Parks Conservancy Offers Beginner Home Gardeners Techniques for Success in Upcoming Class Series
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Creating beautiful flower beds or growing your own fruits and vegetables isn’t tough if you have some basic information and someone to point you in the right direction. To help would-be gardeners get ready for spring, the Charleston Parks Conservancy is offering its Help for the Home Gardener Series.
Classes begin Feb. 25 and participants can sign up for all four classes in the series for a discounted rate of $110 or register for each class individually. Classes are taught by longtime professional horticulturist Jim Martin, also the executive director of the Conservancy. Martin also maintains an extensive half-acre home garden on James Island, which he uses as the setting for many of the classes.
Pruning Basics for Beginners: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 25 at 804 Meeting St. in Charleston. This class will cover pruning techniques, proper tools, when and what to prune on specific plants and how much to prune. Cost: $35.
Vegetable Gardening for Beginners in the South: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 3 at Martin’s home (address provided upon registration). This class will cover designing the vegetable garden, getting the soil ready, deciding what to grow, warm and cool season vegetables, seed basics and fertilizing the garden. Cost: $35.
Grow Your Own Fruit and Berries – Basics for Beginners: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 17 at Sea Island Savory Herbs, 5920 Chisolm Road on Johns Island. Learn what you need know to successfully grow and harvest fruit and berries in your Lowcountry garden. Discover suggested varieties, cultural conditions and growing techniques necessary to have success in the South. The class will cover growing bananas, blueberries, blackberries, citrus, strawberries and figs. Cost: $35.
Growing Native Plants in Your Lowcountry Gardens: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 24 at 804 Meeting St. in Charleston. Discover a rich pallet of Southeastern natives that are excellent choices for the southern garden. Learn about native plants, what they like about your backyard and which native plants you might want to try first. The class also covers garden designing and planting a bog garden as well as resources on finding and buying native plants. Cost: $35.
In addition to the Help for the Home Gardener Series, the Conservancy is offering a Composting Tricks and Techniques class from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 at Martin’s edible garden on James Island. Learn the composting process, what goes in (and what doesn’t) a compost pile and what kind of container to use for composting. Cost: $35.
A three-part garden design class will be offered in April. The Step-by-Step Garden Design: Basics for Beginners class is from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3. Additional sessions are on April 10 and April 17. Learn about good garden design, the basic language of garden design, necessary tools and reference information. This class includes hands-on work, presentation and visits to local gardens. Cost: $70.
All classes are rain or shine. Register online by credit card or to pay by check contact Mary Horton at 843-724-5003 or mhorton@charlestonparksconservancy.org. Class sizes are limited and registration is not complete without class payment.
About the Charleston Parks Conservancy
Headed by prominent horticulturalist Jim Martin, the Charleston Parks Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to further beautifying City of Charleston parks and green spaces. With the help of its Park Angels volunteer force, the Conservancy seeks to rally community support and pride behind the effort to create a lasting movement. For more information about or to support the Charleston Parks Conservancy, please visit www.charlestonparksconservancy.org.
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