Registration now open.

Summer Gardening Know-How Series

Four 1-1/2 hour ONLINE sessions

One weeknight per week for 4 weeks

Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30 PM

May 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2024

Knowing HOW-TO is important in the short-term. But gardening KNOW-HOW is forever!   Take advantage of this timely series in May to gain the gardening knowledge that will serve you in the coming growing season ahead and for years to come. No matter what your level of gardening experience, our tips and tricks will give you the edge you need to grow a healthy, sustainable garden and create a thriving landscape.  Join us and let’s grow together!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Whether you are a new or experienced gardener, the Know-How Series is designed to help you grow your best garden ever.   

Lecturers are senior Massachusetts Master Gardeners and experienced gardeners.

TOPICS:

At the MMGA, we love to talk about gardening and horticulture. But we also like to listen. We’ve selected four timely  topics based on countless discussions with home gardeners to create our four-week Summer Gardening Know-How Series.  

• Grow vegetables in raised beds: Raised beds are an easy and productive way to grow vegetables, and some fruits too! After a quick review of vegetable gardening basics, we‘ll explore the details of raised bed gardening including design, materials and construction methods. The raised bed techniques discussed can also be adapted to other kinds of gardens as well.

• Identify good and bad bugs in the garden: Not all insects are bad for the garden. In fact, we rely on many to rid us of other unwanted invaders. Proper identification is the key to treatment, control and prevention. Learn how to identify common beneficial as well as pest insects commonly found in New England gardens. We will explore their habits and life cycles as well as how their presence affects the success of the garden.

• Grow perennials: Perennials are the workhorses of the garden with most coming back year after year. With a little know-how you can keep your garden in bloom for most of the season. We will explore which perennials will work best in your gardens and discuss how to keep them in good form.

• Grow Raspberries: This class will set you up for success to grow this delicious and nutritious fruit in your own backyard. Topics include choosing varieties, planting and raspberry care including watering, fertilizing, mulching, pruning, support and diseases. Armed with your new knowledge, you are sure to have a bountiful raspberry harvest; we‘ll cover harvesting as well as storage.

Summer KNOW-HOW SERIES PRESENTERS are senior Massachusetts Master Gardeners (MGs) who are passionate subject matter experts and trained speakers.

• Gretel Anspach is the Chairman of the Board at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon.  She won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Gretel established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last ten years.  Her primary interest and focus is always in the science behind horticulture.

• Kathi Gariepy is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, volunteering more than 10,000 hours, past Vice President of the MMGA, past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. She has worked with the Master Gardener training program and the Caterpillar Club, in Weezie’s Garden for Children at Elm Bank, as well as being an active member of the MMGA Speakers’ Bureau. Kathi has worked as lead teacher for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, education coordinator for MassAudubon and studied landscape design at Rhode Island School of Design. She is also the recipient of the MMGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award (the Golden Trowel) and the MHS Silver Medal and is currently the chair of the Attleboro Conservation Commission. Kathi teaches children and adults about the wonders of nature. She also owns the garden design company Pleasant Vistas.  Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old, still producing, apple trees. 

• Bonnie Power has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and member of the MMGA Speakers Bureau since 2018…and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects. She spent the past year as manager of the MMGA Soil pH Testing team and while she has passed this on to a new manager, she continues as a member of the team. She also volunteers at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham, where she is a guide. She learned to grow vegetables as a child from her father, and flowers and houseplants from her mother. Early in her marriage her father-in-law provided her first lessons in organic gardening.  At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals, with a bias for natives.

• A gardener for more than 40 years, Barb McIntosh has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016. She is a former volunteer Head Steward in the Trial Garden at Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Gardens at Elm Bank. She is also a principal contributor in the Northeast Correctional Center (NECC)  Concord Massachusetts Horticultural program. where inmates are trained on vegetable gardening and landscaping techniques with the hope that they will be able to secure a job upon release. Barb is presently bringing the horticulture program to Pondville prison. Barb also is the co-project manager for the Carlisle Center Park site, providing outreach as well as gardening programs. Barb participates in a variety of other MMGA activities, including mentoring master gardener students, training, and the MMGA newsletter.

COST: The cost of the four-lecture Summer Gardening Know-How Series is $60.00, payable online by  credit/debit card or PayPal. Classes are not available individually. Price includes a number of handouts and  live Q&A time with speakers. 

Learn gardening basics and beyond at MMGA’s online

Summer Gardening Know-How series

 May 8, 15, 22 & 29, 2024

To ensure everyone has a great educational experience, space is limited. Registration closes once we are full or 5:00 PM, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Refunds for series cancellations must be requested by Saturday, May 4, 2024. Refunds not available for individual missed classes.

Have questions about how to register, class payment or other related topics? Please see answers to frequently asked questions here

or

Email us at KnowHow@MassMasterGardeners.org

Do you get the winter gardening blues? For in-depth gardening/horticultural education, join us for our virtual 10-week Home Gardener Boot Camp Program. Registration for the 2025 program begins in the Fall, 2024.