By Charlene Dean
School isn’t just beginning for Nye County School District, it’s beginning for gardeners, too, as University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners begin two sets of classes next month.
Master Gardener Debby Woodland said the summer series of “Grow Your Own” classes was successful overall. “We had a good turnout for most of the classes.”
The classes are taught via video-conference all over Nevada, including Pahrump, Winnemucca, Tonopah and other locations further north.
The fall series will be taught from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., every Wednesday, beginning Sept. 5 and continuing through Oct. 24 at the UNCE offices, 1651 E. Calvada Blvd., at Dandelion Street.
The cost for all eight classes is $50, or you can pay $10 per class and select those classes which interest you.
The schedule is as follows:
Sept. 5 — Gardening Nevada’s Soils, overcoming desert obstacles;
Sept. 12 — Growing Culinary and Medicinal Herbs, herbs for the kitchen and for health;
Sept. 19 — Restoring Older Fruit Trees, reshaping for appearance and fruit production;
Sept. 26 — Saving Seeds From Your Garden, which seeds can and cannot be saved and methods;
Oct. 3 — Hillbilly Gardening, gardening frugally and being creative with space;
Oct. 10 — Reap What You Sow, the hows and whens of harvesting fruits and vegetables;
Oct. 17 — Safe Composting and Vermicomposting, how to create your own “garden gold,” and
Oct. 24 — Companion and Cover Cropping, how to use ergonomic green manure to improve soil health.
A complete class schedule is online at growyourownnevada.com.
Contact Woodland at 727-5532 for registration information.
The Master Gardeners classes are another program offered by UNCE to teach sustainable desert gardening practices, including selection and care of plants, disease and pest management and water-efficient gardening.
There are requirements to becoming a Master Gardener. Individuals must complete 80 hours of horticulture instruction given in 20 classes and volunteer 50 hours on community projects each year.
Participants must attend all classes and individuals cannot use the Master Gardener designation in advertising or self-promotion.
There is a “cost-recovery fee” of $150, which covers all class materials, including three textbooks, your badge and shirt, a tote and some refreshments.
An application, available from the extension office, with cash or a check made payable to Board of Regents will secure enrollment on a first-come, first-served basis.
Classes will be taught at the UNCE offices on Calvada.
Call Debby Woodland at 727-5532 for additional information.
Vern Hee / Pahrump Valley Times - One of the eight classes offered this fall in the Master Gardener’s Grow Your Own Series, which begins Sept. 5, is all about composting and includes information about raising worms to help with the process. Here, the red wigglers incorporate newspaper into their diet, below, vermiculturist Arlan Van Petten tends on of the many bins located at his home.
