Fall Into Your Best Spring Garden

About this event

Before you start cutting everything down, bagging every leaf, and power-raking your yard into submission, join Alter Eco Farms for a fun and practical class on how to close down your garden in the best possible way for spring success.

Whether you grow vegetables, flowers, herbs, or simply want a yard that doesn’t require endless fussing, you’ll learn how healthy soil can do much of the heavy lifting for you. We’ll explore what really happens beneath the surface after the growing season ends and why fall is one of the most important times of year to build healthier, more resilient gardens.

Together, we’ll uncover the hidden world of soil microorganisms using live microscopy and easy-to-understand science. You’ll meet the tiny organisms responsible for cycling nutrients, building soil structure, improving water retention, and helping plants resist pests and disease.

We’ll also bust a few common gardening myths and answer questions like: Should you pull every dead plant? Are fallen leaves the enemy? Is a perfectly tidy garden actually the goal?

You’ll leave with practical, affordable ways to feed your soil through the winter using compost, mulch, cover crops, and a few simple habits that will give next year’s garden a head start. Because the best spring gardens don’t begin in spring, they begin in fall.

We’ll wrap up by putting a living compost sample under the microscope and projecting it onto the big screen so everyone can experience the bustling world of soil microbes, live, in action. It is very likely you will meet a nematode. They’re much cuter than their reputation suggests.

Krisi Olivero is a biological soil consultant trained through Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School. She is passionate about helping people grow thriving gardens by working with nature instead of against it. She believes soil biology should be approachable, gardening should be fun, and terrible puns are an important part of any educational experience.

Register Here

•

What to Bring

A note book, writing utensil and your sense of wonder.