Brown Bag Lunch Gardening Series Continues with Pruning and Plant Maintenance

Purdue-ExtensionFolks are invited to bring their “brown bag” lunch and learn a little about gardening at the next lunch-time session presented by La Porte County Master Gardeners. Three more sessions, two Michigan City and one more in La Porte, 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 second session in the Brown Bag Gardening Series on Wednesday, February 11, will feature Master Gardener Adi Veenendaal speaking on pinching and pruning, as she prefers to call it. She’ll show you her methods and tools to accomplish this important gardening task. Getting rid of the old growth and making way for the new is an important skill in helping your garden and landscaping grow well. She’ll show you the skills to nip and tuck your plants into optimum shape.

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, 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. 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.”