Our organic gardening classes are coming up fast, beginning this weekend!

If you are already a gardener, you will come away with plenty of new information and knowledge. If you have never tried to grow vegetables and would like to give it a try, join us and learn. Each student will receive customized instruction directly applicable to their own gardening projects.

You can register online for one of two classes held over two sessions at Hattie’s Garden.

• Sunday Class: held on March 29 (12 to 3) and April 12 (2:30 to 5:30); or
• Monday Class: held on March 30 and April 13, both dates (4 to 7).

During the class, you will be able to try several different hand tools to find out what will work best for you and get advise on proper ergonomic techniques for bending and working in the garden. Gardening is an amazing activity for your health, both physically and mentally, but like any exercise, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.

Many gardening classes only address how to grow vegetables, herbs, flowers. While we do talk about preparing the soil, planting the seeds, growing your own transplants, weeding, watering, etc.

But there is much more to discuss and put into practice if you would like to begin to eat more food that you grow yourself – food that is fresh and pesticide free.

We will talk about harvesting and about post-harvest care. We will talk about the life of a vegetable plant, when and how to harvest, when it is time to replant an area and how you might do that. What do we need to do to the soil to keep it healthy? How late in the season can you plant certain vegetables?

How can you plant vegetables so you have a continuous supply of the things you like to eat and not have everything ready all at once? When should you start new vegetables if you want a “fall garden.” And how you can put your garden (and containers) “to bed” in the fall to make sure they will be ready for a new growing season with a minimum of preparation?

Above all, our focus is on organic vegetable gardening and on eating a significant amount of produce we can grow ourselves in a very small space, including containers. However, I nearly forgot! One of the joys of gardening organically is the inclusion of herbs and flowers in your vegetable garden.

My earliest memories are of helping my mother in the vegetable garden at the age of 4 and 5 years old. Gardening has always been something that has enriched my life, and there was never a growing season that passed that I didn’t have something green growing no matter where I lived and no matter what space I had available to me.

Gardening is a wonderful adventure. Welcome aboard.