HALTON GARDEN WEEK
February 28 to March 2, 2024
Halton Food, a project of Halton Environmental Network, is excited to announce Halton Garden Week 2024! Halton Garden Week promotes sustainable gardening through a variety of workshops, presentations and events. We look forward to exploring topics such as food growing, composting, seed saving, native plants, supporting pollinators, and sharing our harvest.
Halton Garden Week 2024 will be a hybrid event. Virtual presentations will run in the evenings on February 28th and 29th.
The week will conclude with an in-person Seedy Saturday event on March 2nd from 10:00am to 3:00pm at the Milton Sports Centre at 605 Santa Maria Blvd., Milton. The in-person event will include presentations, workshops, seed vendors, local environmental and garden organizations, hands-on activities for kids and a seed exchange table.
February 28, 2024
Webinar 1 : 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Presented By:
Sean James
Appetite for Gardening: Incorporating Edible Plants into a Traditional Landscape
Many home gardeners are looking to grow more of their own food, but why relegate edible plants to the back corner, punishing them like they’ve misbehaved? Many fruits and veggies are beautiful and offer wonderful texture and colour; think about eggplant, rhubarb and kale! Growing vines (beans, squash, tomatoes) on trellises and espaliering fruit trees can also be a great way to use vertical surfaces to embiggen your landscape and fill the pantry at the same time! We’ll discuss all options!
Sean owns ‘Sean James Consulting & Design’. Named by Landscape Ontario as 2020 and 2021’s Garden Communicator of the Year, gardening has been Sean James’ passion and profession for almost 40 years. A graduate of Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, a Master Gardener, writer, and teacher, Sean focuses on eco-gardening techniques. Sean had the honour of being part of creating the new Ontario Landscape Tree Planting Guide, the Grow-Me-Instead guide, the Ontario Horticultural Apprenticeship Curriculum, the national Red Seal Occupational Standard, and the Master Gardeners Reference Manual. He occasionally fills in for Paul Zammit on CBC’s ‘The Gardening Show’.
Webinar 2 : 7:15pm - 8:15pm
Presented By:
Matt Stata
All About Seeds
and How to Save Them
Seeds are an essential resource for gardeners. When starting out with a new type of plant for the garden we often start with a new packet of seeds. But saving seeds from year to year can not only save money, but provide a deep and meaningful sense of connection with the plants we grow, allowing us to see their full life cycle firsthand. This talk will cover all aspects of seed saving: pollination, seed development, seed harvesting, and seed storage.
Matt Stata is a plant biologist and avid gardener. He obtained a BSc and PhD from the University of Toronto in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in plant biology in the Plant Resilience Institute at Michigan State University. During his years at UofT, Matt managed a rooftop community vegetable garden project known as the Sky Garden. The Sky Garden not only provides volunteers with opportunities to garden, but also serves as a teaching space for workshops on various aspects of urban agriculture. Matt has presented talks and workshops for a general audience on diverse topics including seed saving; starting a garden from seed; season extension methods for cold weather gardening; pest management, plant nutrition, and general plant care; and the evolutionary diversity of garden and house plants.
February 29, 2024
Webinar 1 : 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Presented By:
Jocelyn Molyneux
Soil Health for Plant Lovers
Want to better understand how biology boosts plant growth? Join Jocelyn as we climb through the Soil Food Web, zoom in on plant nutrition, and journey toward a regenerative future growing healthy plants, healthy people and a healthy planet.
Jocelyn Molyneux (she/her), founded Jocelyn’s Soil Booster as a way to give growers the tools needed to build healthy soil. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Environmental Science and Management, as well as undergraduate degrees in Neuroscience and in Business Administration. Jocelyn has more than a decade of experience in waste management, sustainability, and regenerative growing and is truly passionate about helping fellow Canadians find and implement solutions to the planet’s most pressing environmental issues.
Webinar 2 : 7:15pm - 8:15pm
Presented By:
Margaret Larson
Magnificent Monarchs
Join monarch butterfly conservationist Margaret Larson for an insightful and educational virtual presentation about the life and migration of monarch butterflies!
Margaret Larson has been a monarch ambassador for almost twenty years. In early June, she heads out around town looking for the milkweed that has just started emerging, hoping to find eggs that have been laid by the returning butterflies. Over the course of the summer she shares these with all her interested cohorts in an effort to help maintain the population of the endangered monarch. She has received a number of awards for her efforts in this area.
March 2, 2024
Seedy Saturday : 10:00am - 3:00pm
Milton Sports Centre
605 Santa Maria Blvd.
Seed Exchange Table
Local Seed Vendors
Information Booths
Activities for Kids
Interactive Gardening Workshops
Workshop 1 : 11:00am - 12:00pm
Presented By:
Victoria Difede
Restoring Mother Earth, A Guide to Native Plant Gardening
Join Kayanase to learn about the importance of native plants, how using non native plants can be harmful, and ways to be more sustainable and ethical in planting. They will share some examples from their work with ecological restoration.
Victoria is an ecologist at Kayanase with experience doing ecological restoration projects both on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. She has an education in environmental science, environmental management, and biology, and returned to school to do a post graduate in ecosystem restoration.
Kayanase is a native plant and seed business that also provides ecological restoration services. They have been in operation since early 2007. Kayanase was established to work in partnership with the City of Hamilton to perform ecological restoration after the construction of the Red Hill Valley Parkway. Our Mission is to restore the health and beauty of Mother Earth, using science-based approaches and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
Workshop 2 : 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Presented By:
Rob & Chris Croley Sentimental Farm
Urban Homesteading: Not just Hippies with cell phones
Join Rob and Chris Croley for an exploration of the urban homesteading lifestyle. They will cover the path many homesteaders take on their journey, share tips for successful organic growing and suggest a bunch of ways you can be a little more self-sufficient. Ever wanted to be a little more self-sufficient? Want to grow your own organic, wholesome fruits and vegetables? Interested in raising your own chickens, bees or goats? Baking your own organic bread? Preserving your harvest to enjoy year-round? Making your own personal care and cleaning products from simple, clean ingredients? Maybe Sentimental Farm can help…
With 35 years of experience growing & preserving their own food organically, Rob and Chris Croley have taken this knowledge and are passing it on to others. As urban homesteaders, the Croleys strive for a self-reliant lifestyle and attitude. Embracing the homesteader’s creed, they honour traditional methods, while incorporating new ideas and techniques. While Chris grew up growing and preserving the harvest, Rob was a city-boy until age 18, proving that you don’t have to be born into this lifestyle to embrace it. By offering a wide range of workshops related to homesteading, the Croleys are ensuring that these skills are not lost for future Generations.
Workshop 3 : 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Presented By:
Janet Mackey & Lori Kirkpatrick
Digging In: Soil Mixes for Container Gardens
Digging In will explore the basics of good soil, including what it's made of and how it supports thriving plants. This presentation will focus on container soils by examining various materials, featuring a demonstration of creating your own potting soil at home. The presenters will discuss ways to improve the soil in your container garden, address common soil issues and explore the uses of commercially available soil products.
Janet Mackey, Master Gardener
Janet is passionate about creating ecological gardens, holding a Landscape Design certificate from Mohawk College. As a Master Gardener, she channels her expertise into writing/editing for Halton Master Gardeners' newsletter - 'Cross Pollination' - and making presentations to community groups. As a volunteer, she hopes to inspire fellow gardening enthusiasts with knowledge she's gained through her experiences and research.
Lori Kirkpatrick, Master Gardener
Lori is an enthusiast for growing and preserving food naturally and sustainably, holding a Horticulture certificate from University of Guelph with a specialization in Urban Agriculture. With Master Gardeners, she enjoys researching/writing as well as volunteering on summer Saturdays at local farmers markets to share ideas and tips with other gardeners.
Vendors
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