Swamp Fox Festival includes Gardening Events

Swamp Fox Festival includes Gardening Events at Lowe Park Greenhouse

Learn about seed saving; Taste a variety of tomatoes

The Iowa State University Extension & Outreach Linn County Master Gardeners are hosting free workshops to coincide with the 2013 Swamp Fox Festival at the Lowe Park Greenhouse on September 7, 2013.

Lowe Park Greenhouse
4500 N 10th Street
Marion, IA 52302

The workshops include:

Seed Saving: Linn County Master Gardener Shelby Foley will lead this hands-on workshop in the methods for selecting, collecting and saving seeds for the next gardening season. At the end of the workshop, participants will be provided a map and a few containers to collect seeds from the Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens. The event will be held in the Lowe Park Greenhouse, and starts at 4:00 PM.

Tomato Tasting: Join the Linn County Master Gardeners at the Lowe Park Greenhouse for a tomato tasting. If the tomatoes cooperate, there will be approximately 26 varieties consisting of a mix of heirlooms and hybrids, from cherries to beefsteak. The tasting runs from 5:00 to 6:00 PM.

For more information, contact Linn County Extension at (319) 377-9839.

The Lowe Park Greenhouse is a joint project between the City of Marion and the ISU Extension Linn County Master Gardeners. The greenhouse is used as a classroom for educational workshops, growing plants for the Lowe Park demonstration gardens, the Linn County Master Gardener Plant Sale, flowers for the Marion Parks Department & the donation of vegetable plants to low income families who are supplementing their diet with home grown foods, and various other projects.

The greenhouse not only offers a work area, but also provides many examples for attendees to learn and observe from, and this helps solidify the learning process. To date, over 20,000 plants have been grown in the greenhouse, not including plants that were donated last fall nor the more than 500 succulents that were grown for the vertical gardens classes offered at the MG’s annual Winter Gardening Fair at Kirkwood Community College. Over 100 Master Gardeners have worked in the Greenhouse so far. Though all active gardeners, many have never used a greenhouse. Over 60% of the Linn County Master Gardeners have been involved in the greenhouse activities.

Since it was erected in 2010, several classes have been offered at the Lowe Park Greenhouse. They include: seed saving, forcing fall bulbs, houseplants, garden art, starting seeds, transplanting, propagation by cuttings on soft and woody plants, and building a cold frame.

Greenhouse specifications

• 28’-0” Wide x 36’-0” Long, 8mm Clear Twin Wall Polycarbonate Covering
• Wadsworth VC-100A Control System, STEP Up Control, and WeatherGuard™ System

Because of the partnership between the City of Marion and the Linn County Master Gardeners, many Extension volunteers travel on north 10th street to Lowe Park on a regular basis to maintain our demonstration gardens and the greenhouse. Lowe Park is a very popular park which provides opportunities for hiking, biking, touring gardens and the greenhouse and the use of the Arts and Environment building for social, business, and community events. Soon an amphitheater will be added, which will bring out many more park visitors.