Secrets to growing healthy and productive tomato and pepper plants will be revealed in this class. Pruning, pinching, mulching and the use of proper vine support will be presented. Common diseases and their control will be discussed. New developments in the breeding of heirloom tomatoes and the vast array of chili varieties will be reviewed.

Instructor: Royer Held

Ages: 18 - Adult. 

Fee: $15

Learn how to plant and maintain a healthy and productive bed of raspberries or blackberries. Available varieties will be presented and discussed. Understand why more canes don’t mean more fruit and what to do to improve your yields. Pest problems common to cane fruit and means to control them will be reviewed. Proper mulching, fall care, and measures required to control unwanted spread of canes will be covered. 

Learn all about the origins of potatoes and sweet potatoes and the different ways they can be grown. Special attention will be paid to the cultivation of indigenous potato varieties from Bolivia, Peru, and Chili. While the Michigan growing season is too short for sweet potatoes to produce seed, there are many varieties that may be grown in a Michigan garden with great success. Sweet potatoes are grown from slips, which are rooting shoots that start to grow from the tuber. You can start your own slips, or purchase them from mail order nurseries. Learn how to successfully start your slips and grow them in the garden.

Instructor: Royer Held

Ages: 18 - Adult. 

Fee: $15

Honey bees are important pollinators, but they aren’t the only ones! Not only that, but they were introduced to America from Europe. Find out about all the other pollinators that are visiting your garden and how to keep them happy and well fed. We will explore the relationship between flowers and pollinators, how it evolved and how native plants and pollinators depend on each other.

Instructor: Royer Held

Ages: 18 - Adult. 

Fee: $15