Edible and Organic Gardening and the 2012 Flower Show

Here in the greater Philadelphia region, we’ve got spring fever… and the only prescription is more Flower Show 🙂

I’m particularly excited about the garden-to-table offerings this year, plus presentations by Organic Gardening magazine. Now. I have two media passes, which means I can go once with a friend and stick around pretty much all day, or I can go twice for about 3 hours each time (so the puppy doesn’t have to stay crated for too long). What do you think? Which events are “can’t miss?”

Sunday, March 4th:
11:00 AM Charlie Nardozzi, “Eat Your Lawn: How to Turn Your Yard into an Edible Landscape”
11:00 AM Sally McCabe, “Building Raised Beds”
1:00 PM Ari Miller, “Anatomy of a Green Roof: The Bus Shelter Green Roof Initiative”
1:00 PM Charlie Nardozzi, “Eat Your Lawn: How to Turn Your Yard into an Edible Landscape”
2:00 PM Doug Hall, “Kick Your Chemical Dependency: An 8-Step Program”
3:00 PM Ryan Burrows & Michael Coraggio, “Living Walls: Taking Landscapes to New Heights”
4:00 PM Don Shump, “High-rises and Honey Bees: An Introduction to Urban Beekeeping ”
4:00 PM Ken Druse, “Natural Companions”
7:00 PM Venelin Dimitrov, “Cover Crops – Rollin’ in Green Manure”

Monday, March 5th:
10:30 AM Amy Goldman, “Fruity Vegetables: Tomatoes, Pumpkins, and Melons for the Passionate Grower”
11:00 AM Josh Morin, “Out On a Limb!! Pruning Your Trees and Shrubs the Right Way!”
11:30 AM Niki Jabour, “The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener”
12:00 PM Coach Mark Smallwood, “Straw Bale Gardening: No land, No soil, No problem!”
12:30 PM Lorraine Kieffer, “Growing & Using Herbs Naturally”
1:00 PM Kevin Staso, “The Renaissance of Native Plants”
2:00 PM PHS Staff, “Vegetable Gardening & the Changing Climate”
5:00 PM Paul Split, “Starting Seeds Organically”

Tuesday, March 6th:
11:30 AM Diane Ott Whealy, “How One Heirloom Flower Saved Thousands of Vegetables”
12:00 PM Lorrie Baird, “Growing Up the Green Wall Way”
12:30 PM Paul Split, “Organic Gardening in a Hanging Moss Basket”
3:00 PM Jeff Jabco, “A Green Roof on Your Home? What do you need to know?!”
5:00 PM David Siller, “Wild Food That’s Wildly Tasty!”

Wednesday, March 7th:
10:30 AM Napua Harbottle, “Learning from Our Ancestors/Hawaiian Medicine”
11:00 AM Shannon Carmody, “Planning Your Garden for Seed Saving”
12:30 PM Mike McGrath, “Growing Great-Tasting Tomatoes”
1:00 PM Patrick Cullina, “Dynamic Urban Landscapes: Transforming Communities with Plants & Re-imagined Spaces”
1:00 PM Ralph Rhoads, “Worm Composting”
2:00 PM Kerry Mendez, “Easy Soil Tips for Bodacious Vegetable and Flower Gardens”
2:00 PM Barbara Tollen, “Chickens in Your Backyard”
3:00 PM Thomas M. Reber, “Sustainable Centerpieces”

Thursday, March 8th:
11:00 AM Melinda Zoehrer, “Bringing Butterflies Into Your Garden”
2:00 PM Clarena Tolson, “Composting”
2:00 PM Greg Paige, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Integrated Pest Management for a Healthy Home Garden”
4:00 PM Lelayna Klein, “Using Plants as Natural Dyes”
6:00 PM Chuck Hinkle, “Lawn Alternatives – No Mo’ Mowing!”
7:00 PM Mary Costello, “Container Gardening in Small City Spaces”

Friday, March 9th:
11:00 AM Greg Paige, “32 Flavors and THEN Some: Great Small Trees for the Garden”
11:30 AM Ken Greene, Heirloom Everything: From Seed to Seed
12:00 PM Ed MacFarland, “Herbs 101”
1:00 PM Carrie Wiles, “Lawn Alternatives: Why Mow?”
2:00 PM Christine Holt, “It’s Vegamental: Big Vegetables – Small Spaces”
4:00 PM Cheryl Wilks, “Flower Power – Impact on Wellness”
5:00 PM Chelsey Fields, “Edible Architecture – Outside the (Garden) Box Design Ideas for Vegetables”

Saturday March 10th:
9:00 AM Suzanne Wainwright, “The REAL beneficial insects in the garden (and it’s not who you think)”
11:00 AM Chris Stock, “Sustainable Materials for Building Gardens”
1:00 PM Evelyn Alemanni, “Planting Pride – Growing Great Communities”
2:00 PM Barry Draycott, “Making Organic Lawn Care Work for You”
2:00 PM Suzanne Wainwright, “Organic Insect Control”
3:00 PM Sharat Somashekara, “Small Space Food Production”
4:00 PM Pat Shanley, “Skyscrapers, Roses, & Sustainability”
4:00 PM Lisa Mosca, “Tips for Successful Organic Gardening”

Sunday March 11th:
12:00 PM Jim Bobb, “The Amazing Honey Bee”
12:00 PM Toni Ann Flanigan, “Planting a Forest in your Garden & Other Things that Shouldn’t Work But Do!”
12:30 PM Paul Simon, “Family Gardening”
1:00 PM and again at 2:00 PM Paul Tukey, The SafeLawns Foundation, and Victoria Rowell, NYT bestselling author and award-winning actress, “Lawn Games for Life: Get Off the Couch & Get Back Outside!”
1:00 PM Jane Kirkland, “Take a Family Nature Walk”
2:00 PM Nicole Juday, “Heirloom Plants for a Sustainable Garden”

Mind, those are ONLY the presentations that pertain to edible, organic, heirloom and urban gardening. There are TONS of classes, events, cooking demos, and more going on this week at the Flower Show! I can’t help but feel super lucky that it happens in my own backyard (so to speak).

So. Which ones look most interesting to you?