By Debbie Gardner
dgardner@thereminder.com
After a coronavirus pandemic induced hiatus, the Lower Valley Spring Gardening Symposium – ‘Let’s Get Growing!” – is returning for its 24th season! Sponsored by the Western Mass Master Gardener Association, this popular event offers expert tips designed to make your flower and vegetable gardens, and your landscapes, beautiful and productive this coming season.
“People are excited to get back out into their gardens, they want winter to be over,” Rosey Bonner, a member of the symposium planning team for the Western Mass Master Gardner Association (WMMGA), said.
A celebration of gardening
The event, which will run from 8 a.m. to noon on May 6 at South Middle School, 30 West Silver St., Westfield MA., will cover popular topics presented by local and regional experts in two sessions.
“The topics that we chose will hopefully, hit everyone’s interests, “Bonner said, adding that the rising cost of food as well as concerns about our environment and the health of native pollinators are hot topics that pique the interest of seasoned and novice gardeners alike.
Attendees are encouraged to sign up early, as workshops sell out quickly! Registration through April 21 is priced at $30; registrations between April 21 to 28 are $35, and registrations the day of the symposium are $40. Register for the Lower Valley Spring Gardening Symposium online at www.WMMGA.org.
The last symposium that the WMMGA conducted before the coronavirus pandemic hit attracted 250 attendees, Bonner shared.
Four workshops to choose from
“This year its just morning, with sessions in the auditorium and the cafeteria. We chose to do it that way because people can still spread out, we’re easing back into it that way,” Bonner explained. She said the smaller space in the cafeteria will limit registrations to just 40 participants, which people will see when they sign up for sessions.
At 8:45 a.m. gardening enthusiasts can choose from these presentations:
“There’s going to be a focus on native plants which are better for the environment and for our native birds and pollinators,” Bonner said of this and the afternoon’s tree and shrub workshop.
“People love to cook with herbs, but they can be expensive. If you have them in containers on your back porch you are more likely to use them because they’re right at hand,” Bonner said.
At 10:30 a.m., two more seminars will be offered:
“People want to know, ‘can I grow vegetabes in containers’, ‘can I grow them in my flower garden’,” Bonner said. “People who have never [grown their own vegetables] want to know how now.”
More to see and learn!
In addition to the workshops, the 2023 Spring Gardening Symposium will offer attendees the opportunity to have the ph of their garden soil tested for a $2 fee, with results mailed in a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Bonner said master gardeners from the Western Mass Master Gardener Association will also be on hand to answer gardening questions - “They don’t even have to be related to the symposium topic” – and the master gardeners will also have a table of gardening books that will be free for the taking, though donations will be accepted.
In addition attendees can visit a vendor fair with locally produced offerings such as “wrought iron for the garden, birdhouse and such,” according to Bonner, as well as information tables to visit. Doors will open at 8 a.m. with registration, coffee and goodies, there will be another shopping/refreshment break at 10 a.m. and a raffle drawing during closing remarks at noon.
The Western Mass Master Gardener Association, which is sponsoring this symposium, is a non-profit all-volunteer organization dedicated to the goal of ‘educating the public about sustainable gardening practices,” said Bonner.
