Green Thumb Gardening classes take root in Cascade County

Published: 2019
By Rose Malisani

'Green Thumb Gardening' was a four-part, hands-on, continuing educational series for novice gardeners. MSU Extension partnered with Bundi Gardens and River City Harvest Community Gardens to reach out to more participants with horticulture knowledge and insight to horticulture in Cascade County. The 'Spring into Gardening' class kicked off the series with participants sowing seeds, starting plants, transferring houseplants, and plant cuttings. Participants dug into the class by preparing seedling trays to plant tomato seeds, learning how to properly plant seeds, transferring their own houseplants, and creating cuttings from a mother plant. 'Gardening 101' was a garden-planning session where participants put their garden plan on paper, researched vegetables, planted root vegetable seeds directly in the garden, transplanted tomatoes, and learned about different gardens. The 'Greenhouse 101' class was taught by Jim Bundi of Bundi Gardens. Participants toured three different types of greenhouses, learned about greenhouse structure, purpose, maintenance, and construction. Bundi discussed which greenhouses are best suited for the home gardener. In 'Harvesting 101,' participants traveled to a community garden for hands-on education. The class was jointly taught by Janice Driver with River City Harvest and Rose Malisani with MSU Extension in Cascade County. Participants toured the community garden and learned about different vegetable varieties, the best time to harvest vegetables and fruit, how to gather a garden soil sample, soil tests, composting, and preparing the garden for next year. Twenty-one participants took the opportunity to learn from the Green Thumb Gardening classes. Their gardening knowledge ranged from novice to some experience growing vegetables and fruit. By the end of the classes, participants expressed their increased knowledge of gardening and planted gardens that successfully produced hundreds of pounds of produce.