If you missed the Tuesday night event,
​check out the photos on our home page gallery and the event handouts, information, and recipes.  

​​2022 Twilight Garden Tour
4-7 pm on Tuesday, August 23

Speakers 
Brian Huddleson, Director, Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic at UW-Madison on plant diseases
Renae Essenmacher, forester with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on nonnative invasive trees and shrubs
Sarah DeGraff from UW’s Seed to Kitchen program discussing their projects

More Information

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Late Season Issues Mini Webinars
Yard and Garden Cleanup with Diseases and Insects in Mind
Wednesday, August 24, 12:00 p.m.
Be prepared to approach your garden and yard cleanup with a better understanding of  strategies you can use to benefit your yard, keeping in mind plant diseases, insects, winter interest and wildlife food.
Presented by: Andrea Ackerman,  Horticulture Outreach Specialist, UW-Madison Division of Extension Brown County
 
Fall “Lawndry” List
Wednesday, August 31, 12:00 p.m.
Fall is a good time of year to give your lawn some TLC. Join us to learn more about lawn fertilizer requirements and recommendations for this time of year, aeration and overseeding, and the basics of weed control.
Presented by: Paul Koch, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, UW-Madison
 
Bringing the Garden Inside
Wednesday, September 7, 12:00 p.m.
Get ready to continue enjoying your garden by bringing your plants indoors. You’ll learn about which plants can come in, the requirements for growing plants indoors after they have been outside all summer, and how to properly transition them to their new indoor home.
Presented by: Darrin Kimbler, Agriculture Educator, UW-Madison Division of Extension Iron County
To register for any of these mini webinars, go to https://bit.ly/3g0IfhF 
 
This mini-webinar series is hosted by UW-Madison, Division of Extension, Horticulture. For upcoming events and learning opportunities go to: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/events/

Spooner, Wis. – Aug. 12, 2022 -- The University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison Spooner Agricultural Research Station, UW-Madison Extension and North Country Master Gardener Volunteers (NCMGV) will be holding their Annual Twilight Garden Tour on Tuesday, August 23 from 4-7 p.m.
 
To be held at the Station’s Teaching and Display Garden, located at 780 Orchard Lane off Highway 70 just east of Spooner, this is one of the region’s premier summer gardening events and it includes displays, speakers, demonstrations, and guided tours of the garden plots.  In addition, this year’s event includes an “Edible Landscaping” feature. Building on this theme, vegetable and home-made wine tastings will be available.
 
The staff from UW-Madison Spooner Ag Research Station, Extension Educators, the North Country Master Gardener volunteers, as well as the event’s speakers will be available to answer gardening questions and identify plant, insect and disease samples. Attendees are welcome to explore the Teaching and Display Garden as well as bring samples of diseased plants or representative photos for identification and advice. Displays will feature Hunt Hill, Spooner Farmers Market, Forts Folle Avoine, as well as others.
 
The expert panel of speakers will kick-off at 4:45 p.m. and then provide walking tours in which they will answer questions. Speakers and topics covered this year are:
 
•Brian Huddleson, Director, Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic at UW-Madison on plant diseases;
•Renae Essenmacher, forester with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on non-native invasive trees and shrubs; and
•Sarah DeGraff from UW’s Seed to Kitchen program discussing their projects.  
 
The Teaching & Display Garden is an official All-America Selections (AAS) display garden featuring both flowers and vegetables and has been awarded multiple awards in the National Landscape Design contest sponsored by AAS. The garden also includes organic vegetable gardening, a children’s garden, container gardening, displays of table and wine grapes and the Monarch and Pollinator Sanctuary perennial garden featuring native plants.
 
As in the past there is no charge for this educational event and there will be a raffle for flower bouquets. In the case of severe inclement weather, the event will be cancelled and not rescheduled. Please visit www.facebook.com/spoonerag to learn more about event status in case of weather. For more information, please contact Kevin Schoessow at 715-635-3506 or 1-800-528-1914, or learn more at https://spooner.ars.wisc.edu/ or https://www.northcountrymgv.org/twilight-garden-tour.html.
 
More information about the North Country Master Gardeners can be found at https://www.northcountrymgv.org.
 
UW-Madison Extension provides equal opportunity in employment and programming including Title IX and ADA requirements. Please call our toll-free number 800-528-1914 if you have any special needs or require special accommodations.

This fall UW-Madison Division of Extension Horticulture Program is offering the online course, Growing and Caring for Plants in Wisconsin: Foundations in Gardening. This is a twelve week online course that runs from  September 11 through December 10, 2022. 
Growing and Caring for Plants in Wisconsin: Foundations in Gardening (Foundations in Gardening) teaches participants university research-based methods to successfully grow their plants and manage common pests. The course introduces a decision-making framework used by gardeners that focuses on understanding how plants best grow, why pests and problems happen, and how to keep plant problems from happening.

The Foundations in Gardening course is divided into three units. The first set of topics are the basics: general gardening, botany, soils and decision-making strategies for pest management. The next set of topics helps participants understand how to identify and manage pests they might encounter. Finally, the last group focuses on specific types of gardening such as vegetables, fruits, lawn, and houseplants. As part of the learning experience, Foundations in Gardening participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of UW-Madison horticulture experts at live webinars. The webinars are scheduled so that each expert will be taking questions about the material currently being covered. The webinars are also an opportunity to ask questions participants may have long had but did not know whom to ask. Q & As with the Experts will be recorded for future viewing in case the live broadcasts are inconvenient with participants’ schedules.  
 
In addition to the Q & As with the Experts, participants receive a complete electronic (PDF) copy of the Foundations in Gardening training manual.  A bound hardcopy of the manual is available at an additional cost. This is a valuable reference tool to have on the bookshelf.  Participants will receive a certificate of completion and earn up to four continuing education credits (CEU) for certain professional organizations. For participants wanting a deeper dive into the learning experience, there are optional live lab webinars to reinforce the material covered in the course. These give participants the opportunity to work in large and small groups with Extension educators to answer more in-depth gardening scenarios.

If you are interested in becoming a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener, this course is considered an approved learning opportunity from the Wisconsin Extension Horticulture Program. Visit https://mastergardener.extension.wisc.edu/get-started/ for more information.

Registration is July 18th-August 15th for this fully online, learn-at-your-own pace course. Whether you are a beginner, avid gardener or professional, you and your plants will benefit from this course. For more information and to register for Foundations in Gardening, visit: https://bit.ly/3aBUGBe ​

The annual Twilight Garden Tour returns on August 23, 2022, 4:00 to 7:00 pm.  The gardens are brimming with vegetables, annuals, and perennials.  Presentations will start at 4:30 with these confirmed speakers:  

• Renae Essenmacher, Forester for WI Dept of Natural Resources, will talk about non-native invasive trees and shrubs.

• Sarah DeGraff  will talk about the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative .

• Brian Huddleson, Director of the UW-Madison Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic, will focus on plant diseases.

UW-Madison Horticulture Educator Kevin Schoessow and Master Gardener Volunteers will be available throughout the gardens to answer your questions.  

The session is free and open to the public and will be held rain or shine. In the case of severe weather the event will be cancelled and announced on Facebook and the website. The garden is located at 780 Orchard Lane, 1.5 miles east of Spooner on Highway 70 or 1/2 mile west of the Hwy 70/53 interchange.  Watch for garden meeting signs.
 ​

​Here’s a preview of their presentation:
Tips for Easier Gardening

• Don’t try to do everything in one day.
• Take a 10-15 minute break every hour or more frequently if you need.
• Plan your activities; gather tools, seeds, and supplies to avoid unnecessary trips.
• Stretch before you garden.
• Wear gloves and slip resistant shoes.
• Make sure your tools are sharp to make the job easier.
• Obtain assistive devices to reduce stress on hands, hips, and knees.
• Put resting places throughout your garden, a bench with a back will allow a better rest than one without.
• Place a watering source close to your gardens.
• Create pathways preferably 5 feet wide to accommodate you and your equipment.
• Install appropriate plantings, shrubs are generally lower maintenance than perennials, native lower than exotics.

Tools
Select tools that are best for you:

• Length of handle should be long enough for you to stand up straight
• If your hands get tired or sore, try retrofitting handles with foam insulation over the handle
• Sharpen blades before you use them, take file at a 20% angle to get a nice edge for hoes, spades, pruners (if you don’t want to do it yourself, ask at your local hardware store)
• Seed planting can be easier with a PVC pipe cut to a little higher than waist height; for smaller seeds use a hand seeder
• A kneeler bench can help you kneel and just as importantly stand back up and can be turned over to provide a nice place to rest
• Choose wheelbarrows, wagons, or carts with large rubber tires to make it easier to push/pull
• A hand truck can help you move heavier pots or bags around the garden
• There are hand tools that have ergonomic handles that put your hand in a better position and are cushioned or have larger handles
• Use a bypass pruner with extra-long handles to give you more leverage and not have to get so close to the ground

 
Techniques

• Use watering wands to get closer to the base of plants or leave stretcher soaker hoses in garden beds that need more frequent watering
• Mulch retains moisture, improves soil and suppresses weeds
• Move the garden closer to you by using containers, raised beds
• Put annuals in pots into your perennial beds to add color and make it easier to water and take care of them than if you put them directly into the bed