When the winter winds are howling, some Iowans take solace in dreaming of the coming warmth of spring and working in their green backyard gardens.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is launching its free Home Gardening Webinar series this week.
Alicia Herzog coordinates the master gardener program and says this year’s topics will include soil health, identifying edibles, and more.
“Many of our master gardeners will use this webinar series for continuing education, but it’s also free and open to the public,” Herzog says, “so it’s a really great series for anyone who’s interested in gardening and horticulture and just wanting to have a better yard or lawn or grow better vegetables.”
The first webinar is scheduled for Thursday night. “This is a weekly series,” she says. “It goes for 10 weeks. It’s every Thursday, from January 9th through March 13th, and it’s at 6 PM from six to seven.”
While there are a couple of online options, Herzog says the webinars will also be offered at many ISU extension offices throughout Iowa.
“Some extension offices across the state will be offering live streaming in the office,” Herzog says. “So if people prefer to go in person, or maybe they don’t have internet at their house, or they just want to get out and socialize, they should call their extension office and double check with them, as not all extension offices will be offering it.”
There’s also the option of joining via computer using Zoom, or by going to the livestream on the extension’s Facebook page.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City contributed to this story.)