The summer series of University of Illinois Extension’s Four Seasons Gardening program, which focuses on environmental stewardship and backyard food production, gets underway this month. There will be three sessions this summer. The first session of the series is titled, Home Orchards. The program is offered twice – on June 24 at 1:30 p.m. at the Morgan County Extension Office in Jacksonville and again on June 26 at 6:30 p.m at the Cass County Extension Office in Virginia.
Sonja Lallemand, Horticulture Educator, University of Illinois Extension, will talk about one of the most rewarding gardening activities: growing fruits in the home garden. Nothing equals the taste of tree or vine-ripened fruits wherever you are in Illinois. This presentation will focus on the general considerations for getting started in developing and cultivating your own orchard; it will also provide you with growing tips for several types of small fruits.
The Four Seasons Gardening program from University of Illinois Extension, continues with a session titled, Starting a Youth Garden. The program is offered twice—on July 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the Morgan County Extension Office in Jacksonville and again on July 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cass County Extension Office in Virginia.
Whether you call it a children’s garden, youth garden, or school garden, gardens created as educational and play spaces for youth can be very rewarding to create. These gardens allow space for children to connect with nature and help them make the connection with where their food comes from. Candice Miller, Horticulture Educator, University of Illinois Extension, will discuss the benefits of youth gardens, the important steps to planning a youth garden and ways to get youth engaged in gardening. She will also share some tips on how to make the garden as sustainable, successful, and rewarding as possible.
The summer series of the Four Seasons Gardening program, from University of Illinois Extension, concludes with a session titled Mosquitoes and West Nile Virus. The program is offered on July 22 at 1:30 p.m. at the Morgan County Extension Office in Jacksonville and again on July 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cass County Extension Office in Virginia.
Control northern house mosquito in your neighborhood, and you control West Nile Virus. The annual threat of West Nile Virus builds in early summer and continues into the fall. The number of cases has been higher during the last two summers, with about a dozen human deaths in Illinois each of those years. Phil Nixon, University of Illinois Extension Entomologist, will discuss how to control and cope with northern house mosquitoes, floodwater mosquitoes, and other mosquitoes to protect yourself and your community from bites and disease.
To register for any of these sessions go to our website at web.extension.illinois.edu/ccgms or call 217.243.7424.
Ken Johnson
