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Check out a list of my lecture topics below! For speaking events, media requests, book club chats and other inquiries, fill out the form.

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SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

I love connecting with people who share my passion for vegetables and am available for lectures, seminars and how-to workshops at public and private events. My well-regarded, lively events are known for packing in lots of useful, actionable information and I have spoken for many organizations and events, large and small, including: The Garden Conservancy, Pacific Northwest Flower & Garden Show, the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, and Master Gardener lecture series across the Pacific Northwest, including for King County Master Gardeners and Multnomah County Master Gardeners. 

Get in touch with me to discuss crafting an event for your audience, either in person or online. I create bespoke events and also offer the following lectures.

LECTURE TOPICS

Colorful, Unusual, Delicious and Rare: Discover the Most Flavorful and Beautiful Vegetable Varieties for Kitchen Gardens

  • One of the very best reasons to grow your own food is it gives you the opportunity to grow vegetable, herb and small fruit varieties that aren’t found in grocery stores. This 45-minute lecture includes 30+ specific variety recommendations, including for an orange-striped salad tomato that grows on a plant with silvery leaves, a purple podded snap pea with bright green peas, and an oak-leaf shaped mustard green. Plus, learn about a fascinating array of small seed companies and breeders working to grow varieties that are regionally-adapted.

Beautiful, Bountiful Tomatoes: Varieties and Gardening Strategies for Your Best Tomato Season Yet

  • What’s not to love about tomatoes? They are beautiful, fairly easy-to-grow, and come in a huge range of shapes, sizes and colors. In this 45-minute lecture, Willi covers preparing your garden’s soil for optimal tomato growth, shares her list of beautiful and tasty tomatoes that actually ripen, a season long tomato care plan, plus the pros and cons of 3 key trellising strategies, problem solving common tomato problems, and a few recipes for enjoying your harvest.

More Food in Less Space: How to Maximize Your Garden and Grow More Food

  • Want to maximize the space and time you spend in your kitchen garden? Variety choice, space planning, succession planting and trellises all make a big impact on how much food you can fit in your garden, no matter its size. In this 45-minute lecture, I walk gardeners through key considerations to make when choosing varieties and planning a garden, offer a sample succession planting plan, and detail how to build space-saving, attractive trellises.

Gardening Simplified: Learn Simple Tricks That Yield Better Results

  • Learning to master a few simple garden techniques, including measuring soil temperature in spring, sheet mulching in fall, pinching back plants as they grow, and foliar feeding can make the difference between a garden that grows and one that thrives. In this 45 minute lecture, Willi walks you through some core gardening techniques that lead to beautiful, bountiful gardens, including: best practices for transplanting seedlings, a simple trick for improving germination rates with slow-to-sprout seeds, the definitive guide to pinching tomatoes, and a simple fertilization plan.

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