Preserving produce

Now that your garden is starting to produce food, it's a good time to learn how to preserve what you grow. Dakota County master gardeners Kim Wilker and Kim Baldwin will offer a free presentation on which vegetables are best for freezing, which are best for water-bath canning and how to safely preserve fresh vegetables. They will also take questions from veteran and novice gardeners.

The presentation will be held at 7 p.m. July 6 at St. Joseph Church, 13900 Biscayne Av., Rosemount.

Quilt raffle at the Arb

Want to sleep in a "Field of Iris"? Here's a chance to win an iris-patterned quilt while supporting the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Members of the Arb Auxiliary have stitched a 70- by 80-inch quilt that will be raffled off at a drawing during the auxiliary's annual Harvest Sale. The quilt, which fits a queen-size or double bed, is named "Field of Iris" and depicts its namesake flower in detail. Raffle tickets, at $2 each, can be purchased in the Oswald Visitor Center now through Sept. 26. All proceeds benefit the arboretum.

Summer garden solutions

By midsummer, you can see what's working well in your yard and garden — and what could use a little TLC. A workshop at Bachman's, led by horticulturist and master gardener Abby Davis, is designed to help you fine-tune your lawn, vegetables, herbs, flowers and trees, by providing season-specific information about weed control, fertilizer, watering, pruning, treatment for fungus and insects and other solutions to garden challenges.

The workshop will be offered 5 to 7 p.m. July 1 and July 7 in the Heritage Room at Bachman's on Lyndale, 6010 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls. Cost is $10; get tickets at www.bachmans.com.

KIM PALMER