Green & Easy
Gardening Series
With Melinda Meyers
Sponsored by ATC and its Grow Smart program
Green & Easy Gardening Series with Melinda Myers
Mequon Nature Preserve, Thursday evenings – April 12 – May 10, 2018
Registration required for these events!
Please email center@mequonnaturepreserve.org with:
1) your name, 2) number of people attending, and 3) which event(s) you will be attending.
All events will be at MNP’s Education Center
8200 W. County Line Road, Mequon
6:30 – 8PM
April 12, 2018 – Green & Easy: The First Steps to Creating an Ecofriendly, Low Maintenance Landscape
The first step to transforming your landscape into a more environmentally friendly space for you, pollinators and our community. Starting with manageable strategies from the ground up that fit into your lifestyle and landscape goals. Melinda will provide an overview of environmentally friendly lawn and garden maintenance and tips on creating a pollinator habitat, waterwise landscape, and organic food garden. We’ll discuss simple steps that can make a big difference this first class we will take a look at the landscape design and management as a whole.

April 19, 2018 – Green & Easy: Creating Pollinator Gardens
Whether planting a garden, enjoying the beauty of your landscape or sitting down to a delicious meal, you have bees, butterflies and other pollinators to thank. These essential members of our ecosystem are responsible for much of the food and beauty we enjoy each day. Create the right habitat and you can fill your landscape will bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators. We’ll discuss plant selection and design strategies that will help bring pollinators to your landscape. Then take a close look how to manage the space without harmful chemicals to keep plants and visiting pollinators healthy. Join ATC and Grow Smart by growing pollinator friendly.
April 26, 2018 – Green & Easy: Waterwise Gardening
Too much or not enough water and never at the right time. Seems to be the complaint of every gardener. We’ll take an in-depth look at ways to minimize water use, keep water where it falls, and efficient ways to water when needed. Melinda will provide an in-depth look at many of the drought tolerant plants and ways to manage those that need a bit more moisture. Then look at incorporating rain barrels and rain gardens into your landscape and using drip and clay pot irrigation, GreenWell water savers and other water efficient devices.
May 3, 2018 – Green & Easy: Food Gardening for Everyone
Nothing tastes as good and is as nutritious as produce grown and harvested from your own garden. You control the inputs such as soil amendments, fertilizer, and pesticides so you know exactly what you are eating. And if your family helps plan and plant the garden they are more likely to eat the vegetables they’ve grown. We will look at creating a productive garden from the ground up. Once the garden bed is prepped we will discuss ways to extend the growing season, maximize productivity and keep plants healthy. Not only will you enjoy the added flavor but the knowledge that you help reduce energy used to transport vegetables from the farm to the grocery store.
May 10, 2018 – Green & Easy: Managing Yard Waste – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Sustainable landscapes start with growing the right plant in the right location. Growing those suited to the space and growing conditions means less maintenance and less plant waste produced that needs to be managed. And when the leaves fall, veggies are harvested and plants pruned there are plenty of ways to put this valuable resource to work in your landscape. And turn excess into valuable compost and worm castings.