Edible Gardening Workshop Series

Join us for the annual Edible Gardening Workshop Series held each spring at The Morton Arboretum! Each week, gardening experts will share practical tips on growing your own food and inspire you with new ways to create beautiful, productive, edible gardens.

This series has something for everyone. Whether you are new to gardening or you are an experienced gardener looking for more, learn from the best of the Midwest and get growing!

March 14: Productive, Purposeful Gardens 

Imagine growing an edible garden so bountiful that it overflows with produce. In this workshop, learn to maximize results in your edible garden through good design, plant selection, and smart techniques. Then find out how you can use your overflowing harvest to make a difference in your community.  Learn how The GardenWorks Project builds gardens to promote food security and to assist hungry families within the region. More importantly, learn how you can join the fight against hunger, and not only grow for yourself, but for your neighbors and those in need. This workshop will teach the following:

• how to install and prepare a raised bed garden;
• tips and techniques on building a food garden at home;
• companion planting, square foot gardening, and succession planting;
• how to grow a donation garden in your own home;
• how to harvest and prepare produce for donation to your local food pantry.

The workshop will include a presentation on the community gardening movement within the region, and all participants will leave with materials and resources to start a garden at home. Grow a good garden, and use your garden for good!

March 21: From Seed to Seed: Gardening with Heritage Varieties 

Dive deep into the world of seeds with the knowledgeable staff of the Seed Savers Exchange. This workshop will cover seed varieties and types, starting seeds, caring for seedlings, transplanting, seed saving, storage, and more. 

April 4: Growing Medicinal and Culinary Herb Gardens 

Growing a garden can be healing in so many ways, whether you are replenished by the healing herbs you grow, the time spent outdoors, or the empowerment that comes with growing your own food. Join co-founder and CEO of the Urban Growers Collective and dig deep into the how’s and why’s of herbal gardens.

April 11: Transformation in the Garden: Growing Organic for Today and Tomorrow  

Organic edible gardening is more than a hobby -- it’s also a way of life. In this workshop, learn how organic gardening can change how we see the world, and how we can respond to changes in climate and our local environment  through organic gardening techniques and principles.

Jeanne Nolan, founder of The Organic Gardener, Ltd, will begin the morning with a talk on how organic gardening transformed her as she embarked on a journey toward a fulfilling and sustainable life. Then get practical tips from The Organic Gardener’s edible landscape designer Maureen Mailand on how to grow a thriving organic edible garden in the unpredictable face of climate change, including long periods of drought, intense rain events, shifting frost dates, and more.

Go home armed with inspiration and practical knowledge to grow organically for today and tomorrow.