We have embarked on a new endeavor to learn more about gardening/farming. Evan and I will be attending the Master Gardener Classes to further our education in this area.
These are the topics covered in our classes:
Botany by Jeff McMillan
Soils by J Stevens, Soils Specialist
Basic Plant Pathology, Dr. Charles Overstreet
Basic Plant Entomology, George Giltner
Weeds, Dr. Ron Strahan
Pesticide safety: Keith Hawkins
Propagation, Jeff McMillian
Vegetable Gardening, George Giltner
Herb Gardening, Jeff McMillian
Home Fruit Production Skip Cryer and Tom Avant
Landscape design, Emily Shirley
Organic Gardening, George Giltner
Diagnostic Keys to Urban Plant Problems, Dr. Raj Singh
Ornamental Horticulture I, Jeff McMillian
Ornamental Horticulture II, Jeff McMillian
Lawn Care, Dr. Ron Strahan
We have several Saturday field trips planned but our obligations to our Farmers Market customers will take priority. We are excited that one of the field trips is to Sara Doherty's Tomato Patch in DeRidder. She harvested 15,000 lbs of tomatoes this year. We are excited to learn her farming techniques. Much of what we have learned is from trial and error. The Master Gardener program has opened up a wealth of information to us. The individuals attending the class are ready and willing to teach and instruct us! We are so excited to be gaining this knowledge.
The most important piece of information during this orientation meeting was : Soil Sampling, Get One Now! It is so important to know the deficits of the soil so you can produce the most nutritious foods. We assume what we should put into our gardens/raised beds from our previous years but this can change. Lots of "old timers" use the same fertilizers every year just because it's what dad did. I think it's great that we can find out what our land is deficit in and add it to grow much more nutritious food for our families!
We hope to bring these veggies to our Farmers Market this spring!
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