Spring starts soon, but anxious gardeners don’t have to wait that long to get out into the garden.
Gardeners who are getting excited about the upcoming growing season should plan to attend the Central Ohio Home & Garden Show scheduled for Feb. 15-23 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
No matter what the February weather is outside, visitors to the show will find warm temperatures, flowering plants, green foliage and fruit and vegetables ripening on the vine, all of which will transport gardeners to a summer day in Greater Columbus.
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Edibles and edimentals
While at the show, be sure to visit the edible garden located on the Garden Stage in the Celeste Center.
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The edible garden is the only food garden at the show and is designed to show how home gardeners can grow fruits, vegetables and herbs at home, particularly in small spaces.
The edible garden will be staffed by OSU Master Gardener Volunteers who will demonstrate the most effective backyard gardening techniques for central Ohio.
Features of the edible garden at this year’s show include the following:
- A home fruit garden will include hardy figs, pawpaws, gooseberries and currents. Information on how to grow these fruit crops will be available.
- Vegetable garden beds will feature Ohio vegetable-garden staples such as tomatoes and will also feature not-so-familiar vegetables such as cucamelons, ground cherries and tropical tamarillo, also known as tree tomato.
- On Monday, Feb. 17, youth who visit the edible garden will receive a free tomato seedling to take home.
- A composting display will show you how to turn your kitchen scraps and garden waste into a valuable soil amendment for your garden.
- Different watering techniques and technologies will be on display including a drip irrigation system, a rain barrel, soaker hoses and porous pots.
- A garden bed will feature edimentals, which are edible plants that can also serve as ornamental plants in the home landscape.
- Different types of do-it-yourself trellises will be on display in the garden demonstrating how to support vining plants in the garden, landscape or containers.
Learn from experts
While at the show, plan to take in some of the 35 different scheduled presentations on many different gardening topics on the Garden Stage in the Celeste Center at the show.
Presentations will be taught by seasoned garden experts on topics such as growing hardy figs, becoming a beekeeper, growing and using herbs, shade-tree selection and care, growing the perfect tomato, best perennials for Ohio gardens, container gardening, starting a vegetable garden and dozens of other gardening topics.
Visitors to the Garden Stage on weekends and Monday, Feb. 17 will have the opportunity to participate in a free hands-on microgreen planting activity. Participants will plant their own microgreen planter to take home.
For a complete schedule of Garden Stage presentations, go to dispatchshows.com/the-garden-stage.
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Solve your gardening challenges
While at the show, you can solve your toughest lawn, garden and home-landscape challenges by visiting the Ask a Master Gardener booth where OSU Master Gardener Volunteers will be on hand to answer all of your gardening questions.
Free gardening fact sheets on different topics will be available at the Ask a Master Gardener booth located directly in front of the Garden Stage in the Celeste Center at the show.
Show details
The Central Ohio Home & Garden Show runs from Saturday, Feb. 15 through Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
The show will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
The show will be closed on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Discount admission tickets for the show are available online at dispatchshows.com/home-and-garden-show.
Mike Hogan is Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources and associate professor with Ohio State University Extension.
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