Heart J Learning Center offers offsite workshop for home vegetable gardeners on April 18

Northern Colorado can be a challenging place to grow a vegetable garden.

On April 18, Heart J Center for Experiential Learning will partner with Sunspot Urban Farms, in Fort Collins, to offer a workshop for local home gardeners interested in increasing their yield and decreasing their stress by recruiting their best ally — Mother Nature. “Get The Most from your Summer Garden: Working with Nature for a Happy, Productive Season” is Heart J’s first offsite offering, to be held at Sunspot Urban Farm’s location just north of the Colorado State University campus.

The all-day workshop will teach techniques for improving soil health for better nutrient content while discouraging pests and disease; composting, raised beds, successional planting, season extension, espalier orcharding, drip irrigation, seedling starts, transplanting, scheduling and foliar sprays. Lunch will be provided. To register, visit HeartJCenter.org or call 970-690-4221.

Sunspot Urban Farms sits in a residential neighborhood near CSU. Along with their seasonal 21-week CSA, Sunspot offers demonstrations and research in holistic farm practices such as onsite production of energy through photovoltaic solar power and hot water generation from compost heaters, and onsite production of fertilizers through vermicompost and microbial compost. Currently, the farm grows about 40 vegetable and fruit crops.

Heart J Center for Experiential Learning is a new non-profit arm of Sylvan Dale Ranch in Masonville. The center, originally conceived by Sylvan Dale’s founders, offers community learning opportunities based in nature for kids, adults and families in science and nature, Western culture, wellness, outdoor skills, creative arts, as well as multi-denominational spiritual gathering opportunities.