Dawn Pettinelli

• Compostology – Your Guide to Composting
• Introduction to Soils
• Garden Ornaments – Focal Elements to Enhance Gardens
• Fall for Gardening – Tips/Chores for the Autumn Season
• Fertilizers – What, When & Why
• Healthy Soils, Healthy Plants
• IPM for Home Gardeners
• Making Sense of Soil Tests
• When Good Worms Go Bad – Asian Jumping Worms
• Subterranean Society – aka The Soil Food Web
• A Pruning Primer
• ABC’s of Vegetable Gardening

Dawn is a retired Associate Extension Educator from the University of Connecticut. For 27 years she directed the UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Lab and the UConn Home & Garden Education Center. Both facilities provide information, testing and advice to homeowners and commercial clientele. She was also a horticulturist at Old Sturbridge Village, and was certified as a Massachusetts Master Gardener in 1986.

Additional Information:

Since 1987, Dawn has been writing gardening columns for local newspapers and has been involved in adult and youth education efforts focusing primarily on soil quality and fertility. She has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, the History Channel, Fox News and on local CT television stations. Her articles have been published in Radius and Connecticut Gardener magazines, she has been quoted in Organic Gardening and in numerous newspapers. She began the UConn Master Composter Program in 2009 and coordinated it for 15 years. Dawn attributes her love of gardening to her grandmother and believes that to know a plant, you have to grow it.