Calling All Gardeners
Seedy Saturday
March 4, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Unitarian Congregation of Mississauga,
84 South Service Rd.
You’re invited to this “don’t miss” Spring event – Seedy Saturday – a day-long celebration of garden with workshops, demonstrations, seed exchanges/sales to help you turn your yard, patio, balcony or field into a flourishing, nurturing oasis.
Seedy Saturdays are coordinated across Canada by Seeds of Diversity to promote heritage seed collection and sharing. Mississauga Master Gardeners and UCM are the local organizations who organize this event.
This 18th Seedy Saturday will be a great day for gardeners, families and the community to learn new skills and get new and exciting seeds and seedlings for their gardens!
Hands on workshops and tutorials include: successfully starting seeds, balcony gardening, composting with worms, native plants, creating a pollinating garden, beneficial weeds, pruning fruit trees, “Ask a Master Gardener”, ecological sustainability and much more.
Many local organizations will be in attendance to answer your questions about gardening and climate change and of course, there will be seeds for your garden. The Cozy Café will be open all day serving light refreshments and lunch.
Admission is a suggested donation of $20 which includes entry, all workshops and a door prize ticket. Click here to buy Eventbrite Admission ticket.
Seedy Saturday 2023 Workshop Schedule
Get Your Seed Starting Right – 10am -10:45am
Andrea Berry, organic grower, former proprietor of Hope Seeds
To grow a great garden, there are so many hurdles the lowly gardener must overcome: weather, pests, disease, a sore back (!) to name just a few. Getting your plants off to a stress-free start is a great way to help your garden face the forces. Join Andrea in this workshop to determine the best timing and seed starting methods to getting your veggies, flowers and herbs growing. Participants will learn to calculate their seed starting and planting dates, and take a look at various methods for starting seeds indoors, direct seeding outside, and what simple tools can make the first steps to seed starting successful. This is a basic workshop, great for beginning gardeners with an organic bent.
Bountiful Balconies – Growing in Pots and Raised Beds – 10:45 am – 11:30am
Susan Quirk, Mississauga Master Gardeners
This is the perfect workshop for those who want to grow beautiful and productive plants but do not have a garden space to do so. Susan will provide tips and tricks for turning your balcony or front porch into a virtual vegetable patch. Learn which plants are best suited to growing in small space, how to right-size your growing container and how to feed your plants so they can feed you!
Organic Magic with Worms and Simplicity of Sprouts – 11:30am – 12:15pm
Cathy Nesbitt – Cathy’s Crawly Composters
Organic Magic with Worms and Simplicity with Sprouts. Discover how worms convert organic matter (food scraps and paper) into nature’s finest soil amendment known as castings. Worms are going to play an ever-increasing role in waste management, soil production and therefore food security. Feed the soil, not the plant. Worms offer an incredible learning opportunity. Managing food waste is one way we can all help mitigate climate change. Sprouts are considered nature’s superfood. Sprouts are hydrating, alkalizing, regenerative, biogenic and contain up to 100 times more digestive enzymes than raw vegetables. Grow sprouts at home, school, work.
The Best Native Plans for your Garden 12:15pm – 1:00pm
Melanie Kramer – Credit Valley Conservation
Join Credit Valley Conservation’s Melanie Kramer to learn about the best trees to plant to create shade and privacy, add a splash of colour to your yard and attract birds. Discover large and small trees best suited to your space and beautiful companion shrubs to plant for additional colour and texture. Learn how you can receive a new tree through CVC’s 2023 Free Tree Giveaway.
The Zodiacal Pollinator Garden descending Heaven on Earth 1:15pm – 2:00pm
Oliver Coutu, BA Hons, CET, Beekeeper, Producer
Learn how to symbolically and literally descend heaven on earth by making a zodiacal pollinator garden. This will nourish bees and yourself with a heavenly food. Learn how to use a pollen chart to select medicinal, herbl, floral, vegetables, fruit trees, nut trees and berry bushes that offer maximum pollen and nectar to your garden’s bees. Practical examples will be shown.
Wonderful Weeds 2:00 – 2:45pm
Susan Elliotson, Registered Herbalist
Weeds – despised by gardeners, ignored by commercial interests, they grow unnoticed beneath our feet through cracks in the concrete or infest the flower bed – we just cannot get rid of them. This is good because they provide us with very effective medicine. This talk will tell you how to benefit from weeds. Teas to sample will be available.
Happening Throughout the Day
Ask a Master Gardener – Do you have questions about how to grow, well, just about anything? The Mississauga Master Gardeners will be on hand all day to give you expert advice to help you grow your green thumb!
Fruit Trees Spring Prune – Watch our youngish fruit trees receive a spring prune for maximum fruit production.
From this to that – Go on a tour of our buildings and grounds and learn how UCM transformed it’s 2.7 acre property over the past 15 years to become a model of ecological buildings and grounds.
Our Vendors and Exhibitors
ACER, The Bee Shop, Blooming Boulevards, Cathy Composters. Credit Valley Conservation, Enfleurage Organics, Gaia Organic Seeds, Hope Seeds, Mississauga Master Gardeners, Mississauga Seed Library, Riverwood Conservancy, Seeds of Diversity, Susan Elliotson – herbalist, Marika Uda.