Online registration form below. The Garden Talk programs are FREE but registration is required due to limited space.
The Institute (now Buttonwood Nature Center) announces the 2024 spring series of small-group garden talks. Talks will be held on five Tuesdays in April and May from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Civil War era garden adjacent to Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.
In the second of a series of five spring Garden Talks, gardening expert Melissa Irwin presents an in-the-garden program to help you grow healthy, flavorful tomatoes.
What’s not to love about sweet, juicy tomatoes straight from the garden? Learn everything you need to know from planting to choosing varieties to pruning, harvesting and more! Make your tomato plants the envy of the neighborhood this summer.
The Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum will be open especially for attendees of this event.
Melissa Irwin is an educator and naturalist who has experience working with the Audubon Society and Moonfire Orchard. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies and specializes in all things growing in soil!
Participants should wear shoes appropriate for being inside the garden. Seating is not provided, but feel free to bring a chair.
Check out the upcoming programs:
Tuesday, May 14: Mastering Companion Planting
Tuesday, May 21: Salad Greens Success
Tuesday, May 28: What is Permaculture? Permaculture Basics
Created in partnership with the Friends of the Battle of Monterey Pass, the garden was based on extensive research and was planted by The Institute’s garden director and volunteers. It will be an educational tool for visitors of all ages to Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.
“The garden is an interpretation of a Civil War-era garden, not a literal reproduction,” said Rowland, Buttonwood Nature Center’s director of education and the garden director. “In addition to traditional vegetables, 19th-century gardens often included a variety of herbs, used for both medicinal and culinary purposes.”
The garden will have a significant number of such herbs. Many of these were used historically as “backyard medicine” by households, and were also used by surgeons and doctors tending to wounded Civil War soldiers.
“For example, lamb’s ear was used on wounds,” Rowland said, “and lemon balm was used to relieve headaches.”
The 25-by-28-foot garden is enclosed by a period style wooden fence, constructed with reproduction 19th-century-style nails.
With six raised beds and one 24-foot-long bed, the plantings will change from year to year, always with an eye to reflecting period gardens. This year, veggies like rhubarb and onions have been planted with the herbs.
A corps of Institute/Buttonwood garden volunteers and Blue Ridge Garden Club members work with our staff to maintain the garden throughout the season.
Participants should wear shoes appropriate for being inside the garden. Seating is not provided, but feel free to bring a chair.
This program is underwritten in part by M&T Charitable Foundation and Younger Toyota, and also by Marge Kiersz, Lucinda D. Potter, CPA, and SEK CPAs & Advisors.
The program is presented in partnership with Friends of Monterey Pass Battlefield.
Additional program support is from our Today’s Horizon Fund contributors: The Nora Roberts Foundation; Marge Kiersz; Alma W. Oyer; the Carolyn Terry Eddy Family: Carolyn, with daughters Connie Fleagle & Kim Larkin. Facility support courtesy of Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.
Created by The Institute (now Buttonwood Nature Center) in partnership with Friends of the Monterey Pass Battlefield, the garden project was made possible through financial support by the M&T Charitable Foundation and Younger Toyota, and in-kind support by GRC General Contractor, Inc.
Register for Garden Talk #2 here.
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