Four Seasons Gardening 2012 Winter/Spring Teleconference Series University of Illinois Extension is starting off the gardening season with great programs to get you and your garden ready!  The Winter/Spring series offers Vegetable Garden Planning, Bug Invaders of the Foreign Kind and A Gardening Calendar. Vegetable Gardening is an activity the whole family can enjoy. What better gardening satisfaction can you achieve than growing your own vegetables for your family to eat.  You can select what you like and you know how it was grown and cared for.  But what do you need to consider when starting a vegetable garden?  What size garden?  What is the easiest to grow? Jim Schmidt, Horticulture Specialist, University of Illinois will walk you through the process of planning a home vegetable garden from choosing a site, deciding what to grow, to timing your plantings for maximum success.  Jim also will answer your vegetable gardening questions. Vegetable Garden Planning will be offered, Tuesday April 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm   Invasive insects are a result of the movement of humans around the globe. Introductions of them into the United States have followed human immigration and trade with other parts of the world. Many of our earliest invasive pests are of European origin as were the first human immigrants in the 1600’s. Recent trade with Asian countries has been accompanied with invasive insects from that part of the world including emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, multicolored Asian lady beetle, and brown marmorated stink bug. These and other invasive insects will be addressed in the presentation “Bug Invaders of the Foreign Kind” by Phil Nixon, Extension Entomologist with University of Illinois Extension, on Tuesday, May 8 at 1:00 p.m   In our gardens, both indoors and outdoors, every season has its tasks.  Spring brings the flush of new growth and our to-do list expands.  But what about the rest of the year?   We have house plant care in January, starting seeds indoors during February and March, garden clean-up in April & May and the list goes on.  Join Ron Wolford, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator as he offers a month to month guide of key garden chores and tips.  A Gardening Calendar will be offered onTuesday May 22 at 1:00 p.m.   All programs offered in this Winter/Spring Series will be held at University of Illinois Extension office in Livingston County. The office is located at 1412 S. Locust Street, Pontiac.  The presentations will be via the University of Illinois telenet system and local computer PowerPoint presentations, allowing live discussion between the instructor and gardeners throughout Illinois.  If interested please call 815-842-1776 and reserve a seat and packet of information. University of Illinois Extension provides educational programs and research-based information to help Illinois residents improve their quality of life, develop skills and solve problems. If you need reasonable disability accommodations, please contact the office one week prior to the program.   For more information contact: University of Illinois Extension 1412 S. Locust Street Pontiac, IL 61764 815-842-1776 Cindy Kinate Office Support Assistant University of Illinois Extension Livingston County 1412 S. Locust Street Pontiac, IL 61764 http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lmw ckinate@illinois.edu phone 815.842.1776   fax 815.842.6547