www.lindagilkeson.ca
PhD in Entomology * Organic Garden & Pest Management Expert
* Author * Teacher *
Linda Gilkeson is a regular and very popular presenter to our garden club, presenting special talks and weekend workshops. She is one of Canada’s foremost organic gardening and pest management experts.
Practical Gardening Tips & Easy-to- Use Remedies
Linda’s expertise covers virtually every topic! Her garden tips are practical, inexpensive and effective. She’ll help us remedy a host of garden problems including harmful insects and soil diseases. Linda’s practical tips on successful year-round gardening on Quadra Island are incredibly motivating and support our community’s intention to move towards more local food production and food security.
Your Backyard Bounty
Based on her recent, best-selling book “Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest,” the appetite for Linda’s message has never been greater or more timely. Soaring food prices are certainly one good reason to learn to grow more food. The quality, freshness, convenience and nutritional value are equally important and rewarding. Linda’s relaxed, often humorous, style of presentation is engaging and educational and she encourages questions and discussion.
In her most recent gardening newsletter, Linda wisely advises: “Gardeners are always eager to get out there and plant something, but really, there is no rush, especially if you have crops in the ground year round. If you are not harvesting lots of overwintered crops right now (including all kinds of root crops, spinach, kale and leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage), then plan to grow them this year so you can enjoy fresh harvests through winter and next spring. The more overwintered crops you have, the less you need to bother with seeds or seedlings while spring conditions are still wet and cool.”
About “The Garden Doctor”
Linda earned a Ph.D. in Entomology from McGill University in 1986, then moved to British Columbia to work for Applied Bio-Nomics Ltd., a company that produces biological controls. From 1991 to 2002 she worked for the provincial government, promoting programs to reduce and eliminate pesticide use. She was head of the provincial State of Environment Reporting Unit for the next six years, then the Executive Director of the Salt Spring Island Conservancy until the end of 2011. Linda now devotes her time to writing, teaching and consulting.
Linda’s comprehensive gardening book, Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest, became a BC best seller and has just been republished in a new, considerably expanded edition. She continues to self-publish books for local gardeners, most recently Resilient Gardens: Pollinator Gardens, Garlic Diseases, Pest Update. In the past she has co-authored pest management training manuals for the provincial government and organic gardening books for Rodale Press.
As a private consultant, Linda is a regular instructor in the Master Gardener programs in BC and is busy year around giving workshops on pest management and organic gardening.
Linda has served as President of the Entomological Society of Canada, the Professional Pest Management Association of BC, the Entomological Society of BC and the Salt Spring Island Garden Club. She was awarded a Queen’s Jubilee medal in 2003 and an outstanding achievement award from the Professional Pest Management Association of BC in 2005.