If you don’t want to start your own seeds, but want some varieties you don’t think will be available as plants, there is an alternative: Ask the ag students at Kent County High School to start them for you in the school’s greenhouse. Though the space is not infinite, Liza Goetz, the new agriculture teacher at KCHS, is open to having her students starting seeds for interested members of the community. ‘Customers’ need to provide seeds, containers and medium.
Goetz and her students are currently ‘babysitting’ orchids, bougainvillea, and a banana tree for several Kent County residents. They are also growing a collection of cotton plants from seed gleaned from a single cotton plant a student brought back from his grandparents’ Georgia cotton farm. On February 3, Goetz will be accepting a grant to put a 250-gallon fish tank in the back of the greenhouse to do some hydroponic growing – initially lettuce and some other greens.
If you get the students to start seedlings for you, bear in mind that this is not a commercial enterprise.
“People who do this need to understand that this is a learning environment,” Goetz cautions. “They may not get the germination rates that the packet says to expect. We may have a few times when we accidentally let them dry out or they get over-watered.”
Seed starting begins at KCHS greenhouse next week with seed donated by Kingstown Farm Home and Garden.
“Kingstown has done an amazing job of supporting the ag group out here,” says Goetz. “They’ve been a huge part of our success. We have chocolate peppers, all kinds of herbs, cherry tomatoes, regular heirloom tomatoes…”
Many of the plants the students will grow from the donated seed will go into the garden at Worton Elementary School created by Master Gardener, Sabine Harvey, who also has a wonderful school garden she built with the students at Chestertown Middle School last year.
Starting seedlings, even on a very small scale, can be wonderfully educational for all ages as well.
For anyone interested in having the ag class grow some seedlings, contact
lgeotz@kent.k12.md.us
or call 410-778-4540 and leave a message for Goetz at the school office
Annie says
What an exciting project! I love the idea of having students engage the larger community while participating in hands-on learning — truly a win-win arrangement. 🙂