Spring is in the air in Lee County and our gardens will soon be filled with cool season crops.  If you haven’t started thinking about your garden, you are missing out.  Planning a garden ahead helps you know what you have room for, helps plan for succession planting, helps you organize by planting companion crops together, and helps you know what to put where if you are following a crop rotation plan.  The first class we offer our participants is planning your garden.  This class is indispensable to a new gardener and will be held during our kickoff meeting for Grow Sustainab-LEE, which will be held on March 11, 2024.  We are so excited!

This year we will be welcoming 25 participants, most of whom are new to the program.   Each year, we provide a variety of cool weather and warm weather seeds and plants for out participants.  Everything from lettuce and broccoli seed to tomato and pepper plants are available to try.  This year, we even decided to add Pak Choi, which is a type of Chinese cabbage.

One tool we offer that is really popular with our Grow participants is a Hori Hori Knife.  This is a multi use tool that can weed, dig, cut stubborn roots, measure seed depth for planting and so much more.  It also comes with a whet stone for sharpening and a leather sheath to help keep it sharp.  If you are reading this and would like one for your own garden, do a simple Google search.  It is worth the approximate $25 to try this thing out.  From the vegetables, to the tools and supplies, we welcome the help of the Lee County Extension office, and the Lee County Virginia Master Gardeners, to sort and distribute the materials.  Making sure that all 25 people have what they need to be successful is a lot of work!

This year marks our third year as Grow Appalachia participants.  We are so thankful for this program that will help us educate gardeners on organic practices.  Not only do we get to educate them on gardening organically, but with the funding from this program we can help the gardeners put the organic practices into play.  This is good for the environment, good for those who consume the produce, and even good for the wallets of those who are learning to grow their own food.  If your area has a Grow program, I highly recommend you check them out.  If not, you can still garden organically on your own.  Just contact your local Cooperative Extension Office if you need help getting started.

 

 

If you are interested in learning more about Grow Sustainab-LEE or any of our activities as the Lee County Virginia Master Gardeners, please visit our website at: https://tinyurl.com/LeeMasterGardeners.  If you live in Lee County, Virginia and are interested in becoming a certified Master Gardener, please join us while you are there.