Growing small

Talk about it

The not so rosy economy and an interest in eating healthfully have led to an increased interest in gardening, so master gardener John Zweber decided it might be valuable to teach people how to do it in small spaces.

“There has been a lot of talk about people starting vegetable gardens so we thought it would be a good time to get the information out there,” said Zweber.

Through the summer Zweber will teach a weekly class on container gardening. The classes will start June 6. For those who want to get started earlier, Zweber has posted a YouTube video with instructions on how to build a container and what should go into it.

Zweber, a master gardener since 2004, will teach the class using three 4x4 raised-bed gardens he will maintain at the UMore Research and Development Gardens located off of County Road 46.

Zweber said container gardens are good because people with limited space can have them and they are low maintenance.

He built one of the boxes already to use as an example for the YouTube video. He planted some cold season vegetables in it including spinach, peas and radishes. He will have weekly update on the gardens progress on the Dakota County Master Gardeners web site. The vegetables for the gardens will go to area food shelves.

During the Saturday morning class, Zweber will teach participants everything they need to know about container gardening including how to build the beds, how to prepare the soil and how and what to plant.

“I will provide step by step instructions,” said Zweber.

Zweber will provide most of the instruction but said he will also get some experts from the extension office to provide some information to the class as well.

The class will start June 6 and will carry on through the summer until Sept. 12. The class is free and open to all.

The class could lead to more gardening opportunities in Rosemount in the future. Zweber said if there is interest, he would like to possibly start a community garden in Rosemount sometime in the future.

For more information on the class or to learn how to make a container visit blog.lib.umn.edu/mgweb/dakota/.

Tags: home and garden, container gardening, lifestyle