Preschoolers Get Early Start on Growing Season

By Carol Kagan



On Saturday, led by Master Gardener Rebecca Keller, twelve young gardeners gathered with their fathers, mothers or grandparents for a Family-Friendly workshop to make mini-greenhouses for milkweed and sunflower seeds to start growing outdoors now.

The youngsters first learned about how a seed becomes a plant and then nestled lima bean seeds among damp cotton balls in a zip lock bag to germinate at home. Roots and leaves should soon appear and give them a real-life view of what they saw on their handout.

Keller showed pictures of Monarch butterflies and talked about how they need to have milkweed plants to lay their eggs.

She then guided them, and their grown-up assistants, in making two mini-greenhouses using recycled gallon plastic bottles.

During the process the children measured and marked the soil line on the bottle,

gleefully scooped the dampened soilless growing mix inside

 

 

and carefully added both milkweed and sunflower seeds.

Labels were added and the bottles were taped shut with duct tape, the most popular color among those offered was pink.

 

The little greenhouses will be put outside in a sunny spot and watered if there isn’t enough snow or rain.

Keller’s assistant, Master Gardener Cathy Campbell, told them the scientific name for the milkweed they planted - Asclepias tuberosa (Ass-KLEE-pee-us  too-bur-O-suh) – and had them practice a few times in hopes they would still remember when they got home.

 

The workshop ended with grown-ups carrying out armfuls of the plastic bottles. Workshop evaluations completed by the parents indicated this was a successful workshop and there were requests for more tailored to this age group.

 

More Family Friendly Workshops

 

The next Family Friendly Workshop on the schedule is Container Gardening on May 2, just in time to come and plant a pot with beautiful flowers for Mother's Day.

 

Two more Family Friendly programs are

 

Bug ID: What's Buggin' You? on June 13

 

and Cornhusk Wreaths and Dolls on October 17.

 

For information about or registration for any of our classes or workshops, please call 717-263-9226.

 

Also, visit the MG Facebook page for a current listing of classes and workshops as well as upcoming events. Of special note are the annual plant sales in May.

February Classes and Workshops- From Seeds to Gnomes to Nuts

by Carol Kagan, Master Gardener

One of our new workshops added this year invites the youngest participants to date. Preschoolers, ages 2 1/2 to 5 years old, have their own Winter Sowing Seeds for Preschoolers workshop.

Master Gardener and mom of three, Rebecca Keller, will help parents and children make miniature greenhouses from recycled plastic jugs. While the January 17 Winter Sowing workshop is geared to grown-ups, Rebecca wants to gets the littler ones involved in gardening. This is a Family Friendly Workshop: $10/1 adult& 1 child, $15/ family. Very limited enrollment. Register NOW!

One of the other new offerings is Decoding Seed Catalogs meant to help new gardeners, or those who want to expand beyond flowers or vegetables, identify the best plants for our South Central PA location. As George Weigel says, you can't plant what you want where you want. Well, not if you want it to grow and thrive, that is. $10

Selected Seed Catalogs Available at the Class

Join Master Gardeners Carol Kagan, Bill Dorman, Denise Lucas, Nancy Miller and others who will walk you through which selections are right for our area. Bring your own catalogs or use ours.

Following up on the Miniature 'Fairy' Garden class, Master Gardener Juanita Kaufmann will help participants put together their own tiny worlds to take home. A set of quality supplies is included in the workshop price but the expertise is worth much more! $10/$40 supplies Limited enrollment for this very popular workshop.

The Edible Landscaping classes will start off with Grapes and Nuts. Master Gardeners Linda Secrist and Mike Kusko will discuss soil prep, plant selection and more to help set up a tasty backyard landscape. The class is $10. Soil test kits will be available at the class. $9/cash or check only. Look for Tree Fruit and Small Fruit & Brambles in our March classes.

Leaves shade the green grapes until they ripen (P. Veilleux, East Bay Wilds)

To register, for more information or to be added to our mailing list, contact the office at 717-263-9226. All these classes and workshops will be held at the Ag Heritage Center, 185 Franklin Farm Rd. in Chambersburg.