Glen Andresen

METRO Natural Gardening Educator

Glen Andresen began keeping honey bees in 1992 when a beekeeper agreed to teach him the craft. One colony led to three, which led to the 40 he has today – give or take a swarm or bear attack. Last year Glen’s bees produced about a ton of honey, which he sells, along with beeswax candles, to help support his beekeeping habit.

Since 1994, Glen has been Metro’s lead natural gardening educator. The natural gardening program offers presentations and information on how to have healthy yards and gardens without the use of pesticides. Glen has been a master gardener since 1991.

Since 1985, Glen has tended a 3/4-acre organic garden at a retreat center near Eagle Creek in Clackamas County. He is the host of the hour-long edible gardening show, "The Dirt Bag," heard the second Wednesday of each month at 11 a.m. on community radio station KBOO, at 90.7 FM in Portland. He also writes "Ground View," a monthly gardening column for "The Portland Alliance" newspaper.

Simple, Smart and Practical Seed Startin

March 26: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Room E101

If you do something long enough, you’re bound to learn from your mistakes. And so it is with the way Glen starts his vegetable seeds. After 25 years of starting seeds for himself and the ¾-acre food garden of a retreat center, Glen has developed a simple, smart, and practical method to start vegetable seeds that doesn’t take a lot of space, heat or time. His presentation will cover all aspects of seed starting: seed selection and ordering, equipment and tools, bottom-heat and lighting options, thinning, transplanting, hardening off, and pest control once everything’s planted outside. Of course there are many ways to start seeds, but there’s only one Glen way!