Mike Hogan
| Special to The Columbus Dispatch
Timelapse 2024 Home & Garden Show presented by Ohio Mulch construction
Timelapse: 2024 Columbus Dispatch Home & Garden Show presented by Ohio Mulch construction
The Central Ohio Home & Garden Show will take place from Feb. 14-22 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.Experts will offer presentations and hands-on workshops on various gardening topics.OSU Master Gardener Volunteers will be available to answer gardening questions at a dedicated booth.
Most gardeners in Greater Columbus would gladly trade the foot of snow blanketing their gardens and home landscapes right now for green grass, tomatoes and cucumbers ripening on the vine, and watermelons and pumpkins getting larger every day in the vegetable garden.
Well, if you’d like to take a walk through a green and growing vegetable garden, you don’t have to wait until July; you can take a stroll through the Edible Garden at the Central Ohio Home & Garden Show scheduled for Feb. 14-22 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the show. No matter what the February weather is outside, visitors to the show will find warm temperatures, flowering plants, green foliage, and fruit and vegetables ripening on the vine, all of which will transport gardeners to a summer day in Greater Columbus.
Edibles among ornamentals
While visiting the show, be sure to visit the Edible Garden located on the Garden Stage in the Celeste Center. The Edible Garden exhibit is the only food garden located at the show and is designed to help home gardeners learn how to grow herbs, vegetables and fruit in their home garden and landscape.
OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers will be on hand in the Edible Garden to demonstrate how various food crops can be grown in raised beds and other small spaces in the home landscape.
Features of the Edible Garden at this year’s show include the following:
Home gardening ideas for all four seasons of the year will be included in the demonstration garden beds. Ideas for fall and winter gardening will include cover crops which add nutrients and organic matter over winter and season-extension techniques to grow cool-season vegetables through November in Greater Columbus.Vegetable garden beds will feature Ohio vegetable garden staples such as tomato, watermelon and pumpkin, as well as some less familiar crops such as luffas, which are a gourd-like fruit that is dried and used as a natural biodegradable sponge.Different types of do-it-yourself trellising systems will be on display with ripening tomatoes, watermelon and pumpkins. These trellis systems allow gardeners to grow vining crops in containers and small spaces.Ideas for growing microgreens indoors on your kitchen windowsill year-round to top salads, sandwiches and soupsLearn from experts
While at the show, plan to take in some of the 36 different scheduled presentations on the Garden Stage. These short “how-to” presentations will give you ideas for new garden additions and improvement ideas for your garden and home landscape.
Presentations will be taught by seasoned garden experts on topics such as growing pawpaws, growing garlic, attracting songbirds to your garden, sustainable landscaping, backyard composting, and dozens more.
Visitors to the Garden Stage on weekends and Feb. 16 will have the opportunity to participate in free hands-on “Make and Take” garden projects related to growing microgreens, winter sowing and butterfly gardening.
Gardeners who visit the Home Stage in the Bricker Building at the show at 4 p.m. on Saturdays will have the opportunity to plant an indoor kitchen herb garden to take home. All garden “Make and Take” activities are offered free of charge to the first 30 participants.
For a complete schedule of presentations on the Garden Stage, go to dispatchshows.com/2026-garden-stage-spring.
Solve your gardening challenges
You can get help with solving your toughest gardening questions by visiting the Ask A Master Gardener booth, which will be staffed throughout the show by OSU Master Gardener Volunteers.
In addition to getting answers to your gardening questions, free gardening resources on many different topics will be available at the Ask A Master Gardener booth located in front of the Garden Stage at the show.
Show details
The Central Ohio Home & Garden Show runs from Feb. 14-22 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus. In addition to the Edible Garden, the show will feature nine breathtaking Celebrate America-themed gardens sponsored by America250-Ohio.
The show will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays; and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. The show will be closed on Feb. 17. Discount admission tickets for the show are available online at dispatchshows.com/home-and-garden-show.
Mike Hogan is Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources and associate professor with Ohio State University Extension.
hogan.1@osu.edu
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