Folks are invited to bring their “brown bag” lunch and learn a little about gardening during four lunch-time sessions presented by La Porte County Master Gardeners. Four sessions, two each in La Porte and Michigan City, will focus on aspects of gardening from managing insect pests in vegetable gardens, to learning about growing herbs, and discovering the benefits of properly pruning shrubs and trees and deadheading flowers.
The first session in the Brown Bag Gardening Series on Wednesday, January 21, will highlight the exploits of two avid gardeners and naturalists as they transformed a backyard area into a certified Monarch Watch “waystation” for raising and releasing Monarch butterflies. Focused on raising awareness of the plight of the Monarch butterfly, these gardeners will share how-to information on types of plants, equipment and housing needed to begin raising Monarchs. Having raised and released 130 Monarch butterflies in 2014 at Bench Creek Gardens, Jan Koss and Barb Merten will share their tips, suggestions and information on raising caterpillars. They received the 2014 Bring Nature Home Award from the Shirley Heinze Land Trust.
Gardening is one of America’s most popular hobbies. According to a recent National Gardening Association report, 42 million households in the US (35%) grew their own food in a garden in 2014. That’s an increase of 17%, with most of that growth coming from younger households. Get a “jump-start” on gardening this year by participating in one or all of the sessions in the Brown Bag Gardening Series, sponsored by the La Porte County Master Gardener Association.
Sessions will be held as follows: Wednesday, Jan. 21, Attracting and Raising Monarch Butterflies, Purdue Extension-La Porte County office, 2857 W. State Road 2, LaPorte, IN. Wednesday, Feb. 11, Pruning and Deadheading, Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. 4th St. Michigan City, IN. Wednesday, March 18, Insect Management in the Vegetable Garden, Purdue Extension-La Porte County office, 2857 W. State Road 2, LaPorte, IN. Wednesday, April 15, Learning to Grow (and Growing to Love) Herbs, Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. 4th St. Michigan City, IN.
All sessions will be held from Noon to 1:00 p.m. Central time
Folks are invited to bring their lunch and join in for one or more sessions on these gardening topics. The fee is just $5 for each fun, relaxing session, which includes informational handouts, or $15 for all four sessions. No need to pre-register; just show up.
For more information about the sessions in the Brown Bag Gardening Series, please call Purdue Extension – La Porte County at 219-324-9407. You may also download a flyer at www.extension.purdue.edu/laporte; click on the “Garden” heading at top of the web page.
The LaPorte County Master Gardener Association is one of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service programs and helps fulfill the state motto of “Helping Others Grow” by training volunteers to promote good gardening and horticultural practices. The Association accomplishes this through its volunteers conducting educational activities and projects in the community throughout the year. For more information about the Master Gardener Program or about becoming a Master Gardener, please contact the LaPorte County Extension office at 219-324-9407 or visit www.extension.purdue.edu/laporte and link to “Master Gardeners” under “Garden.”