2024 is the Year of the Garden

 Last fall I toyed with the idea of going back to school and when the deadline for applying for a certificate class came around... I submitted my application and decided that if I was accepted I would see how my brain would do with learning how to re-learn! 

So far.... so good!

I'm doing the certified Volunteer Master Gardener program and it is AMAZING. The amount of information is A LOT and the learning doesn't stop. I've done several webinars to continue learning on topics that I had no idea about - like commercial flower farming, pesticide use on agricultural land, and Integrated Pest Management. It's all fascinating. Last week I had a pollinator webinar and learned how to identify and distinguish bees from beneficial flies (their wings, you look at their wings!).

And now we're onto learning best practices for fruits and vegetable growing.

We've been told we'll get the most questions at the State Fair and the Home & Garden show about tomatoes, apples, and pest management so I'm trying to arm myself best as possible!

I'm also using all this knowledge to push myself to volunteering at more elementary schools to check out other school gardens to see what is possible. At some point, I would like to get together with the middle school science teachers in my school district to see if a single raised bed would be possible and build from there. I have learned with the school garden that I run - you can't jump in fully without testing the waters first, it's not a good thing to be completely overwhelmed running a garden if you don't have the volunteers and support you need. It's like how I would love to work with high schoolers to give them the experience to put on their resumes, but first I need to know how many volunteers I need, build a guide for directions, etc... You can't just garden without a plan. So that's another part of my learning!

I've received so many AWESOME book recommendations and they're reference books so they're HUGE. I really have forgotten what it's like to continuously be looking up information and research questions - in the world of horticulture you can find many experts but I've learned to ask to be introduced to THE EXPERT of an insect, animal, or plant instead of just asking a random Horticulturalist or Entomologist. I KNOW. 

The amount of knowledge is out there and finding best practices for gardening is overwhelming but so much fun. I'm having a blast learning all this information and meeting new people. I can't wait to volunteer at the Home & Garden Show next week and then after that I've been introduced to the Youth Education Committee and I'm looking forward to volunteering in schools with the program. It's so exciting!

For my own garden, I will be doing more planting and caring for my garden a bit more scientifically and seeing the best practices for veggie gardening and using more cultural and biological controls. I'm not one that's quick to use chemical pesticides anyway but now I feel like I'm armed with resources to find what I'm dealing with and I'm really excited to try new things in my garden this year.