CONCORD —The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire (NOFA-NH) is pleased to present their 2023 “Feeding the Family” Organic Gardening Series! With spring not so far away, these educational, useful, and convenient workshops are the perfect avenue to expand your gardening expertise and prepare for planting.
Whether you are tending a garden for the first time, or have you been growing your own food for years, NOFA-NH’s Organic Gardening Workshop Series offers instruction for all home growers seeking to build skills to feed themselves and their families, developing self-sufficiency. Knowledgeable speakers from near and far lead short, informative workshops. Through these diverse and comprehensive sessions, gardeners of all experience levels can learn how to improve their home growing systems or start something new.
The 2023 Organic Gardening Series is comprised of four online workshops held Thursday evenings from March 30 to April 20 and one in-person workshop on Saturday, April 29. Register for the full online series or individual workshops at www.nofanh.org/gardeningseries. The in-person workshop must be registered for separately and has a 25-person limit. NOFA members receive a 25% discount for all Organic Gardening Series workshops.
Workshop Descriptions
The Science and Art of Tomato Culture (Online)
Instructor: Christie Higginbottom
Thursday, March 30, 6:30-8 p.m.
For the last century the Tomato has been America’s favorite garden vegetable – though it is actually a fruit. Gardeners still have many questions about planting, feeding, watering, pruning, and supporting their tomato plants. In addition, new tomato health problems have challenged the grower. This program will offer comprehensive information and inspiration for growing this very popular plant.
Christie Higginbottom coordinated the horticulture program at Old Sturbridge Village for over thirty years, researching, planning, and planting re-created kitchen gardens, ornamental gardens, and the Paul Rogers Herb Garden collection. Now retired from full-time work, she continues to work in the Village herb garden and present garden programs. She lectures on historic gardens and teaches home gardening workshops, including for NOFA, the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Massachusetts Master Gardeners and local garden clubs and historical societies.
Protecting Edible Crops from Deer Damage (Online)
Instructor: Cheryl Salatino
Thursday, April 6 | 6:30-8 p.m.
For many growers and gardeners, the thought of deer stopping by for a snack raises deep concern and sleepless nights. The damage from just one visit can impact or even devastate an entire season’s yield. Yet, more and more of us are seeing evidence of deer exploring new food sources and returning once they find something worth chewing. In this workshop, we will get to know deer behaviors and review a variety of options to deter or distract them from enjoying the fruits of our labor. A proactive course of action makes all the difference when attempting to coexist with deer.
Cheryl Salatino is the principal designer and owner of Dancing Shadows Garden Design, a residential design and services firm serving Massachusetts and Maine. She earned her certificate in landscape design from the Radcliffe Seminars program of Harvard University. She also earned an Advanced Certificate in Native Plant Studies from the educational arm of the Native Plant Trust. Cheryl has been a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist since 2005.
Understanding Forest and Garden Impacts of the Invasive ‘Jumping’ Earthworm (Online)
Instructor: Dr. Justin Richardson
Thursday, April 13 | 6:30-8 p.m.
Earthworms are important agroecosystem engineers, however, nearly all are not native to the northeastern United States. Whether it is vermicomposting, fishing bait, or biological soil aeration, earthworms serve many roles in the agricultural industry. Despite their benefits, they can negatively impact natural areas and some agroecosystems. Here we will cover what are European and ‘jumping’ earthworms and how they behave in gardens and forests.
Dr. Justin B. Richardson is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studies soil biogeochemistry. Justin is originally from southern California, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science – Soil Science at UC Riverside. He then moved to the forests of New Hampshire and Vermont and completed a PhD focusing on lead and mercury in forest soils. He has been studying the impacts of earthworms for a decade.
Integrating Nitrogen Fixing Plants into Diverse Settings (Online)
Instructor: Dani Baker
Thursday, April 20 | 6:30-8 p.m.
Instead of adding nitrogen fertilizer, pepper your planting with nitrogen-fixing plants. This PowerPoint presentation will illustrate over 20 nitrogen-fixing plants from groundcovers to tall trees that you can integrate into your fruit or nut orchard, silvopasture, berry bush plot, annual vegetable planting, and more! For each plant the presenter will describe the growth habit, preferred habitat, food value, other uses, and aesthetic appeal. Attendees will leave with many ideas of how to integrate nitrogen-fixing plants into their edible landscape.
Dani Baker is a forest gardener who began planning and planting the “Enchanted Edible Forest Garden,” a permaculture-inspired food forest located in her certified organic farm in Northern New York in 2013. In May of 2022, her book, The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape, was published.
Truly No-Till Beds with Sheet Mulching (In-Person)
Instructor: Linh Aven
Location: Dandelion Forest Farm, Nottingham
Saturday, April 29 | 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Many no-till vegetable beds start with a onetime rototill which damages the soil structure & sets back the soil biology. Sheet mulching allows us to keep the existing soil structure while feeding the soil biology, no plastic or machinery required. This is a simple and useful technique that can be as small as a few feet in your backyard or up to an acre of beds on a small commercial farm. Sheet mulched beds can be prepped and planted within the same season. And we have found they significantly reduce weeds. We love creating new beds with sheet mulching and are happy to share a variety of techniques that we have used to create instant and natural no-till garden beds.
Linh Aven is a co-founder of Dandelion Forest Farm in Nottingham, an agroforestry model using natural and holistic practices to showcase edible perennial foods that naturally grow well in this region. She is also currently serving as the Director of the Permaculture Association of the Northeast.
Learn more and register for these workshops at www.nofanh.org/gardeningseries.