Got Lawn Questions?

Oh my, do I have a great resource for you if you have questions about your lawn.  I just received my newsletter from the wonderful people at Utah State University Extension Turfgrass IPM advisory department.  This newsletter is packed full of wonderful information about what might be bugging your grass this time of year and also how to correct the problems if you see them.  Check out this advisory and if you are interested you can sign up for seasonal email here as well. Also, you can sign up for other advisory newsletters concerning the Landscape, Small Fruit and Vegetable, Tree Fruit, and the Utah Pest News quarterly newsletter.

   Spring Turf 2013 Advisory

2013 Class Schedule

Here is our schedule for all our 2013 classes that will be taught at the Ogden Botanical Gardens and the USU Botanical Center.  We have a great variety of classes and workshops to choose from and we also are bringing back some favorite events from last year, such as Baby Animal Days and our Member's Only Plant Sale.  Hope that you will find some classes that will suit your gardening fancy.

   USUBC OBG Class Schedule 2013

Free Pruning Class

You have no idea how much we have missed you this winter. With spring just around the corner we are excited to see you again here at the Gardens.

Our first event of spring is, of course, the PRUNING CLASSES. They are scheduled at the Ogden Botanical Gardens for Saturday, March 30, at 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00 am. Fruit Tree Pruning, Rose Pruning, and Pruning Ornamental Trees, and Shrubs will be taught at each hour so people can rotate through for instruction in all areas.There will also be demonstrations on how to clean up perennials and ornamental grasses.
Hope to see you at the Gardens on Saturday!

March Garden Calendar

Please show me by a raise of hands how many of you are tired of cold temperatures, shoveling snow, and being cooped up indoors?  Me too!  Well warm temperatures, sweltering heat, and sunburns will soon be upon us.  I think?
In the meantime, here is a list of things that you can do to prepare for spring:

• Attend pruning classes for roses, fruit trees, trees and shrubs at the Ogden Botanical Gardens, or USU Botanical Center in Kaysville.   Dates, times, locations are available at http://ogdenbotanicalgardens.org/htm/calendar/displayBy=next10/
• Start seeds indoors in a sunny, warm location for a jumpstart on the season.

•  Sharpen pruning equipment and get ready to prune.
• Sharpen shovels and other equipment to prepare for spring gardening.
• Plant peas in the garden as soon as the snow is off the ground.
• Fertilize fruit trees with nitrogen.



Clean up the yard when the weather is nice.

• Purchase seeds from your favorite nursery or garden center early—before your favorites are all sold out.
• Work organic material into annual beds as soon as they are dry enough to be worked.
• Plant hardy vegetables (peas, onions, radishes, spinach, broccoli, turnips, rhubarb)

 

• Plant bare-root plants (strawberries, raspberries, fruit trees, roses) 
• Purchase an herbicide to prevent crabgrass and spurge to apply the first of April.
• Consider applying a lawn pre-emergent earlier to areas next to sidewalks and driveways where it warms and breaks dormancy sooner.
• Prune fruit trees, raspberries, grapes and ornamentals that need it.

Apple and peach tree buds showing a little color. Look for color in the buds when you apply dormant oil.

• Apply dormant oil to all fruit trees as soon as the buds swell and the first tip of color appears.  Include an insecticide with the oil, if desired.
• Prune roses after the buds break and there is 1 to 2 inches of growth.
• Clean up perennials by removing last years’ dead material, and transplant or divide those that are overgrown.
• Plant pansies and primrose for color in the garden, if you didn’t plant them last fall.

Seed Swap

Tired of the snow?  Here's an event that will get you excited for the spring.  The Ogden Seed Exchange is hosting their Seed Swap on Saturday, February 23rd at the Ogden Nature Center.  There will be mini workshops at 10am and the swap will be from 11am-1pm. 

   Seed Swap 2013 by  

The event is free to the public so please come!  Our Master Gardeners will be there to answer gardening questions at our booth, so please go say hi.  Also, one of our new Master Gardeners, Mary Milan will be teaching a mini class about collecting heirloom seed.  This should be a fun event to socialize with fellow gardeners and you'll go home with some great seeds to start in your own garden.

January Gardening Calendar

With all the snow and cold temperatures you're probably thinking that spring will never come.  Now, don't get discouraged...warm temperatures and the sun will come back.  I promise.  In the meantime, here are some fun things to do while you wait for warmer weather and the snow to melt.

• Fertilize poinsettias after their blooms fall off, and trim back to just a few leaves if keeping it until next year.  Otherwise, add it to the compost pile.  Watch this great video by Jerry Goodspeed and say, "No to poinsettia neglect!"  

• Plan the garden on paper using a pencil and eraser.  Need more help with designing your landscape?  Enroll in our Landscape Design class that will be taught at the Ogden Botanical Gardens in April.  Hurry, class size is limited.

• Order some new and exciting seeds from your favorite catalog.  (This is one of my favorite pass times when it's too cold outside to play in the dirt.)

• Water evergreens if there is no snow on the ground. (Don't need to worry about lack of snow this month!)

We Finally Have a Website

We are excited to announce the launching of the Ogden Botanical Gardens website.  It will be a great resource for what is going on at the gardens, upcoming classes and what to do in your garden throughout the year. 

Go to ogdenbotanicalgardens.org and see our new site.  I will continue to add more posts to the blog and hope that you will enjoy another gardening resource produced by Utah State University Extension.
Hope that you are enjoying some gardening time-off and dreaming of new garden aspirations for next spring.

The End of Another Season

Thanks for another great year at the Ogden Botanical Gardens!  We had a lot of fun, got to plant some great flowers, and work with some awesome Master Gardeners.  Fall is definitely in the air and that means that we will be pulling out all our annual flowers on October 23rd from 9am-2pm.  This will be our final Master Gardener Clean Up Day of the year.  Please come and help us get all our flower beds ready for winter. We'll be pulling out the annual flowers, weeding and cleaning up all the beds at the gardens. 
The building will officially close on October 31st and will re-open on March 1, 2013.  If you have any questions please call Amy at 801-399-8201. 
Thanks again for another wonderful year at the Ogden Botanical Gardens!

Free Class: How to Take Better Pictures

Kathy's Retirement Party

I want to thank everyone who came out to Kathy's retirement party.  It was a blast!  It was so much fun to talk with everyone and was a great way to tell Kathy how much we love and will miss her. 

Kathy opening her retirement gift from everyone.  She loved her iPad!

Kathy was so happy to have an opportunity to talk to each person who came and to give them a hug.  We had great food, wonderful friends, and the best secretary in the world! 

Cute decor & yummy treats!

We love our Master Gardeners and are so grateful to spend some time with you and with Kathy! 

We also gave her an autographed picture of the gardens.

Good luck Kathy!  You will be greatly missed!

Kathy Bardwell's Retiring

After working for Weber County and Utah State University for 21 years, Kathy our favorite friend is retiring.  We will miss her dearly and really don't know what we are going to do without her!  She has been the "glue" that holds the Ogden Botanical Gardens and the Weber County Extension office together. 

 Jerry always says that when Kathy retires he only has 2 weeks before everyone finds out that he is a fraud.  It's true!  Kathy put up with our procrastinating ways, she remembered our appointments better than we did, and always made everyone feel appreciated and needed!  The list of her many talents can go on and on and on.....  Kathy, we will miss you and want you to know that it has been a pleasure to associate and work with you! 

Please join us for Kathy's Retirement Celebration on Thursday, August 30 at 6-7:30pm at the Ogden Botanical Gardens.

Bee Workshop Coming Up....

All About Bees

Bid on this...

During Art in the Garden we are having a silent auction fund-raiser auction.  One of the big ticket items that we have is a brand new patio set. 

It is a gorgeous chili/expresso color.  Both the chairs and couch recline and the couch can be made into a bed.   The chairs also have a fold out cup rest on the side. The set also includes a large ottomon & end table.  Don't you think this set would look great on your patio, deck, or in your garden?
If you are interested, please come to our Art in the Garden Gala.  You can bid on this great patio set and call it your own!
Hope to see you there!

We're excited to announce our Art in the Garden Gala coming up on Saturday, June 30th from 10am-5pm.  This is a free family event! There will be local artists displaying their art, local musicians playing beautiful music as you wander through our beautiful gardens, and fun activities for the kids.
2012 Art in Garden Poster
For more information about Art in the Garden please go here. 
This year we are offering 3 great workshops as well:
Noon-3pm Hypertufa Troughs--Learn how to mix and create your own hypertufa container to decorate.  All materials provided.  Participants take home their own trough.  Class size is limited to 10 people.  Cost:  $60 Public/ $48 Members of the Garden.  Register here.
2pm--Joy Bossi, well-known radio and television personality, will teach the art of cooking with herbs.  Cost: $15 Public/ $9 Members of the Garden.  Register here.
4pm--The Ogden Camera Club will teach techniques for taking better outdoor pictures.  Cost: $37 Public/$29 Members of the Garden. Register here.  This is also an opportunity to take part in our photo contest (all are welcome to submit a photo). The winner receives a 1-year membership to the gardens and other prizes.  We'll have information and rules later on our facebook page and on our website.  Stay tuned.
We have a great line-up of local artists and musicians.  I will post the line-up soon.  Hope to see everyone at Art in the Garden.

Don't Worry, I'm a Professional

If you missed Jerry on Studio 5, here he is.  He talked about his favorite all-time plants during his "Pro's Go-To" segment.

Thanks for always educating about what flowers do well in our area.  We hope that everyone was able to come out to our plant sales and thanks for your continuing support!
Next--Art in the Garden coming up on June 30th!

Plant Sale, Workshops & Free Classes

Our plant sale is coming up!  We have 3 great days planned for all you plant enthusists.
Plant Sale 2012
Our "Members Only" sale is  scheduled for Wednesday, May 16th from 6:30-8pm.  It is one of the favorite perks for being a "Friend of the Gardens."  Not only do get 20%off all plants and you get to choose from the exclusive plants that night only.
On Thursday, May 17th the public sale will be at the Ogden Botanical Gardens from Noon-6pm.  There will be 2 Hanging Basket Workshops at Noon-1pm and 6-7pm.  We will also have two free classes about growing sweet potatoes and seed saving.  The sweet potato class will be taught at 4-5pm and seed saving at 5:30pm. 
Then on Saturday, May 19th the sale will be at the USU Botanical Center in Kaysville from 8am-2pm.  A hanging basket workshop is at 10-11am and the free sweet potato class is being taught at 1-2pm.
Hope to see you all there!

Looking for a great way to spend Mother's Day with the whole family?  Come to our first ever Baby Animals Days at the USU Botanical Center in Kaysville.  This fun event will be on Friday evening and all day Saturday. 
Come see some cute baby goats, ducks, chicks, llamas, and lambs.  There will be train rides,  a rock wall, and a putting green with prizes.  Go here for more information. Hope to see you and the family there! 
Buy your tickets online here or at the gate and remember to bring a non-perishable food item and receive $5 off the $25 family ticket price.
Baby Animal Days Poster (2)

How to Register for the Get Growing Classes

I apologize for any problems people have been experiencing with trying to register for our upcoming classes using my past blog posts.
Here is the updated and working links to the registration sites.  Thanks Kathy!

Get Growing Gardening Classes

New this year we are offering a great Saturday morning of classes on some of our most requested topics:

►       Raised Beds (for vegetables, herbs, berries and even fruit trees)

►       Composting

►       Planting & Selecting Trees & Shrubs

Each class is taught by an expert, and you will take home free vegetables for your garden.  Attached is the flyer with information about the classes and registering.  Cost for all three classes only:  $20/public, $14/member

To register Click Here or call 801-399-8201

● NOTE:  If you haven’t become a “Friend of the Gardens” for both the Ogden Botanical Gardens & USU Botanical, here is a link where you can read more and get an application.  Click Here   Over the growing season a membership pays for itself in discounts on all classes, discounts on plants at the “Members Only” Plant Sale (including plants grown only for members), discounts on merchandise, and special invitations to events planned just for members. 

What does membership do for the gardens?  It allows us to continue developing new areas in the gardens such as the outdoor classroom installed last year with funds from memberships.  We need you, and we do our best to make membership valuable to you.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call 801-399-8201.

April To-Do List

Okay, it's April and with all this warm weather that we've been having, we can get gardening sooner this year than last!
Here are some things that can do this month in the garden!

►        Remove weeds from the garden and ornamental beds early.

►        Start a new compost pile for use later in the season.  Come to our Get Growing Gardening Classes on April 14th.  We'll be teaching about composting, raised bed gardening, and how to select and plant trees and shrubs.  For more information go here and register here.

Get Growing Gardening Classes Big Flyer

►        Plant semi-cool crops such as cauliflower, carrots, beets, lettuce, potatoes and Swiss chard.

►        Start an asparagus bed in a trench composed of the existing soil mixed with organic matter and an all-purpose fertilizer.

►        Aerate the lawn to promote air and water movement, decrease thatch, increase fertilizer penetration and prepare to apply pre-emergent.

Core aeration before you apply a pre-emgerent herbicide.

 ►        Apply a pre-emergent to turfgrass the first of April, and again the first of June, to control crabgrass and spurge.

►        Wait to cut back foliage of spring blooming bulbs such as daffodils and tulips until the leaves turn yellow or die back.

 ►        Prune shrubs that bloom after June 1^st.

►        Get some new strawberry plants for the berry patch.

Get Growing Class Flyer

If you saw Jerry on Studio 5 a few weeks ago, he mentioned our Get Growing Classes that we'll be having on April 14th.  Here is the flyer with more information about each of the classes.  We have put together a great set of classes with some awesome instructors.  Hope that you want to come and learn from the experts about composting, raised bed gardening, and selecting and planting trees and shrubs.  The workshops are $20 for the public or $14 for Members of the Gardens.  Each participant will go home with some veggie starts for their own gardens.  You can register here.
Get Growing Gardening Classes Big Flyer