Date: May 12, 2012 Hours: 9am – 5pm

Location: 1810 N. Greene St. – Spokane Community College Lair

Email: gardenexpo@comcast.net Admission is FREE and parking is FREE!

Mark May 12, 2012 on your calendar and come join us for a day of fun!  It’s time for The 13th Annual Spokane Garden Expo at the beautiful Spokane Community College campus, 1810 N. Greene Street, Spokane WA. The Garden Expo is presented by The Inland Empire Gardeners (TIEG). This is our 13th year hosting the Expo. The fair offers over 250 booths of fantastic plant and garden-related items.

Location &Directions: Getting to Spokane Community College from I-90 Eastbound:  Take the Thor/Freya Street exit.  Turn left at Freya St.  Continue traveling north on Freya St. Freya will become Greene Street at Mission Avenue.  The community college campus is located at the intersection.  Enter the campus from Greene Street or from Mission Avenue. From I-90 Westbound:  Take the Thor/Freya Street exit.  Turn right at Freya Street.  The campus is located on the corner of Green and Mission.  The college is less than 2 miles north of the I-90 and Freya Street interchange.

Parking: There is a large parking lot of the southeast side of the campus and there is an even larger parking lot of the northwest side by the Clock Tower. There is limited designated disabled parking.

Spokane Community College: SCC is highly regarded for its professional and technical programs, including specialties in health sciences; information technology; industrial, manufacturing and automotive technology; hospitality and culinary arts; building trades; and agriculture and natural resource management.

ATM: There are two ATMs located within the center of Lair building by the college bookstore.  Efforts have been made to also secure an outdoor, special event ATM.  Be sure to have cash on hand, not all vendors take credit cards.

Out-of-Town Visitors: Need a place to stay?  The Garden Expo Management recommends the Holiday Inn Express, 9220 E Mission Ave, Spokane Valley, 509-927-7100 or 1-888-Holiday, website – www.hiexpress.com.  Directions from I-90: Take the Argonne exit, head south on Argonne and take an immediate left on Mission.  Hotel is located on the right side on the second block.

Info Booth: Stop by the Expo Information Booth in front of the circular driveway on the southeast side of the show. There will be a blown-up map of Expo vendor booth space locations. The Expo is such a big, expansive show it is designed as a go-with-the-flow show, so you should plan to just relax, stroll, and take in the vendors and the sights as you come across them.

Restroom Facilities: The main restrooms are located down from the southeast entrance to the Lair building on the right hand side of the long hallway.  There are smaller restrooms throughout the Lair facility.  Port-a-Potties will be available at a designated outdoor location.

GARDEN EXPO 2012 DEMONSTRATIONS

Small conference room at Spokane Community College in the Lair building eastside entrance left hand side halfway down hallway

10am – Lizann Powers Hammond, WSU Extension Educator – “Preserving the Harvest: Techniques for Freezing and Drying”

11am – Diana Lynn Rehn, President, Inland Empire Water Garden & Koi Society – “Every Garden Should Have a Pond”

12pm –  Dr. Brian Wickstrom, River City Chiropractic, Maximized Living – “Gardening Safety and Injury Prevention or Gardening for Life Injury Free”

1pm – Lizann Powers Hammond, WSU Extension Educator – “Preserving the Harvest: Safety Tips for Home Canning”

2pm – Elizabeth Casteel, The Tomato Lady – “Growing the Best Tasting Tomatoes”

DEMOS DESCRIPTION

10am – Lizann Powers Hammond, WSU Extension Educator – “Preserving the Harvest: Techniques for Freezing and Drying” – Home canning of vegetables and fruits, along with drying culinary herbs and freezing produce are all excellent ways of assuring that your family reap the rewards of your home grown produce throughout the year.  Learn the latest recommendations for freezing and drying your garden harvest.  Program will include information on the procedures for freezing and drying foods to produce a top quality product that is safe to eat.  A list of recommended resources will be provided to participants.

11am – Diana Lynn Rehn, President, Inland Empire Water Garden & Koi Society – “Every Garden Should Have a Pond” – A pond may be pretty. It may be relaxing.  But ultimately it is so much more than that.  From encouraging beneficial predators, to easing the noise pollution of an urban environment, ponds certainly have their uses in any garden. But who knew they can also help control the micro-climate around them, creating ecological niche’s for plants that might otherwise not survive?  This talk will present on creating water a feature in your yard, whether a pondless, water garden, goldfish or koi pond there are things you should know before starting so you don’t make the mistakes others have made.  Come learn and ask questions.  This will cover types, sizes, materials, and building supplies and suggestions in and around the pond and how to maintain your pond or water feature.  Questions welcome.

12pm – Dr. Brian Wickstrom, River City Chiropractic, Maximized Living – “Gardening Safety and Injury Prevention or Gardening for Life Injury Free” – Gardening can be a great way to enjoy the outdoors, get physical activity, beautify the community, and grow nutritious fruits and vegetables. Whether you are a beginner or expert gardener, health and safety are important.  This talk discusses the common causes for injuries or health problems related to gardening or yard activities.  How do you know if you are at risk or currently have a problem and what you can do to prevent future injuries and stay gardening for life.

1pm – Lizann Powers Hammond, WSU Extension Educator – “Preserving the Harvest: Safety Tips for Home Canning” – Preserving food has been an important skill for centuries. Drying , salting, and smoking were the first ways to keep food for the winter. Now we have the ability to can foods in a safe and healthy manner, unlike the large open kettles of Grandmother’s day. As long as you follow the directions carefully your food will be safe and fresh and delicious when you open the jar. Learn the most current recommendations for canning your garden harvest at home.  Program will include information on boiling water canning process and pressure canning process.  A list of recommended resources will be provided to participants.

2pm – Elizabeth Casteel, The Tomato Lady – “Growing the Best Tasting Tomatoes” – Imagine if you could grow the best tasting tomatoes…You’re standing in your garden.  It’s a beautiful summer day and the tomatoes are ripe for the picking.  You reach down and pluck one from the vine and raise it to your mouth.  You take a bite.  Ahhh, the flavor.  It’s succulent, sweet, and juicy…just as it should be.  Learn how to grow tomatoes and peppers even if you don’t have a garden plot. The Tomato Lady will show you how to use containers to do this. Learn about potting soil, fertilizers and amendments and of course, the right kind of container to use. She will also discuss the best varieties to use, proper maintenance and how to jazz them up a bit with flowers.

GARDEN EXPO 2012 SEMINARS

Auditorium at Spokane Community College in the Lair building eastside entrance left hand side of hallway

10am – Jennifer Tiegs, WSU Master Gardener – “The Presidential Garden”

11:30am – Casey Cumpton, All About Ponds – “Creating a Pond that is a Living Garden”

1pm – Vi Tiegs, WSU Master Gardener – “Wicked Weeds of the West”

2:30pm – Phyllis Stephens, News Media Personality – “Adventures of Gardening in the Inland Northwest”

SEMINARS DESCRIPTIONS

10am – Jennifer Tiegs, WSU Master Gardener – “The Presidential Garden” – When you think of the Founding Fathers, where do you see them? Waging war at Lexington, Concord, Brooklyn; maybe gathered around the table, signing the “Declaration of Independence.” Or how about seeding rose in their gardens?   We take a look at George Washington, a Revolutionary Gardener.  John Adams the original Master Composter.  Thomas Jefferson, a gardener way ahead of his time, and James Madison the Scholarly Gardener. And while the farmers of the Constitution garden for many of the same reasons that we do today–to relax in the outdoors, to have some fresh food ready at hand, or for the simple pleasure of working the soil–their gardens were more than that. They were the first truly American gardens inspired by European designs, but infused with a rugged, independent nature that made them sort of a political statement as well. Yankee ingenuity.

11:30am – Casey Cumpton, All About Ponds – “Creating a Pond that is a Living Garden” – One of the first things many people say when looking out over a few acres is, “I wish I had a pond.”  Ponds add scenic beauty and value to a property and provide wildlife habitat.  Ponds, like their owners, come in an endless variety of shapes and sizes.  But each one is “a spot of beauty, a sparkling universe teeming with life,” Louis Bromfield wrote in his 1948 book, Malabar Farm; “for the children they are a source of inexhaustible delight and peace for the soul and an understanding of man’s relationship to the universe.” This professional and informative talk covers both basic construction and pond maintenance and water quality care.

1pm – Vi Tiegs, WSU Master Gardener – “Wicked Weeds of the West” – Weeds? Theirs is a long and complicated story, a story just now beginning to be unraveled but about which we already know enough to state, without fear of successful contradiction, that the history of weeds is the history of man according to Edgar Anderson, “Plants, Man & Life.”  Weeds are essentially plants growing in the wrong place. All of our gardens are potentially full of them and even if at some point we succeed in eradicating every weed from our plot, they will reappear as if from nowhere.  Few landscapes and gardens escape the presence of weeds.  In this talk, you’ll learn which weeds you’re likely to see in this area and how to deal with them.  Weeds are hated for good reason. They compete with plants for water, nutrients, light and space and often carry pests and disease.  The Villains–lawn and garden broadleaf weeds and grasses.  The Outlaws–a few noxious weeds.  In this talk you will learn how to do battle with these dastardly thugs and how to come out on top.

2:30pm – Phyllis Stephens, News Media Personality – “Adventures of Gardening in the Inland Northwest” – It’s because from the moment you plant that first seed, you claim a relationship with the planet– and it claims you fiercely in return.  The way you see the wheeling sun and stars, the birds, bees, worms and wasps, changes forever.  Even the weather shatters into a million pieces of new beauty: frost on borage blossoms, evening light on a swallowtail’s wings, the smell of a weed’s roots as you pull them from damp soil.  The slow, almost silent song of water trickling through a rock face pocked with blooms.  A garden stops you, shuts you up.  It turns you under to its own purposes, sows its own gift: the knowledge that we are small and our seasons are brief. But if we harvest generosity and beauty, they will somehow, almost always, be enough.

Seminars and Demos are free!

Spokane Community College Lair Café will be open on Expo day with breakfast, lunch, and coffee espresso . There will also be plenty of food offerings outdoors.

LONG FOR a garden that enriches your life and feeds your soul.

SEEK the latest gardening news, tips and shortcuts.

CRAVE the newest and coolest plants.

ENJOY bringing the fragrance/beauty of the garden indoors.

NEED guidance toward more organic practices.

WANT “down-to-earth” ideas that inspire rather than intimidate.

LOVE real gardens, by real people.

BELIEVE many things are possible with just the planting of a seed.