13th Annual Community Garden Conference

This program is eligible for 5.0 Rutgers Master Gardener CEUs.

Cost: $60 without lunch and $75 including lunch. Feel free to bring your lunch if you don’t want to pay.  Lunch Options:  

Please ignore the Member and non-Member wording in the PayPal boxes below; 

click on the 

Member box to pay $60 with no lunch, or the non-Member box to pay $75 to include lunch.  This gets you to the page; scroll down, and you will see two boxes that take you to their PayPal.

The Friends of The Frelinghuysen Arboretum and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County are teaming up to present their Annual Community Garden Conference for the 13th year in a row. This year we are very excited to have Dr. William Woys Weaver as the keynote speaker. We also have an impressive list of session speakers, all experts in their fields. They will cover topics relevant to community gardeners, backyard vegetable gardeners, garden managers, and those trying to establish a new community Garden.

It will be a hybrid conference this year, in person at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, or, if you prefer to Zoom in, you will have that option.

The topics for the 2023 Conference are:

• Keynote Speaker Dr. William Woys Weaver: The Roughwood Center for Heritage Seedways: Seed to Table — the Future of Regional Cuisine. Dr. Weaver is an internationally known food ethnographer and author of 20 books on culinary history and heritage seeds. His presentation explains what they do at the Roughwood Center, the history of the seed collection, and how they are devoting their energies to promoting regional foods and foodways as an alternative and safer way to feed ourselves in the future. The lecture will be illustrated with heirloom plants and food preparations reflecting this underlying philosophy.
• Peter Nitzsche, Morris County Agricultural and Natural Resource Agent, Rutgers Vegetable Expert, and Conference Co-sponsor, will discuss the findings from the season-long community garden demonstration plot trials on tomatoes bred to be resistant to Septoria Leaf Spot and using Bacillus thuringiensis to manage squash vine borer in zucchini.
• Rebecca Magron, Horticulturist from Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Hunterdon County, presents her excellent talk on Mindful Vegetable Gardening. She’ll discuss the trends in the industry, from attracting pollinators to the best methods and techniques to use when growing in small spaces to how a basic knowledge of botany will inform your growing practices. She’ll talk about the science behind companion planting, too, and dispel some of the myths that prevail.
• The Coordinator’s Round Table will be moderated by Ned Gardner, Manager of the Ted Largman Community Garden in Morris Township. This is a chance for managers of community gardens to connect with other managers, get questions answered, and share successes and not-so-successful endeavors they’ve encountered. The topic for the 2023 discussion is Conflict Resolution and is open to all attendees.

This program is eligible for 5.0 Rutgers Master Gardener CEUs.

Cost: $60 without lunch and $75 including lunch. Feel free to bring your lunch if you don’t want to pay.

Please ignore the Member and non-Member wording in the PayPal boxes below; click on the Member box to pay $60 with no lunch or on the non-Member box to pay $75 to include lunch. 

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Click to join the Friends.

Members of Friends $ 60

Non-Members $ 75