All of your senses will be on full alert at the Summer Urban Horticulture Field Day, Saturday, August 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s West Madison Agricultural Research Station.
You’ll see carrots of many colors, catch the aroma of aromatic herbs, sink your teeth into slices of crisp watermelons, and savor the flavor of fresh peppers (raw and roasted), melons, cabbage, tomatoes, and whatever else is ripe.

If you’ve been the gardens in seasons past you’ll find plenty new this year, including organic colored carrots, cilantro that grows all summer, seedless table grapes, cranberries in a small artificial bog, winter-hardy wine grapes and a new strawberry cultivar research project.

Among the many offerings:

• UW-Madison specialists will be on hand to offer demonstrations — of vermiculture (worm composting), roasting peppers, cover crops for the home gardener, miniature watermelons, and much more — and to help diagnose weed, insect and pest problems.
• Harriet Behar, an educator with Midwest Organic and Sustainable Educational Systems and a 30-year veteran of growing and marketing organic products, will be on hand to talk about growing organic vegetables in backyard gardens.
• Visitors can also get a first-hand look at the best new flower and vegetable varieties. The West Madison garden includes one of the demonstration sites for All America Selections, a national program that evaluates and showcases new offerings from the seed industry.
• Volunteers will be selling children’s Tees with “Momma And Baby Tomato” on the front, designed by a local master gardener and professional artist, for $5

To learn more, download the West Madison Urban Horticulture Field Day brochure.

The West Madison Agricultural Research Station is located at 8502 Mineral Point Road, about a half-mile west of the Beltline (U.S. 12&14). For more information, call (608) 262-2257