain seed and plants.
• Tuesday, April 29 – 5:30 p.m. Composting, Ron Ritter. Learn how to make your own rich compost to apply to your flowers, vegetable gardens and yard. Turn your grass clippings, leaves household vegetable waters, etc. into black gold. Secrets revealed to make great compost.
• Tuesday, May 6 – 5:30 p.m. Pollinator Gardens, Ron Ritter. Pollinators are needed for the successful production of 25 percent of all we eat and drink. We are rapidly depleting their habitats with our expanding encroachment. Pollinator gardens will cover the usual butterfly and hummingbird gardens, plus other beneficial pollinators – dragonflies, native bees, bumblebees, flies and yes, even wasps, are needed for pollination. Learn how to attract pollinators to your flower, vegetable, fruit trees, grapes, blueberries and other fruit gardens.
• Tuesday, May 13 – 5:30 p.m. Basic Sustainable Landscaping. Presenters, Iona Meyer and Janice Hasselius. Learn about landscapes that are sustainable. We will cover basic design elements and how to implement them cost effectively, visually pleasing, functional and maintainable as well as environmentally sound.
• Tuesday, May 20 – 5:30 p.m. Landscaping and Gardening Plus, Jim Ravis. The discussion will focus on the most important features of your landscape – the ones that please you. A landscaping example will be followed from concept to the resulting examples. The examples will demonstrate how landscaping, even if an out-of-the-ordinary objective is desired, can achieve results that are pleasing to the user. The landscaping and gardens plus example was used because creation of bubble diagrams, concept plans and draft designs, adds more colored, motion and sound to the garden.
Janice Hasselius, originally from Aitkin, has been a University of Minnesota Master Gardener since 2000. She regularly volunteers for writing, teaching classes, and demonstrations on gardening subjects through the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
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