Get Your Garden On

Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26279436@N02/7010918667

There may be the occasional flake flying, but still, the time for prepping the garden is upon us. For those with established gardens, you may even be seeing the first tendrils of life springing up from the soil. For the rest of you, there’s plenty of help out there to get your garden growing—or to help fill your pantry with lots of local food. Here are a few options.

Learn about Growing Vegetables in Central Oregon and Spring Gardening at events offered by the Oregon State University Extension Service-Deschutes County and/or the Central Oregon Master Gardeners.

Growing Vegetables in Central Oregon – free!

Sat. April 1, 1:30-3:30pm

Environmental Center, 16 NW Kansas Ave., Bend

Sat. April 1, 10am-noon

Free class taught in Spanish
St. Thomas Catholic Church,
1720 NW 19th St., Redmond

Call 541-548-6088 to register,
or visit extension.oregonstate.edu/deschutes

COMGA Spring Gardening Seminar

Sat. April 15, 8am-4:30pm

Redmond-Deschutes Fair & Expo Center
3800 SE Airport Way, Redmond

Call 541-548-6088,
or visit gocomga.com
$10/ $15 on event day

Want more classes? Check out extension.oregonstate.edu/deschutes

2nd Annual Farm & Food Spring Faire

If you can’t wait for the farmer’s markets to get going, head over to the 2nd Annual Farm & Food Spring Faire at Central Oregon Community College on April 15. “The fair provides a place for local farmers and ranchers to connect with community members well before seasonal farmers markets start up in June,” says event coordinator Owen Murphy. In attendance will be farmers, including Prineville’s Cada Dia Cheese and Bend’s Fields Farm—where this year, they’ve increased their Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, shares from 47 last year to 100, allowing more local people to receive a weekly delivery of locally-grown produce.

NorthWest Crossing Community Garden

Want a space to garden? The Central Oregon chapter of the OSU Master Gardeners program is holding a lottery for the open raised bed garden spaces in the NorthWest Crossing Community Garden. The garden offers raised bed plots of 4 feet by 12 feet. To take part in the lottery, email tinaburnside@bendcable.com or sandislawosky@yahoo.com by April 15—and be sure to include your phone number. The group will draw names for the available beds on April 15. The cost of renting a bed is $30 or $25 for seniors.

Opening day at the NWX Garden
Sat. April 29 at 9:30 am.
NW Crossing Drive and NW Discovery Park Drive
extension.oregonstate.edu/deschutes

This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2017.